“Star Wars: Battle Pod” has been released in arcades across America. An international release of the game is imminent.

The game is about the size of a moderately–large photo booth, and it weighs around 1,000 pounds. To enter, you open a small door and take a seat inside the compartment. In front of you rests an almost impossibly large curved screen, as well as the left– and right–hand controls. This is the type of chamber you may enter during daylight hours and exit only to find that it has become night.

by Bandai Namco

The game offers five simulations, all recreations of scenes and battles from the original films — Yavin, Hoth, Endor, The Death Star II — except for one. In the last mission, which is the most difficult, you play as Darth Vader in the wake of the rebel attack on the Death Star. Your object is to prevent the rebels from stealing the Death Star’s super laser, while piloting Vader’s TIE Advanced Fighter. If you’re a good shot, you get to kill Han Solo (George Lucas relented only after long resisting his heroes being killed in Star Wars games). If you’re a good gamer in general, write in and tell us what happens if you complete the mission — this reviewer failed to do so on an embarrassing number of occasions.

by Bandai Namco

by Bandai Namco

The actual controls of the game are intuitive and fun.

You aren’t so much piloting the crafts in the missions as much as piloting the weapons and choosing to go fast or slow. Just for fun, during one flight I alternated sporadically between accelerating and braking and, frankly, couldn’t perceive much of a difference. Odds are you could leave the thrust control alone the entire game and not have a significantly different experience. But otherwise the developers have done a great job of making the game feel like the inside of a cockpit. The immersive nature of the contraption combined with the huge display, vibration, and surround-sound all add to this experience. There is also a wind effect — some sort of fan that blows harder or softer on your face depending, ostensibly, on how fast you’re going. For better or worse, it reminded this reviewer of the built-in fans on modern exercise bikes at the gym.

by Bandai Namco

by Bandai Namco

What the game does not include are any scenarios from Star Wars Episodes I-III, which seems somewhat strange given the platform's potential for podracing levels. The developers have hinted that new levels could be added in the future, but haven’t given any indication of if or when these would be released.

Meanwhile rumors have surfaced recently that the new Star Wars: Battlefront game, which will possibly be released this coming winter, will feature battle sequences from the upcoming film The Force Awakens. Additionally, it seems that some characters from the new film will be playable in the game. Otherwise, it’s being hinted that the vast majority of the game’s levels will be derived from the era of the original film trilogy. A few battles from the prequels will be included as well, but the developers seem to be emphasizing the classic films especially, if the rumors are to be believed.

by Bandai Namco

It is worth noting that both Battle Pod and Battlefront are going light on prequel references.

It’s conceivable that this was a calculated move in anticipation of the upcoming film. While Episodes I, II, and III were not extremely well-received, the original trilogy is what drew multiple generations of Star Wars fans to the franchise to begin with. With that in mind, it stands to reason that developers across platforms would prefer to reignite the flames of fandom for the classics, and avoid referencing the prequels altogether.

Either way, Battle Pod is worth a play for any Star Wars fan, Battlefront looks enticing, and we are on the verge of peeing our pants with excitement for The Force Awakens.