The Moldy Crow

TheCrow’s Nest

Jawa Sandcrawler

Author(s): Rolobo

Description

C3PO has been kidnapped by Jawas! The droid carries valuable information for the Rebels. You have managed to get inside the crawler believed to be carrying C3PO. Now you must search the vessel and rescue the precious droid. The Rebels can't do without him!

  • You get to run around inside a jawa sandcrawler. And that's about it.

Review

Reviewed by: Geoff Elliott | February 15, 1997

The plot has been done before, but the change of setting adds a new perspective to the idea. The sandcrawler is quite well done, even down to the low ceilings one would expect the jawas to use. The textures all suit the setting, mostly being the same ones you can find in Jabba's Ship, but varying to other parts like control rooms, elevator shafts, machinery, etc. You'll also find a good number of droids in this level, as would be expected.

But I found myself not enjoying the level that much, for a number of reasons. The first is the difficulty. It's nothing. A bunch of small jawas running around with blasters, how tough can that be? It might have been more interesting if the author had forced you to crawl through some mashers, or furnaces to get to where you wanted to go, but you won't find that in here. The architecture is pretty cramped and mostly consists of sharp angles. This is necessary to stay within the confines of a sandcrawler, but it really makes for a boring level.

Mind you, the author does try to add some interest. You can look out the front and see the desert stretch on for miles. Or you can wander down lower in the crawler, where the lights are lower. It makes it a little more difficult when you can't see where you're going. But the headlight fixes all that pretty easy and there's not much risk of your batteries dying. The puzzles in this level aren't anything to really brag about either. Nothing beyond getting some doors open, and that's not too difficult.

There also isn't anything new to look at if you've been playing Dark Forces levels for quite some time. The WAXes have been used before, along with the VOCs that accompany them. And Slave I is certainly nothing new, although the idea of throwing it in without Boba Fett to accompany is definitely unheard of. Some news ideas, or things to look at might have helped to spice up the level a little bit.

Overall

Aside from getting to run around in a setting from Star Wars, this level doesn't have a whole lot to offer. It's pretty average in all respects, but the author did seem to pay good attention while working. What's in here is done well, it's just not that interesting to look at or stomp around in.


Download Jawa Sandcrawler(jawasand.zip, 91.6 kB)