PlayStation

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

This game is a must have for any action-adventure or Star Wars gaming fan. The game plays wonderfully and offers a nice challenge for a wide variety of skill levels, yet is not overly difficult. Phantom Menace will keep you occupied for quite a while with the amount of levels available and the time it takes to finish them. Really, the only (minor) gripe I have is that it would be nice to have the ability to change camera’s angle at times. Other than that, this game is loads of fun, which is why I give it a score of 88.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was a mixture of good gaming with bad graphics and glitches. The gaming was good enough to keep me interested the whole way through without having the graphics and glitches forcing me to toss the disc in the trash. In essence it is the classic toss up of whether graphics or depth is more important, and it seems Big Ape chose depth. My biggest complaint about the game is that I had a harder time killing Jabba the Hut's champion fighter than I did killing Darth Maul (who was in the game’s final fight).

While this game is not a disaster, its nowhere near as good as it could (or should) have been and makes you wonder how bad the 'racer' game that was cancelled on our system must have been. Phantom Menace took me back a few years to the bad-old-days when game developers fought amongst themselves to grab all of the best movie licenses and then spent so much money on them, that they couldn't afford the time to make then into a half decent game. There can't be too many gamers out there who haven't bought at least one of those poor games. Don't get me wrong though, this game isn't terrible, just not great. Younger gamers may like its simplicity, but could never complete it without using a 'guide' due to the obscure events that must be completed to progress through the later levels. By level six I was struggling to keep my eyes open and playing it to the end was a real chore, only done in the interests of giving it a fair review.

För en oerfaren TV-spelare som verkligen älskar den senaste Star Wars-filmen kan Star Wars: The Phantom Menace erbjuda några dagars hyfsad spelunderhållning. Men för den som tycker att ett bra Star Wars-spel bör innehålla mer än klichéartade och dåligt sammansatta Tomb Raider-banor, taskigt samplade repliker och vapen som lämpar sig bättre för Rambo än för Obi-Wan Kenobi är detta spel verkligen ingenting att ha.

This game manages to disappoint all audiences. Game players will be frustrated by the game's sketchy control. Fans of the movie will be bummed out by the overall presentation. It all adds up to one Death Star-sized failure.

L'exemple type du jeu mal pensé. A part les musiques, tous ses aspects ne sont pas terribles et le jeu sent bon l'appât à fan de Star Wars. Heureusement ceux-ci ne se laisseront pas avoir... heu, n'est-ce pas ?

If the addition of the music video is substantial enough for you to think about a purchase, consider this: The DVD is cheaper, has better production values, and it has an entire movie on it! Your DVD remote will most likely give you better control too. Even if this game had the force behind it, you still wouldn't want to play it.

Phantom Menace has its share of action sequences, but too much of its gameplay revolves around tedious puzzle solving. In the end, the frustration outweighs the fun. A music video is included as a bonus, but it looks terribly grainy. Phantom Menace should attract a lot of Star Wars fans, but only die-hards will be able to see it through to the end.