A long time ago, LucasArts established a sterling reputation with their classic X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and Monkey Island games. But recent efforts have varied widely in quality. Some games, like X-Wing Alliance, were outstanding. Others, such as Force Commander, were better left unreleased. Obi-Wan is LucasArts's first Star Wars: Episode I adventure game for the Xbox. Obi-Wan chronicles the adventures of young Obi-Wan Kenobi across five acts as he battles the evil Trade Federation, the Black Heth crime organisation, and other assorted baddies. The story is nothing new, and it's hampered a bit by the Episode I setting, which simply isn't as compelling as the setting of the classic Star Wars stories. Since you play as Obi-Wan, the primary weapon in your arsenal is the lightsaber. Using a third-person view, you use the left thumbstick to control Obi-Wan and the right thumbstick to control the lightsaber. In principle this sounds fantastic, but in practice it's a little difficult to master as camera angles can change whilst you are in the middle of a battle. Graphically, Obi-Wan is OK, but not brilliant. It fails to take full advantage of the Xbox's fancy graphics hardware, and the environments are empty and plain, although the shadows and light effects are worth mentioning. The worse thing in the game is probably the voice acting (Obi-Wan sounds like Mike Myers doing a bad Scottish accent), and the all-too-frequent cinematic cut scenes look like they were slapped together in five minutes. There are some tiny diamonds in the rough, such as the ability to use Force powers to throw objects at enemies or pull weapons out of their hands which makes fighting multiple enemies a lot easier. A feature sure to please fans of the dramatic saber fights in Episode I is the multiplayer Jedi Battles mode. This mode lets you and a buddy engage in fierce Jedi duels, using characters from the movie and game. Unfortunately, these few nice touches aren't enough to make this a classic game.--Jason Winter
Trustpilot
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