Lightsaber! app review: construct your own Jedi weapon and duel with friends

Introduction

Being the huge Star Wars geek I am, I have a battle-ready light saber of my own but I can't really take that with me everywhere I go. Now with the Lightsaber! app I can always have my elegant weapon with me at all times.

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I've used a few of these apps in the past. One of them I have on my iPhone already, but I was interested in seeing how Lightsaber! stands up compared to the paid apps out there.

An Elegant Weapon From a More Civilized Age

The Lightsaber! app opens with a pre-constructed lightsaber: specifically, the saber Luke had constructed in Return of the Jedi which completed his Jedi training. By tapping the hilt it comes to life with that satisfying hum we all know from our childhood. Immediately my happiness turned to despair as I waved my iPhone and nothing happened. With most lightsaber apps on the market, when you wave your device, the sound mimics the sound emitted from the saber when it's waved. Sadly there was nothing.

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By tapping the Saber Workbench button in the top left you access the area where you can personalize your saber. You have six hilts to choose from and six blade colors. If you upgrade the app for $0.99 you gain access to all the available hilts and colors. Creating your saber is extremely simple: just tap the hilt you want and the blade color you want. Return to the home screen and you're done.

 

Duel With Your Friends

In the bottom left of the home screen you will see the word Duel. Tap this and you and a friend can duel just like in the films. This is where the sound effects I was looking for finally came in. Although the sound quality was great, the response to your movements was very lackluster compared to other saber apps out there. The dueling mode requires turning on the Bluetooth on your phone, which some people might not like.

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As an added bonus, along the right side of the screen you have a few force powers that you can use in the duel or just on your own for fun. There's force push, force lightening, choke, and Jedi mind trick. Each one has its own specific graphic and sound effect. Although outside of force lightening, the other powers are regulated to your screen changing color and an odd sound effect that has nothing to do with the film franchise. The force lightening, however, is really cool.

 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Construct and customize your own light saber
• Activation, saber hum, and shut-down sound effects are perfect
• Force lightening power is really cool
• You can duel with your friends

 

Cons

• Saber movement sound effects are limited only to the dueling side of the app
• Other force power effects are bland and have no resemblance to the films outside of the names

 

Final Thoughts

For a free app Lightsaber! is alright, but compared to the light saber app I presently have on my phone it is very lackluster. If you are as big of a fan as I am I would look elsewhere; however, if you're a casual fan just looking for the basic sound and feel of the Jedi weapon than this may be right for you.