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Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter (2016, Playstation 4) Review


AN UNEXPECTED DELIGHT(-SABER)


Also for: Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Xbox, Xbox One


Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter was originally released for the Playstation 2 and Xbox around the time (2002) of the Star Wars prequel trilogy (episodes 1-3). Out of all the Star Wars-movies, those were always the most boring and self-serious ones, consisting of too much lifeless CGI and romantic twaddle. They had robotic dialogue, even when uttered by creatures of flesh and blood, and tried to appeal to a more mature audience by throwing dull intergalactic politics into the mix.

That's why the enemy in Jedi Starfighter belongs to the Trade Federation, which is the most boring enemy faction in the Star Wars universe. Even the name sounds like a snoozefest. Had this game taken place during the original trilogy (episodes 4-6), we would've fought The Empire. Had it been released today, I guess we would've taken on The First Order. I'm just saying. In name alone, both of those factions have a more threatening sound to them, am I not right?


Just like in the prequel movies, I found it extremely hard to care about the overarching plot in Jedi Starfighter. The story goes from place to place without much explanation or exposition. You alternate between playing as Adi Gallia (the titular Jedi Starfighter human) and Nym (a Feeorin-raced pilot). Adi has her force powers and flies a nimble ship, with a blue HUD. Nym has better armament and pilots a more robust ship. His HUD is red.

The pair never gets a proper character introduction - instead the plot just throws them into a short, 6-8 hour campaign. In the opening cinematic, we get a brief glimpse of Adi outside her cockpit, as she meets up with Mace Windu of the Jedi Council, who orders her to investigate shady Trade Federation involvement in a faraway solar system. That's where she hooks up with the local resistance fighter Nym, and the duo work together to dismantle the Trade Federation's operations there.



So I went on this 15-mission laser-cannon-blasting spree - divided into three acts - not expecting much after such a poor story setup. But I'd forgotten how skilled LucasArts were at crafting storytelling through gameplay. I found that the missions were quite varied and, from the second act forward, quite challenging. The gameplay utilizes very lightweight flight sim controls to emulate the thrill of being a space ace pilot. The Dualshock 4 feels excellent for this sort of arcadey flight game - almost as good as a flight stick.

The missions range from laughably easy to very hard (on normal difficulty). With no mid-mission checkpoints, the tension can get quite intense, especially towards the end of a 15-20 minute scenario. As usual in games like these, it's the escort and protect missions that gave me the hardest time. Surviving and avoiding incoming fire isn't often too hard, but protecting big transport ships from torpedoes and bomber fire is. Some missions even require you to hit missiles homing in on your allied transport.


I preferred Adi's missions a bit more thanks to her useful Jedi Powers, available after a short cooldown. You get a shield, force lightning, a force blast and a seriously overpowered ability to slow down time, which does wonders against speedy opponents. It caused some unintentional comedy, as I managed to beat the final "boss" before his final speech was delivered. So he got in the awkward position where his ship exploded as soon as he stopped talking. If he would've had a shred of intelligence, he should have just kept improvising death threats until he landed safely on board a space carrier or a planet, and could run to safety before his ship exploded.

Nym's missions aren't bad either. They're focused more on destruction of larger vessels and structures. He has a fine assortment of bombs, missiles, mines and rockets, which covers most bases. Unfortunately, most of his supplies aren't infinite, which makes me hesitant to use them - who knows if I can make better use of them later?


Without a good plot, space flight games always run the risk of getting tedious, with the vast darkness of space making few missions stand out visually. But Jedi Starfighter circumvents all this with great variation in objectives and environments. Some missions take place planetside, some in orbit around a planet, and yet others around asteroids or close to giant enemy flagships. Many of them throw in nasty surprises halfway through, conveyed through constant radio chatter between you and your illustrious wingmen. The most exciting moments involves flying into big enemy structures or ships to destroy a specific target inside.

The missions themselves are like short stories, with their own innate story arcs. These are very engaging, as the stakes increase with each minute spent in the long scenarios. The new circumstances thrown into the scenario by the mission design turn into emergent storytelling. I learned to pay close attention to the hints conveyed by the radio comms, as every new attack wave posed a different threat, either to myself or my allies. After 10 minutes spent in a mission, I didn't want to start over from scratch.



Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter still holds up. This shouldn't come as a surprise, as it was deemed good enough to be prolonged for not only one, but two console generations. The upgraded HD PS4 version I played (available through PS Plus Premium) looks crisp and clear, and the only thing I could possibly want for is subtitles. But I also realize that subtitles would clutter the screen, and the voice recordings are nicely mixed and very audible - I rarely felt uncertain about what to do next. And when in doubt, the pause screen clearly states the current objective

After poor first impressions and a weak story build-up, Jedi Starfighter fights its way to a good, solid and exciting space adventure. It feels a little lightweight, but without the mighty gravitas of The Empire behind it, the end result is about as good as one could hope for. I like it much better than any of the prequel trilogy movies, and after clearing the game, I learned that it's a sequel to a game titled Star Wars: Starfighter. I'm eager to double back even further and see if it's equally as competent in its mix of mission design and emergent storytelling.

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