Star Wars

Casual gamers may not be impressed, but Star Wars aficionados will certainly appreciate this ambitious cartridge.

All these bad points may sound like I don’t like the game. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I DO like it. I like it a lot and will play it over almost all other 5200 games. But, the points mentioned above do definitely distract from the game and should, as I have done be noted. Some of these problems may be due to the limited power of the 5200. I honestly don’t know. Either way, it doesn’t make much of a difference, because a distraction is a distraction, no matter it be from system limitations or bad programming. I would, however, definitely suggest picking up this title and giving it a LOT of plays. Just don’t expect a perfect arcade translation! May the yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. (like you don’t know the saying)!

In the end, this is a pretty faithful port. It takes a few missions before the game starts getting interesting, and the sound is disappointing, but it captures the core gameplay and graphics, has all the levels, and the mouse controls make Star Wars: The Arcade Game easy to play. It a good game to load up when you just want a quick gaming break.

The climactic trench stage is well done, but frankly not much better looking than the Atari 2600 version. Oh well, at least you can hear the Star Wars theme and R2 beeping in the background. Upon blowing up the Death Star, you just see a quick flash and a lame message announcing, "The Death Star is destroyed". The game's main issue is the control; the cursor is slippery and difficult to aim with precision. Visually however, this game is a dead ringer for the arcade, and probably the best home version I've played.

Even worse is the second stage, where you shoot towers on the surface of the Death Star. Like the first stage, many perfectly good shots simply fail to register. Making matters worse, this stage tends to run far too long. The one decent stage is the climactic trench scene, which requires little in the way of precision to dodge barriers and oncoming missiles. After blasting the vent, brace yourself for the sight of the Death Star getting blown into - hold onto your hat -- six pieces! It looks like a broken egg, and it's pathetic. Yoda must be rolling over in his grave.