Luckily, You Don’t Have to Clean the Death Star
What is not included in PowerWash Simulator 2 STAR WARS Pack is almost as interesting as what is in it. The six levels in the Pack are all chronologically drawn from the original series. The cleaning kicks off in Beru and Lars’s Moisture Farm (pre-massacre, by the way. You don’t have to dispose of some skeletons), then wends through Mos Eisley Cantina, an AT-AT from Empire, the bridge of a Super Star Destroyer, Wedge’s X-Wing and – finally – the Millennium Falcon. The Falcon is after the Battle of Endor, so you’re cleaning it as a favour for Lando.
I find it fascinating that the Pack dodges prequels, sequels and TV series. Perhaps those will come if this Pack is a success. But it does make me wonder if the PowerWash Simulator 2 fanbase might be on the older side. There’s a nostalgic aroma to PowerWash Simulator 2 STAR WARS Pack, and the choices are very deliberate.
Use the Froth, Luke
I also find it fascinating that no single character makes an appearance in PowerWash Simulator 2 STAR WARS Pack. There’s no C3P0 to wash, no Jabba armpits to clean. Sure, Wedge and Lando will chatter over the intercom, but they’re invisible. And there’s no lampooning of the STAR WARS universe in the story. I’d argue that what you’re doing – cleaning the mess after STAR WARS characters have left the scene – is inherently a bit silly, but this Pack is deadly serious about the whole endeavour. It imagines precisely what a cleaning crew would be like in this universe. Characters grumble about the presence of droids; Admiral Piett wonders what Lord Vader is planning while you powerwash his consoles.
I’m making a wild leap here, but I can’t help wondering if Disney has been a little too protective over PowerWash Simulator 2 STAR WARS Pack. It would certainly address one of my overriding issues with this DLC. It all strikes me as so safe and timid when it comes to handling the STAR WARS property. There’s no slightly risqué dismembered limb in the Cantina, or any references to Greedo shooting first. The wider battle can be seen but not explored with the AT-AT. Someone has chosen Wedge’s X-Wing over Luke’s, probably because R2-D2 doesn’t then have to feature. It’s all a bit anonymous and colourless as a result.
Something else is lacking in PowerWash Simulator 2 STAR WARS Pack, which again invokes the dark, looming shadow of Disney, and that is a lack of new toys to play with. Unlike the Adventure Time Pack (which, we should note, did have characters in the scenes, a sense of humour, and more generous callbacks), there are no new ladders, abseils or hoses. It’s not hard to imagine a thermal detonator, rewired for water, or mechanical ladders that have the trademark blinking buttons of STAR WARS tech. But, again, the Pack opts for the easiest route, which is a shame.
Luke, I am Your Lather
On the positive side, there are still some nice touches – just not as many as I would like, and they don’t go as far as they could. There’s a glorious moment (spoiled in the launch trailer, so we can spoil it here), where the X-Wing opens its wings to reveal a whole host of additional crap to clean (I’d have loved some Dagobah monsters pouring out of Luke’s X-Wing). That’s wonderful. Something similar happens with the Millennium Falcon (not in the trailer, so we won’t spoil it). And mouse droids run away squealing if you trip over them in the Star Destroyer.
And there’s still the built-in, delightful experience of cleaning a place that you’ve only seen in movies. For some reason, I loved the little pits on either side of the causeway in the Super Star Destroyer. I always wondered whether Imperials would accidentally fall into these pits when they’re not paying attention, and lo and behold I fell in at least a dozen times. And, ah, the irony of washing vaporators in the deserts of Tatooine. I imagine there’s a hosepipe ban that would make this normally impossible.
What the STAR WARS Pack gets right is the authenticity. I can only imagine that the developers and artists over at Futurlab have a well thumbed copy of a STAR WARS Incredible Cross-sections book. Every last knob and panel has been excruciatingly modelled and labelled, so that you can carefully apply foam and wash it. I’d find my eye drifting to the top-left of the screen, so I could find out what the parts of an AT-AT are called.
Mop It Up, Fuzzball
And that authenticity stretches to the presentation. The Super Star Destroyer buttons look delightfully ‘80s, exactly as they should. The astromech droid in the X-Wing gleams in exactly the right way once you clean it. Plus the audio is spot on. There are all the correct hums and growls from the things you wash, and you always feel like you’re interacting with something from the STAR WARS universe, even if you never quite feel like you’re in it yourself.
That authenticity is almost to a fault, actually. Something that became a problem – but it never occurred to me that it would be one – is that the STAR WARS universe is surprisingly drab. Having come off the Adventure Time Pack, it was stark how everything was sandy brown, grey, white or black. And most of those are dark, hidden in nooks within the Cantina or Super Star Destroyer. When the sand and snow that cover these elements are also sandy brown, grey, white or black, the experience can be a mixture of unintelligible and uninspiring.
The more I write, the more I realise that I am being a typical STAR WARS fanboy: complaining and griping rather than focusing on what something does well. This pack is one of the biggest that the Futurlab team have put out. I’m used to five levels, but this has six, and some of them – the AT-AT and Millennium Falcon in particular – are substantial. It’s massively authentic to the STAR WARS universe; the spaces are a dream to clean; and none of the things that make PowerWash Simulator 2 so friendly and relaxing have been lost.
Aren’t You a Little Short of Being a Perfect STAR WARS DLC?
But I also don’t think PowerWash Simulator 2 STAR WARS Pack should be excused for pulling its punches. STAR WARS is about characters, moments, items and events, just as much as its vehicles and sets, yet none of those things surface. It felt a little like I was being allowed to clean a museum set from the STAR WARS universe, rather than truly immerse myself in the space, and that was something of a shame.
Give me a mucky rancor and a cleaning-droid in a gold bikini and I would have been much happier. That’s the tone it should have gone for.
Important Links
PowerWash Simulator 2 Goes Full Jedi With The STAR WARS Pack – https://www.thexboxhub.com/powerwash-simulator-2-goes-full-jedi-with-the-star-wars-pack/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/powerwash-simulator-2-star-wars-pack/9P2DDLXDBVPJ/0010
