Retro Review – Star Wars: Battle For Naboo

<p>With <em>The Last Jedi<&sol;em> due to hit theatres very soon I decided to take a look at an older <em>Star Wars<&sol;em> game that no one ever seems to mention&comma; good or bad&semi; <em>Star Wars&colon; The Battle for Naboo<&sol;em>&period; I know that <em>Rogue Squadron&comma; Racer<&sol;em>&comma; and <em>Shadows of the Empire<&sol;em> were the huge <em>Star Wars<&sol;em> games on the Nintendo 64&comma; but<em> Battle for Naboo<&sol;em> deserves some credit as well&period; The game takes place during the mostly panned Prequel trilogy and I think just due to that people don&&num;8217&semi;t give it a shot&comma; which is quite sad&period; Factor 5 was the king of Star Wars game on Nintendo consoles for quite a few years&comma; and I&&num;8217&semi;m still surprised hardcore flight sim fans pass this title up&period; The game plays just like <em>Rogue Squadron<&sol;em>&comma; except you are on Prequel planets using Prequel vehicles&semi; it is really well done&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The first thing that I noticed when I got past all the companies that brought us this title was the fact that this cartridge game has the actual <em>Duel of the Fates<&sol;em> by John Williams playing during the menu&period; This was unheard of on cartridge games back then&comma; we were lucky if we got midi music during the game&comma; not full scores&period; The song also instilled huge nostalgia in my heart&comma; I hadn&&num;8217&semi;t heard that song in quite some time and it took me back to when <em>Episode 1<&sol;em> was the talk of the town&period; The Prequel movies were my Star Wars movies that I really got involved in and many a great memory is linked to that song and those movies&period; Once I entered my name and started the first mission I heard actual voices as well&comma; this was another unheard of thing on cartridges and it was a nice surprise as I rumbled my speeder around Naboo looking for my commanding officer&period; The nostalgia factor plays high in this game for me&comma; and I can&&num;8217&semi;t wait to dig out more Prequel era games and enjoy them once again&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;132030" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-132030" style&equals;"width&colon; 638px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-132030" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;11&sol;22003311&sol;starwars&lowbar;naboo&lowbar;profilelarge&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"638" height&equals;"410" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-132030" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Star Wars&colon; Battle for Naboo<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; LucasArts&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Star Wars&colon; Battle for Naboo takes place over fifteen missions that run alongside the story in <em>The Phantom Menace<&sol;em>&period; You play as Gavin Sykes&comma; a soldier for the Resistance&comma; and you get enjoy battling The Trade Federation all over Naboo&period; Sykes begins his arduous campaign during The Fall of Theed and must rescue Captain Kael from Federation droids&period; You continue this fight all over Naboo&comma; gaining interesting allies&comma; like the Hutts and liberation certain parts of Naboo once Queen Amidala returns&period; The story is a nice little tale of what was happening while Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan were traipsing all over the galaxy in their shiny cruiser&period; It isn&&num;8217&semi;t an epic tale&comma; but it is nice enough to move us from level to level so that we can finish the fight with the evil Trade Federation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I was surprised how good the controls were in this game considering the design of the N64 controller&period; Obviously&comma; the Thumbstick controls your vehicle&comma; and it actually feels right while holding this controller&comma; I never got a hand cramp like I use to with other N64 games&period; While in your vehicle pressing A is thrust and B is primary weapon&comma; secondary weapon is on the yellow d-pad&comma; press the left one and you&&num;8217&semi;ll get your torpedo&&num;8217&semi;s and such&period; Hard-brake is the Z button&comma; pressing this with Right Trigger&comma; tight turn will be needed for tight turns since there are some &lpar;shudder&rpar; timed missions&period; The gray d-pad allows you to switch views from close-view&comma; first-person view&comma; and normal view&semi; these can help you get through some tough spots&comma; but I found I never really need to change from the normal view I was given&period; These controls may sound a bit daunting&comma; but after a few trials and errors&comma; you will be fragging The Trade Federation with no problem&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;132149" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-132149" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-132149" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;11&sol;29001252&sol;starwars&lowbar;naboo&lowbar;image6&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"480" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-132149" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Star Wars&colon; Battle for Naboo<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; LucasArts&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Factor 5 really surprised me with <em>Star Wars&colon; Battle for Naboo&comma;<&sol;em> having owned all their other Star Wars related titles&comma; I was always reluctant to purchase this one&period; I don&&num;8217&semi;t know if it was the Prequel stigma or just the fact that I&&num;8217&semi;m not too great at vehicle-based games&comma; and this game is one of the more difficult vehicle-based games that I have played&period; The 15 levels make it a pretty long game as well&comma; which is always welcome when you&&num;8217&semi;re spending your money on an older title&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;re a big Star Wars fan or vehicle-based game fan you should give this title a look&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m somewhat ashamed that it took me so long to get it into my collection&period; I hope that many Star Wars fans can let go of their hatred for the Prequels and pick up a cheap copy of this title&comma; you won&&num;8217&semi;t be disappointed and may even find some enjoyment out of the Prequels somehow&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;