Star Wars: The Phantom Menacewas a media juggernaut when it launched in 1999. It was a very bad film, to be sure, but you couldn’t move for the amount of video games, plastic toys, soft drinks, and other pieces of merchandise that flooded the market before and after its release.
George Lucas knew exactly what he was working with, and even if the prequel never stuck the landing in terms of quality, the desire for all things Star Wars was unlikely to wane. AfterThe Force Awakenslaunched in 2015 we saw this phenomenon all over again, but with far fewer video games. Nowadays, they are more expensive and take much longer for studios to make, meaning you can’t pump out dozens of them to capitalise on the hype.
Jedi Power Battles Is A Phantom Menace Game Worth Playing
One of the many tie-in games to arrive during this period was Jedi Power Battles for the PlayStation, DreamCast, and Game Boy Advance. It was a simplistic point-based action title that took you through the events of episode one from the Trade Federation Space Station to the inner city streets of Naboo. You’d fight droids, droids, and pretty much just lots of droids; they were a pretty big thing in those movies.
But they at least have different variants – you’ll stumble across some with standard laser rifles, others who use their fists, while classic droidekas will sometimes roll up ready for a spherical scrap. It’s good fun, but primitive in its visuals and combat to the point that I didn’t expect a remaster to hold water. Yet it does.
Aspyr is also working on theKnights of the Old Republicremake, which we can now safely assume is deep in the darkest pits of development hell.
Known more recently forTomb Raider 1-3 Remastered, Aspyr has applied similar treatment to this archaic action experience by ironing out dated textures and character models with an eye for helping obscured details stand out and capturing a charming retro flair that so many games from the PS1 era can’t help but exude. I noticed potential AI upscaling artefacts as I played through certain levels, particularly on bundled together foliage and backgrounds, but it otherwise does a decent enough job of capturing the feeling I had playing the original.
You can choose from the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, and loads of other Jedi only massive losers will remember the names of, but they do have different colour lightsabers, which is pretty cool. They can also be levelled up across the campaign to unlock new combos and encourage replay value, a mechanic that is best utilised in co-op play, since going through the game multiple times on your lonesome is very repetitive.
3D Action Games Have Come A Long, Long Way
But like a lot of early 3D action games, Jedi Power Battles has problems that no amount of remastering is going to fix. Combat gives you a light and heavy attack that can be chained into an assortment of different combos, while force abilities and items like grenades will be thrown out by using the shoulder buttons. Slicing droids to pieces is enjoyable, but it’s very common to have a combo chain interrupted by a sudden stun-lock, or to be cornered by a group of relentless enemies with little means of fighting back.
Don’t be evil like me and kill random wildlife you stumble across. The game will take some of your precious points away if you do.
That being said, slicing battle droids to pieces and leaping around like a jedi on steroids is a delight, regardless of how janky it can feel at times. There are collectibles everywhere that can imbue your lightsaber with additional charge or make it comically long so your sword reaches halfway across the screen. Jedi Power Battles expresses the Jedi power fantasy at its most basic, stringing together the narrative events of the Phantom Menace in the most basic ways possible. But it works, and only because it was released during a specific era when people didn’t expect anything more. None if it makes sense, but it doesn’t matter when it’s still fun.
Despite the unresponsive nature of combat, however, the controls have at least received a modern update, so it feels like a game that came out in 2025, albeit with muddy textures and adorably retro sound effects. For some godforsaken reason, whenever you pick up an item it makes a noise like Yoda is recovering from a sneeze. I don’t know why, but I love it. Some of the devilish platforming has also been made easier with this graphical update, as before you would have trouble determining the distance between certain bits of a level and immediately fall to your death. And because this game is old, that means restarting from a checkpoint.
Flaws like this can detract from the brilliance at the core of Jedi Power Battles, but if you’re nostalgic for a galaxy far, far away and fancy slicing through hordes of robots with friends by your side, there are few games out there nowadays that can match up to this one. Just make sure you’re ready to fall to your death again and again and again trying to reach that platform hiding a precious collectible. It’s only worth a few points, so just pack it in and keep slicing.
