Star Wars Arcade

Star Wars Arcade was one of the launching titles of the 32X, together with Doom and Virtua Racing Deluxe. Star Wars is a decent version of the arcade game released by Sega in 1993. It is also possible to play a new "32X Mode" which offers new levels and items.

Star Wars Arcade starts off nicely. The control is easy enough (just point and shoot), and the universe is what you would expect from, well, space. Yes, I know it's quite dark, but what else should space look like? The game reminded me of the first Rebel Assault on the PC. In that game you also have a prescribed route from which you cannot deviate in any way. The only thing to do is blast you way through Tie Fighters.

The sound in Star Wars Arcade is excellent, especially when the enemies pass along the back of your X-wing, it's just like in the movies. There are two possible camera views; one from the cockpit and one from the back of your X-wing, both of which are useable. The game also pretends to have a two-player mode, but you shouldn't think too much of that. It only means the second player can control another gun on your ship.

Even if you are on your own, I advise you to select the 2-player mode and put a toe or something on the second joypad, because you'll need all the shooting power you can get. If you've read other reviews of Star Wars Arcade then you probably already know that everybody finds this game incredibly tough. And they're right, because it's hard to believe how freaking hard this game is. The first two or three levels are doable, but after that you're on your own. Sometimes an enemy just doesn't appear in front of your ship and your time runs out, which means you have to restart the whole level. What's worse, if there is too much action going on the screen the entire game slows down, making it even harder to control!

Star Wars Arcade isn't a bad game, but it's very short lived mainly due to the insane difficulty level. Maybe if you're a huge Star Wars fan it's worth a look, but out of the three launch titles of the 32X only Virtua Racing Deluxe seems to have withstood the test of time. Oh Sega, why oh why did you release an ugly mushroom for the Genesis without making many playable games?