Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

"High hopes lead to disappointment."

As a pretty big star wars fan, I have high hopes and high expectations for all things bearing the Lucasarts tag. Unfortunately, this often leaves me open to disappointment. Maybe I'm harsh on things because I want them to be as good, if not better, than I hope, but games like KOTOR made me see that a truly great star wars themed game can be done.

Having said that, I must admit that Episode III does, in fact, fall short of my expectations, but not because I wanted more, but because it just doesn't realize it's potential. Then again, when you're based on a movie, you can only do so much with the game itself, which is why star wars games not actually based on the trilogies usually turn out to be better games.

Anyway, on the review:

GRAPHICS: 7/10

Solid graphics all around, but nothing special. The characters look very much like their real life counterparts, but at times, due to camera distance, you really can't tell. The background art does have some pretty good details in it, and at some parts of the game the background really does help the level seem more intense. There are also very dark and drab backgrounds which bring the mood down as well. The XBox is capable of better

SOUND: 9/10

All the sounds of star wars are there. The lighsaber sounds, blaster fire, droid beeps, music, all of it. There's no mistaking what game this is to anyone who can hear your tv but not see it. There are also many voice clips which actually play out during gameplay, not just cutscenes, which adds a cinematic feel, but also tends to get annoying. It just doesn't stop. The only down side of the sound is that the voice clips tend to happen so often that they can drown out the other star wars sounds, which can be disorienting because the tone of voice does not always match the intensity of the situation.

GAMEPLAY: 6/10

Here's where a lot of the game's potential slips away. A good deal of this game is a button mashing hack 'n' slash with a star wars skin. It's not all bad. Bosses require more finesse and trickery, especially those armed with lightsabers, the problem is that most of the rank and file enemies can be sliced up without any real thinking. You'll most likely find that a great deal of your arsenal is really only used during boss battles, which means that you'll be kind of unfamiliar with it each time to really need to use it. After mashing X and Y, and occasionally B to get through an entire level or two, having to use saber throws, and guard penetrating combos while jumping and healing yourself seems unnatural and confusing.

I'd also like to complain about the camera angles in this section too. It is a static camera, which means that you can't move it around to see ahead of you or to try and see around objects blocking your view. This gets frustrating. It wouldn't be so bad, but you spend a lot of time having to block blaster fire from off-screen where you can't see who's firing at you. Many times you'll run right into an enemy or two because you simply don't see them coming. I cannot stress enough how bad a feature this is for a primarily side scrolling hack 'n' slash. If you're killed by an enemy you can't see, you'll know what I mean. This is by far the most troubling aspect of the entire game.

CHALLENGE: 8/10, then 3/10, and finally 5/10.

This game starts out pretty difficult. Mostly because you're unfamiliar with the gameplay and button layout, combined with the camera problems I mentioned above. You'll die a few times and the game will seem pretty difficult. Then, once you get the hand of it, and a few levels go by, the challenge drops right off. You hold the block button for a bit, mash some buttons, block, jump, mash, and life gets easier. The challenge picks up again later in the game, when the enemies become inexplicably tougher for no reason, and the boss battles become wars of attrition, but it still retains that button mashing feel, with the only real tactics used in the boss battles.

EXTRA/REPLAY VALUE: 3/10

Virtually none. There's really extra incentive to replay the game, you can if you want, but there are no extra goodies. The Vs. mode is fine, but if you wanted a VS game, you'd buy something else. It's entertaining at first, but the novelty wears off. This game is a rental unless you're a big star wars fan. I don't want to spoil any of the bonus missions, but they're pretty easy and short, even compared to the rest of the game, which is doable in the span of a single rental. My ultimate recommendation is to rent it, beat it, and if you really like it, wait a few months until the price drops to buy it if you must have it. Better yet, look for used copies, they're bound to shop up in pretty good numbers at the game stores.

OVERALL: 6/10

I hope my somewhat negative review doesn't strew the fact that this is a decent game. Six doesn't seem great, but a seven would sound so much better, and it's only one point away....I just can't bring myself to give this game a seven. While this game will probably find it's way into every true star wars fans' game library, it probably won't end up in the average gamer's home. I realize that making a game based on the movie severely limits what you can do with it, this game feels somehow lacking. In my mind, the star wars universe is a huge expanse of planets, creatures, technology, and the force....this game just seems so very small by comparison.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/07/05