| Introduction
When THQ announced "Star Wars: The New Droid
Army" (SW: NDA) this summer, it came as a surprise.
After all, the first two games for the GBA was, to put
it mildly, rather disappointing. This third installment,
however, is based on a new original story line - one
that sees Anankin using the power of the force to stop Count Dooku from
creating a new and more destructive droid army.
Aside from the new story line, THQ has also passed
the development reigns to, Helixe, which is their own
internal game development studio responsible for hits
like "Scooby-Doo: The Movie" and "Rocket Power: Beach Bandits".
So, with a new story line and developer, can SW: NDA
prove to be the 'classic' Stars Wars game that every
fan is expecting? Let's see...
GamePlay
Before I start, I should tell you that this is going
to be a short section. Why? Well, simply because gameplay
and variety in SW: NDA is virtually non-existent. What
there is, and a lot of I might add, is hacking people
up with your trusty light saber. There are no sub-games,
puzzles, or even clever design, so the only thing you
can do is hack, which got so tedious that I simply ran
around most of the enemies. They were probably as bored
as I was, since they didn't even follow me. This is
due of course, to poor AI programming, and Helixe should
be nailed for not developing this aspect.
You also have to stop and talk to the odd person
to uncover more about
Dooku's plan and to find out where to go to next. There are three levels of
difficulty available, but most gamers should head straight
to the 'Master' setting which might at least pose a
little bit of a challenge.
The password system, however, is refreshingly simple,
with only 3 digits required to restart your game. Other
developers please take note: this is what gamers want
in the absence of a battery backup, as the numbers of
combinations available from the alphabet and numbers
are extensive enough.
Controls
The controls are simple, and the isometric viewpoint
is remarkably easy to get to grips with--since this
title features a lot of exploration, I can't stress
how important this is. The rest of the game simply involves
hitting the 'A' button to swipe at the odd enemy, or
failing that, hitting the shoulder button to activate
your force power, causing all of them to simply fly
away. The front-end interface also captures the look
and feel of the Star Wars Universe perfectly, and is
also incredibly easy to navigate.
Graphics
Developers Helixe have opted to use an enhanced version of their Scooby Doo
engine, and the results are actually quite pleasing. The backgrounds and
environments are wonderful whilst the various characters are real-time polygon
rendered with dynamic lighting which works very well and makes for some
incredibly smooth animation. You are also treated to some images of the
on-screen actors in the dialogue box every time you engage in conversation, and
the cut scenes show that a lot can be achieved with little effort. This mix of
static screens and spot animation actually works very well in bridging certain
parts of the story, without resorting to the memory-hungry FMV scenes.Sound & Music
As with most of the previous Star Wars games, the
soundtrack is fantastic and the title features an apparently
perfect sample of the movie's famous theme. The in-game
audio is just as impressive, with the big orchestral
themes sounding great on the GBA's sound chip. You can,
if you wish, turn this off and leave yourself with some
wonderful sound effects taken straight from the Star
Wars Universe--these include laser shots, Force moves
and, of course, your trusty light saber. It's all fairly
good in recreating the famed Star Wars atmosphere, and
if the sound of other games manage to equal the quality
offered here, there'd be little complaint from gamers
everywhere.
Final Comments
Although much better than the terrible Attack of
the Clones, New Droid Army still falls far short of
an entertaining Star Wars handheld title we've all been
craving. The biggest problem here is its linear, unimaginative
gameplay, which makes the whole experience tiresome
very quickly. It's a shame really, as it looks good
and sounds great, but no developer has yet been able
to transform this rich source material into anything
close to an average game. Unless you're a huge Star
Wars fan, avoid this at all costs and hope that they
get it right the next time around.
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