Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (Playstation)

May 21, 2024

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (Playstation)

Released on September 14, 1999 for the Sony PlayStation by LucasArts and developed by Big Ape Productions, Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace attempts to recreate the film as a 3D action-adventure game

Once upon a 90s, every big movie had to have a video game tie-in. Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace was not only the biggest movie of 1999, but one of the biggest movies of the decade, and it absolutely had to have multiple video game tie-ins. Only one of the early tie-ins attempts to adapt the exact plot of the film on a console, though. While games like Star Wars: Episode 1 - Racer cover one moment from or aspect of the film, only the Sony PlayStation's Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace--yes, the game named exactly after the movie--attempts to cover the whole shebang. Maybe it should have followed Racer's example instead.

Back when games included music videos

On a graphical level, the Sony PlayStation can do things like pre-rendered backgrounds quite well. 3D environments, though, are not its strong suit. The Phantom Menace features highly pixelated 3D environments, along with highly pixelated 3D character models. 25 years after the game’s creation, some players will find the graphical design charming, while others will find it an eyesore. Either way, despite the pixelation, environments and characters are highly detailed, and certainly conjure the feeling of the film they’re attempting to recreate. The game also runs smoothly, even when there are a lot of pixelated things going on at once. Also, the PlayStation's strongest suit of all, Full Motion Video, is utilized here to a high degree, as good-looking FMV cutscenes progress the plot between stages.

Careful Jar Jar...they're far more threatening in the FMV's

FMV's: the back a PlayStation game case's bread and butter

In contrast to its 3D capabilities, the Sony PlayStation absolutely excels at music, sound effects, and voice acting (I guess I could have just sound "excels at sound"...sorry, I Jar Jar'd that), and The Phantom Menace utilizes these elements well. The game’s thrilling music is taken directly from the film, and the sound effects feel just like the ones from the film as well. The soundscapes are excellent. Only a few of the film’s actors voice act for their characters in the game (Jake Lloyd as Anakin is a notable participant), but the voice-acting is solid and close enough to the film actors’ voices to conjure the cinematic mood of the film.

And thankfully, and unlike in the film, there's very little of Jar Jar talking after the opening levels of the game

Wouldn't it be cool if someone remade the entire film in a PS1 FMV cutscene style?

The Phantom Menace puts the player in the shoes of many of the film’s central characters, through a third-person perspective. The stiff controls are an immediate impediment to enjoying the shooter/lightsaber/platforming segments of this experience. Something as simple as walking on a wide ledge is essentially comparable to tight-walking blindfolded over the North Atlantic from one ship to another in a hurricane due to the impliable handling here. Platforming sections, particularly when using Obi-Wan Kenobi, can feel like torture. Lightsaber and firearm combat feels a little better, even if it’s rudimentary and not very satisfying. It’s fun to see the film’s environments recreated in pixelated PlayStation fashion, and it’s a cool idea to play through each of the film’s major scenes (sans the actual podrace) with the main character from each of those scenes, but it’s extremely not cool that controlling those characters can sometimes feel like torture.

Guess I'll take my anger out on this stupid droid

There's a strange beauty to this low-res forest of pixelation

The level design can also be frustrating, as the developers try to balance these high octane action segments with the player having to walk around and talk to non-player characters to solve environmental and conversational puzzles. This aspect of the game betrays its PC roots (the game was initially released four months earlier for Windows), but feels clunky on a console, particularly when level progression can feel obtuse and it’s possible to inadvertently spoil a solution to a puzzle and make a level essentially unbeatable, wasting players' time.

"I would like to get this portion of the game over with."

On top of that, the game was either rushed to meet its deadline, or simply sloppily made, as I found on multiple instances that I fallen to my death through a wall or a bush because of a spot the developers forgot to code. All of these factors combine to create a game that is frustratingly and unnecessarily difficult. I don’t mind when a game with great mechanics is made intentionally difficult by a skilled developer, but I do mind when difficulty comes from either developer incompetence or rushed creation.

Always enjoy a pre-2006 video game waterfall

It's a joy to explore some of the barely seen segments of Naboo

And all of the wildlife is a nice touch

One PC-like aspect that thankfully works is the game’s save system. The player can pause and save at any moment. I also appreciate that even if I was often frustrated, the amount of firearms available is pretty satisfying. The game also features lots of hidden health and weapons pickups, which give a nice dopamine boost when found. The best feature here though, is the way the game conjures the feel of the film, allowing players to explore unseen corners of Naboo, Coruscant, and Tatooine, even if this video game adaptation of Phantom Menace often isn’t fun. In the end, it’s that conjuring of the 1999 film’s atmosphere that makes The Phantom Menace worth playing…albeit barely. The line between failure and success here barely preaches the positive by the width of a midichlorian.