LucasArts

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Language, Violence

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence

While Starfighter succeeds in delivering accessible gameplay and superb technical elements, it ultimately lacks personality.

What kind of strange hold does Star Wars and LucasArts have over this industry? With every Star Wars game release, the video game industry salivates. It doesn't even matter that we get stinkers like Shadows Of The Empire, Jedi Power Battles and many of the other forgettable releases, the next announcement always brings more cheers from the press as if it were the first. It's no more evident than with Star Wars: Starfighter.

Game Description: Take back the Theed Royal Palace in this fast and furious lightsaber action game. You will have the power of the Force and your trusty Jedi saber to help you ward off legions of battle droids, destroyer droids, assassins, and other creatures from the Star Wars: Episode I worlds. Your connection to the Force grows with each battle, which adds much-needed power boosts, new moves, and enhanced Jedi abilities for your journeys within the various worlds. Choose to fight as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, or Jedi Council members Mace Windu, Plo Koon, or Adi Gallia.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence

What's worse is that some of their best games were actually created by other companies: like the Star Wars series (developed by Capcom) on the Super Nintendo and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (developed by Factor 5) for the Nintendo 64. It's likely that the potency of the Star Wars license is why this division continues to exist. Their latest is a side-scrolling fighting game called Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles and it's close to being a game that LucasArts finally got right.

Jedi Power Battles was a strangely difficult game to review. Dale and I on some level enjoyed the game, but you must wonder if our patience wouldn't have ran out a lot quicker if we weren't professionally obligated to play it. All the major problems that Dale mentioned in his review are very accurate and very serious.

Game Description: If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones. The year is 1947. Indy is back (this time in electrifying 3-D!) as a CIA recruit tasked with uncovering why Soviet agents are sniffing around the ruins of the fabled Tower of Babel. So hold onto your fedora and grab your whip in this heart-pounding action quest for the elusive "Infernal Machine."

When I say that this is a game made to compete with the likes of the Tomb Raider series, I'm not joking. The Infernal Machine is not a bold attempt to redefine the 3rd-person, 3D-exploration genre pioneered by the original Tomb Raider. Instead, it's a massive 17-stage exercise in transplanting the body of Indy into a Tomb Raider-style game complete with all the flaws that have typically plagued the genre.