Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi
  

  

STORY:  Masters of Teräs Käsi takes place between the Star Wars movies, Episode IV: A New Hope and Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The destruction of the Death Star at the hands of Luke Skywalker severely crippled the Galactic Empire. The Emperor wanted retaliation against him and all of the Rebel Alliance and sought the services of assassin, Arden Lyn, to eliminate the Alliance's key members. Luke and the others finds out about the Empire's plot and challenge Arden, face to face.
 
 

Look at those DYNAMIC HUNCHED fighting stances. 

  
REVIEWA Star Wars fighting game... now that's something with potential! Unfortunately, the first (and only) Star Wars-themed fighting game didn't live up to the hype, and that's an understatement... it's a pretty terrible PS1 fighting game. Teras Kasi features your typical modes: Arcade, Survival, Team, Practice and Versus. Fights take place on square arenas with ring-outs (definitely inspired by the likes of Soul Edge). Each fighter starts off fighting bare handed, but has a weapon which they can draw and use (ranging from blasters to light sabers). On paper, it was an innovative concept for the fighting game genre at the time, but the execution is beyond poor.
 

This animation hurts for all the wrong reasons.

  
In a nutshell, the gameplay of Stay Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi is noticeably janky and clunky (even for a PS1-exclusive 3D fighting game in 1997). Characters can sidestep, at least, which adds something to the gameplay. Overall, the actual fighting mechanics seem to be an afterthought. Basically, you're looking at a very sloppily-designed 3D fighting game engine... with the STAR WARS logo slapped on the cover. (Sorry guys, that's not gonna work. People actually play fighting games for gameplay.) Compared to nearly any other fighting game out in 1997/1998, Masters of Teras Kasi was laughable and nearly unplayable.
 
 

Well... Han did shoot first.

  
In addition to the shoddy gameplay... the graphics of Teras Kasi aren't great and definitely appear "rushed" for what the quality of Star Wars should be... and especially considering some of the other vibrant and groundbreaking PS1 fighting games of the era. A missed opportunity for 90s Star Wars hype! The animation can also be summed up as "choppy" and too slow for its own good. Below average character models and shoddy textures don't help the look of the game, and the gameplay is janky and broken.
 
One of the only conceivable positive aspects of Teras Kasi is that the character roster is "pretty good"... I guess. However, Star Wars fans deserve better than the janky-edged PS1 polygon monsters that appear in this terrible game. A game that should never have been given as a birthday or Christmas present. If so, your parents got you the wrong game and you know it. Even the most crazy overweight Star Wars fanatics, who might've gone to every Star Wars movie launch dressed up as a Jedi or weirdo in a brown robe, would most likely be disappointed in this game. However, somehow... seeing the early PS1 CG rendering of Mark Hamill still gives me good memories of a bygone era. This game had memorable cover art, I'll give it that.
 

 

 

 

 

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Page Updated: May 19th, 2024
Developer(s): LucasArts
Publisher(s): LucasArts
Platform(s): PlayStation
Release Date(s): Oct. 31st, 1997        
March 1998
               
Sept. 23rd, 1998
      
Characters Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Boba Fett, Stormtrooper, Hoar, Thok, Mara Jade, Jodo Kast

Featured Video:

Related Games: Soul Calibur IV, Soul Blade, Star Gladiator, Plasma Sword, Bushido Blade, Bushido Blade 2, Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring, Bloody Roar, Bloody Roar 2, Mace: The Dark Age, Battle Arena Toshinden, Battle Arena Toshinden 2, Battle Arena Toshinden 3, Tobal No. 1, Tobal 2, Tekken 3, Street Fighter EX, Street Fighter EX2, Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, Final Fight Revenge, Rival Schools: United By Fate, Asura Blade
  

Gameplay Engine

 2.5 / 10

Story / Theme

 7.0 / 10

Overall Graphics

 4.0 / 10

Animation

 5.0 / 10

Music / Sound Effects

 5.0 / 10

Innovation

 3.5 / 10

Art Direction

 3.0 / 10

Customization

 2.0 / 10

Options / Extras

 2.0 / 10

Intro / Presentation

 5.0 / 10

Replayability / Fun

 2.0 / 10

"Ouch" Factor

 4.0 / 10

Characters

 7.0 / 10

BOTTOM LINE

 3.3 / 10

  

 

Final Words:

A Star Wars fighting game seemed like a fantastic idea on paper at the time... but unfortunately, LucasArts's first and only attempt at a fighting game was lackluster and laughable at best. Perhaps if LucasArts gave Capcom or Namco the rights to make this game, it would've turned out considerably better. (Actually, it 100% would have.) Missed opportunity!

Ironically enough, in 2008, Namco obtained the rights to add Darth Vader and Yoda to SoulCalibur 4 as guest characters. Needless to say, it was amazing to see those Star Wars icons finally looking properly badass and animating beautifully in a fighting game. Vader & Yoda's SC4 appearances made me want to imagine an entire Star Wars roster with SoulCalibur quality graphics, animation & gameplay. Now that would be a game worth playing. Why was that game never created?

Ohh yeah... I'm supposed to be talking about this terrible, nearly unplayable PS1 fighting game, right? Short review: Masters of Tear-Ass Kasi plays like ass and it's not fun for more than 5 minutes. There were so many other great PS1 fighting games released around the same time. If you're a fan of fighting games with actual gameplay mechanics, avoid this game at all costs.

Don't waste you're time with Tear-Ass Kasi, unless you're playing it for laughs. Star Wars fans, I recommend you check out SoulCalibur 4 and see how amazing Darth Vader and Yoda look in action. Also worth a look is Star Gladiator and its sequel, Plasma Sword, a Capcom fighting game series cleverly based on Star Wars. On the bright side, Masters of Teras Kasi is probably a bit better than the new trilogy.
~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen
  

 
 
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