Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles Review (PS5) – When I was nine Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released in theatres. Being an only child whose parents never particularly cared for Star Wars, this was my first real introduction to this world. From there, I fell in love with the universe and its stories, something I continue to this day.
While the movies lit the spark, the games kept the flame alive between movies. Tites like Obi-Wan, Star Wars Battlefront, and Jedi Power Battles let me relive Star Wars moments like I was there with Qui-Gon. So, when Aspyr announced a remaster of Jedi Power Battles, I was over the Endor excited but also worried that my rose-colored glasses had me remembering the fun but not the flaws.
Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles Review (PS5) – Meesa Had A Blast With This
You Must Have Jedi Reflexes To Defeat Droids On Naboo
Admittedly, my memory of Jedi Power Battles was hazy when Aspyr announced it was getting a remaster. Between Star Wars Episode I: The Game, Jedi Power Battles, and Obi-Wan: The Game, my recollection of the game was somewhat mixed. Nevertheless, as soon as I saw the preview of Plo Koon, the best Jedi on the Jedi Council, running around, I knew what was coming and how many fond memories I had of the game.
Jedi Power Battles is a 3D hack-‘n-slash game with elements of arcade beat-ups and tiny hints of exploration. While nothing is inherently hidden, exploring thoroughly will net you extra points, items, or power-ups for your lightsaber or blaster. As a child, and even my first couple of attempts as an adult, I played primarily as a Force user. Who doesn’t want to use a Lightsaber? However, after years of falling in love with Battle Droids with The Clone Wars show and Mr. Bones from the Aftermath books, I decided to give a B1 unit a try.
To my amazement, blaster-wielding characters make the game more manageable and give you a more visible understanding of what the Power-ups do. Items that Amp will make you standard blaster a grenade launcher while the extender will give you shots that ricochet around the arena, taking out anything in their way.
While playing through these iconic levels from The Phantom Menace was as much fun as it was with a blaster, not having a Lightsaber felt incorrect in many different scenes.
The Nostalgia Is Strong With This One
Jedi Power Battles allows you to enact your power fantasies, putting the characters you love in situations they didn’t participate in the original film. Playing as one of my favorites, Plo Koon or Mace Windu was excellent. Mace has even been updated to have his movie-accurate purple Lightsaber and the ability to switch it back to the game’s original blue color.
Nevertheless, not playing as Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan felt wrong, so I would often switch back to either of these two to progress from the orbit of Naboo down to the planet’s surface. Ultimately, switching characters as much as I did increased their progress at about the same rate. Your characters will level up as you play, as light RPG elements were built into the original game.
This aspect is still in the remaster, making replaying levels more manageable and fun, ensuring that a run or your time experimenting is not wasted. All in all, Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles is the game you remember. An arcade RPG hack’n slash beat’em up with all of your favorite characters from The Phantom Menace.
There is not much to say about this remaster because it faithfully recreated my memories of the original release. Although Aspyr didn’t update Jedi Power Battles to groundbreaking levels, it’s exactly how I remember it when I played it, recapturing my childhood memories in the process. With the upscaled frame rate and resolution, along with some fun new characters like Jar Jar Binks and Mace Windu’s purple blade, Jedi Power Battles has evolved to its most complete and best version to date.
Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles is now available on PS5 and PS4.
Review code generously provided by the publisher.