Star Wars: Episode I Battle for Naboo

Pros • Interactive environments and varied ways to play missions, which themselves usually combine fight and flight elements • All the Star Wars trimmings and a squashed Jar Jar • Medal system provides replay incentive • Combination of ground and space combat • Good connective narrative • Slick interface • Outstanding sound	Cons • The game doesn't handle three dimensions very excellently
Bottom Line The culmination of Factor 5's Star Wars development experience, diminished only by the aging of the Nintendo 64 and slight tarnish on the Star Wars franchise. Good gaming. Not only does Star Wars: Episode 1 Battle for Naboo look pretty, it is pretty; Solid, refined gameplay wrapped in all the Star Wars trimmings, an outstanding Nintendo 64 production.

If I've learned anything from things like M. Butterfly, The Crying Game, Britney Spears, and dotcom investing, it is to carefully peel away the layers of packaging and look to the heart of anything that attracts me with aesthetic stimulants before buying. Star Wars: Episode I Battle for Naboo definitely puts a most cosmetic face forward; the game is among the best looking on the N64. The music and sound effects are N64bulous, and a solid narrative connects the game together and ties it into the Star Wars universe. Pile on another layer of glittery level design and Battle for Naboo is done up like a regular cover girl, enough to make me more than a little suspicious.

But, even if you strip all of that away; get Battle for Naboo down to its anorexic skin and bones as it were, it is still a pretty solid game. Granted, the game doesn't handle three dimensions perfectly, as manifest by extreme difficulty targeting flying objects from ground craft or ground installations from flying vessels, and odd auto-assists that seem to jerk your craft about space on occasion, or a radar that has no way of indicating whether enemies are at different altitudes than the player, which can make finding objects in space more than a little frustrating --I know there's a dogfight around here somewhere, my radar says I'm right in the middle of it, I just can't see it. And sure, there are occasional irritations with the draw-in distance, especially because many of the missions involve friendly characters, and it is impossible at other than point-blank range to know if you are shooting up good or bad guys --well the friendlies do complain after you shoot them, sort of like Al Gore recounting Florida, too little too late. You might even complain that we've played it before in the combination of Shadows of the Empire and Rogue Squadron, and that the Star Wars license has become diluted and less exciting than it was before Episode I and the deluge of Star Wars-themed videogames, but that wouldn't quite be fair; Battle for Naboo pools all of the significant Star Wars vehicular combat experience of Factor 5 into one triple-cherry pot. It's good gaming, Star Wars or not.

So, Battle for Naboo provides effective Star Wars vehicular combat, on land, in the skies and in space. Many missions involve multiple sections: one area where the player pilots a land speeder, followed by a section of aerial dogfights in a police cruiser. Even better, most missions involve both fight and flight, giving the player the experience of being out-gunned by the bad old Trade Federation, picking very carefully which battles to stick his or her nose into. It really is the excellent mission design and variety that drives the game; many levels even offer the player the option of land or air craft, pushing the replay value of this title even beyond the level provided by the medallion and unlockable extra system.

There was a day when LucasArts was one of the drop-dead belles of handsome prince Nintendo's ball, a day when Star Wars was the reality back to which many gamers referred every happening --you know, the type who secretly play the Imperial March in their head as they attempt to go from first to second base-- and had this game come in that day, we'd all be bowing, enchanted, to kiss its hand. Coming now, in the twilight of the N64's days and after the disappointment that Episode I was to many, this game and the N64 are more like a comfortable, graying old couple fading off, toothless, together.

But you certainly won't find any wrong-sex genitalia under the perfect make-up job and skirts. Star Wars: Episode I Battle for Naboo is a solid last Star Wars title for the N64. Enjoy!

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