Star Wars Episode I: Battle for Naboo

NA release: 15th December 2000
EU release: 30th March 2001
JP release: N/A
Developer: Factor 5
Publisher: LucasArts (NA), THQ (PAL)
N64 Magazine Score: 78%

The Rogue Squadron trilogy is a much loved series of games, I’ve referred to them as such myself. This means that, like many others, I’m guilty of completely overlooking Episode 1: Battle for Naboo. This takes complaints people had about the first Rogue Squadron and improves on it, with a story about almost entirely new characters showing some of the stuff that happened on Naboo during the course of the first film. Due to this, you get to play as the remnants of the army becoming freedom fighters, trying to help others along the way (and sometimes, choosing not to help due to more pressing matters).

Battle for Naboo has less focus on escort missions than Rogue Squadron does, and the ones that do seem to be a bit more lenient, giving you a bit more freedom to go ahead to take out threats. There’s one where you have to protect a transport, but the radar shows the next tank to take out instead. A few aren’t really escort missions, either, you’re told to make sure your captain stays alive and it’s more a case of don’t purposefully blow him up. You go on the offensive a lot more than in Rogue Squadron.

Something else that helps a lot with variety are the different kind of vehicles. On top fighters (of which there are only a few), you also have ground vehicles and a boat. Some missions are entirely focused on one type, while others have you change part way through. One mission gives you the choice of being entirely on the ground or up in the air. Battle for Naboo also has an adaptive difficulty system, so the game will keep tweaking the difficulty to try and keep you on your toes, or relax a bit if you’re struggling. These factors make replaying the game more interesting.

The one complaint I do have is that some enemy fighters seem to take a few too many hits, but that’s really a minor thing as dogfights are still a lot of fun. Battle for Naboo is probably overlooked after the hype for Episode 1 died down, and people didn’t think much of it. Despite what you think of the film, this is very much worth playing.

Fave

By the time you finish each stage, you’ll have covered a huge amount of ground and engaged in some pretty nasty firefights. It’s this kind of in-depth scenario which eventually swings things in Naboo’s favour. Perseverance, it seems, brings great reward, as the intricate design of each mission, and ultimately the plot itself, eventually manage to make the game utterly compelling.
Geraint Evans, N64 Magazine #53

Remake or remaster?

This should definitely get a remaster alongside the Rogue Squadron games.