The game was provided by Aspyr for review. Thank you!
I have been enjoying the way developers have been remastering older games to give them a new life after their original releases. Of the developers doing this, Aspyr has been working to bring back classics like Legacy of Kain, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, and the older Tomb Raiders. Now, the team has brought on Star Wars: Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles, and while it does have some rough edges, it is better than I initially expected.
For some context, Star Wars: Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles was originally released on the PS1 in 2000 and later released on the Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance. Along with the obvious graphical improvements, the remaster features updated controls, more customization options, and refined mechanics to improve actions like jumping and overall balance. There are also 13 new playable characters to be unlocked to give more variety to the gameplay, making it worthwhile to try it again, even if you have played in the past.
For me, this was a fully new experience. I had never played Jedi Power Battles before, but as a Star Wars fan, I was excited to see what the fuss was all about. Ultimately, this became one of my favorite remasters from Aspyr, and I am really glad this is the game they chose to remaster.
I would consider this game to be more like an arcade-esque experience with some progression, so the story never took prominence for me, but it is still there. It loosely follows the events of the first chronological Star Wars film: The Phantom Menace. Some cutscenes and general text describe what is happening, but it doesn't go in-depth into the story. As someone who has seen the movie, I find it easy to follow along and figure out what is happening at each level. The story mostly took a back seat for me and never felt very prominent.
Jedi Power Battles' visuals and UI also hold up, but they are outdated. It's not necessarily bad; this is a remaster of a game from 25 years ago, but it's good to keep it in perspective. Playing through each level was enjoyable and did feel unique in its structure, though navigating through the UI is a little obnoxious. Looking through each menu option and the characters you can select feels a bit archaic. Again, it's not necessarily bad, and it probably is influenced more by the original game than trying to change it too much.
However, the gameplay shocked me, and I wasn't expecting it to be so fun. In almost every level, you run around as the character you selected, fighting enemies with a combination of attacks with your lightsaber and force powers. Each level has different goals, like getting off the space station, protecting Jar Jar Binks, or rescuing pilots. Levels don't take too long to complete, and they all involve a lot of fighting enemies.
There are ways to lock into enemies, but most combat has you running around a 3D area and just swinging your lightsaber at them. For the most part, combat is solid. There's a good variety of attacks to use, and as you progress, there will be even more that you can unlock. I also took a lot of joy in blocking blaster shots to deflect them back to defeat enemies. It felt very fulfilling, especially when combining it with regular lightsaber swings. There are also power-ups and grenades you can pick up to dispatch groups of enemies, which is great. The new control scheme works wonderfully with the gamepad, and I have no complaints.
However, I encountered some issues. While Jedi Power Battles does have enjoyable combat, I often found it a little clunky. Swinging your saber feels okay when it lands, but after a combo, there's a small delay before you can do anything again, which opens you up to being attacked. Swinging to blocking didn't happen immediately, which got me injured or dead often. There are a solid amount of checkpoints and healing items you can pick up, so there were a lot of chances to recover, but it was still obnoxious.
There are some issues with jumping as well. General maneuvering around the levels is okay, and the camera angles are alright for the most part, there were only two moments that I got confused by the camera, but jumping around was much harder to navigate. The first jump reacted the way I assumed it would, considering how fast I was running before jumping and moving forward accordingly, but the second jump killed all the momentum I had. This stopped me from moving forward, and I fell off the platform. Aspyr mentioned that the jumping has been improved from the original, but I wish the momentum didn't almost completely stop on the second jump.
As you play through levels, you will get points depending on how many enemies you kill and how you kill them. These points are then calculated at the end of each level and can give up to three bonuses, which include new combos and extra health or force. Each character you can play has its own progression and gameplay style. It encouraged me to replay levels again with new characters to try them out.
On top of that, you can unlock new characters as you keep playing, and multiple different mini-games can spice up the regular gameplay loop of running around and attacking. There's also a versus mode to fight against your friends in local multiplayer. It was enough to keep me coming back for more, and I would say it is worthwhile for the $20 price tag at MSRP.
And it is a joy to experience on the Steam Deck.
Star Wars: Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles was another game I had no worries about running on the Steam Deck well, and I was right. It runs at a cool 60 FPS with extremely low battery drain (6.5W - 7.5W), giving us over 8 hours of battery life. It feels right at home in the device, but one oddity stood out. There is a 60 FPS lock, and trying to play it above makes the camera feel jittery, so I recommend locking the framerate and refresh rate to 60.
Otherwise, the issues I had with controls were primarily the game’s fault, not the Steam Deck. It can feel awkward to control when attacking and jumping, but overall, it’s a good experience on the Deck.
In the settings, you can change the sound volumes, switch between modern and classic control styles, change when the walk and run limits are for how much you move your joystick, and use different languages. There isn't much in the settings besides all the options above and checking out concept art.
There is 16:10 resolution support, so there are no black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, and there are both cloud saves and controller support. There are no HDR settings.
Star Wars: Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles was better than I expected it to be. The story is there, and the visuals do the job, but the gameplay loop and progression systems were quite enjoyable. Despite some of the flaws in combat and platforming, it was still a fun experience that made me return for more. Mechanically, there are a few flaws I wish Aspyr fixed up, but overall, I would consider this a solid remaster that may be one of my favorites from the team.
It plays exceptionally well on the Steam Deck, making it a great fit for taking on the go. It drains almost no battery and can easily hit 60 FPS, giving you 8+ hours of battery life while sticking to a nice, smooth framerate. It's a perfect fit for the Steam Deck and an enjoyable way to experience this 25-year-old classic.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Star Wars: Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles is a solid remaster for a surprisingly fun game, and it runs wonderfully on the Steam Deck.
