Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

"The best hand-held Star Wars game ever."

The nightmare known as Star Wars Episode II for Game Boy Advance can now be forgotten forever. With it's next installment developed by a new developer (the wonderful Ubi Soft, nonetheless) and having a totally different gameplay system, this is the game we expected from the beginning. But wai a minute! This is for DS! It looks just like it's GBA counterpart! True, but it has different features that actually merit the ten extra dollars. Breakdown time!

Story: 10/10
You know what happens, but like the movie, the way it's all executed is just wonderful. Anakin Skywalker, our hero (and antagonist later on, but you already knew that) wants to save Padme from a death he foresees in his dreams nightly. Obi Wan Kenobi must track down the leader of the droid army, General Grievous. Along the way, there is treachery, deception, and sorrow, and in the end, Darth Vader emerges. Truly fantastic. Even some of the badly written dialogue can be forgiven.

Graphics: 8/10
The 2-D sections are beautiful to look at. Everything animates so fluidly, and it sort of resembles the neat art style of the Clone Wars cartoons. The 3D sections are merely pretty good. Although every screenshot I have seen makes them look like crap, the actual thing has to be seen with your own eyes to be appreciated. They're not as smooth as, say, Super Mario 64 DS' graphics, but still pretty good.

Sound and Music: 10/10
This has to be the high point of any Star Wars game. The sound effects are perfectly recreated and the John Williams music just simply can't be beat. I'm telling you! Only downfall here is that the "voice acting" (just grunts and one "Roger Roger") doesn't really match the movie's actors. Oh well, it's redeemed by the other sound factors.

Gameplay: 9/10
The 2D sections: It's a side-scrolling beat-em-up reminiscent of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, except with blasters, lightsabers, and the force. You tap in these lightsaber and force combos to try to get rid of the enemies while trying to get 100% on the level, which is accomplished by "Jedi Style" (a factor that determines how much you resembled the character's personal fighting style) and Speed (How fast you completed the level), with Bonus tossed in (How many hidden green icons you found). All these can be used to upgrade your character's force powers after the level, and it helps. Force Choking three chumps at once can make things a lot quicker. You also have a fury meter, which is filled up in different ways, depending on who you're playing as (Obi-Wan's is filled up by using the force and deflecting blaster shots, whereas Anakin's is filled up by lightsaber combos). The only problem with these sections are one thing: If you have a whole mess of enemies surrounding you, odds are you won't get out alive unless you are a lightsaber and deflection master. They shoot at you simultaneously at times, so it's hard to know what to do.
The 3D sections: Ah yes, space battles a la Rogue Squadron. It's been in every DS owner's dreams, and it's finally realized... Sort of. You see, only special Bonus Missions and the Multiplayer mode are in 3D, so you might not be seeing a lot of it, but for what is there, its good. Very good. You can fly in a variety of ships, completing objectives, or blasting friends and/or bots. The inclusion of bots is actually very good, so you can do 3D dogfights without playing the same mission over and over again. The variety of ships is refreshing, and unlocking them is actually pretty challenging, depending on which one you want. There are plenty of maps (and yes, Hoth is one of them. Surprise!), and you can change the game rules on your own, so every dogfight is different.

Now for the summary!

Good:
-Fluid Graphics for the 2D sections
-Tight gameplay
-Excellent sound and music
-3D space missions

Bad:
-Steep learning curve
-The 3D space mission graphics could be better

Overall: If you are a Star Wars fan with a DS in hand, do not hesitate at all to get this, but see the movie first to avoid confusion brought up by minor changes. Even non-fans can enjoy this game. One of the DS' best at the moment, even if it is a Deluxe version of the Game Boy Advance Game, in a sense.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/31/05