This was a curious level. I spent most of the time wandering around in a confused state, since it isn't clear exactly where you're supposed to go. This matter isn't helped by the fact that there are no objectives to give you any hint of what to do. Read on for more...

In the area of design, this level isn't what you'd call an instant masterpiece. While there are definitely some recognizable areas from A New Hope included, most of them are distorted by slapdash architecture and strange layouts. The author was on the right track in many places of the design, such as attention to details like the inset lighting panels in the corridor ceilings, though the final product usually ended up looking like a halfway effort. Architecture in general tended to consist of oversized rectangular hallways with the occasional slope or doorway to spice things up. When I mentioned strange layouts above, I was talking about places like the detention block, where the floors, walls, and ceilings of the cells are tilted at odd angles. Additionally, the cell doors didn't close correctly (causing HOM), and they spun around in a strange pattern when opening and closing rather than simply sliding up and down... Moving along, the level's texturing was definitely below standard as well. Most of the aforementioned hallways were plagued by repeated texturing, and I noticed some serious mip-mapping problems where whole surfaces would be totally black at a distance and only turn into looking like something meaningful as the player gets relatively close. I saw some new textures, and while being fairly well done for the most part, most of them just didn't feel like what you would expect to see on the Death Star. Colormap problems and stitching errors were plentiful as well. The author showed promise with his level design, though the scale of the architecture was much to large and not enough attention was given to detail work and refinement.

Enemy placement was thick, to say the least. You practically had to wade through the masses of troops at some points. I realize that this is the Death Star and there are supposed to be a lot of Imperials on board, but we need to suspend reality slightly in the interests of gameplay - what are the chances that an entire legion of troops will be stationed in a single corridor anyway? As you can expect from the number of enemies, there is almost no breathing room in the level - you have to be constantly on your toes because nearly every room, hallway, or niche is stocked with an Imperial contingent of some sort. Contrary to the enemy overload, I don't recall much in the way of powerups for the player. However, you play as Obi-Wan, so the saber/force pull combination is usually enough to dispatch your enemies with minimal personal damage. For that reason, I can't really complain too much about the lack of gear pickups for the player. Enhancements were relatively limited, consisting of a few new 'friendlies' like Han, Luke, and Chewie (though they don't do anything to help you), key doors, forcefields, a short (and roughly done) TIE landing sequence, and a quick ending cutscene. While these enhancements did show a good effort to improve the level, they were still pretty crudely done. In conclusion, what this level offers is mainly a shoot 'em up with some enhancements along the way which practically beg for better quality.

The atmosphere didn't really feel much like the Death Star from a visual standpoint as mentioned above, and I don't recall any use of lighting variation either. There were one or two instances where ambient sound was used (mainly the engine sound in the docking bay), but other than that there wasn't much else. The most troubling aspects of the level occur in the area of gameplay. Large and small errors and annoyances continue to pile up throughout the level until the player is ready to give up and more along to something more worthwhile. First off, you hardly need to explore any of the level to beat it. Unfortunately, if you go the wrong way, you might find yourself in the detention block, and after a dozen deaths and reloads, you will examine the area and realize that there was absolutely no need to waste your time going there at all. Similarly, you might accidentally become trapped in a cell when the door closes behind you and have to reload, or you may drop down into the garbage compactor to find that the door to get out can't be opened from your side. Or, you finally vanquish an army of stormies to find that the area you entered is a complete dead end having nothing to do with completing the level. Then you have the buttons that are too high up on the wall to press normally, the Kyle voices (when you are actually Obi-Wan), important keys hidden in secret areas behind walk-through walls, and the random death sectors. The key thing was quite an annoyance - I spent a good while scouring the level for the key, only to discover that it was fairly close to the starting area and hidden in a niche behind what looks like a wall (but you can walk through it). On room has Vader standing in it, but if you try to walk over to him you enter an auto-death sector and are instantly killed with no warning whatsoever. All of these things, combined with the poor visuals and abundance of enemies, will drive most players to quit without ever completing the level.

If you're really desperate for some mindless target practice in sub-standard surroundings, this level might be for you. Otherwise, save your time and your sanity. I encourage the author to put more time and effort into future levels; hopefully they will be a great improvement over this one.