Star Wars (NES, 1991)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-7.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-8 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Pretty good variety (mixes overhead exploration, rail shooter, vertical shooter and side view platform sequences)
2 alternate playable characters that you can switch between on the fly after rescuing them (Luke is the default char - gun and light saber; Han Solo - much better gun, Leia - jumps a bit further?)
Pretty fast paced
A few hidden paths (Obi Wan cave and pink cave false walls)
Some shortcuts (auto-teleport out of the landcrawler after finding R2D2 for example)
Can destroy some projectiles with the light saber
Basic area map at the deah star maze via R2D2
Decent-good cutscenes (skippable)
Basic ranking system (completion percentage)
+/-
Partially non-linear structure (can do the caves in the overworld in any order, can go get Han Solo before R2D2 although it is fairly tough, can go to space almost immediately but it's very tough if not impossible, some maze areas, can skip rescuing both Han Solo and Leia)
The overworld is a partial hub (later on you'll go to the death star)
Lives and credits-based (restart from the beginning of the current area) - can gain a few extra lives during gameplay
Crazy physics when jumping off of the conveyor belts or elevators and bouncing against some enemies
Run button is mapped to the fire button (SMB)
Can't attack while in the landspeeder (overworld exploration)
Enemies don't drop health (they also don't respawn while in the same sub area though) - no easy and quick way to farm for health early on
No lifebar upgrades for the characters (only for the falcon ship)
-
Some control/interface issues (too much fall damage, pretty floaty controls, short invincibility time after taking a hit (means if you fall into spikes then you're often dead), can't access the character menu while in the overworld, somewhat loose scrolling while in the landspeeder, somewhat unforgiving hit detection near platform edges - no coyote time)
Overly poor sense of direction early on besides knowing you should rescue R2D2 (who mentions Obi Wan Kenobi but if you haven't seen the movie you won't know what to do with it, it's actually better to go find Obi Wan's cave for the light saber and 2 extra lives first and then get Han Solo, when you go to Kenobi after getting R2D2 he just tells you to learn the way of the force - this just means collecting the ship power ups and then going to alderan via the hangar)
Trial & error (various leaps of faith later on, cheap hits/deaths from cheap trap and enemy placements and from the jetpack enemies outside the hangar - the game mostly makes up for this by giving you 10 credits and letting you farm lives, torpedo segment at the end - could've had a visual warning or an explanation of what to do beforehand)
No difficulty options - added on SMS (the final level is also a bit easier on SMS by default)
Uneven difficulty at times (spikes: sand people and some of the robot enemies in the early caves, some invincible enemies, at first Han Solo respawns at the bar if losing a life with him - after a certain point however you can revive him about 8 times for free using Obi Wan, turret shooter segment, )
Leia is unnecessary besides adding another health bar to the party (like Han she can't gain extra lives so relies on Obi Wan's resurrections)
Slowdown
You don't get any ending if you don't complete 100% of the game or perhaps complete it on jedi mode (and it doesn't tell you what you need to do to achieve this)
Most caves are in the overworld unneccesary because power ups respawn (when collecting power for the falcon scene)
A bit short for the genre
Level Design-7 Frustration-8 Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Pretty good variety (mixes overhead exploration, rail shooter, vertical shooter and side view platform sequences)
2 alternate playable characters that you can switch between on the fly after rescuing them (Luke is the default char - gun and light saber; Han Solo - much better gun, Leia - jumps a bit further?)
Pretty fast paced
A few hidden paths (Obi Wan cave and pink cave false walls)
Some shortcuts (auto-teleport out of the landcrawler after finding R2D2 for example)
Can destroy some projectiles with the light saber
Basic area map at the deah star maze via R2D2
Decent-good cutscenes (skippable)
Basic ranking system (completion percentage)
+/-
Partially non-linear structure (can do the caves in the overworld in any order, can go get Han Solo before R2D2 although it is fairly tough, can go to space almost immediately but it's very tough if not impossible, some maze areas, can skip rescuing both Han Solo and Leia)
The overworld is a partial hub (later on you'll go to the death star)
Lives and credits-based (restart from the beginning of the current area) - can gain a few extra lives during gameplay
Crazy physics when jumping off of the conveyor belts or elevators and bouncing against some enemies
Run button is mapped to the fire button (SMB)
Can't attack while in the landspeeder (overworld exploration)
Enemies don't drop health (they also don't respawn while in the same sub area though) - no easy and quick way to farm for health early on
No lifebar upgrades for the characters (only for the falcon ship)
-
Some control/interface issues (too much fall damage, pretty floaty controls, short invincibility time after taking a hit (means if you fall into spikes then you're often dead), can't access the character menu while in the overworld, somewhat loose scrolling while in the landspeeder, somewhat unforgiving hit detection near platform edges - no coyote time)
Overly poor sense of direction early on besides knowing you should rescue R2D2 (who mentions Obi Wan Kenobi but if you haven't seen the movie you won't know what to do with it, it's actually better to go find Obi Wan's cave for the light saber and 2 extra lives first and then get Han Solo, when you go to Kenobi after getting R2D2 he just tells you to learn the way of the force - this just means collecting the ship power ups and then going to alderan via the hangar)
Trial & error (various leaps of faith later on, cheap hits/deaths from cheap trap and enemy placements and from the jetpack enemies outside the hangar - the game mostly makes up for this by giving you 10 credits and letting you farm lives, torpedo segment at the end - could've had a visual warning or an explanation of what to do beforehand)
No difficulty options - added on SMS (the final level is also a bit easier on SMS by default)
Uneven difficulty at times (spikes: sand people and some of the robot enemies in the early caves, some invincible enemies, at first Han Solo respawns at the bar if losing a life with him - after a certain point however you can revive him about 8 times for free using Obi Wan, turret shooter segment, )
Leia is unnecessary besides adding another health bar to the party (like Han she can't gain extra lives so relies on Obi Wan's resurrections)
Slowdown
You don't get any ending if you don't complete 100% of the game or perhaps complete it on jedi mode (and it doesn't tell you what you need to do to achieve this)
Most caves are in the overworld unneccesary because power ups respawn (when collecting power for the falcon scene)
A bit short for the genre