Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

"Just Another Undistinguished Hack And Slasher"

Star Wars Episode III: It's a short, completely linear, mediocre single-player hack and slash game featuring a dueling system that's sort of fun, but flawed.

Naturally, the marketing types at LucasArts have divined that all this adds up to "The Ultimate Jedi Action Experience!!!"

...

Graphics

Like everything else concerning this game, it's a mixed bag. The featured characters generally look good and are animated well...your enemies, not so much. Problems are especially noticeable during the in-game cutscenes, in which the character models look disjointed and colors seem really faded. Also, the quality of the stages varies wildly. Some look great (crisp and detailed), while others are downright ugly (fuzzy and just irritating to look at).

Sound

Generally what's there is ok, with the exception of the incessant babbling of the main characters (they ramble on, repeating the same four or five annoying catchphrases over and over again). All the standard Star Wars effects are represented in all their glory, along with the trademark John Williams music...but that leads to what's not there, which is, you know... actual music from Episode III.

Controls

Aside from the ridiculous motion needed to deflect blaster bolts, I really liked the way the controls were laid out. The problem is what happens when you actually push the buttons. It's a good thing you never have to platform, because jumping is sticky and all over the place. Another problem is the targeting. They've implemented a system where you can target with the right thumb stick, then attack with hacks or force powers. This would have been really cool...had it worked. Unfortunately, it's a common occurrence to target an enemy that's directly in front of you, attack, then wind up flailing away at someone other than him or using the force on some random explosive canister (apparently, whether you're on the side of the Republic or the Separatists, alien or human, in a spaceship or on some far off planet, it's important to have explosive canisters everywhere), then getting attacked from behind while you're stuck in the animation. Speaking of animations, the combos look great and are fun to use when they work, but too often your character will end up performing these dazzling combos on thin air...and regrettably, they're unbreakable, which leads to cheap hits.

Gameplay (Single Player)

Here is a typical level (there are fifteen in all, four or five of those are strictly lightsaber duels): You'll find yourself running down a cramped hallway or wide open space that's been turned into one by debris or invisible walls. The cpu will constantly give you redundant "objectives" which might as well just say "go to the end of the hallway", as there's nothing else you could possibly do. While you're exploring this fascinating environment (running in a straight line), you'll hack, slash and combo your way through wave after wave of baddies. It's monotonous, but not altogether unenjoyable. Occasionally you may be asked to man a turret and shoot at things for a few seconds, or stand on a little circle that magically appears when you've cleared an area and "use The Force" to move that one thing in the room that's blocking your way, or stand on a different circle and "Force Jump" somewhere (cpu-controlled of course)...usually in order to hit some perfunctory switch, which will then turn the one thing in the room on or off so that you can proceed on your magical adventure (objective complete!)...but sometimes it's not that simple. Sometimes you'll run into a fearsome forcefield. Naturally, the only way to deactivate this deadly obstacle is to open a panel, then slice a power cable with your lightsaber (it should be noted that similar to the explosive canisters, the force fields, panels and cables are all exactly alike, regardless of where you are). You'll keep on doing this, room after room until you either reach the end of the level or throw this game out a window. If you managed to make it to end of the level, you may be granted the honor of doing battle with a mini-boss, in the form of a huge ship armed to the teeth with high-tech lasers and rockets, which of course can be destroyed by running back and forth and throwing stuff at it...

The Hack and Slash portion of this game is checking in at just below average on the fun scale, and way above average on the unintentionally funny scale...let's examine the duels:

Block your opponents inane little combo, then do yours (triangle, triangle, triangle...you may have to practice). Repeat until it's over. That's it. Sure, if you want to get fancy, you could use force attacks or try more complicated combos but all that is completely unnecessary, and will probably end up getting you killed.

In all seriousness, with a little work, the dueling aspect of the game could have been really good. There's a system in place utilizing shunts, grapples, launchers, saber locks, and all kinds of cool stuff...but it just never really comes together and is too glitchy and loose. As it stands, there is a little depth in there, but not much. It's basically just trading little combos back and forth...more fun to watch than play.

At the conclusion of levels, you'll be rewarded with experience points, which you then use to upgrade certain skills, many of which you'll never use...and you'll also unlock five scintillating "Bonus Missions" you'll wish you never tried which consist of killing a bunch of clones as an Assassin Droid, killing a bunch of clones as Yoda, killing a bunch of clones as Grievous, or (get ready for some variety) killing a bunch of droids as Anakin.

There's also some concept art, mostly from the game (yipee!).

Gameplay (Multi-Player)

Wow. First of all, there is no co-op in story mode (unforgivable in hack and slash games). Instead, you get four co-op "levels" which work like this:

You and a friend are in a square room. There's a door or a forcefield keeping you locked in. You kill enemies for five minutes, the door opens, then you go to the next square room and do it again...and again. Horrible.

You can also duel against your friends, which can actually be kind of fun until everyone figures out that skill or nuance is basically irrelevant...then it just degenerates into block/attack, block/attack over and over again.

Replayability

This game is extremely short (5-6 hours), and once you've beaten it, you'll have basically unlocked everything. The only thing to gain by playing through again is that you can max out your character's skills, which is pointless since the game is so easy. The only time you'll really take serious damage is through glitch hits (getting hit once, then hit a bunch more while your character is on the ground or stuck in the "getting up" animation) or by getting hit by off-screen enemies.

The "Bonus Missions" are stupid and multi-player is a waste of time, so...

In short: There is no replayability, unless you're a glutton for punishment.

Recommendation

Rent, don't buy.

Score

On the plus side, it's short...and it's definitely not the worst hack and slash game out there.

However, it's also a completely linear, semi-buggy game that lacks polish, a decent multi-player mode, and any replayability.

The most disappointing thing about the game is that with just a little tweaking, it could have been so much more...instead it's thoroughly...average.

Nevertheless, if you want to hack and slash for a little while or are a Star Wars fan, this game is worth about five hours of your time...

And 5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/05