This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

I’ve played a number of PSP titles, and it’s always interesting to see how a developer gets around the limitation of having only a single analog stick to work with. It can provide some significant obstacles, but generally they overcome them. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for LucasArts and Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron.

This latest installment in the Battlefront series places you in the boots of a clone trooper who was created from the DNA of a Jedi Master. I’ll admit that playing a cloned Jedi does have its appeals, but the game never really follows through on this. You’re simply another trooper with skills moderately better than the rest. There’s also a story of two brothers on separate sides of the battlefield, which doesn’t end up being nearly as interesting as one would hope.

The game takes you through a number of battles seen in the movies and other Star Wars canon. Yet again you’ll see battles from a slightly different point of view. This time you’ll be rotating through a series of scenarios that include a ground battle, space battle and firing some sort of large gun at the surface of the planet, or a ship. At first this seems to liven up the gameplay, however, you quickly realize that every single level will have you doing these exact same things. Give it three or four levels and you’ll have pretty much played the entire game. The rest is just a re-hashing of the early levels with a new face painted on them.

Speaking of the missions themselves, most of them are a complete joke. You’ll have a number of objectives to complete before you progress. Usually they consist of going to a location, sometimes an action has to be carried out once you get there (pull a lever, blow something up, etc.). The funny thing is that if you aren’t specifically ordered to kill anyone, you can breeze through many parts of the game by running past all of the enemies until you hit the next checkpoint. Talk about taking the ‘battle’ out of Battlefront.

I would usually be disappointed to find out that I can simply run past all of the enemies. Unfortunately the controls are so abysmal in this game that I found it to be a saving grace. With your single analog stick you control player movement, camera and aiming. I don’t mean to say that the stick controls these things individually in combination with another button. No, it does all of these things at the same time, which makes it difficult to do anything at all.

Movement is clunky at best, since the camera is situated directly behind you at all times. There is no strafing, so if you want to shoot an enemy around a corner, you have to walk out there, slowly turn, lock on to them, wait for the auto-aim to kick in, then fire. I say that the auto-aim is a necessity because it truly is. Your crosshairs remain in the same spot on the screen at all times. It is a rare occurrence indeed when an enemy is squarely in your sights. You can zoom in with your weapons, at which time you are free to aim, but I rarely recommend this. It takes a precious few seconds to pull it up, then even longer to actually move the crosshairs where you want them. Oh, and don’t worry about targeting a specific enemy. Even if there’s someone right in front of you, there’s no guarantee that it will be the one you’ll end up targeting.

You do have a variety of weapons to choose from, unfortunately these are restricted to a few predefined sets. You can stop at stations setup throughout the game and switch these out, and occasionally you are forced to do so. For instance, you need to equip the ‘Pilot’ loadout so that you can use the fusion cutter to repair a turret. (How cutting at a pile of rubble turns it into a fully-functional turret is beyond me, but that’s another matter entirely.) Thankfully you can switch loadouts as often as you like, so when you’re done, you can equip something useful.

The storyline had some potential, but overall the game felt clunky and uninspired. The controls were miserable and the gameplay too repetitive. If you’re looking for your next Star Wars fix, I wouldn’t suggest picking this one up.

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is currently available for the PSP and DS.

[ LucasArts ] VIA [ GamerFront ]

The start of point-and-click adventure games to go?

(Credit: LucasArts)

As a gaming system, the iPhone has had its share of praises and attacks, but it’s hard to challenge the appeal of retro titles on the system. With a perfect version of Myst under its belt, the iPhone’s …

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Late last night and seemingly out of nowhere, the iPhone-port of The Secret of Monkey Island appeared in the App Store. Coming in at a whopping 400MB, you’re going to want to camp out next to a nice, fast WiFi hotspot if you decide to buy this – which you absolutely, positively should.

Rocket bike FAIYATORIKKUBOBU, for you my friend, one million yen
A cool trick to keep your laptop safe from customs
The teeny, tiny little music making thing in a Tic Tac box
LucasArts will show some Star Wars love at San Diego Comic Con
Heavy breathing on the internet is almost a reality

The San Diego Comic Con is next week, and there’s bound to be more than a few video game announcements worth paying attention to. Chief among them, maybe: what’s LucasArts up to? The company has sent an e-mail with the phrase that pays: “There will be several world exclusive announcements at the Star Wars Spectacular keynote.”

Initial guesses include a re-relase of those X-Wing and TIE Fighter games, which, again, I have never played; an update on Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare’s latest version of the same game it’s been making for several years now; or something entirely new.

Fact: I have only seen two Star Wars movies: The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith. Needless to say the whole franchise could disappear from the face of the Earth and I wouldn’t miss a beat.

You’ll find that most of the games that LucasArts just made available on Steam are no more than $4.99. (Battlefront II and Thrillville: Off the Rails are the most expense at $19.99.) The full list? Sure, why not?

Here you go:

The Dig $4.99

Star Wars Starfighter $4.99

Star Wars Republic Commando $9.99

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures $19.99

LOOM $4.99

Armed and Dangerous $9.99

Star Wars Battlefront II $19.99

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade $4.99

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis $4.99

Thrillville: Off the Rails $19.99

Supposedly The Dig is totally worth your time, but, again, I was never a PC gamer, so I’m only going by word-of-mouth here. Though, considering you can’t walk out of Cold Stone without spending at least $15, these are all probably fine, fine deals.

The rumors were swirling, swirling! But they’re no longer rumors, now are they? I’m talking, of course, about LucasArts’ huge announcement that they just made: a whole bunch of their old games will be available on Steam beginning on Wednesday.

The games:

• Armed and Dangerous
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
• LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
• LOOM
• Star Wars Battlefront II
• Star Wars Republic Commando
• Star Wars Starfighter
• The Dig
• Thrillville: Off the Rails

There will also be a special edition of Monkey Island coming to Steam and Xbox Live Arcade next week.

Reactions? (NeoGAF seems mixed.) I have played none of those games, but I’m not a PC gamer, so that’s to be expected.

Alert the media! LucasArts’ official Twitter feed has been tweeting non-stop about… something! It looks like the company is poised to announce a new game based on an old game/franchise tomorrow, July 6.

Can we guess? Is it Sam and Max, or maybe Monkey Island? LucasArts surely can’t go to the Star Wars well again, can it? Enough about the Star Wars!

It’s sort of exciting, yes. Not as exciting as waiting for part two of Marca’s interview with Cristiano Ronaldo to show up on Usenet, but exciting nonetheless.

via Kotaku