Time for a new game review!XD And this one is an old favorite of mine!
Star Wars Starfighter is a flight combat arcade style game released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. The game takes place during the events of Episode 1 but instead of directly following the plot of the movie, the game's story follows three new and original pilots as they become become allies in the battle against the Trade Federation. Each pilot has there own unique stories, personalities, and starfighter making for a varied game play experience. Rhys Dallows is a promising rookie pilot from Naboo who flies the iconic Naboo starfighter seen in Episode 1. Vana Sage is a mecenary hired by the Trade Federation who flies her own custom fighter the Guardian Mantis. Nym is a pirate with a personal army who flies the heavy bomber Havoc.
Each fighter rightfully plays differently from each other and the missions given to each pilot fits to there core strengths from the handling of the ship to each ships secondary weapons(missiles, bombs, ect.).
Vana's Guardian Mantis is geared to superior dog-fighting as it has the best speed and maneuverability of the three. Her ship's secondary weapons are special rechargeable target trackers that have the ability to take down the shields of enemy fighters in one shot. The tracker also allows the Mantis' blasters to home in on any enemy tagged with it, without the need to aim directly at your target. Her special second weapon includes holding down the secondary fire to combine all trackers into one super tracker capable of disabling even large battleships.The drawbacks include weak shields and health making it impossible to take on heavy enemies.
Nym's Havoc is a heavy assault bomber designed for take on large groups if heavy type enemies, battleships, and bases. Having strong shields, and heavy armor the Havoc can take a ton of damage before going down. It also has an automated turret on top which acts on it's and attacks any nearby targets. It's regenerating bombs are pretty standard but cause an area of effect attack capable of destroying many ground targets clustered together. The havoc's special ability is to combine a certain number of bombs to create a super bomg able to destroy dozens of enemies in one shot. This fighter's drawbacks are it's slow speed and low maneuverability.
Rhys' Naboo starfighter is the more balanced of the three. It's shields and armor are decent all around. It has decent speed and maneuverability, while it's weapons are good enough to attack most targets. It's secondary weapons are basic(yet effective) proton torpedoes. It's special is combining two torpedoes to create one super torpedo. The one major flaw for this fighter is that it's torpedoes do not recharge over time.
The missions for the game are fun, fast-paced frag fests as you often battle hoards of enemies at once ranging from starfighters, tanks, bombers, and battleships. Each mission also comes with a large assortment of primary and secondary objectives including, escort, assault, rescue, hit and run and more. completing bonus objectives grants you medals: bronze, silver and gold. Completing these objectives is often a tricky but rewarding experience as collecting the medals unlocks bonus content such as extra missions, bonus ships like the Sith Infiltrator or blue Naboo starfighter, or multiplayer missions.
The graphics and sound for the game are pretty excellent even by today's standards. Sound effects and music were pulled straight from the movie itself and really adds to the overall feel of the game. The graphics(while still good) don't hold up as well. Each ships' hud is bright and useful in giving detailed info about your craft as well as info on enemies and allies alike. The environments for an early PS2 game look decent but compared to today's games they feel a little bland at times. The detail on the craft and vehicles are the best as each and every fighter, tank and ship looks authentic to the movie counterpart and really helps to sell the experience.
Overall, despite it's age Star Wars Starfighter is one great game! Fantastic game play, great action, a solid story with good characters, and a lot of bonus content this is a pretty complete package. Great for action gamers, Star Wars fans and noobs alike!
FanBoy gives Star Wars Starfighter(PS2): 9/10
----FanBoy
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