Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon

The GB Advance is not a 3D machine, although the developers of 'Flight of the Falcon' tried their best to recreate the 3D rich Gamecube Star Wars games. The result? A game so difficult not due to its design, but by the limitation of the hardware!

A perfect example is the second level, where the player is racing through the Mos Eisley spaceport in Luke's desert speeder. The objective is to beat the clock while dodging buildings and other obstacles. The developers ignored the hardware limitations and created a level that's nearly impossible to traverse because the system can't render a sharp image until it's nearly on top of the player. It became so frustrating that I had to put it down and return it to the video store (thankfully I rented this one).

A better alternative would be the Wing Commander Prophecy game. It's not perfect but does a great job of implementing a 3D space shooter on the GBA platform.


Cool Pocket Star Wars Shoot-em-up   January 13, 2004
J. Cohn (Brooklyn)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

I bought it because it was Star Wars. I had to. Any chance to shoot TIE Fighters with the Millenium Falcon is okay with me.

The graphics and sound are remarkable considering this is on a hand-held system. The detail is excellent and I especially like hearing Chewbacca roar when you make menu selections.

The 3D rendering can get a little confusing and this is where it takes lots of patience and practice. There are a few levels you have to do while dodging structures (e.g. Mos Eisley, the trench run) and it does get difficult. Sorry, but you're not going to beat this game the first dozen times you play it. To me, that makes it a challenging game, not a bad game.

The one thing I'm not too crazy about is that you don't get a password until you pass quite a few levels. Basically, you have to go through the whole plot line of "A New Hope" before you can get a password and save your game. Otherwise, if you die and go through all your continues, it's back to the beginning, buddy.

In conclusion: buy it if you're a Star Wars fan--you'll have fun no matter how far you get in the game. Not a fan--save your money because you'll likely get frustrated.

Thanks for reading.


A great shoot-em-up   November 2, 2004
A. L. Thomas (Sandusky, Ohio United States)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

I bought this game so that I could fly my favorite ship from the Star Wars trilogy and blast tie fighters. I got what I was looking for. This game offers up some great action, awesome scenery, and spectacular space battles.

The view is third person from behind your vehicle, and the action is fast and furious arcade style. Controls are easy to master. You can move your vehicle in any direction, speed up, slow down, and fire primary and secondary weapons. A small target crosshair in the distance aids in lining up shots.

While most of the game features the Millennium Falcon, there are other vehicles you have to pilot. Luke's landspeeder, an X-Wing fighter, and a speeder bike. The first level starts us off with the Millennium Falcon approaching Tatooine, and you have to shoot down tie fighters that are coming after you. The remainder of the game showcases Luke's landspeeder navigating the streets of Mos Eisely spaceport, the Falcon traversing a desert canyon while shooting down probe droids, the attack on the Death Star, the asteroid field, a strange level where the Falcon chases Boba Fett's ship though Bespin's cityscape, the escape from the super Star Destroyer, the chaotic battle over Endor, a speeder bike chase, and the assault on the second Death Star.

The space battles are intense, with waves of tie fighters coming in, and flybys over Star Destroyers and the rebel fleet. This game is a great 3D shoot-em-up. Some of the other levels are obstacle courses. The Death Star trench is filled with crossbeams and turrets, making it a pretty challenging obstacle course to maneuver through. The asteroid field is what one might expect. Avoid the asteroids while shooting at the tie fighters. The final level has the Falcon maneuvering through the interior of the second Death Star. The reactor core and its defenses make for a nice end-game boss.

Visually, the game is impressive. The scenery is absolutely fantastic. Especially the spaceport, forest, and space-going vistas above planets. Tie fighters look like little blips when they're far away, but they look great up close when they fly by. There are normal tie fighters, tie bombers, and tie interceptors. Out in space, there's some notable pop-up. I was surprised when the first Star Destroyer just sort of popped onto the screen. When you get closer, the Star Destroyers look fabulous. The scenery in the spaceport and forest is great, sporting some nice detail. The Falcon looks good, as does the X-Wing.

This game performs just as well in the sound department. All of the familiar themes from the movies are present, and the game does an admirable job with them. The effects are awesome. Tie fighter laser blasts sound exactly like they're supposed to. So does everything else, from the Death Star's turrets to the Falcon's engines as it speeds up. A Chewbacca roar accompanies the selecting of an option. Han Solo says "You're all clear, kid!" when you approach the exhaust port, and Lando Calrissian says "Here goes nothing" as you enter the interior of the second Death Star. A nice touch.

This game is pretty hard. It's not a game you can zip through on your first try. It takes some getting used to, and it takes practice. You're given a limited number of lives, and a few continues. Four-character passwords are given out at the end of each episode. The first level is pretty easy; then the challenges begin. Be prepared to crash into walls many times before mastering the obstacle courses.

There are few details I really like about this game. In some of the levels, you don't crash if you fly into the floor (like, while flying over the surface of the Death Star). Instead, the game just places a limit on how low you can go. You also don't have to worry about crashing into a canyon wall or a side wall of a trench. In some of the levels, your vehicle only takes damage from hitting obstacles (as opposed to an instant death). I like this as well. Of course, a head-on crash with something usually results in an instant death; but not always. I was ramming head-on into trees during the speeder bike chase, and I was only taking damage. Speaking of which, this is the best speeder bike level I've seen in a game. It looks great, plays great, and is a lot of fun.

Completing the game gives a password that unlocks a bonus game. It's an old-fashioned, side-scrolling shoot-em-up where you fly the Falcon and shoot down tie fighters. Pretty cool.

I have just a few complaints with this game. The Star Destroyer pop-up leaves something to be desired. Would've been nicer if you could see it approaching in the distance. The Falcon's dogfight with the tie fighters after the escape from the Death Star is conspicuously absent. And there are some cheap shots near the end as prevalent tie bombers fly into view from behind. If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you'll crash into one of them.

All said and done, I had a great time with Flight Of The Falcon. It's a fun shoot-em-up with great graphics, beautiful scenery, awesome sound effects, and some engaging game-play. The faults here are few, and the strengths are many. My verdict: thumbs way up.


Do you have what it takes to best the empire?   October 1, 2003
11 out of 49 found this review helpful

Jump into the cockpit of the most popular ship in the Star Wars univers to outrun, outblast, and outsmarte the Empire(all with graphics that you thought were impossible on a GBA) in this all-new, classic starwars game. Pilot the Falcon, as well as other spacecraft, to relive the battles of Yavin and Endor as TIE Fighters and bombers attempt to take you out. Can you outrun the Empire with a GBA?

Note: The game seemes to vaguely follow Return of the Jedi...


Stay Away from this Game   January 17, 2004
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

The first level wasn't that hard, but the next three were impossible. And it can get really frustrating. You need to clear the entire movie scenes with space shuttles before getting a code to be able to save the game. It looked pretty interesting on the cover, but when I played it it was as boring as can be. Beware of this game, beware of the fighters.