Game: "Star Wars: Masters Of Teräs Käsi"
System: PlayStation
Genre: Action
Published by: LucasArts

Reviewer: -RoG-
Posted: 2/11/2008

Review: This was LucasArts' first foray into fighting games for their Star Wars franchise. With so many 3D fighters out there, especially when this game came out back in 1997, it's easy to see how Masters of Terräs Käsi could be overlooked. However, and I realize I'm in the minority here, I never thought of it as just a quick way for LucasArts to cash in on the franchise because this was definitely one of my favorite 3D fighters on the original Playstation system.

There are some negatives about the game, so I'll get those out of the way first. Some of the combinations are very hard to pull off, no doubt about it, and your thumbs would be red and raw by the end of a lengthy game due to your trying to pull off said combos. They're not impossible to pull off, there's just a higher learning curve for you to be able to execute them regularly than with most 3D fighters that I've played. There were also some obvious balancing issues with some of the matches - for example, a character with a blaster didn't stand much of a chance against a character with a light saber. But that's about it when it comes to the things in the game that I think could use improvement.

For the positives, the game has a nice selection of characters such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Boba Fett, Chewbacca and more. There are also a bunch of unlockable characters in the game such as Darth Vader (the best character in the game if you ask me), a Stormtrooper, Jodo Kast and more. There's also a "big head" mode which is exactly like it sounds - it gives all of your characters ridiculously huge noggins to make for some extra amusing gameplay.

Out of all the characters, I was most happy to see an inclusion of a Gamorrean Warrior named "Thok" and a tusken Raider named "Hoar". Yes, it's childish, but I can't begin to tell you how many times my friends and I laughed because of the way the announcer in the game spoke their names. You see, when he pronounces their names, Thok sounds like "Fuck" and Hoar sounds like "whore". So if we had those two characters fight each other, when announcer would speak at the end of a match to declare the victor, it sounded like "Fuck beats whore". If that's not true entertainment, I don't know what is.

Another thing in the game is that the sounds are absolutely fantastic. If you're a fan of Star Wars sound effects and music, this game will not disappoint. They also included some nice background scenery for you to look at while you're fighting such as Hoth and Endor. Pretty cool seeing an At-At walking around in the background as you laugh in unison with "Hoar" over your latest victory.

My favorite thing about the game, however, would have to be the super combo moves. Sure, they can be difficult to execute sometimes because you need to have your super gold bar maxed out 'n all, but it's oh so worth it. Some of the super combo moves will take off half of your opponents energy and they'll be absolutely helpless to do anything about it. All they can do is stare in awe as Luke's light saber magically lifts their opponent 10 feet off the ground or watch Boba Fett's Blaster drop a laser rainstorm on them. Granted, this can be annoying to a new player who's playing the game for the first time against a true Playstation Jedi Master such as yourself, but a little digital pain never hurt anybody.

Overall rating:
(Scored on a 0.5 - 5 pickles rating: 0.5 being the worst and 5 being the best)