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Star Wars

Amiga game review, ADF downloads, screenshots, ratings and insights
Star Wars for the Amiga is quite possibly the best ported version of this game you will find from the era. The original arcade game was in a huge cabinet with a fantastic tank-like controller sporting glimmering vector-scan graphics and booming, stunning sound. To port that experience to a raster-based CRT, the Amiga did what it could (and, did it pretty damned well). But 16-bit raster can never compete with vector when vector was the original spec.

Regardless, the visuals and sound are still really impressive and get pretty close to the real deal. Thanks to the Amiga, you also get excellent digitized speech - actually the digitized speech is far better than the 1983 arcade original. Like when Luke approaches the Death Star for the first time, he says, “Look at the size of that thing!” Or when you’re about to torpedo the Death Star's exhaust port, Obi Wan kindly reminds you to “Use The Force, Luke.” The sound and music, oddly, are not quite as good for some reason. But they are still better than what the competition offered.

Overall, this is as close to arcade perfect as you could get on any platform at the time. Frankly, the realism was shocking.

Could a Vectrex have done better? With the visuals, perhaps. But only in monochrome. God, vector-scan screens were glorious. If anything, they felt much more in line with Tron than Star Wars, but vector scan 3D was a much more obvious choice at the time for what processors could handle.

While the game originated in the USA, this game was ported to the Amiga via UK-based Domark, Ltd. And they did an excellent job.

Star Wars is a fun way to blow 20 minutes if you need to get your Force-fix on. Is it a deep game? No, of course not. It’s a shooter. Actually, it’s a “shooter on rails” which means you kind of vaguely control the X-Wing to avoid objects, but your ultimate destination is already determined.

But maybe that’s because R-2 is your navigator. Did you ever think of that?

Joking aside, the game is an arcade port, and I never lasted more than 5-6 minutes in the arcade playing this game. Ten minutes max. And that’s all the time it demands today to earn your respect.

And damn, they made Vader hard as shit to kill, didn't they?

Back of the box:

At last! The force is with your computer!
Remember the excitement you felt when you first saw Star Wars?

Never before had space battle been so realistic. So furiously focused. Especially that last stomach churning attack on the Death Star.

Remember? How could you possibly forget? There's never been an adventure quite like Star Wars.

Then came a coin-op game that captured the urgency and excitement - and made you a part of the action. Now Star Wars enters a new dimension. So get a firm grip on your controls. Because when you boot up thisStar Wars, you'll think you've zoomed right into the middle of the movie itself.

Suddenly, you'll be Luke Skywalker, piloting your agile X-wing fighter as you attack the Empire's Death Star. It will call for every bit of skill and courage you can muster.

And more than courage or skill...may The Force be with you!

  • Now available for the first time in North America.
  • Based on the immensely popular movie and coin-op game.
  • Dazzling color and graphics
  • Increasing levels of difficulty.
4.2
6 total votes

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Comments

User avatar
SEADRIVE

Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:22 pm

At the time, for I previously had the 8 bit Atari Cartridge version, I could not believe how close this version was to the arcade and it works fantastic with a mouse...fun stuff!

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4.2
6 total votes
Developer:
Domark, Atari
Publisher:
Broderbund
Designer:
Mike Hally
Programmer:
Jürgen Friedrich
Genre:
Action, Arcade, Shooter
Perspective:
1st-Person
Theme:
sci-fi
Player mode:
1st person
Origin:
USA
Release date:
1987

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