Star Wars is not only one of the best movie games made, but quite simply one of the best games ever made.
Star Wars places you in the cockpit of the X-Wing fighter during the Death Star Assault at the end of Episode IV (or just plain Star Wars to you casual fans!). Using color vector graphics, the action is all in a 3D, first person perspective as you battle through imperial resistance on your mission to destroy the Death Star. You have a number of shields that protect your fighter (the default is 6), once depleted, a direct hit will send you packing back to Tatooine – which essentially wouldn’t make sense because you’re space vapors by that point.
There were both stand up and sit down versions of the game, with the sit down version giving a better, more realistic experience. As if the Star Wars moniker wasn’t appealing enough, the game was literally decorated head-to-toe with artwork, insomuch that the sit down version sported a faux control panel that closely resembled the fighters in the movie. The addition of a targeting computer (which was in essence, a Polaroid camera on a stick) would have been a great addition. Then again, I’m just playing out my own fantasies with that one; I just wanted to keep saying “Alllllmost there…” over and over again. The game controlled with a flight yoke similar to the one on the Battlezone machine. There were triggers for firing on both sides, for those who prefer to fire with their thumbs as opposed to their fingers.
Upon starting a game, you can choose a difficulty level. The harder the difficulty you choose the bigger bonus you’ll get. Easy starts you off on the first level with little to no bonus points awarded. Medium will drop you into level 3 and if you destroy the Death Star, you’ll get 400,000 points. Hard difficulty catapults you to level 5 with a 800,000 point bonus and little chance of surviving from there.
Gameplay is divided into waves that gradually get harder and faster the further you progress. Each wave is divided into separate sections; the beginning of each wave has you flying through space taking out Tie Fighters and their fireballs. Enemy aggression increases with each wave and by wave 5, you’ll be lucky to score a hit on tie fighters since they’ll be raining fire on you constantly. By the second wave, Darth Vader will make an appearance and while he can be difficult to hit, he’s worth a lot of points. Supposedly, if you hit him enough, you can go above the supposed maximum of six shields.
The second section will have you on the Death Star surface shooting gun turrets and/or towers. Gun turrets appear as red boxes and are 200 points each while towers start at 200 points and multiply from there. Taking out all 16 towers will get you a really hefty bonus as well as a guaranteed spot on the high score table.
The final section has you flying through the trench on your way to the exhaust port while avoiding enemy fire and shooting even more turrets. Later levels will have catwalks going across the trench which you’ll have to avoid in addition to the fire coming your way. When you hear Obi-Wan tell you to use the force, and providing that you can get through the trench without getting all blown up without shooting, you’ll get a 100,000 point bonus. The exception to the force is if you choose the easy difficulty you’ll only end up with a measly 5,000 point bonus on the first level and 10,000 on the second.
Once you complete all three sections, you move on to the next wave and the game starts over with a higher difficulty.
Visually, Star Wars was cutting edge for its time despite all of the wire frame vectors flying around. The birth of polygons was still a year away and vector graphics were the best way to get a smooth frame rate and create such a mind blowing experience at the same time. Nothing beats starting the game and seeing three Tie Fighters flying straight at you or flying right into the Death Star for your approach to the trench. Vector graphics made all of these effects possible, and this game made the best use of them, hands down. Everything from the space dogfights to destroying towers on the surface made you feel like you were part of the movie, and who didn’t wish they could pilot an X-Wing at the time? Vectors did have limitations, however. Some of the graphics, most notably the gun turrets, weren’t too detailed. Until recently, I didn’t even know the red boxes scattered on the Death Star surface and in the trenches were turrets. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.
The sound in the game was amazing for the time. The soundtrack played seven songs from the movie including the Star Wars theme, Obi-Wan’s theme, the Cantina song, and the Imperial March in later levels. There were also voice samples from the movie that played at the appropriate times during the game, like Han Solo telling you to blow the thing when you reach the exhaust port or Obi-Wan telling you to use the force in the trenches. These little touches really added to the immersion of the game. Of course, it’s not all candy canes and gumdrops as the atypical laser fire noises of the movies aren’t there nor are the trademark noises from Tie Fighter engines. Of course, the game achieved so much for the time; it could be blamed on limitations of the technology. It’s all peanuts compared to aural realism the sound provided. It was essentially just like playing through the movie, only without annoying laser disc stuttering.
Star Wars goes to show that any movie franchise can be converted to a video game if the developers really know what people want. Then again, it’s Star Wars; it was money in the bank from the start. Though the gameplay variety is a little on the short side, the combination of great visuals, soundtrack, and addictive gameplay make Star Wars not only one of the best movie games made, but quite simply one of the best games ever made.