Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

"The force is reasonably strong with this one"

Star Wars Episode 3- A review by bse_bunny

Introduction- This is my first review for gamefaqs.com and I decided on this game because I am a Star Wars fan. Please note that I have not changed my judgement of this game due to the fact that I love SW. I didn't buy Revenge of the Sith, I merely rented it out. From me first hearing about this game I had high hopes about it seeing that the movie had plenty of material to base the game upon. However, I was fairly disappointed when I managed to pass most of the game in a couple of hours (on easy mode mind you) But enough with the introduction! Let's get on with the review!

Graphics 7/10

Reasonably good looking but nothing spectacular. The close ups on the faces are really good though and capture all the little details (like Anakin's scar) Lightsaber effects are some of the best to date however and it looks spectacular in a saber on saber fight. Most of the backgrounds are very detailed and most have movement such as the Mustafar duel between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan with rocks falling into the lava below. I definitely think a better job could have been done on the graphics to draw the player into the gaming experience. The graphics do their job to a reasonable standard though, and are fairly kind on the eye. Some of the camera problems could have been easily sorted out such as the inablility to control the camera on the Xbox version (not sure about PS2 though) When the camera zooms out a lot then the graphics appear slightly cartoony and you don't get to see the cool lightsaber moves like you do with a close-up view.

Sound 9/10

As with most Star Wars games the sound is brilliant with all the effects sounding like those in the movie. Lightsaber noises sound very realistic and so do the blaster rifle sounds. This makes for a rather cinematic sound experience and makes up somewhat for some of the let downs in this game. The soundtrack is superb and sounds just like it is in the movies. Most of the music from Star Wars features in the game and some has been arranged/changed for the game. Sound is usually a strong point for all Star Wars games and Revenge of the Sith is defenitely no exception.

Multiplayer- 7/10

As far as it goes the multiplayer duel mode is good. Basically you play as one Jedi and your friend plays as another in a battle to the death. There are a number of arenas to be unlocked in singleplayer mode that you can then use in duel mode. The only problem is that the characters are unbalanced. Darth Vader (in armour with red saber) is easily the most powerful character in duel mode and nobody can stand up to him. He also duels with far too much jumping around and is nothing like he was in the movies. Apart from this (and the fact that Yoda is not playable in duel mode) it is very good and adds a fun multiplayer party element to the game. The second part of multiplayer mode is co-op where you play with a friend in a series of missions. These missions are not very deep however and basically involve killing enemies until you advance to the next stage. Each stage contains tougher enemies until you face the most powerful standard enemy available. The main problem is the lack of levels with only four being available and one of these uses characters that do not feature in the movie. I was hoping for more levels especially seeing what there was to base the battles on. An obvious level that was missed out was Anakin and Obi-Wan vs. Count Dooku. Another was the fight with Yoda and Obi-Wan against the Stormtroopers outside the Jedi Temple. Four levels is really not enough (although they are very fun) and as they are not really objective based I was hoping for a few more.

Gameplay- 7/10

Overall the gameplay is pretty good but is let down by some poor design features. Let's start with the most important feature of the game, the combat system. As Revenge of the Sith is purely a hack 'n' slash game the developers needed to get the system perfect. For the most part the combat system is very good, although nothing special. You earn experience for killing enemies and when you finish the level you can put the experience into buying more force powers or new moves. This is where the problems start though that end up spoiling an otherwise great combat system. The first issue is with force power balance (or the lack of it) Force Heal and Force Lighting are easily the most powerful force powers in the game and are the only ones you really need. All the other powers are near useless against all but the weakest enemies. Another problem with the combat system is the special moves that can be purchased with experience points. The button combinations for these are too hard to remember and most of the time you will find yourself just pressing the standard attack buttons and stringing together only basic combos that do just as much damage as the more difficult combos. The Jedi fights are also pretty easy because all you need to do is jump around and attack your enemy a couple of times then heal any damage you might take, repeat this until you have won the fight. Another problem is that the enemies are all the same and eventually get boring to fight. You will only ever fight a few types of enemy in the game and once you find a winning strategy to beat each type the fights degenerate from fun-filled slash fests into sleep inducing click fests.

Level Design- 6/10

Although the levels themselves are done very well with reactive environments (hit a pole with your saber and it will cut in half) they are far too repetitive. As the only places shown in any detail in the movie are General Grevious's ship, the Jedi Temple, Mustafar and Utupau. That means that there are about 4 missions on Greivous's ship, 1 or 2 in the Jedi temple, about 4 on Utupau and 3 on Mustafar. The problem with that is that the levels all look the same and therefore you get bored of the missions environments quite quickly. This in turn makes you feel that the entire game is boring if every level is nearly the same. That's why Star Wars games not set within the story of the movies do so much better than those that follow the movies to the word. The developers can set the game in various places and it makes the entire game more interesting.

Overall- 7/10

Pros-
* Very good sound and excellent saber graphics
* Good (but not brilliant) combat system
* Movie cutscenes

Cons-
* Repetitive level design
* Limited multiplayer
* Boring enemies.

You may also like-
* Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (or Jedi Outcast)
* Star Wars Battlefront
* Knights of the Old Republic

!This review is property of bse_bunny and may not be copied or used for profit without prior permission!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/17/05