Star Wars Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles

yes, the game has bright and shiny graphics that take advantage of the dreamcast's extra processing muscle, but the game relies heavily on the basic walk-from-left-to-right-and-chop-the-baddies formula reminiscent of double dragon.

fortunately, lucasarts made quite a few wise tweaks for this new version. In addition to the original playable characters (obi-won kenobi, qui gon jinn and mace windu) the dreamcast version adds the speedy ki-adi-mundi.

the dreamcast version runs very quickly and smoothly (supposedly at 60 frames per second) no matter how much action is taking place on screen. New to this version are training levels for up-and-coming jedi's and a cool mano-a-mano fighting mode (think street fighter with lightsabers) that's good for a few laughs.

without the star wars name, this game could have been considered rather ordinary. But jedi power battles delivers the fun for all who ever wanted a chance to go toe-to-toe with darth maul and all of his friends from the dark side. Neither original nor deep in gameplay, jedi power battles does show that the force is still strong in the dreamcast. --mark brooks