We sneak a look at the first major "Episode II" game offering comes in the form of LucasArts' "Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter." It's a space combat game that not only provides a few choice insights into the storyline of the upcoming film, but also manages to be a solid title in its own right.

The storyline

Building on "Star Wars: Starfighter's" story, "Jedi Starfighter" takes place 10 years after the first game, placing it firmly in the "Episode II" timeline. Nym, the pirate mercenary from "Starfighter," is now embroiled in another dispute with the Trade Federation in the Maramere system. He gets some unwanted help from Adi Gallia, a Jedi sent by the Jedi Council to investigate a possibly illicit weapons development program in the vicinity.

Switching between Adi's prototype Jedi Starfighter and Nym's Havoc fighter-bomber, the player progresses through 15 story mode missions, weaving in and out of the "Attack of the Clones" plot as the schemes of a new (yet already infamous to the characters) villain named Captain Toth.

Graphics: More detailed textures

The visual difference between "Starfighter" and "Jedi Starfighter" is striking, even at first glance. "Jedi Starfighter" features much more detailed texture work than its predecessor, as well as flashier special effects. Explosions are certainly rewarding in this game, especially when taking out one of the larger ships. Water was also improved, with more realistic wave motion and wake trails left by speeding boats.

Also of note are the excellent prerendered cutscenes, a massive improvement over the stilted and subpar FMV (full motion video) seen in the first "Starfighter." "Jedi Starfighter's" cinemas were clearly created using up-to-date technology, with particular care given to lifelike animation -- a rarity in most "Star Wars" game FMV.

Sound: Less impressive

The sound work is strangely uneven. Sound effects and ambient sound is adequate but seems repetitive. Granted, there's only so much that can be done with starship engines and blaster shots, but it all tends to blend together most of the time. This may be due in part to the overpowering voice work. Voice acting is well done, but there's just too much of it. During missions, the characters can't seem to shut up for any length of time. This gets distracting far too often, and Adi Gallia even requests silence from another character at a certain point. When the characters in the game are complaining about being distracted, you have a problem.

Music is lifted from the films, mostly "Episode 1," so there are no surprises. "Jedi Starfighter" was developed too early to take advantage of "Episode II's" new soundtrack album, which will be a welcome reprieve. Perhaps game designers can finally stop abusing the "Duel of the Fates" track.

Gameplay: New elements implemented

The gameplay would be easily dismissed as standard "Colony Wars" style space shooting were it not for a few cleverly implemented elements. The Jedi Starfighter of the game's title features four Force powers built into the ship and used as secondary weapons. Force Lightning, Force Reflex, Force Shield, and Force Shockwave make up your in-cockpit Jedi arsenal, which can be used as many times as you like provided the "meditation bar" is fully charged with Force. It's during the missions that utilize the Jedi Starfighter that the game really shines. Despite some new missile and bomb weaponry, gameplay with Nym's more conventional Havoc isn't nearly as interesting as with Adi's prototype.

The mission structure is generally good, but the level design comes to rely far too much on triggered events later in the game. Of particular irritation was Escort to Geonosis, in which performing too efficiently at your escort duty will bring down a horde of Geonosis Fighters on the transport you're trying to defend. The cluster missiles carried by the Geonosians will make short work of the transport, so you're reduced to leaving one enemy missile frigate alive to slowly chip away at your escort charge until you can clear the asteroid belt and proceed with the mission.

New multiplayer function

Luckily, you can get help in these situations from a second player. While there is a wingman command system similar to that found in "Star Wars: Rogue Leader -- Rogue Squadron 2," "Jedi Starfighter" allows a second player to take control of the wingmate in all 15 story missions. Not only does this add replay value due to the cooperative aspects of the feature, but also circumvents the age-old "stupid wingmen" problem that space combat games have suffered since the "Wing Commander" days. Having a problem with those Geonosis fighters? Your little brother will likely be more effective at wiping them out than the AI characters are.

Plenty of bonus features

"Jedi Starfighter" features an extensive bonus features section, packed full of various goodies to unlock via special objectives found in story mode missions. Single and multiplayer bonus missions, classic and brand new ships to fly, and a wealth of behind-the-scenes material is available. Team commentary is particularly difficult to unlock, but playing the missions with the developers explaining how things in the specific level came about is very interesting.

So far this excellent feature has only been seen in "Star Wars" games, but hopefully more developers will begin to use this. The highlight of the extras, however, is a short compilation of extremely funny FMV "outtakes" in the tradition of the gag reels popularized in Pixar's CG movies such as "Toy Story 2."

Summary: A quality title

"Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter" is a great leap in progress over its predecessor, setting the bar high for future "Episode II" game releases. While the gameplay is still overly derivative of games like "Colony Wars" and "Wing Commander," and doesn't quite capture the "Star Wars" feel in the same way the "Rogue Squadron" games do, it's a massive step in the right direction. Fans of the first "Starfighter" will definitely want to pick this up. Even those who disliked the original are likely to find much to enjoy here. What could have been sold solely on the hype of being a sneak peek of some of "Episode II's" major battles has turned out to be a quality title.