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Star Wars: Starfighter (PlayStation 2) artwork

Star Wars: Starfighter (PlayStation 2) review


"This feature allows you to zoom in on the enemy for some precision shots. After the first mission you should be able to pick up all the controls and become a legit Starfighter pilot. Thank you Lucas Arts for making this a simple game to pick up and play."

Let me start off this review by saying this: I have been playing games for most of my natural life, and I believe that I represent most other casual gamers out there who are looking for a good time. With that said and out of the way, I'll get straight to the point. No pussyfooting around in my reviews! Now for the review you all want to hear.

Lucas Arts has once again graced us with another Star Wars Title, this time in the form of a combat sim much akin to Rouge Squadron. In fact, Starfighter could easily be called Rouge Squadron 2, it's so much like its predecessor. But this time, the action takes place during the events in the Episode 1 movie. The story revolves around three characters and their quest to shut down the Trade Federation. There is Rhys Dallows, who is like your Skywalker character, seeking to avenge the death of his flight instructor. Vana Sage, the mercenary fighter Pilot, who is deceived by the Trade federation early in the game. And Nym, the Feeorin bandit leader, who aims to put the federation away for ruining his business. And although the story is merely filler in between levels, it still has that unique way of grabbing our attention and making us play longer. Other little neat aspects of this game include the B-wing and T-16 vehicles and some music from the original episode 1 soundtrack. Now down to the nitty gritty.

Graphics: All I can say about this game is WOW! Lucas Arts really put that extra effort into this game to make you feel as if you are really in the seat of that Starfighter. With the enhanced anti-aliasing that Lucas Arts promised, the game is brought to you in painstakingly great detail. You'll have to get a towel to wipe the drool off your mouth once this game boots up. Never have I played a game with so much attention to detail; even the little battledroids have been modeled to perfection and brought to you on the screen. The explosions will leave you breathless, and the sheer number of models on-screen simultaneously will make your mind spin! At one point in the game you're forced to look at the planet as about 60 droid Starfighters fly up toward you! All this is done with little or no slowdown. Hands down, these are the best graphics to date on the PS2.

Sound: Once again you are treated to sounds straight out of the movies. Ships buzz as they narrowly miss a collision with your ship, lasers zing by you as you dodge 10 Droid ships, and even the familiar ''Roger, Roger'' of the battle droids are in this! I love this game! The musical score is what you would expect from a Star Wars title: dramatic space opera music. The biggest treat is at the end of the game when ''Dual of the Fates'' plays through the background. Nothing new Sound wise, but still a good formula.

Control/Gameplay: As soon as you pick up the controller you will be saying, ''Thank you Thank you Lucas Arts.'' They have put that extra effort into making your experience that much more enjoyable. Controls are simple: the left analog stick controls your pitch and yaw, and the right analog stick controls your spinning and turning. Boost and brake are conveniently placed as R2 and L2, respectively. Lock-ons are done with the Square button and firing with the 'X.' The best feature, though, is the sniper cam, which is R1. This feature allows you to zoom in on the enemy for some precision shots. After the first mission you should be able to pick up all the controls and become a legit Starfighter pilot. Thank you Lucas Arts for making this a simple game to pick up and play.

Overall: Although the game itself is a bit short, even with all the secrets to unlock, Star Wars: Starfighter is a game that no Star Wars fan should be without. With the great blend of graphics, control, and sound this game would be good for any casual gamer out there. In my truly honest opinion, this is a must-have game for anyone with a PS2, bottom line.


johnnythm's avatar
Community review by johnnythm (Date unavailable)

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Feedback

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johnny_cairo posted October 12, 2008:

Is it possible to request for a review to be taken down? Of the thousands on this site, I would pick this one. This other "Johnny" doesn't even bother to give the game a rating. Complete failure.
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honestgamer posted October 12, 2008:

Reviews written before the switch to a dynamic site design, and sometimes those just after the switch, didn't have dates and scores attached (even though they often were awarded scores when originally posted). Though they were written a long time ago, often they're still quite good. Up to that point, I remember this review being one of my favorites that was available on the site, written by someone I used to chat with in Yahoo! Chat.

I have no plans whatsoever to remove scores from reviews, or to provide an option to review games without a score. The score is one of the most essential parts of any review. Particularly on a site that hosts multiple reviews, it's critical that users rate the games they are reviewing... and that they do so accurately!

If you read through some of those older reviews and find that a score is named within the text (but that it doesn't actually show up within the database), please let me know so that I can update that review accordingly. The fewer unrated reviews we have, the better. I'm just not interested in removing the site's oldest of reviews for the lack of that score. Thankfully, they make up a minority of the on-site content.
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EmP posted October 12, 2008:

There shouldn't be many. I went through the unscored reviews a year or so back and added scores to the vast majority of them. It's now just a case of finding the few I missed.
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joseph_valencia posted October 12, 2008:

Scores are overrated.
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bluberry posted October 12, 2008:

The score is one of the most essential parts of any review.

:)
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DrCasey posted October 12, 2008:

Some people even use the Score to decide what to eat for dinner.
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overdrive posted October 12, 2008:

The score is one of the most essential parts of any review.

For me, it comes in just behind the intro, body and conclusion. But slightly above the mass amounts of filler jokes I make about my abuse of alcohol and drugs.....at least most of the time.

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