N-Philes

Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice to the Force

Posted by Jason.

Everyone has heard of "A Galaxy Far, Far Away," and anyone who has seen the movies has dreamed of becoming a Jedi and wielding a lightsaber. Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice to the Force attempts to let you relive Luke Skywalker's journey from backwoods moisture farmer to powerful Jedi Knight all on the tiny screen of the Game Boy Advance. Unfortunately what the game manages to do is reduce the epic and much-beloved plot of the classic movies into a short and decidedly uninteresting side-scrolling button masher.

"Apprentice to the Force" takes you through the course of all the classic Star Wars movies from the perspective of Luke Skywalker. The game is divided into three main sections, one for each movie, with missions based loosely around events from their time. Unfortunately you are limited to only Luke's perspective and any events outside of that which can't be turned into an unimaginative side-scrolling level are conveniently ignored and given only the most cursory of lip service. It's disappointing to see twenty or thirty-minute chunks of movie events reduced to two or three sentence summaries told from the perspective of Luke recounting his early Jedi training. The game would have benefited greatly from having the in-game characters reenact some key scenes from the movies if for no other reason than to make it last a bit longer.

The biggest draw to any Star Wars games is the feeling that you are playing the movies; something that this game never comes close to accomplishing. The closest you get is the customary opening text that scrolls by as you start each section of the game, and the badly rendered midi version of the Star Wars theme that plays along with it. The only thing they did do right in this regard is using dialog directly from the movies in the rare instances where you see Luke interact with another character.

The game mechanics are fairly simple and the controls respond well enough; though I did find the dash ability a tad sensitive, often dashing into a bottomless pit when my intention was just to jump over them. All the levels are a simple "make your way from left to right" fare where you are occasionally locked within a screen-width section of the level and must kill a set number of enemies before progressing. It's a shame the developers did not go for more complex level designs, having the player work their way up and down, left and right through true platform-style levels. Simple scrolling levels might have worked back when the movies were originally released, but modern day wannabe-Jedi want more depth to their play.

Making your way through levels is no more complex than the levels themselves, simply shooting or slashing your way past hordes of enemies. As a self-proclaimed Star Wars junkie I was disappointed to find Luke blasting his way through Stormtroopers in Mos Eisley instead of sneaking past them to avoid detection, and having Obi-Wan use his Force abilities to help sneak R2-D2 and C-3PO into the city. Perhaps the only truly fulfilling level was Luke's battle with the Rancor, where you actually had to work out how to drive the monster away so you could bring the giant gate down on its head. At the same time this special instance makes things even more disappointing; not just because it is so short, but because it shows the developers knew how to make enemy encounters that were more thought provoking but simply chose not to.

Perhaps one of the few interesting parts of the game is when you get to take control of Luke as he flies his X-Wing star fighter just before making his famous trench run on the Death Star (an obligatory element of every Star Wars game). Though limited to a 2-D perspective, flying the X-Wing around and taking out waves of TIE Fighters was truly enjoyable. Unfortunately there is only one taste of this style of game play throughout the whole game. This stage was, however, adapted into a multiplayer section that gives the game at least some small measure of replay value.

This game gets an N-Philes score of C-.

Overall Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice to the Force is a run-of-the-mill game that few will truly feel is worth the money spent. If you are a genuine Star Wars fan or looking for a game to keep you busy for a day or two, give this title a rental. If you're looking to relive the movies on your Game Boy Advance then you're out of luck. Fortunately the classic trilogy was released on DVD just a few days after this game. You'd almost think Lucas planned it that way.

Posted in: Reviews

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