THE MAKING OF: STAR WARS: EPISODE 1 – THE PHANTOM MENACE
THE MAKING OF STAR WARS EPISODE 1 THE PHANTOM MENACE
THE FIRST PREQUEL FILM REMAINS A MIXED BAG: THERE’S THE POD RACE AND DUEL OF THE FATES, BUT IT ALSO INTRODUCES JAR JAR BINKS. SO HOW DOES THE OFFICIAL GAME FOR THE FILM COMPARE?
IN THE KNOW
» PUBLISHER: LUCASARTS
» DEVELOPER: BIG APE PRODUCTIONS
» PLATFORM: PC, PLAYSTATION
» RELEASED: 1999
» GENRE: ACTION/ADVENTURE
DEVELOPER HIGHLIGHTS
HERC’S ADVENTURES PLATFORM: PLAYSTATION, SATURN
RELEASED: 1997
THE SIMPSONS WRESTLING (PICTURED)
PLATFORM: PLAYSTATION
RELEASED: 2001
MTV CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH PLATFORM: PLAYSTATION 2
RELEASED: 2003
» [PC] As in the film, Darth Maul is also the final boss in the game. Only he’s much easier to defeat here.
» [PC] The graphics of the game are very simple, but the explosions in particular look rather nice.
» [PlayStation] Some key scenes from the film are significantly expanded in the game. For example, you get to meet Jabba The Hutt.
“WE HAD TO MAKE THE GAME RUN ON A PS1, WHICH WAS A NIGHTMARE”
The end of the Nineties was a difficult time for LucasArts: the company, which had created some of the most-beloved point-and-click adventures of all time, almost completely turned its back on the genre. The reason for this was the May 1999 release of Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace, the first new Star Wars film since 1983’s Return Of The Jedi. For LucasArts, this meant that the prestigious but not particularly successful adventure games would be a thing of the past – the company was transformed from a tailor shop for cult adventures to an assembly line for Star Wars games.