I’m one of those weird kids born in the 80s who wasn’t completely obsessed with Star Wars. As a matter of fact I remember my parents renting the original film, and me wandering off after an hour or so out of sheer boredom! Years passed and I eventually developed an interest in the series, but I don’t really have any nostalgia attached to it. The video games are a different story. I recall spending the night at my friend Brian’s house several times in the third grade, and it became a bit of a morning ritual to play Star Wars on the original Nintendo. I found the game fun and enthralling despite not knowing what was going on in the story at all. Fast forward to now. I’m all grown up and a casual fan of the Star Wars films, and decided to relive this old early morning tradition. While the game has lost some of its luster (nostalgia misled me a bit on how great the level design is) I found it moderately enjoyable.
This game follows the story and scenarios introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. You play as Luke Skywalker who must track down several iconic characters from the movie (Han Solo, Princess Leia, Obi Wan Kenobi, R2-D2) and then travel to and destroy the Death Star. The story is told through dialogue showing a render of a character’s face while displaying text. It’s effective, but hard to keep up with what’s going on unless you know the general plot already.
One thing that’s interesting is the fact that the game is non-linear. While the cave is the first stage every time, and game always ends at the Death Star the path from start to finish can vary. You don’t even have to track down most of the characters should you choose not to, and can attempt to go straight to the end of the game immediately. Tracking each of them down offers incredible bonuses however that completing the game is going to be difficult without. R2-D2 allows your shields to re-generate during the 3D flight sequences, Obi Wan Kenobi gives Luke the lightsaber and can revive the other characters, and Han Solo and Princess Leia are both playable characters with their own strengths and weaknesses.
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| Yep, it’s another side scrolling action game. |
As is commonplace for every licensed game of the time Star Wars is a side scrolling action platformer. Basic gameplay consists of walking left or right, jumping, and firing your primary weapon (in this case it’s a laser gun). To keep things interesting you can play as three different characters and each functions differently, but only Luke has more than one life. One thing that sets this one apart is the means by which you travel between the stages. You begin with Luke’s landspeeder and can travel across the surface of Tatooine and this is how you select the next level. Almost all of these are completely unnecessary in the grand scheme of things, but the bonus areas generally contain either allies or shields for the Millenium Falcon (more on that later).
Once you’re satisfied with your completion level you can head to Mos Eisley and then it’s on to the Death Star via a pretty neat little 3D first person viewpoint flight sequence. After that we’re back to our traditional side scrolling mode while aboard the Death Star, and then return to the cockpit view flight mode aboard the Falcon. To round things out the final stage is actually an overhead flight sequence that resembles most other shooters of its era. The diversity is staggering as far as 8-bit games go, props are certainly deserved.
Unfortunately I have a few problems with the game’s mechanics. First of all the game is just a wee bit too cryptic for my tastes. My friend Brian and I were never able to complete it, and even now I had to look up a faq in order to figure out where to find the various characters and shields. What’s more is the fact that once you enter Mos Eisley there’s no way to exit; should you miss any characters or shields you won’t be able to turn back to retrieve them. The game offers no warnings of this, and I found it annoying that I had to restart just because I went to the wrong place.
The gameplay is also kind of all over the place. The stages are poorly designed with uninspired obstacles and enemy patterns. Why are you fighting your way through so many darn caves in this game? I don’t remember a single one from the film. Also, how come I’m collecting Millenium Falcon icons? Oh they increase the shield capacity for the flight stages? That’s information that would be good to know. Why are there so many environmental objects that thrust you into the air? It just doesn’t make sense to me, and adds very little to the experience. The worst offense however is the platforming. It’s slippery, and this is unacceptable for a game that requires accuracy. Some of the stages are a chore to play because of this problem. It’s all just a wee bit too cryptic and sloppy for me,
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| The cockpit view was impressive back in the day, but it’s a bit dated now. |
Star Wars is actually a pretty good looking game by NES standards. The standard side scrolling levels are fairly detailed and surprisingly colorful. What’s more is that traditional characters from the franchise (including Storm Troopers, Boba Fett, etc) are all perfectly distinguishable from one another. Unfortunately there’s quite a bit of the old-school flicker going on, but I found it’s never enough to interrupt gameplay in any significant way. The 3D cockpit view sequences are what you would expect from the technology of the time; everything seems to pop in and it’s not smooth by any means. They’re still decent by NES standards and I can’t think of too many other games that did it better to be honest.
The music is pretty decent, but a lot of it is original and doesn’t exactly fit the Star Wars motif all that well. The cave theme in particular doesn’t really fit the atmosphere, nor does the music that plays during the landcruiser sequences. The tracks actually adapted from the movie soundtrack are all distinguishable and I really enjoyed them (especially Han’s theme).
If Star Wars fans are any one thing it’s passionate. I’m sure this is the only reason anyone even remembers this game, or why anyone would care enough to collect it. It’s a decent summation of the first film in video game form, but the gameplay just isn’t where it should have been. There’s a lot of diversity and fun references here, but the slippery platforming, cryptic progression, and janky flight sequences make this one a hard pill to swallow. I’m sure hardcore Star Wars gamers will want this one in their collection just for novelty sake, but bear in mind that there are so many better games based on this franchise out there.
As a piece of Star Wars merchandise it’s kind of cool, but as a side scrolling action platformer it’s very subpar. When put up against similar games like Contra and the like it just can’t hold its own. Oh and what’s with leaving Chewbacca and Darth Vader out of the game?
