The Game: As one of five Jedi Knights (or two, if you have a second player for cooperative mode), you take on the entire Trade Federation battle droid army in an attempt to reach Naboo, save Jar Jar and the Queen (and yes, you do have to save Jar Jar), and safeguard these two and a certain young potential Jedi from battle droids, Darth Maul and other menaces. And these aren’t your wimpy battle droids who short circuit if you tell ’em you’re taking the queen to Coruscant, either – these are kick-ass droids with slick martial arts moves who can inflict some serious damage. But then again…so can you. (LucasArts, 2000)
Memories: The second entry in LucasArts’ effort to mine Star Wars: Episode I for new Playstation games is a vast improvement over the previous, generically titled Phantom Menace game. And, at long last, Jedi Power Battles offers something that has been missing from the Star Wars video gaming genre for a long time: a chance to fight some battles with the lightsaber as your chief weapon.
The premise of Jedi Power Battles is simple, and just a bit speculative. The basic plotline of Episode I is intact – Naboo has been invaded, and Jedi have been dispatched to the scene to defuse the situation or end it by whatever means are necessary. Here is where game and film digress: Jedi Power Battles gives you the option to send any combination of its five available Jedi characters to fulfill this mission, rather than sticking steadfastly to the combination of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.
You can send one or two Jedi (the latter only if you have a second player) to Naboo to deal with the Trade Federation’s army of battle droids. Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Plo Koon, Adi Gallia and/or Mace Windu are available 
for your mission. Each character has its advantages: Windu and Qui-Gon Jinn are high in both agility and strength; while Obi-Wan and Adi Gallia are higher in agility, they lack the same physical strength. Non-human Jedi Plo Koon offers tremendous strength, but is slower than any of the others.
Once you have sent one or two of the above characters, you’re stuck with them until your mission succeeds or fails; you can’t swap out Jedi in mid-game. Plo Koon is powerful against battle droids, but is the least likely to survive the first level’s bulldozer-like boss droid since agility is the key to defeating it. On the other hand, Obi-Wan is faster, but lacks the sheer strength to challenge some enemies adequately. In two-player mode, the trick is to find the right combination. Each Jedi also has unique “Force moves” and abilities, some of which are pretty cool and very useful in the heat of battle.
Essentially, Jedi Power Battles is a fighting game, but it’s not an overpoweringly complex one. Unlike the previous Star Wars fighting game for the Playstation, Masters of Teras Kasi, the game does not ask the player to memorize complicated eight-button “chain starter” sequences to enable special moves – only four buttons are required. The control scheme is simple and effective, and allows one a very impressive range of offensive and defensive maneuvers.
Another vast improvement is the use of “camera angles” in Jedi Power Battles – this time, the camera stays with you. It still moves, and it still changes angle and direction sometimes – but not in a dizzying, steadicam-gone-mad sort of way. On the downside…have we not heard “Duel Of The Fates” plenty in the past eleven-and-a-half months? Could we not have thrown in, perhaps, some action music that didn’t make it into the woefully short soundtrack CD for the 
movie? (Thankfully, you have the option of turning the music down.)
If you’ve been waiting impatiently for a game that will let you swash your buckle and cross some swords Jedi-style, Jedi Power Battles is your game.