Star Wars: The Clone Wars

"Entertaining, if shallow, game"

Licensed games are always a crap-shoot for the consumer. Look at Enter the Matrix, which racked up impressive sales based upon the combined hype of the Wachowski brothers, and Shiny's Dave Perry, despite the profusion of bugs in the game, average graphics, and rather standard gameplay. While LucasArts hasn't garnered the sort of infamy that Shiny now has (as far as trying to take advantage of the license fan), this developer's reputation hasn't been quite as stellar of late as it once was. With games like Super Bombad Racing, Force Commander, and The Phantom Menace being reviewed as anywhere from average to downright horrid, and even Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast disappointing a number of fans, one might get the impression that the Star Wars license no longer has the stamp of quality automatically associated with it.

Which brings us to Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While early previews led people to believe that this would be a tactical war game or real-time strategy game set during the Clone Wars, it turned out that it was actually an arcade-styled shoot 'em up, with very shallow pseudo-squad dynamics, set in battles that are a bit larger than the usual ''one man against everyone else'' scenario. It was originally released for the Gamecube, made its way to the Playstation 2, and has finally stopped on the Xbox. So how does the game fare?

Concept: You take on the roles of Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker, and Obi Wan Kenobi, beginning with events occurring just before the last 40 minute stretch of Star Wars: Episode 2. Through 16 missions, you attack Separatist Forces in hover-tanks, in flying gunships, on speeder bikes, on the back of a creature, and on foot, while wielding a lightsaber. The missions vary in quality; a number of them involve several different sub-missions which may play differently. For example, in the Battle of Geonosis, you start off on foot, hoof it over to a gunship, and take to the skies. After blasting smaller enemy transports (in the middle of a raging, epic battle), you land, jump in a tank, and defend artillery trying to bring down Trade Federation Starships. Finally, it's on to a ''boss battle'', against a group of enemy ''acolytes'' in tanks. Unfortunately, the game sometimes feels a bit unfinished. One mission barely lasts longer than the preceding cutscene, and is essentially a short, simple speeder bike chase. In addition, while the game's nature would lead you to believe that the emphasis is on huge, epic battles, such battles are relatively few (but impressive when they do occur) in practice.

Graphics: Graphics are a mixed bag. The Xbox version is, without a doubt, superior to the PS2 version, with things like shadowing, lighting effects, and higher-resolution textures. Oddly, there is slowdown (especially in some of the in-game movies using the game engine), and it's not that uncommon, although not as bad as the PS2 version. In the end, the game's graphics are fairly bare bones. The levels tend to look obviously generated by a generic environmental engine, with relatively little detail, and a lot of same-looking hills and dips. Pandemic (the developers) were quite clever, however, in generating the ''armies'' which fight it out in some of the larger scale battles. By using what look like dynamic texture maps composed of moving soldier sprites with laser fire, Pandemic manages to make the battles look bigger than they really are (interaction-wise). Explosions are quite nice, and there really is a lot going on around you, with the skies filled with gunships and fighters, explosions kicking up debris, NPC vehicles exchanging fire, and (non-destructible) droid and clone soldiers shooting it out in large numbers. Nonetheless, there is a graphical ''ugliness'' at times, which pervades the game, despite Pandemic's oft-successful efforts to bring the Star Wars atmosphere to bear.

Sound: Unlike Knights of the Old Republic, no one bothered to compose any new music for this one. So, if you've heard John Williams' Star Wars themes a million times already, you might as well put on Blind Guardian's ''Battlefield'' as you fight your way through the Battle of Thule. That being said, the music quality is still pretty good, and the sound effects are engaging. The voice work, however, is uninspired and banal, unlike (again) Knights of the Old Republic.

Gameplay: Much has been said about the multiplayer in this game, so I'll get this out of the way now. I've played a bit of the multiplayer, although not on Xbox Live. If you have Xbox Live, it will certainly delight you to know that this game has plenty of multiplayer options to keep you busy. The Live version of Conquest Mode has been subtly enhanced, from what I've heard. Conquest Mode appears to have been inspired by the old Sega game Herzog Zwei. Basically, you capture bases to build up a force of CPU controlled vehicles, which you can send to attack enemy bases, all while piloting your own vehicle. Of course, there are other multiplayer modes, such as the ever-popular deathmatch, as well as a ''survival'' mode, which can be played solo as well. Conquest mode is probably going to be this game's biggest multiplayer draw.

Despite what Microsoft believes to the contrary, there are still those of us whose priority will be the single player game. Essentially, the game should be approached as the Star Wars prequel arcade game that never was. There is no great depth here, and the game isn't incredibly long. However, it will last you a good while, as it takes a while to get a feel for the game in the harder difficulties. The game uses an auto-targeting system that requires you to be quick about firing, lest your aim slip to a new target too quickly. The action becomes fast and furious, especially when you have to protect allied vehicles from incoming fire. You also will sometimes have squadmates you can issue general commands to. The controls themselves are a mixed bag. The on-foot controls are particularly frustrating, as a Tomb Raider-esque ''rotate the Jedi'' scheme is used, which is frankly outdated. Nonetheless, if you view the game as a glorified arcade port, your enjoyment of the game should increase. I myself have returned to the game numerous times after beating it, playing individual levels, or trying for a marathon of laser-blasting. The varied gameplay within some of the levels will come as a welcome diversion.

Final Word: While the game is far from perfect, Clone Wars is certainly a good game to pick up if you're a Star Wars fan, or someone who misses the days of old when mindless action and fantastic environments were all you needed for a bit of fun. Hopefully, Pandemic will come out with a more polished sequel, which will place more emphasis on the large scale battles. Of course, if you're not a Star Wars fan, take this review with a grain of salt, but don't count out this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/03