Gaming Target - Game Boy: Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon

Written by Jeff Milligan on January 12, 2004

Review: She may have been a beauty on the big screen back in the 70's, but on the Game Boy Advance in the 21st century she's nothing more than 10 blocks of fuzzy pixelation.

"The Millennium Falcon is the ship that made the Kesel run in less than twelve parsecs, she's fast enough for you old man." While this quote held true back in the day for Obi-Wan Kenobi, gamers today require lots of speed, a good challenge, and graphics that don't strain your eyes. Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon promised to bring the prized pig of all that is Star Wars, the Millennium Falcon, and at the same time incorporate the gaming concepts listed above. Did it live up to its promises? In one word, no.

Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon puts gamers in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon herself, well, sometimes. Besides piloting the Falcon, you take control of speeder-bikes, landspeeders, and X-Wing fighters. Once you've piloted your ship (and no, you cannot choose what ship you will be flying, each mission gives you a certain craft), you're all set to start on your current mission. Each mission is primarily the same exact thing over and over again, except on different planets and being completed in different craft. Although each mission technically has a different objective, the main portion of every level is blasting enemies to reach the end of the level. Not very much variety is displayed and because of this, Flight of the Falcon gets boring, and quick.

Flight of the Falcon plays very similar to what you would find in something like X-Wing Alliance, or X-Wing vs. Tie-Fighter. You are given first-person view of the battlefield, as though you were sitting in the cockpit itself. While not having the immerse worlds and scenery that other Star Wars games represent, this Game Boy Advance title does travel through many familiar territories from the Star Wars movies, including Tatooine, The Death Star, Hoth, and Endor.

Graphically is where the game begins to turn from bad to worse. Playing on the Game Boy Advance itself, environments are blocky, blurry, and very pixelated. Motions are very slow, and piloting the ship and aiming at targets is difficult because of this. If you planned on playing Flight of the Falcon on the Game Boy Players instead of the GBA, you can drop that thought right now. The pixelated graphics that are originally showcased on the GBA get blown up on the Game Boy Player, making everything on the screen even blockier and slowdown is even more relevant on the GB Player. This game could have easily been handled by the original Nintendo, let alone the Game Boy Advance.

The one shining light that Flight of the Falcon does have in shown in it's sound. Blaster fire and explosion sound effects are identical to those in every other Star Wars game, which is definitely not a bad thing. Sound effects are crisp and clear, and give Flight of the Falcon at least one area that is well received. The background music also provides lots of familiar Star Wars tunes, including such favorites as the Imperial March.