Star Wars: The New Droid Army

(Game Boy Advance)
Reviewed by Mark Isaacson

Star Wars on the Game Boy Advance has had an interesting life so far. Starting with the dissapointing Jedi Power Battles, and progressing to the slightly better Episode II, we now have a third title to take on the road. But is it any better then the last two?

From a distance, New Droid Army looks much the same as Jedi Power Battles, using a similar perspective for the action. Thankfully, that's where the comparison ends.

Based after the events of Episode II, Anakin is out for revenge for losing his hand to Dooku, while the dark lord attempts to begin a new droid army, much stronger then the one that was easily defeated during the movie. Your job is to stop that, of course, while a few other characters come into play to help and hinder your progress, making for an interesting story (I won't spoil it for those who are yet to play).

Anakin is the star of the show, and although his only weapon is a lightsabre, the range of force powers available more then makes up for that. Controlling him isn't a hard task, although the d-pad can be difficult at times. Most of the action is basic hack and slash, with a few puzzle elements in between. Jumping is kept to the minimum, which can either be loved or hated (personally, jumping around too much can get on the nerves, so this is a good move).

Graphically, NDA is a mixed bag. There's plenty of detail around the place, and the amount of animations per character is at times amazing. Just have a look a the shadow effects. Some of the backgrounds, however, aren't as detailed, but since this is a GBA game that attempts to feel more 3D then 2D, I can live with a few basic backgrounds (anyway, your playing the game to win, not to look at background detail).
Anakin himself moves around fairly decently, although his walking style looks a little silly.

Remembering that the GBA isn't a sound system by any means, NDA has a decent assortment of music based on the Episode II soundtrack. You can't expect it to be perfect, since the tiny GBA speaker can't pump out much at all.

I enjoyed NDA, although there are a few bugs here and there that spoil it slightly. But I'm still waiting with hope that THQ will release the classic Super Star Wars series (as are many of our readers). Cross the fingers.

NDA is much better then Jedi Power Battles and is very much worth a purchase, if only to read up on Anakin's story after the events of Episode II.

77%

For comments or questions email the TFN Games Staff