Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace

A long time ago, in arcades not too far away, a specific genre of videogame was borne; the top down explore n' shoot. Back in those days, games with titles like Commando, Frontline, Gauntlet, Smash TV and Ikari Warriors were spoken about in hushed tones by the gaming elite. With LucasArts' videogame interpretation of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the days of the overhead action game are back in full, uh, force.

The story that unfolds in the game is essentially the same story that Star Wars fans around the world have been dissecting since The Phantom Menace movie hit theaters on May 19th. At the beginning of George Lucas' multi-chaptered science fiction epic, viewers (and players), discover that a collection of misfit heroes is caught in the middle of an insidious power struggle between the old guard Republic and the fascistic Galactic Trade Federation.

Our list of protagonists includes two stalwart Jedi Knights (Qui-Gon Jinn, the master and Obi-Wan Kenobi, his apprentice); the teenaged but insightful Queen Amidala of the planet Naboo; a young, gifted and mechanically inclined slave boy named Annakin Skywalker; the courageous and loyal Captain Panaka, leader of Queen Amidala's small security force; a couple of familiar droids (a younger R2D2 and a newborn C-3PO); and one extremely annoying and clumsy amphibious Gungan named Jar Jar.

During the gameplay of The Phantom Menace, players will assume control of these heroes (4 of them anyway--the two Jedis, as well as Queen Amidala and Captain Panaka) and square off against vast squadrons of Trade Federation Battle Droids. In addition, players will also have to contend with Darth Sidious' evil apprentice, the dual-bladed lightsaber expert, Darth Maul.

The action in the game, as was the case in the film, takes place in a number of digitally enhanced fantasy worlds. Our interactive tale commences with the two Jedis forced to make an electrifying escape from a well-guarded Trade Federation battleship. Once freed from the clutches of the Trade Federation, the Jedi Knights must make their way to the underwater world of the Gungans. From there, Obi Wan and Qui-Gon will travel to the Naboo capital city of Theed, where they will attempt to save the Queen from certain capture. Over the course of the adventure players will also visit the desert planet of Tatooine and spend time in Coruscant's beautiful but deadly Imperial City. Ultimately, players are rewarded with an awesome blade-to-blade showdown against Darth Maul in the climactic final battle of the game.

MENACING LOAD TIMES�

Thanks to several tell tale signs--sticky floor tiles, environmental black holes and confused artificial intelligence that can force a computer controlled character to run in place for hours on end--it's quite apparent that this game was rushed to its ship date. A major problem with The Phantom Menace is the amount of boring load time players must sit through. As a nostalgia-fueled action-adventure that's heavy on the action, it would have made perfect sense for the developers to offer players pace-saving extra " lives." Instead, the developers chose to go the Tomb Raider-route and have built a game where players will have to save every few feet and spend much of their lightsaber-slash time looking for elusive health packs or simply waiting for numerous load time resurrections. In spite of all this, even gamers who aren't huge fans of Star Wars will still feel compelled to finish the adventure. This is primarily because the story-telling elements of the game are so wonderful.

Visually, the story of Episode 1 is relayed through a host of brilliantly composed computer generated cut sequences, as well as narrative bits that are built with in-game artwork. While the characters in the game are relatively blocky looking, low-polygon models, their animations are very impressive. The lightsaber slashes and blaster-fire block stances of the Jedis are especially exciting to watch. The environments in The Phantom Menace are expansive and beautiful. Visual highlights include a breathtaking descent down a glass elevator-equipped kilometer-high building on Coruscant and a terrific view of the Tatooine pod race from Watto's balcony.

As for its sonic atmosphere, The Phantom Menace features an enormous amount of character voice work in addition to generous servings of John Williams' sensational orchestral score and Ben Burtt's fantastic movie sound effects. There are literally hundreds of creatures for players to interact with throughout the story. The acting is superb and extremely true to the original source, despite the absence of several voices from the film. The music and sound effects, on the other hand, are straight from the movie and will definitely get players in the mood, particularly if the game is played on a gaming PC equipped with surround sound amplification.

As a game, The Phantom Menace takes its cue straight from the movie; it's fun but it's far from perfect. Plagued with bugs and enough quirks to give stone-faced Qui-Gon Jinn a nervous tick, The Phantom Menace CD-ROM is still fast paced and smart enough to keep players glued to their computer chairs. And just like the movie, the awesome lightsaber duel at the end is worth the ticket price.

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