Super Star Wars review

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SNESfreak

Super Star Wars review

Postby SNESfreak » January 20th, 2012, 1:13 pm

Upon booting up the system, the game immediately immerses you in beautifully composed Star Wars music. Lucas Arts really did make use of the Super Nintendo's sound capabilities, huh? Even the in-game music is catchy and very reminiscent of the music in the film (my favourite track has got to be the one from the tavern level just because I can't listen to it without humming it!
The sound effects themselves are pretty good although those jawas get irritating fast. So yeah, I thought I'd get the sound department out of the way first since that was what really blew me away while playing this game apart from anything.

The characters are rendered very well graphically in the game and so are the back- grounds and 3D mode 7 stages. The controls are fairly fluent and comparable to the Contra games although one thing I had to get used to is that you can also fire downwards diagonally which meant that crouching and firing was awkward at times when trying to move forward. Other than that though, it isn't difficult to control your character.

The main problem I had when playing this game was the sheer difficulty- sure, if you know what you're doing you can find crucial power ups simply by shooting the air in certain spots and there's a secret bonus room in the sand crawler stage that does (believe me now) come in handy later in the stage. Unfortunately, the midway checkpoint in the same stage starts you off from a point where it is impossible to get back to the bonus room leaving you at the mercy of the game. Immediately in your path from there are laser gates that are really finicky to get around and are a speed runner's trap. Also, at the very end of the stage is insta- death lava that looks like sand! What the hell?!

Anyway, that's my review of Super Star Wars for you then. Brilliant game with high production values and generally goes for low prices online. Well worth a look if you ask me. Props to Lucas Arts for this quality game! A-

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Super Star Wars review

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 21st, 2012, 12:50 am

This review really takes me back.  The sound is incredible, but the gameplay is uneven.  That sandcrawler stage was a killer.  Thank goodness for the hidden room with 99 lives!

nesfan1
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Super Star Wars review

Postby nesfan1 » January 21st, 2012, 3:20 am

This game is so hard for me. To this day, I have not seen the third level.

SNESfreak

Super Star Wars review

Postby SNESfreak » January 21st, 2012, 6:10 am

@nesfan
Really? What difficulty setting are you playing on? Normal or easy ( and no, I'm not going to even talk about the Jedi mode because that's kinda reserved for the massicists) I can't even beat the game on easy but I can (sometimes) get past the second stage then later on in the death star things just begin to get insane, you're constantly mobbed by security droids and the platforming suddenly hits a difficulty spike.

I guess the reason I didn't punish the game for being so brutal is because like the films, the Super Star Wars series is a classic and well designed to suit the theme of the film.

0-Storm

Super Star Wars review

Postby 0-Storm » January 21st, 2012, 9:05 am

A good game w/ high production values. 1st time I saw this game I knew I needed a SNES. I agree the game is way too hard & sometimes feels more like an arcade game then a home game. If I don't go straight through the bar scene without dying I'm screwed. If I die I start over & can never gain enough fire power to beat the level.

Funny note* I wanted to beat this game before I got Empire Strikes Back & then Return of the Jedi. Since I never beat Star Wars I still to this day haven't played the sequels. I wonder if Empire & Jedi wouldv'e sold better if Star Wars had been easier.

Astrosmasher1
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Super Star Wars review

Postby Astrosmasher1 » January 21st, 2012, 1:29 pm

I remember this one... looked great... had great sound.... was just too difficult...

a1
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Super Star Wars review

Postby a1 » January 21st, 2012, 3:27 pm

[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]This review really takes me back.  The sound is incredible, but the gameplay is uneven.  That sandcrawler stage was a killer.  Thank goodness for the hidden room with 99 lives!
[/QUOTE]

I picked this up recently. I couldn't beat the sandcrawler stage. Is the hidden room in that level?

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Super Star Wars review

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 21st, 2012, 3:43 pm

This review inspired me to play this last night.  The graphics are terrific and I like the way Luke's hair flows as he runs.  

Unfortunately it seems like irritating respawning creatures won't give you a second's rest - even in the first stage.

I suspect I used to play it in the easy mode, because it's pretty tough to make any progress in normal mode.

SNESfreak

Super Star Wars review

Postby SNESfreak » January 21st, 2012, 3:56 pm

@a: unfortunately, you'll have to soldier on until the next level and even then you'll have to make it halfway through! At one point you'll come to an open spaced area with falling platforms- the second time you encounter a section like this drop down immediately and the screen should scroll down with you.
Steer yourself to the left and you'll land on a lower platform. This leads you to a room with a lot of lives hidden in it. This seems to be absolutely necessary to find to complete the game.

If you have too much trouble trying to beat the sand crawler stage, there is another hidden room halfway through there aswell. Just prior to the halfway point of the level there is a drop down (after the room with the spikes and the annoying robotic arm thingies), simply steer yourself to the left and you'll go through the wall and should end up in a secret room that provides weapon upgrades, health and an extra life (although you can't really use this room to gather 99 lives as quickly or efficiently). That's all the help I can offer apart from just one more word of advice: try to beat the entirety of the first few levels without dying, seriously, it is much easier that way.

a1
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Super Star Wars review

Postby a1 » January 21st, 2012, 4:16 pm

[QUOTE=SNESfreak]@a: unfortunately, you'll have to soldier on until the next level and even then you'll have to make it halfway through! At one point you'll come to an open spaced area with falling platforms- the second time you encounter a section like this drop down immediately and the screen should scroll down with you.
Steer yourself to the left and you'll land on a lower platform. This leads you to a room with a lot of lives hidden in it. This seems to be absolutely necessary to find to complete the game.

If you have too much trouble trying to beat the sand crawler stage, there is another hidden room halfway through there aswell. Just prior to the halfway point of the level there is a drop down (after the room with the spikes and the annoying robotic arm thingies), simply steer yourself to the left and you'll go through the wall and should end up in a secret room that provides weapon upgrades, health and an extra life (although you can't really use this room to gather 99 lives as quickly or efficiently). That's all the help I can offer apart from just one more word of advice: try to beat the entirety of the first few levels without dying, seriously, it is much easier that way.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the tips. I definitely agree with this last sentence. I was doing great until I died in the sand crawler level and lost all my weapons. Then I couldn't play for 10 seconds without dying, leading to a quick game over.


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