Genre : Action
Publisher : THQ
Developer : LucasArts
Release date : November 18, 2003
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There has been a steady flow of Star Wars videogames almost since the arrival of the very first film. There has been at least one Star Wars game on almost every platform with gaming capabilities in existence! It's a no-brainer that Star Wars would arrive in some form on the GBA. Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon marks the third GBA outing (and the only one so far to be based on the original trilogy, episodes IV through VI), following Star Wars: The New Droid Army and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Going by general opinion, none of these games has come near the glory of the popular Super Star Wars titles on the SNES. Flight of the Falcon, being a Star Fox-style rail shooter, does not lend itself to be put through the "Super Star Wars" filter. Either way, it is a Star Wars game, and even before that, it is a rail shooter. How does it match up to the current games on the market?
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Let's be honest here; Flight of the Falcon is no Panzer Dragoon. It is a rail shooter of the most simple breed, with very straightforward environments, and simplistic enemies. Still, this minimalist approach at a shooter can, in the hands of the right developer, become one of the greatest experiences a gamer can have. That sort of shooter takes a lot of attention to details, mainly in ship control, and enemy patterns. It's a shame that Flight of the Falcon is not one of those kinds of shooters. The control is much too loose for my tastes, especially when there is no auto-locking feature to speak of, and your shots have to be extremely exact. In the first stage, you pilot the Millenium Falcon, Han Solo's famous ship from the original trilogy. Tie Fighters float in from the distance in uninspiring patterns, taking potshots at your ship, while you struggle to get your targeting reticule to do what you want it do. I think this is an example of why rail shooters simply do not work that well on a D-pad; they beg for the exactness of an analog joystick or thumb pad. Other examples of this are the Genesis version of Space Harrier compared to the arcade and Dreamcast (in Shenmue) versions, and the original Star Fox compared to it's Nintendo 64 update. The Speeder and X-Wing levels later in the game suffer from the same problems. This makes the game feel like a constant struggle to do the simplest things, as opposed to a solid challenge coming from the enemies and their placements/attack patterns.
The control issues may have been alleviated slightly had the framerate been smoother than it is. Some people may be subject to headaches trying to play through this game (I know a few people who experience headaches and even dizzy spells while playing this game, along with other games that have extremely sluggish framerates). It's actually that bad. Games like THQ's port of Super Monkey Ball have shown us that it's possible to achieve a passable framerate on the GBA, so this is not simply a blame-it-on-Nintendo-and-their-hardware situation. LucasArts could have done a better job on this. All of the environments look good, all of the ships look good, all of the enemies look good - everything looks good. Because of this, the framerate takes a hit, but none of it looks so good that LucasArts couldn't have made the game even a little smoother than it is. As a matter of fact, I feel that they should have taken a different approach altogether, and developing a 2D shooter. It's better to have a solid 2D game than a lame attempt at a 3D one.
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The game does have nice cutscenes (though these are still plagued by the aforementioned sluggish framerate), which do a great job at setting the scene, and getting you ready for the mission ahead. The mission briefings are equally well done. It would have been easy to just assume the player knows everything that is happening thanks to the films upon which each mission is based, but LucasArts still goes the extra mile and tries to suck you in. The gameplay keeps us from truly enjoying the experience, but the setting is definitely well done.
Flight of the Falcon sounds exactly like every Star Wars game should: wonderful music, and perfect sound effects, all lifted from the original movies. This is how every GBA game should sound; Nintendo has supplied great sound hardware, so there is no excuse for a game to sound like it was made in the eighties! For the best effect, make sure to play this game with headphones on, as it's much easier to appreciate the sound.
As I said before, there has been a constant stream of Star Wars games hitting the market since the franchise began. They have ranged from lackluster (Jedi Power Battles) to amazing (Super Star Wars); Flight of the Falcon falls somewhere in the middle. It has wonderful atmosphere, and wonderful graphics, but the gameplay just isn't as strong as it should be, especially for a rail shooter. Also, the enemy patterns are not very well crafted, but I guess it's kind of hard to have ships weaving in and out in intricate manners when it's so difficult to aim at a ship flying directly at you. Wait for this one to hit the bargain bins.
Score: 6.0/10
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