Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi

What could be more natural than duking it out with the characters from Star Wars? Hordes of fans are going to want this disc in their homes. One look at the cover is enough to get most people digging for their wallets. But if you're too hasty I guarantee you have a good chance of being disappointed.

Teras Kasi has a certain appeal to collectors of Star Wars paraphernalia. Vic, is a classic example (in the search for the latest Han Solo and Tauntaun action figures he can literally sniff out the nearest Toys 'R' Us). When we first gave the game a run through he brought up a good point. The game is kind of like manipulating your entire collection of action figures in combat. In this way the game has a certain appeal and value to any serious collector. But as a game, judged on its merits independent from its Star Wars license, this one deserves to be tossed into one of the Death Star's trash compactors.

Story? What Story?

The premise for the game takes place after the loss of the first Death Star. The Empire hopes to cripple the Rebellion by assassinating some of its key figures, namely Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie (they decided to take a pass on Admiral Ackbar because nobody wanted to fight a fish). To do the job they have hired Arden Lyn, a master of the ancient martial art of Teras Kasi. She, along with her Tusken student Hoar, the Gammorrean Warrior Thok and, of course, Bobba Fett are the main agents of death.

Cool. I like a simple premise. I don't really need any lengthy background story in order to put up my fisticuffs. But I'll say this, if you are going to provide a narrative backdrop, make it consistent with the action of the game or leave it out completely. If the basic construct of the game is to have the forces of good pitted against those that have embraced the dark side, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have Princess Leia go after Han Solo. Sure it's kind of cool to do so and they may be prone to the occasional lover's quarrel. But yikes! If this is the way they normally behave I might suggest some counseling.

The First Rule of Fighting Games

Story aside, and I'm really just nitpicking on that point, Teras Kasi is a major disappointment because of its abysmal control. By coming up so short in this department, LucasArts has broken the cardinal rule of fighting games. It's sluggish and unresponsive, so what could have been unquestionably great gets bogged down in a morass of molasses. Even worse, special moves are incredibly frustrating to try and pull off. Even the simplest of moves, the traditional quarter sweep followed by a button press; to fire Han's blaster is a maddening exercise in futility. I did manage to pull it off here and there but more often than not I was left open to attack.

The game's poor control leaves most players trading basic blows, rarely ever letting something spectacular fly. The gameplay would have almost nothing at all to offer was it not for one thing. Playing Luke against Luke in a Lightsaber battle is a pure, if eventually unsatisfying, joy. Watching the light show as the sabers dynamically light up the arena and then flash blindingly when both sabers make contact is spectacular. LucasArts would have done themselves a huge favor if they had dumped the idea of Teras Kasi and gone with a full-blown Lightsabre tournament between Jedi.

Good Ideas, Cool Visuals, Bad Execution

There certainly isn't a dearth of creativity in this title. I appreciated the fact that the characters can play with their bare hands or, with the press of R2, arm themselves with whatever weapon they may brandish. Chewie can slap you around with brute force or fire at you with his Bowcaster. This idea is a good one and should have added a second dimension to the gameplay. But there's a serious balance problem here. The choice is nice but why would you want to play Luke without his Lightsaber? And if Luke has his Lightsaber out, how do you get Bobba Fett in close enough to pistol-whip the young punk without losing his helmet?

I also liked the use of the Stun Meter and Power Bar. The Stun Meter can increase as the game continues, depending on the damage you take. If it gets too high you become more susceptible to repeated attacks or combos. The Power Bar is something that is becoming a bit of a standard in fighting games. The bar will charge over the course of the game and some of the special moves utilize one or more of the 4 charged segments. The truly spectacular moves will require a fully charged "Super Gold Bar". Once again, nice idea but it becomes a bit of a moot point since the awful control almost completely prevents you from executing any of these moves.

One thing that Teras Kasi has going for it is some mighty sweet visuals. The characters are solid, the lighting effects terrific and the backgrounds unquestionably cool. Yelps of appreciation couldn't be helped as AT-ATs patrol the area behind you or Imperial Probe Droids document the brawl in Coruscant. The Cloud City on Bespin is especially gorgeous for obvious reasons. Once again though, just as you are bathing in graphical nectar, paradise comes crashing down around you. The visuals in this game are lovely but only as still shots.

The animation is positively wooden. In fact, to bring a previous reference back into focus, they move as if they were action figures. There isn't a whole lot of articulation here and that's a shame especially when you compare Teras Kasi next to superlative fighters such as Soul Blade, Tobal No. 1, or even T-HQ's Vs. The framerate is quite excellent but I wanted to see these characters brought to life and the entire problem is compounded by the already unresponsive controls.

Rent Before you Buy

The rest of the game is rounded out by a number of prerequisite options (players can play their way through the game in Arcade, Vs., Survival and Team Modes) and some mighty fine sound, one thing that LucasArts has never, and I mean never, had a problem with.

As top notch as most of the package is, there is no denying that Teras Kasi is a sub-par fighter of the worst example. Even if there were no control issues, the game would still suffer from a lack of characters and shallow gameplay. I'm OK with only 8 original characters as long as they are 8 very deep fighters with a massive repertoire of moves.

If I come across as overly harsh it's only because I place such high expectations for quality on LucasArts and especially with any use of the Star Wars universe. And I don't think I'm alone. More often than not, they deliver on the promise and sweep us all away with another superb foray into the world of Darth Vader and pals. But it seems that lately, every other Star Wars game is either a bonafide classic or an absolute waste of time with no in between. LucasArts needs to be more careful in this department because people will buy anything with Star Wars attached to it without thinking. When something like Teras Kasi comes along and stinks up the room it is sure to breed some mighty powerful resentment on the part of gameplayers. LucasArts is capable of so much more; time to turn it up a notch and give this one another try.

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