CaptainD's Freeware Game Digest #4 - Battle of Yavin
May 20 '04 (Updated Oct 20 '07)
The Bottom Line Probably the best freeware Star Wars game in the world...
CaptainD's Freeware Game Digest # - Battle of Yavin
Well who’d have thought it? You wait months for a CaptainD’s Freeware Game Digest to come out, then two turn up at once! (I know the saying is three turn up at once, but I couldn’t review that quickly…)
Anyway, our boy Bruno’s done it again. The genius behind Battle of Endor (Bruno R. Marcos) has now produced another beauty – this time, Battle of Yarin. This time it’s set at the end of the first Star Wars film (the first proper film, i.e. not “Phantom Menace”), with the attack on the Death Star.
This time you play the role of Red 5 (Luke Skywalker), though until you get to the tunnel sequence in the Death Star (stage 5 – I’ve never made to stage 6, the final one, where presumably you get to fire torpedoes down the chute to blow it up) you’re just one of the team, Gameplay-wise, this is very similar to the previous game (though much more frenetic) in the first game in the first stage – where you have to take out two Star Destroyers – but from stage 2 you battle on the surface of the Death Star itself. When you get to stage 5 and enter the tunnels, you’ll find yourself ducking and weaving around to stay alive, and wishing that there weren’t things firing at you (just to complicate things!).
The game is very well put together, with the same retro-style solid 3D graphics, music from the film (breaking copyright law?), and intense gameplay. As with the first game, even on “easy” mode it’s very tough – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I would like to be able to complete the game one day!!
You start off with 30 ships in the fleet and 3 lives. As you progress through the game, your comrades will go down but you can gain lives for yourself by earning enough points. The best tactic is, I’ve found, to concentrate most on picking off fighters who are attacking your comrades – whose AI isn’t bad, but if you just leave them to it and concentrate on doing your own thing they tend to die much more quickly than you’d like! If you manage to avoid being hit for a while, R2-D2 will slowly mend your ship - very slowly, but enough to keep you alive if you’re careful enough. These three factors – your own lives, the number of compatriots you have (obviously the more that stay with you, the more firepower is on your side), and your own energy level being replenished if you stay out of the danger area add considerably to the depth of gameplay here, making it more than just a fast 3D shooter – though it is that as well.
The stages are reasonably long (depending on how good you are and how you play it), the graphics are pretty good, and the sound effects are great – really, what more could you want if you’re a Star Wars fan?
Note – I did read on the review at gamehippo.com that the game seemed very slow – even though the frame rate was quite fast – and that this detracted from the game. Whether or not the version I played was slightly newer I don’t know, but I had no problems at all with the game seeming slow – or the ship itself appearing to turn slowly, which was the specific problem mentioned on gamehippo. So it could still be a problem on some computers. Check the system specs to be sure your computer is up to it, and if you do have problems despite everything the best thing would be to email the game author, describing the problem and your system specs, including what operating system you’re running.
Overall, Battle At Yavin is a cracking little freeware game, if a little on the tough side. If you enjoyed Battle of Endor, you’ll enjoy this even more. (If you didn’t enjoy BAE, you may still enjoy this – there’s a lot more variety to it.)
Final Ratings
Graphics: - 8/10 – the same sort of retro goodness as found in Battle of Endor..
Sound: - 10/10 – superb atmospheric music and SFX – but are they breaking copyright??
Playability: - 9/10 – very, very good – a bit tough but that’s no bad thing!
Longevity: - 9/10 – the difficulty and intensity will keep you coming back.
Replay Value: - 8/10 – with only 6 stages it can get a little repetitive, though infinitely better than BoE in this respect.
Overall Rating: - 9/10 – comes very close to being a perfect 10. Bruno’#s next game (“Escape from Hoth”, I think) may well get that accolade…
Download Size: - 14.3Mb
Where to get it: - http://www.theforce.net/games/apps/boyavin/index.shtml
System Requirements
· DirectX 8.1
· 1.4 Ghz and higher processors (you can experience lower framerates on slower processors)
· 3D Graphics Card
· Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP
Thanks for reading,
Dave
Copyright 2004 Dave Seaman
Please feel free to link to this article. If you wish to quote from it, please feel free but I would appreciate it if you also include a link.
See Also:
Jedi Academy from the Jedi Knights series, published by LucasArts.
Knights of the Old Republic, also by LucasArts, the first real attempt at a Star Wars RPG.
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See CaptainD’s Freeware Game Digest #1 & Index for more freeware game reviews.
See also: My Top Ten Freeware Adventure Games (September 2007 Edition)
Star Wars Computer Games
Knights of the Old Republic
Knights of the Old Republic 2: Sith Lords
Jedi Academy
LEGO Star Wars
LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy
Star Wars Films (The Original Trilogy)
A New Hope (Episode IV)
The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V)
Return of the Jedi (Episode VI)
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