Another problem is the spotty collision detection. While it doesn't damage the gameplay too much, there are times when it can be confusing. When flying around the larger federation ships, you can lose your bearing and clip them. Sometimes you'll smack into a ship's hull and be knocked away; other times you'll fly right through it and find your screen blanketed with the tan coloring of its hull. This can also pose a problem in some missions where you'll find yourself destroying dropships and such. After exploding, they will break apart into large chunks that drift away, causing the same problem mentioned above.
The level design is strong, ranging from swirling space battles to ground defense. One thing that all levels have in common is the robust number of targets in each. You'll rarely find yourself flying aimlessly while looking for targets, as enemies are hardly in short supply. The frantic pacing of each mission rarely lets up, which is a good thing, since the main strength of the game lies in the battles. The story, while at times compelling, exists mostly to move the game along. Many of the levels are padded with decent-looking CG cinemas that will move you along to the next mission or next pilot.
Graphically, Starfighter is an improvement over the PlayStation 2 version. As mentioned, the game has been tweaked to take more advantage of the Xbox's graphical power. The dips in frame rate that existed in the PlayStation 2 version have all but been eradicated, and the game moves along at a much higher rate overall. The jaggy and aliased look has been softened as well but hasn't completely been done away with. The quality of the textures on the ships and terrain has been improved also, but this is not to say that there's no room for additional improvement. Some of the Federation ships are pretty bland to look at from a distance, and getting a good look at them up close will reveal some flat and washed-out colors. Lighting has also been addressed, but these changes are subtle. At the time of its release on the PlayStation 2, Starfighter was easily one of the better-looking games, but it's been a big year. Several high-profile games have been released since then, and their graphical prowess far exceeds the visuals contained in Starfighter. Given that the Xbox has more strength in this category than the PlayStation 2, Starfighter hardly pushes the console in this way.
The control of each ship is easy to get used to. The ships reflect their size and weight through this control, but all three are a bit more unwieldy than they need to be. Interestingly enough, you can pull off powerslides with all three, which makes it fairly easy to come around on an attacking target. The left and right triggers control thrust and braking, while the buttons on the controller's face are for primary and secondary firing and for target selection. The latter can take a while to get used to, as the radar is almost nonexistent, which means you have to press the black and white buttons at the top of the controller to flip through all of your enemy targets.
One of the final additions to the Xbox version is the improved multiplayer mode. There are five modes to choose from, including a head-to-head mode, capture the flag, tag, hunter, and detonator drop. Detonator drop pits two players against each other in an attempt to locate the weapon and fly it back to the opponent's base before time runs out; hunter is a cat-and-mouse game, where the mouse is a damaged droid ship that is trying to evade its opponent for a set amount of time; and tag has you trying to keep your enemy under a beam for ten seconds to score.
Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition manages to maintain the charm of the Lucas films and also deliver an entertaining foray into the Star Wars universe. While this Xbox version has been improved, there's still plenty of room for more. The graphical tweaks are nothing to completely disregard, but on the other hand, they're nothing for Xbox owners to brag about either. The game fails to put the Xbox's power to full use, but the fun that was available in the PlayStation 2 version is still fully intact. For Star Wars fans who already own an Xbox, this game is worth a look, but if you only have a passing interest in Star Wars or space sims in general, you might want to give this game a rental first.
- See more CNET content tagged:
- ship,
- Star Wars,
- LucasArts,
- Sony PlayStation 2,
- Microsoft Xbox
Where to buy
Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition (Xbox):
$11.95
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
|
GamesDirectOnline
|
$11.95 | No |
|
%20Xbox%20Game%20reviews%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/xbox-games/star-wars-starfighter-special/4505-9582_7-30976291-2.html){kind=small}