Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out The first two episodes of Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge are available to watch on the Star Wars Kids YouTube Channel. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Originally slated to debut on Disney+ (before being shunted to YouTube without explanation), Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge launched on Star Wars Kids this week, premiering its first two episodes, which offer a clamorous, cinematic mash-up of plucky Padawan hopefuls with a format reminiscent of the iconic '90s Nickelodeon game show Legends of the Hidden Temple. Taken as a somewhat tweaked version of Hidden Temple, re-skinned quite nicely for the Star Wars universe, Jedi Temple Challenge is a busy, noisy, satisfying contest that can, occasionally, feel monotonous. Edited together into a turbulent stew, the game show sometimes lacks energy because, well, it's wall-to-wall energy. Aside from the story interludes in the middle, which precede the Knowledge Trial, the series can feel a touch bland at times. Whereas Legends of the Hidden Temple had the roar of a studio audience to make everything feel more real and present, the trials of Jedi Temple Challenge feel too distant from the viewer at times. Of course, the target audience here is younglings, and they might enjoy the dazzle and din. Part of the thrill we felt watching those '80s and '90s game shows -- like Double Dare and Fun House -- came from putting ourselves in the players' shoes and getting frustrated when we felt like we could complete the challenges faster. It's hard to see how children of this era might do the same with this series when it feels several layers removed from the audience, but it's certainly possible. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/27/new-star-wars-game-show-lets-kids-become-jedi-knights"] Conceptually, Jedi Temple Challenge works well. Focusing on the core Jedi principles -- strength, knowledge, and bravery -- three teams of two (kids who are either BFFs or siblings) start off by swapping out though three Forest Moon-situated obstacle courses that help them build their lightsaber. They swing, pull, jump, and climb their way to assemble their weapon, with the team in last place getting bounced out of the mix before they all head into the Knowledge Trial. Here the remaining four players listen to a Star Wars-centric story containing numbers, colors, shapes, and other details that they promptly get quizzed on afterward while flying a ship (one team member is the pilot while the other is in the cargo bay). The winning team then enters the Jedi Temple. Legends of the Hidden Temple had a shockingly low win count (darn that Shrine of the Silver Monkey puzzle!), and those stakes really helped sell the difficulty of the final trial and it made the teams who did reach the end feel even more accomplished. With only 10 episodes in its first season, it's unclear whether or not Jedi Temple Challenge will have a similar failure rate, but from the first two episodes, it's clear that not every team is going to make it to exalted Jedi status. Plus, in the middle of the Temple, the "Dark Side" will try to tempt the duo, though it's unclear how the initial leg up they get in puzzle-solving, by giving in to the Dark Side, hurts them later. Perhaps the time goes faster or something else gets shuffled around difficulty-wise, but it's not overtly explained. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-top-25-star-wars-the-clone-wars-episodes-and-story-arcs&captions=true"] The glue here, which works very well, is Star Wars Prequels star Ahmed Best, who's now transformed from the voice of Jar Jar Binks into host Jedi Master Kelleran Beq. Best, as Beq, really provides the lion's share of energy and personality for the series and Beq's asides and interactions with humanoid droid AD-3 (voiced by Veep and Blunt Talk's Mary Holland) are light distractions that help offer some momentum during the trudge of some challenges. There isn't really time or space for the contestants' personalities to shine through aside from general Jedi platitudes, so Best remains the series' finest asset here.

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