The Features

I can't say that the Xbox has managed to get hold of any really good Star Wars titles so far (well apart from Knights Of The Old Republic later in the year). Obi Wan was basically rubbish and Starfighter (the prequel to this one) was just about a straight port from the Playstation 2.

The Galaxy is in turmoil as the events of Star Wars: Episode II rapidly approach. Mace Windu dispatches one of the Council's top Jedi- Adi Gallia - to investigate disturbances in the Karthakk system, as a secessionist movement threatens to expand. Using the Republic's new prototype Jedi Starfighter, Adi-Gallia sets out on missions which lead into events depicted in the Star Wars: Episode II film. She quickly qains an upper hand in space battles through Force powers, but will these be enough to counter the massive fleet of the evil Captain Toth and a mysterious figure that threatens the very foundation of the Galactic Republic system?

• Sneak a peak at Star Wars: Episode II thrills! Fly the new Jedi Starfighter through key locations from the film.
• Continuation of popular Star Wars Starfighter series. Graphics, effects and performance enhancements – along with over 40 new craft (including massive capital ships, three new flyable fighters, new enemy craft and more.
• Force powers in flight. Capabilities that no pilot, craft or weapon has perviously possessed – Force Lightning, Force Shield, Force Reflex and Shockwave.
• Single and dual player action in over 15 story based missions. Fly all missions co-op with a friend – or in single player mode in a variety of craft.

Installation, Settings and Loading Speeds

Jedi Starfighter doesn't take very long to load up. When you consider that this is really just another Playstation 2 port you have to expect the game would be faster to load due to the Xbox's DVD-ROM drive being better than that of the PS2. Once the game has loaded you get some pretty fancy menus.

• Story Missions: These comprise of the main parts of Jedi Starfighter. They include the starting training missions which buff you up on the controls of the various starfighters used in the game and then to the actual story missions which can also be played in cooperative mode.
• Bonus Features: Bonus craft and other extras can be unlocked here.
• Options: Controller, Sound, Codes, Saving, loading and credits can be viewed and changed from here.

Gameplay

If you have played Star Wars: Starfighter a couple of years back on the PS2 (or a few months ago on the Xbox and PC) then you know what to expect from Jedi Starfighter. The main difference this time round is that you can get to use "Force Powers" in the game.

Of course you get the chance to fly the "Attack of the clones" Jedi Starfighter, which allows you to use Force powers whilst flying. The ship comes with basic laser blasters, but as you get further into the game you will get the chance to use Force Shield, Force Lightning, Force Reflex and Force Shock wave.

Force Shield does the obvious, it shields your starfighter for a short amount of time. Force lightning fires a bolt of lightning that takes down a number of enemy fighters. Force reflex slows down the game world and finally Force Shock Wave emits a shock wave in all directions that causes damage to all surrounding enemies.

Adi Gallia pilots the Jedi Starfighter. Nym, who you will probably remember from the previous Starfighter game is back flying The Havoc, which now comes fitted with Energy bombs, cruise missiles, cluster missiles and proximity mines. As mentioned earlier, you can now play the game in Cooperative mode, in this mode you can choose to play from one of 3 other pilot perspectives. Either Reti, whose Zoomer ship carries a heavy cannon. Jinkins whose Freefall ship carries Mechanized Drone Fighters and finally Siri Tachi who also flies a Jedi Starfighter.

The controls in Jedi Starfighter are identical to the original game, which means that the game is very easy to control apart from the targeting system, which can become very frustrating. The black button on the gamepad targets the closest enemy but during the game you get primary objectives which must be destroyed, but unfortunately there is no primary target button to choose from, thus you must go through the various targets to find it.

Gameplay-wise, Jedi Starfighter isn't the most advanced game you will find as there isn't much more to do than shoot, shoot, defend a ship, shoot. But that isn't to say that the game isn't fun as it clearly is. There is always action, always something to do and the combat can be very exciting thanks to the Star Wars atmosphere.

Graphics & Sound

Graphically Jedi Starfighter isn't one of the best Xbox games on the market. Actually it is one of the poorest titles on the Xbox in my view. The game doesn't look much better than the last one, which is a shame when the last game was really ported over from the Playstation 2 nearly 2 years ago. The one major improvement over the Playstation 2 version of Jedi Starfighter is the frame-rate, it is a much smoother ride on the Xbox when the two versions are compared. That doesn't mean that there are no good points to the graphics as there are some very cool shadow effects and some decent lighting.

As per usual a Star Wars game has excellent sound both music and effect-wise. John Williams soundtrack still sounds as good as it did 25 years ago. Again I'm unsure how lucasarts can improve the sounds in Star Wars games due to them basically being identical to the move. The voice acting in the game is very good too, which makes a nice change.

Final Comments

I am as big-a star wars fan as there is, and thankfully I can say that Jedi Starfighter is a much better game than Obi Wan was on the Xbox, and a genuine improvement over the original Starfighter released last year. But that doesn't mean it is a great game, its just above average. A good space shoot-em-up but nothing that you won't have already seen before.

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