Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles | Review | Switch

Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles hit store shelves in 2000 offering fans a new way to play as their favorite characters from the film. While reviews for the game were definitely mixed back in the day, tons of people out there have fond memories of the game. With the game being remastered on modern platforms, is it still worth taking a look at all these years later? That’s exactly what we’re here to talk about. Let’s get into it. 

Note

Many of you out there might be grizzled vets who battled your way through this game back on the PlayStation or the Dreamcast but for me, this is my first time tackling the game. This review isn’t a comparison of the past and present, but rather my impressions of playing and beating this game for the first time.

Story & New Additions

Jedi Power Battles takes place during the events of Star Wars Episode I. The game spans ten main levels taking players to locations found in the movie including Naboo, Tatooine, Coruscant and more. This new release from Aspyr retains everything that was found in the original with some enhancements. From the start, all of the levels in the game are unlocked, including some bonus levels found in the original along with the entire roster of characters from the original release, including unlockable characters. Additional lightsaber colors for some of the Jedi can also be found.

Aspyr added 13 completely new characters to Jedi Power Battles, with one of the most notable inclusions being Jar Jar Binks. All of these are characters that were already in the game as either non-playable characters or enemies. These aren’t all melee based either, as several also have some kind of projectile weapons or blasters. While Aspyr could have just simply ported the game and not done anything extra, fan service like this is cool to see. Before being able to take a crack at these characters you will have to beat the ten original stages with at least one character.

Gameplay

Jedi Power Battles has a slight learning curve, but you’ll be carving up battle droids and other foes in no time. Each of the characters handle slightly differently, but all feature the basic range of moves. Y, X and A are used for attacks, B is used to jump, L is used to block and R is used to lock on to enemies. Force powers can also be used with a combination of pressing ZR and X, A or B, while pressing Y with ZR will use an item. Select can be use to change the HUD elements that appear on screen.

Blocking and deflecting laser blasts with the Jedi characters feel great. This is timing based and does have some limits. Characters won’t be able to indefinitely block incoming attacks depending on the intensity and how much is coming in. Once you get the timing down, sending the laser blasts back at enemies is not only satisfying, but is also necessary for taking out select enemies in the game. 

The non-lightsaber wielding characters are cool additions, but I found myself gravitating toward Jedi. The blaster based characters won’t be able to spam long range attacks, either, as these have a slight cool down. They also have melee based attacks for close range. There are A LOT of these in the game with all of the new additions, so trying out which character you like is a must. 

Although it’s pretty easy to get the hang of, simply mashing buttons is not how the game was intended to be played. A number of different combo moves can be pulled off by specific button sequences. This can make for some really cool looking animations. As fun as it is to see these, I found that these combos get broken up by enemy attacks because your foes have a knack for attacking during a wind up phase. Of course, your mileage may vary with this, but I found that mashing attacks, or just going in with a defensive mindset and short burst attacks was a more efficient way to play. 

Movement and combat feels pretty intuitive, however the platforming in the game can be a bit of a slog. With some practice, tricky sections can become easier however some of the deaths can feel cheap. Additionally, while few and far between, there are times when enemies are placed right alongside areas that are used to pick off players mid jump, forcing a tumble down an endless pit to instant death. The game can be a bit unforgiving at times, but once you learn the levels and enemy patterns, you’ll be able to get by.

On top of the regular on foot missions, there are a handful of missions or challenges that allow for vehicular based combat. I found this to be a nice change of pace to the somewhat long levels. These are fun and easy to control. Bonus stages are also here and available from the start, including a special mission as a destroyer droid (droidekas), a race and more. In addition to these, boss characters can be found at the end of most levels. These can be challenging, but being aware of their attack patterns and figuring out their weak points will be enough to get you through. 

If you’re like me and did not play Jedi Power Battles back in the day, some of the power ups or even on screen elements may be a bit confusing. Back when the game was originally released, players would have had the benefit of being able to check the game manual to see what things mean or do. While you can figure things out eventually, I always wish that old digital versions of remakes like this would come with some kind of digital manual to alleviate any confusion. Again, if you’re familiar with the game, you’re going to be fine. For those that aren’t, well, a few tips - the dots in the upper middle part of the screen are your lives and the icon on the bottom left indicate how many special items (detonators, etc) you are currently holding. 

Multiplayer & Difficulty Settings

Two player co-op and versus multiplayer are available in Jedi Power Battles. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to try this out during my time with the game. It would have been nice to see an online multiplayer mode added here, but given Aspyr’s spotty history with online in somewhat similar remakes (the early woes of Star Wars Battlefront Collection come to mind), I’m okay with them not adding it. It does look like quite a bit of fun if you have a friend to play with, though. 

Upon starting out, Jedi Power Battles offers two different difficulty settings - Jedi and Easy. I played through the game on Jedi with Obi-Wan for my first play through and found the game challenging, but not impossibly so. As a test for this review, I also tried out the game on Easy mode. Things are more or less the same, however enemies felt like they took less hits to defeat and there were sometimes simply less of them in the stages. With that being said, if you’re worried about this game being too hard, these options will be sufficient for veterans or beginners. 

On a somewhat related note, In-game death can sometimes be a bit confusing. Once you die, the game immediately puts you back at the last check point, which may sometimes leave you wondering how or why you perished. Of course, sometimes things are very straightforward, but other times, you’re just dead and will have to try to not do what you did before. 

Visuals, Audio & Performance

Similar to the gameplay, Jedi Power Battles is a product of its time with some aspects of its visual appearance. The geometry of the levels, environmental aspects and characters all retain a look of a game that was released in 2000. I have no issue with this myself. Even with that said, developer Aspyr did a good job cleaning this game up to make it look more modern. Character models and environments feature cleaned up textures and look pretty decent. Again, and similar to a lot of other Aspyr Star Wars ports, this is a visually enhanced version of a game from yesteryear. 

The pre-rendered videos that are sprinkled throughout the game don’t look nearly as sharp as the rest of the product, which may be a bit off-putting to some. At the same time, this has been pretty consistent with Aspyr’s other offerings in the past. Aside from this, performance on the Switch is very consistent and I can’t think of any issues I had with the game in terms of framerate. 

Conclusion

If anything, Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles is a faithful remaster. It might not be super deep, but the game is fun to play. Although there have been some improvements made to the game in terms of visuals and gameplay (more health pick ups, check points, etc.), it still feels like a product of its time and can be a little bit unfair. Still, if you give it some time, there is definitely some fun to be had, especially for Star Wars fans. 

Final Score: 7.0