*Cues Star Wars tune* The fires of the Clone Wars are burning throughout every corner of the galaxy. Guided by the Sith and under the direct leadership of Count Dooku, the Confederacy of the Independant Systems has dealt one crippling blow after another to the Republic. Recalled from a battlefront in the Outer Rim, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker return to Coruscant to find the planet under seige. Seeking to drive the Republic into further chaos, the malicious cyborg Genaral Grevious has infiltrated the capital and abducted Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Obi-Wan and Anakin lead an urgent rescue mission to free the captive Chancellor. The fate of the galaxy rides with them, failure could mean an end to the war and the Republic....
I wish the force was more strong in this one Episode Three is the final Star Wars movie in this epic saga. The movie itself was well made and full of what Star Wars fans loved, Jedis. So what possesed Lucas Arts to make this game?. This game is basically just a playable version of the movie. Great I hear you say. Wrong!. Star Wars Episode Three is a 3-5 hour long game that only focuses on the Jedi and their struggles. As you begin the game you are thrust into a world of loosely put together cut scenes which serve the purpose of creating an intense atmoshere. This atmosphere is ruined by bad voice acting and overly simplistic action. To all that played the Lord of the Rings hack n Slash games you will have an idea of what you are getting into. Episode Three plays like Lord of the Rings The Two Towers with having simple controls and an easy to pick up and play nature. The only difference is that this is plauged by unresponsive controls, Bad camera angles and maps that you will fall through randomly.
I fight alone The single player is played from the eyes of Obi-Wan or Anakin. In most of these missions you will have your partner alongside with you but due to poor AI coding all that happens is he stands still watching. As you progress into the story you play some of the battles that were left out in the movies. These make for a welcome change but overall just add a layer of frustration to the game. To those that play this game you will find that it is based around having Jedi fight each other. This takes a leaf out of Soul Calibers book and outs you into an arena to fight it out. Yet again this is plauged by the bad controls and makes it nearly impossible to win without using cheap tactics. If you can sit through the single player for the 3-5 hours then you are able to unlock a "secret ending". This just shows what would have happened if the final battle went the other way.
I challenge you to a duel This is the light at the end of the tunnel for George Lucas's lacking game. The multiplayer consists of two different gametypes: Co-Op which features you and a friend battle against droids until the timer runs out and Battle an arena deathmatch mode where you get a selection of 9 Jedi to fight amonst you and your friends. Co-Op traps you two in a room and just brings waves upon waves of enemies onto your position. The battle mode is the most fun you will have in this game. You and your opponent battle it out in a best of three match. The controls are still slow but the challenge of versing a mate as a jedi makes up for it. With 9 fighters and approx 25 arenas this proves to be rather fun for a short while.
look at my force As expected with other recent Star Wars games the graphics on this are average. The enviroments have no shine and character models seem very poorly made. They have used two different engines it seems as the cutscene graphics are alot more realistic and seem completely different to the in game graphics. This is a prime example of sub-par graphics for this generation of games. As with all Lucas Arts games the sound in this is perfect. Every noise you hear is authentic to the movie and helps create a wonderful atmosphere. Yet again though there is a downside, the voice acting in this is so horrible you feel that the actors never listened to it.
Yoda would cry Overall this is a game that never got anywhere near the mark. With huge amounts of glitches and a very bad combat system with slugish controls I would not recomend this game for even a hire. In a world where games are supposed to be improving Star Wars Episode three takes a giant leap backwards. This is coming from a Star Wars fan that owns all except one of the Star Wars games on xbox and this by far falls short. If you are looking for a fun, challenging and well made Star Wars game I recomend Lego Star Wars.
