Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2002, right in the middle of the Star Wars prequel era. Those films were always my least favorite in the series: bloated, self-serious affairs stuffed with lifeless CGI, wooden dialogue, and a strange obsession with intergalactic trade politics. Romance was stiff, the characters spoke like malfunctioning droids, and everything felt curiously devoid of joy.
Naturally, Jedi Starfighter pits you against the Trade Federation—arguably the dullest antagonist faction in the entire Star Wars universe. Even the name sounds bureaucratic rather than threatening. Had the game been set during the original trilogy, we’d be fighting the Empire. If it were released today, it would probably be the First Order. Both at least sound like something worth blowing up to conclude a trench run.
Unsurprisingly, I found it hard to care about the overarching plot. The story jumps briskly from location to location with minimal exposition, alternating between two playable characters: Jedi Adi Gallia and the mercenary pilot Nym. Adi flies a nimble ship, uses Force powers, and gets a clean blue HUD. Nym pilots a heavier craft, trades Force abilities for raw firepower, and gets a red one.
Neither character receives much of an introduction. In the opening cinematic, Adi briefly meets Mace Windu, who orders her to investigate suspicious Trade Federation activity in a distant system. There she teams up with Nym, and the two spend the next 6–8 hours dismantling the Federation’s operations. That’s about as much story as you get.
Given that setup, I expected very little. What I had forgotten, however, was how good LucasArts were at telling stories through gameplay.
The campaign consists of fifteen missions split into three acts, and from the second act onward it becomes genuinely challenging. Jedi Starfighter uses light, arcade-style flight controls that strike a sweet balance between accessibility and precision. Played with a DualShock 4, it feels excellent—almost as satisfying as a proper flight stick.
Mission difficulty swings wildly, from trivial to punishing. With no mid-mission checkpoints and scenarios that can last 15–20 minutes, the tension ramps up fast. Escort missions are predictably the most stressful: staying alive is rarely the issue, but protecting sluggish transport ships from bombers and torpedoes is. Some missions even require you to shoot down incoming missiles before they hit your allies.
I preferred Adi’s missions, largely thanks to her Force abilities. You get shields, lightning, a Force blast, and an absurdly powerful time-slow ability. It’s so effective that I managed to destroy the final boss before he finished his closing monologue, causing his ship to explode the moment he stopped talking. Had he been smarter, he might have kept improvising death threats until he reached solid ground and could run away.
Nym’s missions focus more on large-scale destruction. His arsenal—bombs, rockets, mines, missiles—is versatile and satisfying, though most of it is limited in supply. This made me oddly conservative, hoarding weapons in case I needed them later. I somehow slipped into a survival-horror mindset.
Space shooters often risk becoming visually monotonous—how much variation can you get out of a few twinkling stars?—but Jedi Starfighter cleverly utilizes its storytelling to mix things up. Missions take place planetside, in orbit, among asteroids, and alongside massive enemy capital ships. Many introduce unexpected complications mid-mission, communicated through constant radio chatter with your wingmen.
Each mission functions like a short story, complete with rising stakes and shifting objectives. I followed it closely through the constant radio chatter. It combines with a complete lack of checkpoints to create a sort-of emergent storytelling. After investing ten minutes into a scenario, failure feels costly. I got increasingly apprehensive the closer I got to the end of a mission.
Jedi Starfighter has aged remarkably well. The HD version on PS4 (which I played via PS Plus Premium) is crisp and clean. Subtitles would have been nice, but the voice mix is clear enough that I rarely felt confused, and the pause screen always states your current objective. I rarely felt any doubt what to do next.
Despite its weak narrative setup and prequel baggage, Jedi Starfighter ultimately delivers a solid, exciting space adventure. It may lack the gravitas of the Empire, but within its lighter tone it succeeds admirably. I enjoyed it far more than any of the prequel films—and discovering afterward that it’s a sequel to the similarly titled Star Wars: Starfighter only made me curious to go back and see if that game holds up just as well.
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