For those of you who have been around for a little bit, you know that one of my biggest dreams in life is to become a Jedi. I’ve watched the movies, played one in the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, and even dressed as one for Halloween.
However, it was the amazing people at Lenovo who bought me the closest to this dream with their game Jedi Challenges.
Jedi Challenges is an AR (Alternate Reality) game. We discuss in depth the differences between AR and Virtual Reality in our Family Tech Talk Episode 103, but essentially AR brings the virtual reality into your real life; instead of being completely in a game, the headset brings aspects of the game to you (think Pokemon Go).
In the Box you’ll receive the headset, a lightsaber (I repeat A LIGHTSABER), the tracking beacon, and some extra cables. The headset and game run off your phone, so the only power needed is to charge the beacon and the lightsaber (I MEAN A REAL LIFE LIGHTSABER). A word to the wise; it is a little tricky getting the phone to actually sit inside the headset, but when you set up the app it helps walk you through it.
Once that’s in you place the headset in and you’re good to go!
I love Jedi Challenges as an AR game. When you start for the first time, The Archivist walks you through the basics of how to play, and then it gives you the opportunity to play through lightsaber challenges against battle droids. As you move through the levels, you’ll eventually move up to battling against famous villains such as Darth Maul and Darth Vadar. If you want a little less of a sweat, you can do other games like Strategic Combat, or even the ever famous Holochess.
Now, even though this game gave me everything I’ve ever wanted in life, there are a few times I didn’t love about it. Because it is only alternate reality instead of full virtual reality, you don’t get to be fully immersed in the Star Wars world (our kitchen/dining is the largest place for us to play in, so I’m constantly reminded of the dishes that need to get done). Also, there’s a weird consistent hiccup where the lightsaber will get crooked because of my over enthusiastic swinging. You can fix it with a simple push of a button, but it does get in the way when you’re fighting for your life.
Lenovo also has a great community of people who are using the Jedi Challenges, and is always working to improve the experience. As of this article they’ve released multiplayer mode, Player versus Player ship battles, even a limited edition Kylo Ren lightsaber. All in all, I’m super glad this is in my life.
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