Star Wars Episode I: Obi-Wan Announced
Date: May 13th
All that was seen was a video of gameplay and of the
motion capturing done for the game, but it
gave a brief glimpse of this action game.
Although Bihr called it a game in the
first-person tradition of Dark Forces and Jedi
Knight, the video we saw showed only
third-person perspective gameplay.
You play a young Obi-Wan Kenobi in this game,
and presumably you will learn force powers and
lightsaber techniques as you travel to various
locales in the Episode I universe. Some of the
environments seen were a desert world that
reminded fans of Tatooine, as well as the
populated world of Coruscant, and the palace
in Naboo.
The game uses a new 3D engine, although the
early footage looks only marginally better than
Jedi Knight's graphics. Motion capturing is
being used for Obi-Wan's extensive moves,
which include several twisting backflips and
different lightsaber attacks. The only enemies
seen in the video of the game were various
droids, including the long-snouted STAP
droids and transforming battle droids from the
trailer.
Obi-Wan is slated for a late fall or early winter
1999 release date. Screenshots will be posted as
they become available.
There was only one place to see LucasArts'
newest Episode I game, and that was in a press
conference held this morning to unveil the
upcoming Star Wars line-up. After a
remote-controlled R2D2 rolled onto the stage,
LucasArts' Mary Bihr, director of sales and
marketing, showed off two games that the industry
already knew about - Phantom Menace and
Racer - and then announced the game that's
been kept secret until now: Star Wars Episode
I: Obi-Wan, a first- and third-person
perspective shooter.