STAR WARS: DROIDWORKS

Rebel spies have learned that the evil Empire has built a secret droid factory somewhere on the planet Tatooine, where Imperial engineers are building an army of assassin droids. Unless they can be stopped, these dangerous machines will terrorize the galaxy. As a member of the Rebel Alliance, your mission is to build droids to infiltrate this operation and reprogram the assassin droids. Beware! There are over 25 million droid combinations. You must choose wisely.

Designed for ages 10 and up, Star Wars® DroidWorks’ is a unique combination of construction set and adventure game that enables you to learn and apply scientific principles. Deep within the Jawa Droid Workshop on Tatooine, you must design and build droids with unique attributes to complete a series of missions. Immediately deploy your customized droids and explore texture-rich, 3D environments, which are embedded with scientific puzzles to solve. Each mission completed brings a higher ranking and moves you one step closer to the Empire's assassin droid factory. 

~ advertising blurb 

One of the more fondly remembered Lucas Learning titles (and the very first, I might add) is Star Wars: DroidWorks. Released in 1998, this puzzle/action hybrid is a fully-featured game compared to other titles under the banner. The goal is to create your very own droid from a series of parts, then control that droid in a 3D environment to see if it can overcome the obstacles that lay ahead.

You create your droid from a selection of body parts; arms, head, torso - that sort of thing. The variety is limited at first, but you can collect new parts after successfully completing each mission. These missions, which use Jedi Knight's Sith engine, are structured so that only a certain type of droid can succeed. One level requires you to be magnetic, another needs you to sport treads or wheels instead of legs. Even though the debriefing tells you what lays ahead, it can sometimes feel like trial and error to reach the end.

The levels themselves are rather short and take place entirely on the sand dunes of Tattooine. Once you've completed a stage, you can go back with different directives where the level's architecture has been altered slightly. Complete enough, and you'll have the parts needed to make everyone's favourite droids like C-3PO and R2-D2.

Unfortunately, the game is incredibly buggy. Some of the physics are tied to the speed of the computer, which results in some game-breaking bugs. Droids on wheels will struggle to get up slopes, acting as if they are impassable walls. The only way I was able to bypass this glitch was to increase the resolution to use up some of the CPU. These requirements may vary depending on the system the game is running on, so if you have difficulties consult the Chamber Notes.

It's a little ironic that a game designed to teach motion and physics has trouble performing both of those things. Still, when it works, it works well as a fun and unique puzzler for all ages. The concept is more than worthy of a revisit.

To download the game, follow the link below. This is a custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses  DxWind to run on modern systems. nGlide 3D Wrapper (included) must be installed. Manual included. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 292 Mb.  Install Size: 507 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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Star Wars: DroidWorks is © Lucas Learning
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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