| STAR
WARS |
 
Does this game really need an introduction? No? Well too bad, you'll get one anyway...
In 1977, George Lucas created a masterpiece of film when he created the movie Star Wars. It was such as massive hit it spawned 2 sequels - The Empire Strikes Back in 1982, and Return of the Jedi in 1983. This is the franchise I grew up with. No Anakin series, no Jar Jar Binks, no Mandalorian, no Darth Maul...just the first three films in their untainted, un-cgi, unmodifieed format (for the most part). Oh yeah, and no lamestreamers on the (early) internet to argue about who shot first! It was a much nicer, simpler time. Now, this was not Star Wars first outing on a game console. Around 1983-1984, Parker Bros. had license to four titles for the Atari 2600 (Star Wars: The Arcade Game, Empire Strikes Back, Jedi Arena, and Death Star Battle). But in 1990, Lucasfilm Games (not yet renamed LucasArts - which I more preferred the older name and logo anyway), with the help of JVC, released this on the 8-bit Nintendo, and boy is it an odd one, but ti tries really hard. In Star Wars for the NES, you start the game as Luke Skywalker in his landspeeder heading into a cave to get his pistol. After you complete this task you can run around the desert of Tatoonie kinda-sorta fulfilling the various movie tasks, like getting R2D2 back from the Jawas, picking up Han Solo at the bar, getting the Lightsaber from Obi Wan Kenobi in a creepy cave full of spastic Sandpeople who jumpscare into action when you get too close (huh?!?). Yes, it tried very hard to follow the actual movie. It even includes scenes for the trash compactor and some other stuff on the Death Star. But it's hard - ATARI Hard. The game was one of those movie games that's a bit better than LJN's output (hahaha, the Rainbow of Doom), but it still was nothing to write home about. I think it's more of a collector's item for Star Wars fans, than an actual video game. However, it seemed when LucasArts/Lucasfilm did a platformer game they always made it extra hard. I'm probably going to briefly review Super Star Wars in my "Rental Regrets" section in the "misc" section.Five Nights at Sandpeople - My experiences I got this in Christmas of 1991 and it was not exactly a game I dwelled on too much. I liked playing it, and enjoyed it but I always felt a little stagnated as the action was a little too fast, particularly Boba Fett and the bloody Sandpeople that are, intimidating as heck, just look at em (c'mon, wait till I get a screenshot in here). I think the furthest I ever got was trying to get to the Millennium Falcon - where Boba Fetts descended upon me like angry hornets straight out of the nest! I was dodging shots everywhere like a madman trying to get through that mess. I died just as I got to the correct hangar door in Moes Iseley! This game always felt like I was a slow car on the internetstate during an apocalyptic weather event requiring evacuation, and I was getting blocked in by faster vehicles. Everything moves so fast it's un-human and kind of scary/harrowing at times. |
