Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate leads to an ok game."

Intro
This the game to go along with the highly anticipated Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith. This game borrows elements from a lot of other Star Wars games and does feel familiar, but more on that later. I'll score the game based on the categories of graphics, audio, story, game-play and multi-player / replay value.

Graphics - 9/10
What can I say? This game stunning to look at. All of the characters look nice and the environments are all very well done. The textures, although bland in some spots are amazing in others. The light sabers and other various weapons look cool. There are some great looking particle effects when light sabers clash or when the light sabers go into walls. All of the force powers in the game look cool, from force lighting even to force stun, which is about the extent of the force powers. The developers spent a lot of time getting the faces of all the characters spot on. The animations are all fluid and look great, especially Anikin's light saber animations. Did I mention that the animations are all done by hand too, no easy feat in an industry that is almost all motion-captured. Other than great there isn't really much to say about the graphics. All in all it's a really good looking game.

Audio - 9.5/10
Like all things Star Wars great audio is to be expected. This game is in no way a disappointment in the audio department. The only thing that really kept it from getting a 10/10 in the audio department was that most of the songs are just the same Star Wars songs that we've heard in all of the movie and games. The music though still is and always has been great. The sound-effects are also well done. The blaster fire is sounds good, the light sabers make the hum and the buzz sound when they collide. The voice overs are either done by the actors from the movie who decided to reprise their role in the game or by very very talented voice actors. Sufficientto say that the voices are great. All-in-all the music will not disappoint you in anyway. You just have to be sure to go into settings when you first load the game and turn up the volume controls all the way because the game seemed rather quiet.

Story - 8/10
The story follows the movie. As far as I can tell, with out having seen the move due to the game coming out before the movie. The main single player campaign switches between Anakin and Obi-Wan telling each side of the story. But, if you're a Star Wars fan you might expect and know what happens in the game all it really is is a matter of how it happens, which I must say how it happens is pretty awesome. I guess I can't say any more with out giving something away so I'll move on.

Game-Play - 7/10
This is the biggest and most important part of a game. While the game-play isn't bad in this game it's not great either. This game feels like a mix between Ninja Gaiden and the Lord Of The Rings (Both The Two Towers and Return Of The King) games. There is a relatively small combo system that seemed kind of useless because I just tapped the attack buttons until all my enemys died. This is where it feels like Ninja Gaiden execept that Ninja Gaiden is more fun and there is some challenge to it. The light saber combat on the whole just didn't feel as fluid as they should be and at some points I didn't really feel in control of my character. Now the game play mainly consists of two things: either you're killing waves of stupid enemys (Clone Troopers, Jedi's, Droids) or you're fighting in a deul style match. Personally I preferred the duel style matches and they were more difficult and becuase it wasn't fun to kill hordes of nameless Clones and Jedis. Oh, there are force powers too but they are limited to force grasp, lightning, stun and light saber throw oh and heal, which you will either abuse or never use. By the time you get level three force lightning with a character you can destroy pretty much anybody that gets in your way with a well timed force lighting. But aside from this the light saber battles are cool and fun. From time to time you may also hop into a turret for some ok shooting action. Now the point of the game is to get experince (and find secrets) so you can upgrade your character. After you beat a level the game will tell you how many kills you got while you were in fair, good, impressive or masterful mode. This is very similar to the LotR games by EA. You then use your experience to upgrade your characters giving them different powers or different skills. It's fun for a bit but gets stale after a while. This is the main flow with the game play, once you get used to it it's ok but goes downhill.

Multi-player / Re-play value - 7.5/10
While the only real replay value I see to the game is to collect all the secrets and experience the multi-player is surprisingly well done. This game offers a few select 5 or so minuet long co-op levels but where the multi-player gets its fun is from the the versus mode. This is where you take what you learn and fight your friends in a fight to the death. There are 9 or so character to choose from but basically you will only be using a few as a lot of the characters are either way to weak or way over powered. You unlock new characters an arenas as you progress through the single play story arch which you can blow through in about 4 or 5 hours. There are some bonus missions that are ok and allow you to play as some new characters, namely Yoda for one level. This game will keep your interest for a week or so but after you beat the bonus and single player missions there isn't much to do.

Closing comments and final score - FINAL SCORE: 7/10
This is a game to rent as you can easily beat it in a rental and when you're waiting in line to see the movie you can spoil it for every one around you. The mult iplayer game is fun the the single player leaves some thing to be desired with weak AI and simple linear levels. How ever if you see the game used or for $20 by all means pick it up. This is far from the best Star Wars game but it's much better than a lot of movie based games on the market.

To summarize
Graphics - 9/10
Audio - 9.5/10
Story - 8/10
Game-play - 7/10
Multi-player / Re-play value - 7.5/10
FINAL SCORE: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/11/05