

The main adventure-based levels are those with Qui-Gon on Tatooine. While the game is primarily action-oriented, adventure aspects such as puzzles and interacting with others offer a sense of variety. And I was especially impressed with the voice acting that, when it wasn't performed by an actual actor (i.e., Anakin Skywalker, Jar Jar Binks and Watto), often matched very well. The ability to play as four different characters was also nice, though the double jumps and lightsabers of the Jedi are missed when you're Queen Amidala or Captain Panaka. At times I would even give the mechanical soldiers a good Force push to disable them for a while.

I've had few gaming moments more exhilarating than those as Obi-Wan Kenobi, slicing my way through Battle Droids as I jumped about with moves reminiscent of Ewan McGregor's in the movie. Overall, The Phantom Menace is a game that should entertain any fan of the film. The result was the expected enjoyable 15 hours or so in front of my computer - but not without a little disappointment. Having never played a Star Wars game I didn't like, I inserted Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace into my CD-ROM drive with great anticipation. In my years of playing videogames, I've discovered one universal truth: games based directly upon movies are usually horrible - unless they're related to Star Wars.
