Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores, but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, all whilst including some lengthy gameplay, to give you, the reader, the chance to form your own impressions and views while reading and watching.
In this explanatory review, we’re covering STAR WARS: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles by developer Aspyr:
STAR WARS: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles: (Nintendo Switch)
A long time a go in a galaxy far away, LucasArts released Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles on the Sony Playstation, Sega Dreamcast, and Game Boy Advance in 2000-2001. The game was an arcade beat ’em up game set around the events and environments of Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It is a game I remember quite fondly as I played it a lot with my brother Jack when we owned a Playstation back in 2002.
Fast forward 25 years or so and Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles has made a return thanks to Aspyr. They have made quite a name for themselves with remastering several Star Wars games like Bounty Hunter, Episode I Racer, Republic Commando, Knights of the Old Republic (1 & 2), Battlefront, and Force Unleashed, but now they have added Jedi Power Battles to that list and I couldn’t be happier to be able to play it on modern consoles.
So, for anyone who has never played this game before, I shall give a brief overview. Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles takes place during the events of the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. The Trade Federation has formed a blockade around the peaceful planet of Naboo and the Jedi have been dispatched to negotiate terms in order to lift the blockade. Negotiations fail however and the Jedi must escape to Naboo and fight their way through hordes of battle droids in the process.
The game consists of ten stages themed on locations in the film from inside a Trade Federation Ship, the Swamps of Naboo, Theed Palace, Tatooine, and Coruscant. Up to two players can play together, taking control of their favourite Jedis including Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, Plo Koon and Adi Gallia. Other characters include Padmé Amidala, Captain Panaka, Ki-Adi Mundi, Battle Droid, and Darth Maul. The latter characters were unlockable in the original version of Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles but they are available from the start in the remastered version. Even Jar Jar Binks is a playable character, but you do have to unlock him first if you want to play him.
Once you have chosen your characters, it is time to start playing. All of the game’s 10 stages are available to play right away, as well as the bonus stages and challenges. Each stage has its own objectives that you have to complete in order to complete the level. For example, on the City of Theed stage, you must find and rescue seven handmaidens. On other stages, you may be tasked with keeping a particular NPC alive. What all main stages have in common though is that you must fight your way through battle droids by using a range of attacks, using your lightsaber, blaster or force attacks that you can string together to form combos. You only start off with a handful of combo attacks for your character but you can learn more by collecting enough points when you finish the stage.
On the topic of points, you can earn them by defeating enemies and collecting items. Items like health of force or killing simple battle droids earn you less points whereas Challenge icons and harder enemies will earn you more. There are three tiers of rewards for collecting points and are unlocked for every consequent 10,000 points you acquire. The kind of rewards you can redeem are health/force upgrades, combos, and attack/defense upgrades.
As for the bonus stages, there is a survival mode, a race, a minigame where you control a droideka, and another where you play as a gungan gaurd and must poke Jar Jar into his cell. Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles also has a training mode so you can learn the basic controls and skills and a Vs. Mode where can play against a CPU or a human player to practice your combo attacks.
There is quite a lot here to keep you coming back from time to time. The game play is just as fun as I remember although the controls can be a little fiddly at times. Trying to pull off combos effectively will take time and learning when the right moment to block blaster fire is still an art form when you get the timing right. That said, I do wish some of the attacks would connect quicker. Some characters can feel a little slow at times, especially after running up to enemies and then going for an attack. You almost have to press the attack button pre-emptively so that when you are in range, your attack can connect before the enemy hits you first.
When it comes to multiplayer, I do wish that Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles had an online multiplayer mode. Local co-op is great, but I would have loved to play this with my bro again who lives in another country. Also, there is no reason why an online mode couldn’t work with this game and even have 4-player online co-op. That would be really cool and I hope Aspyr consider it in a potential future update.
One thing I should point out is that Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles does have some bugs that can rear their ugly heads on occasion. Sometimes, you can get caught up on certain parts of the environment that are normally completely harmless but would for some reason instakill you. I also found a point in one of the stages where you must shut down the fans before descending down a shaft, that one fan I turned off stopped moving but as I dropped down to the ledge below, I was blown upwards instead and instakilled. It was annoying because I wasn’t too far from the end of the stage when it happened but I didn’t have any lives left and was forced to Game Over.
Speaking of Game Over, its time to bring this Explain & Play review to an end. Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles is certainly a blast from the past that I would have loved to have seen a new entry of in the series. Aspyr has done a reasonably good job porting this game over to modern consoles and giving it a visual upgrade in the process. I am overjoyed to be able to play it once again as I have a lot of nostalgia for the game but I feel like this game is only going to be appreciated by those that have played it before as it is a product of its time. Gamers who are not Star Wars fans are probably going to give this a miss but that would be a shame as they’ll be missing out on a pretty enjoyable game.
Game Specifications:
Developer: Aspyr
Publisher: Aspyr
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Arcade, Action, Adventure
No. of Players: 1-2 (Single System)
Release Date: January 23, 2025
Price: $19.99
File Size: 4.3 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
