LucasArts

Game Description: In the fantasy world of the game, the darkness of the Great War has passed and the lands of Gladius are peaceful once more. Now combat takes place only in the gladiator arenas, where schools from around the world compete for the title of Imperial Champions. You will follow the grand saga of two young heroes, Ursula and Valens, as they recruit and train a team of warriors and compete in the gladiator games. Battle with deadly weapons and powerful magic as you learn vital combat tactics while you enhance and customize your own characters. Strategic possibilities are nearly endless, with 16 character classes and over 100 unique character types from which to choose.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Violence

As I watch my regular dose of television, I get bombarded with commercial after commercial. Of these, the most annoying are infomercials. They claim to do this or that in hopes to snare the watcher into running out to the local retail store or picking up the phone and dialing their 800 number.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence

While Starfighter succeeds in delivering accessible gameplay and superb technical elements, it ultimately lacks personality.

What kind of strange hold does Star Wars and LucasArts have over this industry? With every Star Wars game release, the video game industry salivates. It doesn't even matter that we get stinkers like Shadows Of The Empire, Jedi Power Battles and many of the other forgettable releases, the next announcement always brings more cheers from the press as if it were the first. It's no more evident than with Star Wars: Starfighter.

Game Description: Take back the Theed Royal Palace in this fast and furious lightsaber action game. You will have the power of the Force and your trusty Jedi saber to help you ward off legions of battle droids, destroyer droids, assassins, and other creatures from the Star Wars: Episode I worlds. Your connection to the Force grows with each battle, which adds much-needed power boosts, new moves, and enhanced Jedi abilities for your journeys within the various worlds. Choose to fight as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, or Jedi Council members Mace Windu, Plo Koon, or Adi Gallia.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence

What's worse is that some of their best games were actually created by other companies: like the Star Wars series (developed by Capcom) on the Super Nintendo and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (developed by Factor 5) for the Nintendo 64. It's likely that the potency of the Star Wars license is why this division continues to exist. Their latest is a side-scrolling fighting game called Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles and it's close to being a game that LucasArts finally got right.

Jedi Power Battles was a strangely difficult game to review. Dale and I on some level enjoyed the game, but you must wonder if our patience wouldn't have ran out a lot quicker if we weren't professionally obligated to play it. All the major problems that Dale mentioned in his review are very accurate and very serious.