Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice of the Force (Game Boy Advance) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

It's hard to believe that such a famous and world renowned license would be a problem to convert to a handheld game but it is. Few of the many games I've reviewed featuring the George Lucas penned universe have come close to capturing the excitement of the films. Why this is, is a bit of a mystery to be honest when numerous publishers and developers have attempted to fit the saga into every conceivable gaming engine. Up this time is Ubi Soft who have scaled down their GBA output considerably over the past few years, focusing on quality rather than quantity. This game is inspired by the original trilogy and released on the back of the worldwide

DVD launch. These are arguably the better of the five films with lots of rich source material so have the good people at Ubi Soft managed the seemingly impossible task of actually making an enjoyable gaming experience? Read on and see...

Gameplay

Whilst there are a few gaming engines at work here the majority of your Star Wars experience will take place in a side scrolling platforming environment much like the last Prince of Persia. This is no great coincidence as the same Montreal studio produced both titles as anyone who owns the Sands of Time will see immediately. It starts out as a relatively simple affair with early missions simply challenging you to reach a location and meet up with someone. As the game progresses though (and your Jedi skills increase) the routes will become more complicated and occasionally blocked by storm troopers. When this happens the screen will freeze and you'll have to dispose of everything you have before you can move on, so running just isn't an option. Your Jedi skills are reasonably simplistic and in the absence of any mind control abilities your most useful powers are speed and and strength with a push allowing you to both clear incredibly large gaps in a single bound and move huge boulders without getting your hands dirty. Things only really start to become challenging when you have to escort R2D2 or Princess Leia to a given location as R2D2 requires the constant activation of lifts and the princess has a habit of getting shot at making your aim that much more important.

As well as the platforming action there are flying sections. These come in two very different varieties the first of which is a space battle where you must dispose of 30 or so X-Wings in a kind of 'asteroids' environment. It's important to realize here that they are also hunting you but as they suffer from some appalling AI they will tend to crash into you rather than coming close to actually hitting you with laser fire. Unfortunately this damages your R2 unit who's busy making repairs. Three collisions and you're on your own. The other two sections are horizontal 'top-down' shooters based on the Speeder Bikes from Jedi and the Death Star Trench from the original Star Wars. There's no denying that this splits the platforming up but it in no way captures the excitement of these sequences and you can't help feeling that a mixture of scaling and 'Mode-7' would have been a much better option. Finally for the save option the developers have wisely gone for a battery backup with three save slots. Not ideal by any stretch of the imagination but certainly better than a 14 digit password.

Controls

This latest Star Wars game unleashes an impressive number of moves on the gamer and given the complexity of what's going on in certain areas of the game the whole thing is somewhat ambitious. Fortunately this is more or less 'spoon fed' to you with more moves and abilities becoming available as Luke becomes more proficient with the Force. Being a platformer though there?s still some split second timing and frustrating jumps to be made but rather than punishing you by sending you back to the beginning of the level you're simply pushed back to the end of the section where you?ll find your endless 'continues' undeniably useful.

Graphics

Unsurprisingly the main characters have more than a passing resemblance to the Prince of Persia sprites which is no bad thing with everyone from Darth Vader to the tiny Ewoks moving in a pleasing and realistic fashion. The rest is a bit of a mixed bag really and one of the first things you?ll notice are the incredibly static backgrounds which are crying out for some spot animations to bring them alive. To make matters worse you'll tend to visit the same location over and over again which only re-affirms just how bland some of the visuals are. The same is true of the cut screens which are all presented as if projected from R2D2 just after he's been knocked about by a group of Jawas. Fortunately there is one highlight which becomes apparent on game completion. This is a series of concept sketches of stills from the original film production of outstanding quality although if you've already purchased the DVD there's a good chance you've seen them already.

Sound

Actually not as good as we've seen (or indeed heard) in the previous Star Wars games and rather than employ clever sampling techniques the developers have instead gone for a more midi approach utilizing the GBA's sound chip. The result is a rather tinny soundtrack which does nothing to enhance the atmosphere of the game and is occasionally unrecognizable. The sound effects are a little better but it just doesn't feel the same without that roaring film score which brings back so many memories.

Final comments

While Apprentice of the Force is not the worst Star Wars game we've seen on the Gameboy it still doesn't quite capture the excitement of the original trilogy. One problem is the limitation of the medium. Not only are the various stories presented in an expected abridged form but they also suffer in both the sound and graphics department. Gameplay, on the other hand, can be entertaining but the lack of variety will frustrate some fans and it isn't nearly long enough. There are multi-player sections but while these are reasonably entertaining they do little to expand upon the single player missions. It's likely that this game will have already shifted a considerable number of units before you even read this review but if you're a casual fan of the Force then you'd probably best give it a quick test drive before parting with your cash.

Pro: It's Star Wars!
Con: Repetitive Gameplay
Final score: 6.5

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