Cheap Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter (Video Games) (Xbox) Price

The time prior to the events of Star Wars: Episode II is a chaotic one. Pressure between the Republic and Count Dooku is building, and the Count has a plan that will give him the upper hand. He's made a deal with Captain Toth of the Trade Federation, who intends to take over the resource-abundant Karthakk system. He has met almost no resistance, except for the alien smuggler Nym.

Aware that the Karthakk system must not fall into Dooku's hands, Mace Windu dispatches his former student Adi Gallia (now a Jedi Master) to the system in an experimental force-powered starfighter. She joins forces with Nym, and together they just might have a chance at stopping Captain Toth.

Jedi Starfighter has 15 story-driven levels and an in-depth tutorial. In all, the game provides over 20 missions, mostly protecting or escorting targets and blowing up droids and other minions of the future Empire. The action takes place in space, as well as in the sky over various planets. You can play as either Adi or Nym, and you can also play the entire game in two-player split-screen cooperative mode. The Xbox version has an exclusive head-to-head scenario called Coruscant Territory Capture--think Star Wars meets Capture the Flag.

The two main ships you fly are Adi's Jedi starfighter (the same ship piloted by Obi Wan in Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones) and Nym's strike bomber. Adi's ship is fast and light with four force powers (force field, force lightening, force reflex, and force shock wave). Nym's ship has heavier armor in addition to energy bombs, cruise missiles, proximity mines, and cluster missiles. The cockpit is set up similarly in both ships, so it's easy to switch between them.

This game is good, but there are a few weak points. The voice dialogue, while well-scripted, never shuts up and may drive you batty. The AI is downright dumb early in the game: for example, you can blast away at an enemy troop carrier, and it keeps going on its merry way until it's destroyed (the drones are somewhat trickier, but soon become predictable). The AI does improve later on, but some may not feel challenged even then. Lastly, the button placement on the already cumbersome Xbox controller is difficult--the zoom button is right next to the shoot button, making it pretty much impossible to do both at the same time.

Bottom line: Star Wars Jedi Starfighter is a fun space shooter--especially for two-player gaming--that shows off your Xbox. --Bryan Karsh

Pros:

• Good training missions
• Two-player cooperative and combative modes
• Sharper, smoother graphics than PS2 version

• Too much dialogue
• Difficult button placement
• Dumb AI