Star Wars: Yoda Stories

Remember Indiana Jones And His Desktop Adventures? If ever there was a misunderstood product out there, that certainly was one. Not really a game, not really a screensaver... just sort of halfway between the two. Yoda Stories is something that follows in the same vein but errs more toward the 'game' side of things. Think adventure games circa 1984, think Zelda on the Gameboy, think simple, randomly generated, top-down scrolling adventure game with lots of extremely cute-looking Star Wars imagery. Lob in some fantastic sound effects and a few little add-ons to "Star Wars-ify" (is that a word?) your desktop and you've got a good idea what this little package is all about.

It's not so much a proper game, it's more a sort of 'interactive toy' - which apart from a completely horrible expression is mething that we're ;eeing more of these days. The adventures that the game generates will only last you an hour and are simple 'do this, do that and then find such and such an object' type affairs and are a great distraction if you're sitting at your desk at lunch-time rather than sitting down the pub with other people who have friends... and lives.

This isn't the kind of thing you'd buy to use at home. It's a definite 'work PC' toy, so don't expect anything too deep. To add a bit of extra value, LucasArts have seen fit to throw a copy of the exquisite 'Making Magic' Star Wars multi-media thingy - so you can watch how they added the new bits to the trilogy. This is a pretty interesting thing to click through if you're a Star Wars fan, but it's really the sort of product that you look at maybe twice and then immediately forget about. However, don't think of Yoda as a game and you'll love it.