Review: Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles (Switch) - Uncivilised But Not Unenjoyable
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)Always two, there are. No more. No less. Master Yoda's wise words may have rung true for the Sith, but it couldn't be further from the rate at which Star Wars games were being pumped out in the early 2000s.Some showed promise (Episode I: Racer, Battle for Naboo) while others were as dull as The Phantom Menace's trade agreements (Obi-Wan's Adventures). The vast majority fell into a vague middle ground, a place neither Dark nor Light, where games passed the time well enough but wouldn't occupy enough space in the mind to distract from the next cinematic entry.One such title was Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles, an action-platformer/beat 'em up that loosely re-trod the juicy bits of Phantom's plot a year after its cinematic debut and threw in some combo-focused combat and Padawan-level platforming for good measure. It was far from the worst tie-in the film would be treated to, but certainly not the kind of game you'd think would ever get the remaster treatment.Well, surprise! Aspyr has once again stuck its hand into a grimy sack of 'Forgotten Star Wars Games' and pulled this out. As with Racer, Force Unleashed, and, most recently, Bounty Hunter, the studio has once again turned in a by-the-numbers remaster with minimal additions and visual flare. The nostalgia is strong with this one but, as we quickly learned, a game needs to do more than simply play Duel of the Fates to stop itself from feeling horrendously dated.For the most part, Jedi Power Battles is the same game we played on PlayStation and Dreamcast (not the GBA version) back in 2000. After reading an obnoxiously long end-user agreement, you pick a hero from the original game's complete lineup (Plo Koon fans, rise up!), and slash, shoot, and... Force? your way through 10 chapters set in familiar locales from the 1999 movie.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)Aspyr's remaster presents the full roster and all 10 story levels unlocked and fully playable right from the beginning alongside the original's four minigames and arcade-style cheat codes (for those who really want to play with big heads). Playing through each of the story beats unlocks an additional 13 characters for your next playthrough, including the likes of Jar Jar, several Tusken Raiders and Droids, Ishi Tib, and Weequay Star Wars B-Tier, no doubt, but a nice addition nonetheless.Having the full game open to you from the jump is a welcome change we're still haunted by memories of the Droid onslaught in Theed Palace and two-player co-op means there's still the chance for some local lightsaber laughs if you happen to have a fellow Jedi nearby with a hankering for nostalgia.This is particularly true for the four minigames and one-on-one Training mode. Mario Party and Smash it ain't, but the former helped break up the gameplay loop with its game-specific controls (like the button-mashing Kaadu Race! and Gungan Roundup's objective of herding a terrified Jar Jar into your opponent's goal), while the latter lets you duel it out like a classic fighter helped by a decent number of combos for each character.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)However, unlocks and obscure cameos aren't enough to hide the fact that Jedi Power Battles' main story is very much of its time. With the exception of the time trial-based Palace Cliffs and the top-down speeder shoot 'em up Streets of Theed, the level structure grows quickly repetitive. Constantly inputting combos makes the combat feel sluggish, while button-mashing makes every encounter feel identical. Most enemies can be dispatched with a well-timed block to send their bullets right back at them; those that can't always manage to inflict unfair damage while your hero plays out their attack animation.The ones that really hurt are the instances when the game doesn't load an enemy sprite until you're right on top of it, or when a foe clips into the nearby environment, but still manages to fire its blaster with one leg morphed to a nearby plant pot. It's something that occasionally plays out to comedic effect (we properly belly-laughed at the number of Droids that fell to their death by trying to follow us around a tight bend), but the "Aww, 2000 gameplay, what are you like!" nostalgia can only get you so far.Being hit by an enemy is one thing, but the game really shows its age in the platforming challenges. This is by no means an 'open world' and the path to the goal is always clearly signposted, but it took a good bit of time for us to get back into the 2000s headspace. It was a time when double-jump momentum was non-existent, depth perception was all over the place, and cameras would stubbornly remain in one spot while you blindly leapt to the screen's edge, hoping to find a ledge.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)All that said, we had fun with it. If you've got affection for this era of games and this trilogy of Star Wars films, you won't have a bad time with this.Performance on Switch is overall pretty strong, with minimal frame drops throughout the main campaign. The aforementioned clipping and sprite loading issues were increasingly a nuisance, however, particularly in the final chapter where you are required to destroy a series of panels to progress past hazardous fans. In the original release, these panels were clearly signposted with a red button, but no such button, nor panel, appears in the remaster. Instead, you bump into an invisible object, blindly attack in its general direction, and wait for an explosion visual to tell you the path is clear. Without knowledge of the original release, we're not sure you'd ever work that one out, Force-sensitive or not.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)As was the case in Bounty Hunter and Battlefront, Aspyr has loosely updated the visuals and controls here to bring things in line with the present day. For the control scheme (easily swapped between 'Modern' and 'Classic'), it's mostly just a case of swapping 'Jump' from 'A' to 'B', and the visual changes appear just as simple. The characters and environments show a good amount of extra detail compared to their PlayStation days, granted, but the polygonal models and limited textures are still harsh on the eye.Perhaps an option to toggle between old and new graphics (as Aspyr included in Tomb Raider I-III Remastered) might have made the visual tweaks a little more impressive, but if you're hoping to see improved animations and recognisable character silhouettes at a glance, these aren't the upgrades you're looking for.ConclusionFor those who enjoyed the original release back around the turn of the millennium, Star Wars: Episode I - Jedi Power Battles is just about the safest remaster you could imagine. The instant level unlocks and expanded character roster are both nice touches, but Aspyr's limited improvements leave this feeling very of its time. If you can get past the sluggish combat, painful platforming, and performance 'quirks', then this is a fun trip down memory lane; if you can't, then prepare for a lesson in what games felt like a long time ago.All levels unlocked from the get-go let's you get straight to the funExpanded character roster provides more combat opportunitiesIt has nostalgic charmMinigames are a fun twist on the standard gameplayRepetitive combat encountersOutdated and often painful platforming challenges'Clipped' sprites and models can make things unfairly difficultNot Bad 6/10
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