Super star wars return of the jedi


Publisher: JVC

Developer: Lucasarts

Genre: Action platformer

Release date: June 22 1994

Console: Super nintendo


Introduction

There have been many star wars games spanning across many different computer consoles and from different generations. From the very first star wars games that appeared on the Atari 2600, to the more new star wars games: like Lego star wars, star wars battlefront and star wars force unleashed. As I said there have been loads of star wars titles, but the one particular set of star wars games that still stand out, and are still fun to play to this day are the super star wars titles that appeared on the super Nintendo. The super star wars set of games covered the first three star wars films (a new hope, the empire strikes back and return of the jedi). So there was the first game which was self titled super star wars, then super star wars: the empire strikes back, and last and the one I know the best and will be reviewing, super star wars: return of the jedi.

 

Story

As expected super star wars return of the jedi follows the same story line as the film, and although some of the levels you play aren’t seen in the film. Overall the game follows the film’s storyline (which I will quickly try to sum up!) So about one year after the empire strikes back, return of the Jedi takes place where Jedi knight Luke Skywalker, walking carpet wookie Chewbacca and Han solo’s general love interest princess Leia, are all off to rescue the mercenary now turned rebel hero Han Solo (which has taken them a year to finally decide to actually go and rescue him……oh well moving right along)! Han has been frozen in carbonite by the evil gangster Jabba the Hut! Whose palace lies on the desert planet of Tatooine. Han was frozen in carbonite at the end of the movie the empire strikes back so if you really want to know what’s going on, I suggest you watch the first two movies: Star wars episode IV a new hope and star wars episode V the empire strikes back. Anyway we’re here to talk about the game not the whole star wars history! So the game starts off with Luke, Leia, and Chewie racing in a speeder up towards the villainous Jabba the Hut’s palace where they hope to rescue and become reunited with their old friend and ally.

 

Gameplay


General gameplay

For the most part super star wars ROJ (return of the jedi) is an action platforming game, with a few 3D type flying and speeder levels every now and then. At the start of each level you get to choose your character, the playable characters include:

 

·        Luke Skywalker:  Luke is now a full Jedi knight and uses his new green lightsaber as his primary weapon and his secondary weapon or attack in this case is his use of the force. Luke can use the force to throw his lightsaber, freeze his enemies and heal himself amongst many other things.

·        Han Solo: As you guessed Han uses his trusty blaster as his main weapon at first the blaster isn’t particularly strong, but by finding upgrades dotted around levels, the blaster then becomes a lot stronger and great against bosses. Han’s second weapon is powerful grenades which he can chuck at enemies, but they are best saved for bosses.

·        Princess Leia: Leia is different to the other characters because depending what level you’re playing on she has different equipment to go with it. One minute she’s wielding a blaster the next she’s fighting foes off with a chain which she uses as a whip!

·        Chewbacca: Chewbacca uses his bowcaster gun which is basically the same as Han’s blaster, and once again can be upgraded by finding blaster upgrades through the levels. His secondary attack is his ability to spin which hurts all enemies he touches whilst he is doing it. Great thing about Chewbacca is his spin bar replenishes so you can use it again and again.

·        Wicket the ewok: Yes you all read that correctly Wicket the ewok is a playable character on the endor levels. Wicket uses a bow and arrow as his main weapon, and can also swing from different poles and vines while shouting loads of cute ewok noises, I don’t know how the storm troopers have the heart to shoot him.


Once you’ve picked your character your goal is to guide your character from the start of the level to the end, with a boss battle waiting at the end of every level. Levels are packed with enemies some from the star wars universe, some not, and some from super Mario brothers like the piranha plant! Levels are also filled with traps and endless pitfalls, just like most other action platformers. The 3D levels are also quite fun but sometimes can be tricky. Most of the time your goal is to destroy a set number of enemies like tie fighters or enemy speeder bikes. The 3D levels are okay and do brake up the platforming aspect, but if they were taken out of the game and replaced with new platforming levels, I wouldn’t be complaining.

 

Controls

If you have played any of the previous super star wars games, you will feel right at home here, especially if you have played super empire strikes back. However if you haven’t played any of the super star wars titles then don’t worry. Depending who your playing as can make the game feel a bit different, for example with Luke you will need to get close to your enemies to attack them with your lightsaber. However playing as Han you will need to keep your distance a bit as you’re equipped with a blaster. All in all though the control for this game isn’t bad, you can jump, attack, and use a secondary attack if needs be. The game can become cramped at times with enemies all over the place, but using the double jump attack with Luke usually gets rid of the pests and if your using someone with a blaster you can aim in almost all directions which is a big help! The controls for this game overall are good; there won’t be many times where you will blame the control system for yourself dying.

 

Graphics and presentation

The graphics in super ROJ are great; even by today’s standards they still look pretty good. From the levels to the characters themselves; everything has been well designed; the colours are great, the characters look like the characters they are supposed to represent even the enemy and boss characters look great. If there is one thing the super star wars games boast, is that they have great graphics.

 

Music and sound

The music and sound in super ROJ are second to none, back in the day they were perfect and almost sounded like their movie counter parts. Nowadays you might think a bit different, but for a super Nintendo game they are brilliant. To the sound the lightsaber makes when it’s swung, to the sound the blaster makes when it’s fired. Everything sounds how it should straight from the movies. The music is also brilliant, again straight from the movie. You’ll here a snes version of the imperial march, the ewok theme, and of course the star wars main theme, all of which sound great. In the audio department this game rocks!

 How it plays now

Super ROJ is still a great game to play today, and is still one of the best star games available. Sure the levels can seem frustrating and difficult at times, and the bosses have real long health bars, which if you play as Luke you will find boss battles quite hard. But taking the bad into good it’s still an extremely playable game. Whether you’re looking for a great star wars game or just looking for a good action platformer; look no further super ROJ fulfils those requirements.


 Overall score

Super return of the Jedi is a great star wars game and out of all three of the super star wars games this game is the best one out of the lot. The force is strong with this game!


7.9/10

 

 

                                                                                                                                           




blog comments powered by Disqus