GamersInfo.net

No matter how you look at it, Obi-Wan is not a good looking game. Thankfully, however, as you will find out later, it DOES have personality - gameplay. While I thought the level designs were well done, Obi-Wan is a smorgasbord of low-resolution textures, low-polygon models, and average special effects. What's strange is that, despite all that, the frame rate doesn't serve as a positive for the game. I'm not sure what the frame rate is most of the time (my guess is 30), the frame rate will stutter into the tens in heavy battle situations, and a few times I experienced 1 second pauses while playing. Fortunately, while frame rate stuttering is fairly common, I never considered it a hindrance while playing the game, even in the thick of battle. While Obi-Wan is animated pretty well, he still looks a bit awkward in his lightsaber attacks. I guess it's kind of hard to make everything look choreographed like the movies. While lightsabers don't look as brilliant as they do in the movies, nevertheless, they're recreated well. Throughout the game, you'll see glimpses of things that look pretty nice, like the reflections in the Jedi arenas. Overall, however, these are infrequent and don't do much to enhance the overall graphical nature of the game. Obi-Wan looks decent enough when you're controlling him and the camera keeps its distance from you, as almost everything does in the game for that matter. Up close, though, Obi-Wan is very blocky. Some of the more notable model disfigurements are Qui-Gon, who has an exaggeratedly pointed noise, and Yoda, who has some freakishly strange looking ears.

Traditionally, Star Wars games get high marks in the music department. After all, when can you ever go wrong with John Williams' beautiful scores in all the Star Wars movies? I doubt there are many people, fans or not, who can't recognize at least one Star Wars tune immediately. Obi-Wan is no exception to the Star Wars standard, and the in-game music is outstanding. Sound effects wise, I didn't have access to a 5.1 system for this review, so I was unable to judge Obi-Wan's surround sound capabilities. Otherwise, I thought the standard Star Wars library of lightsabers and blasters were finely recreated. Voice acting, is where Obi-Wan's Achilles heel lies. Since Obi-Wan is the main character in the story, he has the most lines, and the Ewan McGregor impersonator does a fine job of butchering his lines and the Obi-Wan accent. What compounds the situation is a poor script. Queen Amidala also isn't done very well, but everyone else sounds like a reasonable facsimile to pass as the real thing.

As mentioned in the game previously, developers have to draw a fine line between the reality of the license universe and creating a viable game. Obi-Wan does that as well as any of the Jedi-based games yet. The storyline provides a reason why certain enemies can block your lightsabers attacks. While nothing thought provoking, it's nice to be given a reason for things for some discrepancies between "reality" and the game universe. As can be expected, your lightsaber can't kill/slice and dice in just one hit. Obi-Wan, in the guise of a 3rd person action/adventure game is simply at its heart, a fun beat 'em up that hearkens back the days of side scrolling fighters. While much longer than any of those 16bit era brawl titles, you basically go through Obi-Wan mindlessly destroying everything in your path. What makes it enjoyable is the use of your Force powers. You're given "realistic" (again, realistic by universe rules) control of your Force Powers. You can use Force jump, push objects into enemies, disarm enemies, and enhance your lightsaber attacks. Your force power isn't infinite, but recharges fast enough so that it doesn't hinder your enjoyment of the game or use of your powers. In other words, Lucasarts made a good job of making sure the player will always feel powerful like a Jedi should, but at the same time know that he won't be completely infallible. If that seems a bit silly to you, think of the last superhero type of game you played where you felt that you were super powerful yet challenged at the same time. This type of gameplay balance doesn't happen often.

As you continue through the game, you will get to challenge other Jedi's (considered training by the game) like Mace Windu. These diversions are fun, but on the whole pretty easy. The main point is to get used to in Obi-Wan is the movement and lightsaber control. The left analog stick controls your movement while the right controls your lightsaber. How you control the right stick determines how you swing the saber. For example, pulling back deflects incoming fire, and pushing right on the stick will cause Obi-Wan to swing right. While a bit strange at first, after some practice (the training mission is useful here), the control scheme becomes complete intuitive. I hope that any future games use this control scheme as I found it very innovative and fun to use.

Star Wars games tend to have pretty decent storylines, and Obi Wan has a good one- much better than the one in Starfighter, another X-Box Star Wars Universe game. The plot gives good background information to supplement the movie. There isn't any real motivation for replay in Obi-Wan except to achieve special medals/icons for beating the level a certain way. All bonus missions are unlocked by the time you reach the end of the game, including a Battle Royale mode where all the Jedi's fight each other at once. I'm not sure how long the game is, but at most it is 10-15 hours and I felt the game length was about right for this type of game. The game is of medium difficulty, but there isn't any one part that players will find themselves stuck on for any extended period of time. Multiplayer consists of battles in the Jedi Arena. Each player picks their Jedi and fight the other, similar to the Jedi training/challenge missions in single player. Multiplayer is a nice little feature thrown in but nothing extraordinary.

A lot of the fun factor of Obi-Wan is knowing what it's supposed to be and what it isn't. What it isn't is some epic adventure in the Star Wars Universe. What it is, is a solid beat 'em up game that lets you roam around using Jedi powers and clear everything in your path as you get from level to level and hear the latest plot element unfold in the storyline. Simplistic gameplay? Yes. Fun? Yes. Poor graphics and voice acting aside, it's reminiscent of those 16bit Final Fight days. Plus, it's an enjoyable way to vent out if you're a little angry at the world. If you're a Star Wars fan, Obi-Wan definitely warrants purchasing. Even if you're not and have been wishing for a fun way to burn time for a few nights, pick this up as a rental.