By Matthew Bitz
Most of you who own a computer and play games have at one time or another played Jedi Knight, LucasArts winning title that had Star Wars fans doing back flips for joy.
Well, go get the Jedi robes and the toy lightsaber out of the closet and start practicing again because Star Wars Episode I: Obi-Wan is about ready to Force-Grip you and sit you down in front of the good old PC for many entertaining hours.
This newest installment in the DARK FORCES series sends you back in time as you take on the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi the adventurous young Padawan of Episode I and Luke Skywalkers mentor and teacher in Star Wars: A New Hope. So does this follow the movies' story?
Yes and no, you will be exploring all of Obi-Wans' off-screen time, what he was doing on Tatooine while Qui-Gon was busy with Anakin, Ben finds himself mixed up with a bunch of Sand People, and so on.
Basically, the game follows the major events of the film, but uses it more as a template than as the storyline for the game.
The biggest change to the old JEDI-KNIGHT format is that OBI-WAN is taking shape as something along the lines THEIF than a first-person shooter. You will be required to use your head more and rely on your saber and the Force to get through the tough spots than pulling out that trusty repeating blaster rifle.
You're welcome to try and fight past the battle droids and other nasty aliens along the way but you might want to think about trying to just sneak around them rather than charging in headlong into battle. In OBI-WAN, this is looking like it will be the better way of doing things.
The other big change is how you control the lightsaber, instead of a set of motions preset into the game; you will "drag" the lightsaber. In other words, where you move the mouse will determine where the saber goes.
OBI-WAN is still mostly in design than an actual playable game, it seems to be that it shows a lot of promise and that George Lucas is still indeed the man for giving us such a colorful and fantastic universe to play in.
