Star Wars: Pit Droids provides a nice change from the extreme pace set by most traditional puzzle games. Try to guide the shipments of pit droids around obstacles to their goal, keeping as many of. Skinner 2021-01-15 0 point Windows version. I launched the game the way PCGamingWiki says (I used DxWnd, set the renderer to SDL and forced VSync to 'ON' in the DirectX(2) tab) but my droid still can't climb an incline.
Star Wars: Pit Droids is a kids game based on the comic relief characters from the podracing segments of The Phantom Menace. Given the hype around The Phantom Menace, the target audience would have good reason to play it. Given the response to The Phantom Menace, you’d be excused for passing it over.
Against expectations, the designers at Lucas Learning put together a decent Lemmings-style game.
In the game, a fleet of pit droids, the lovable slapstick magnets who work maintenance on pod racers, frantically travels from a freight ship somewhere on Tatooine to the Mos Espa Arena. Players lay down an array of directional arrows that guide the pit droids towards the goal of each stage, typically located at the end of a maze. Levels increase in complexity, adding new ways to sort the pit droids and switching from square-shaped tiles to a hexagonal grid. Though you start with quite a few droid lackeys (an unlimited number on the easiest mode), only ones that survive to the end of a stage will continue on. Should all your droids die on one of the later levels, you may have to retrace your steps to get more.
The game makes great creative use of a small corner of the Star Wars IP. Levels are bookended with slapstick interludes featuring the pit droids; their bumbling work ethic fits perfectly into this sort of slapstick engineering game. A few familiar characters pop up during cutscenes and tutorials too, including Watto the junkyard dealer and C-3PO. LucasArts grabbed the original voice actors, which lends some authenticity.
Most of the game’s 300 stages involve routing lines of pit droids through complicated intersections. The droids launch into the level at a regular rhythm, which can lead to all sorts of fun interweaving and interesting timing-sensitive patterns. The occasional oddly placed gate puzzle might also stand in their way. Some special arrows and gates will only affect droids with a certain body color, helmet, or tool, lending a managerial aspect to the traffic cop, Chu Chu Rocket-esque gameplay. Despite these extra facets, the game is never overbearingly hard.
Pit Droids Game Ios
In fact, it’s usually pretty easy! Since it was produced under the Lucas Learning label, Pit Droids has a younger audience in mind. (Having played this one as a kid, I can attest that this strategy worked. Puzzles I once found unreasonably hard seem much easier 10 years later.) The game includes all varieties of safety nets, including an optional grid overlay to see where tiles lines up, the ability to hide scenery, a help tooltip provided by R2-D2, and a button that lets you reset the stage at any point. On the easiest mode, pit droids can’t die either. Even at its peak difficulty, it’s not too taxing, and you can restart with no penalty. (There’s a level editor that allows you to build more difficult stages for yourself or to share with others, and it comes with a few tough levels too.)
Presentation-wise, Pit Droids nails it. The pre-rendered visuals are crisp and unusually vibrant, like a cleaner version of a game like the original Fallout. The pit droids have such expressive animations, even and especially when walking into a wall. The interface and sound borrow directly from Episode I, and there’s even a well-placed snippet of “Duel of the Fates” during the installation. Make no mistake: this is a LucasArts game, and despite taking place in a postage stamp of the Star Wars universe, it maximizes the license’s aesthetics.
The end product is fine! The puzzles are never better or worse than mildly clever and mildly challenging. At times, the wait for all the pit droids to complete their prescribed route can be tedious. But the nonabrasiveness is pleasant too. Pit Droids is a good puzzle game for a younger audience, and it does right by the world-building that Episode I accomplished.
UPDATE: Pit Droids was re-released iOS, but the game has since been removed from stores.
| Star Wars: Pit Droids | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Lucas Learning |
| Publisher(s) | Lucas Learning |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Star Wars: Pit Droids (full title: Star Wars Pit Droids: Logic and Reasoning) is a puzzle game developed and published by Lucas Learning. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh on September 13, 1999.[1] It was later ported to iOS and released on February 9, 2012.[2] The game develops skills such as hypothesis testing and geometry.[3]
Plot[edit]
Pit Droids Game Play Online
Watto has bought a series of new pit droids, and tasks the player with transporting them to the Pod Racing arena by avoiding all the environmental obstacles.
Gameplay[edit]
The player maneuvers the pit droids through a series of puzzles such as road blocks and junk heaps. Players can also create their own puzzles and trade them online with other gamers.
Critical reception[edit]
Pit Droids Game
Matt Diamond of Inside Mac Games praised the puzzle, variable difficulty, graphics, and music.[4] Brad Cook of All Game Guide complimented its detailed graphics, intricate gameplay, and jazzy soundtrack.[5]Just Adventure's Ray Ivey liked the aesthetic quality of the game manual.[6]The Scotsman said the game was very playable for a TV-tie in and offered educational opportunities.[7]IGN gave the game a rating of 7.5.[8]The Boston Herald thought the game offered an interesting test of children's logical abilities.[9]The Boston Globe thought it was a standout in the children's software genre, mentioning its animation, sound effects, and tutorial.[10]CVG said the game was easy to play, but added that its overly simple concept reduced its replayability.[11]
Pit Droids won Computer Games Strategy Plus's 1999 'Classic Game of the Year' award. The editors wrote, '[T]his game is not only mind-bogglingly fun for puzzle fans of all ages, it is also solid, well-designed, addictive, attractive, and arguably the year’s best use of the Star Wars Episode I license.'[12]
References[edit]
- ^'Lucas Learning - Press Release Archives - Lucas Learning Releases Star Wars Pit Droids - A Galaxy Full of Mind-Bending Logic Games'. Lucas Learning. September 13, 1999. Archived from the original on November 17, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
- ^'Star Wars Pit Droids'. iTunes App Store. February 9, 2012. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
- ^'My droids are smarter than yours.(WHAT'S NEW)'. 1999-08-01. Archived from the original on 2018-11-16.Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - ^'Inside Mac Games Review: Star Wars Episode I: Pit Droids'. www.insidemacgames.com. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
- ^'Star Wars: Pit Droids - Review - allgame'. 2014-11-16. Archived from the original on 2014-11-16. Retrieved 2017-02-20.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
- ^'Review: Pit Droids'. 2001-07-21. Archived from the original on 2001-07-21. Retrieved 2017-02-20.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
- ^'Pit your wits against the movie hype master Multimedia Review'. 2000-01-10. Archived from the original on 2018-11-20.Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - ^'Star Wars: Pit Droids (PC)'. IGN. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
- ^'New titles help kids become math-literate.(Arts and Lifestyle)'. 2002-01-13. Archived from the original on 2018-11-19.Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - ^'KIDS' SOFTWARE FROM GEMS TO JUNK BEST OF NEW PROGRAMS CHALLENGE AND INSTRUCT CHILDREN'S SOFTWARE BEST OF NEW PROGRAMS TEACH YOUNG'. 1999-12-12. Archived from the original on 2017-06-08.Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - ^'PC Review: Pit Droids - ComputerAndVideoGames.com'. 2007-01-18. Archived from the original on 2007-01-18. Retrieved 2017-02-20.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
- ^Staff (March 6, 2000). 'The Computer Games Awards; The Best Games of 1999'. Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on March 24, 2005.