econd in LucasArts' Desktop Adventures series, Yoda
Stories is an adventure/role-playing game in which players
guide Luke Skywalker on perilous missions to advance the Rebel
cause. Each game opens with Luke landing his X-wing on Dagobah,
where Yoda gives him his assignment. Then it's off to the
hotspot planet, where Luke must battle Imperial forces, avoid
dangerous fauna and solve a domino chain of puzzles to achieve
success. Although these are ostensibly training missions, they
are pretty serious tasks, such as rescuing Rebel spies,
destroying Imperial factories and defending a Rebel base.
Using a top-down view, players guide Luke across the
terrain and in and out of buildings with the mouse. Objects can
be picked up by bumping into them, and this is how to talk to
other characters as well. Every planet has certain elements in
common: a spaceport, a medical droid, someone who will trade junk
for weapons (no questions asked), and a mystical site where Obi
Wan Kenobi appears. Every planet also contains dangerous
creatures and enemies, against whom Luke can wield his trusty
light sabre, blasters or even the Force. As he explores, Luke
will find odd bits of equipment or treasure, which some local
person inevitably is looking for. He can trade these bits for
passwords, keys and other items essential to the completion of
his quest. If he is smart and avoids getting too chewed
up, he emerges victorious.
Cute as a bug in a rug!
What makes this game so much fun is its darling little
graphics of all the normally swaggering and epic Star
Wars icons: tiny Luke trades shots with teeny Storm
Troopers, then he hops into a little land speeder to fight some
eentsy-weentsy Sand People. Luke eventually encounters all the
Star Wars biggies -- Han Solo, Jabba the Hutt, even
Darth Vader, and he romps around in all the familiar vehicles --
snow speeders, AT-ATs and, of course, his X-wing.
Star Wars fans will enjoy this tremendously. This
game also presents the only opportunity to truly roleplay in the
Star Wars universe, allowing players to do all
that fun Star Wars stuff: use thermal detonators,
shoot Storm Troopers and steal their blasters, levitate rocks
with the Force and more.
It's too bad that there are only three planet types: ice,
desert and jungle. The jungle worlds are problematic because
tall trees obscure the terrain, and Luke must bumble blindly
behind them to find stuff.
Yoda Stories is designed to be a light diversion, each
adventure playable in an hour. The puzzles are for the most part
simply a matter of locating a required object, although some can
call for lateral thinking, and familiarity with the Star
Wars universe helps. Since the game generates each
mission randomly from a library of set pieces, it is infinitely
replayable, but the component puzzles will start to repeat.
Overall there's a lot of Star Wars fun here, but
people looking for a hardcore gaming challenge will be
disappointed.
