Shooter, Sim, Fighter, Action-Adventure … All Rolled into One!

For those of you keeping score, in the year and a half since Xbox was first introduced, there have been four Star Wars games released … and now, there are two more coming down the line. One might begin to wonder just how many more games can sprout from this well-known universe. While I haven't played Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™ yet, I did get a chance to take a look atStar Wars®: The Clone Wars™ the other day. I can safely say that it looks like the folks over at LucasArts haven't run out of new and interesting ideas.

This latest addition to the Lucas Arts stable is different than most games I've seen recently. Is it a shooter, an adventure, a sim, or a fighter? Well, it's all of them. Sometimes you are flying a speeder, sometimes you are riding on some odd local critter, sometimes you're dodging about in a ship, other times you're running around on foot with your trusty light saber. Just a wee bit eclectic, no? Basically, you may as well keep an open mind about what to expect because you'll encounter just about everything in this little gem. Then, of course, there is the Xbox Livesupport as well. Since I didn't have access to a network connection at the time, I didn't get to tinker with it, but from what I can tell, it promises to be quite a handful. Keep your eyes open for more on that special feature in the days to come.

This looks to be one of the best action-adventure games to come along in a while, with some cool ideas thrown in for extra grins factor. Ignoring the whole Jedi thing for a bit, the graphics were certainly up to par, delivering what we have come to expect from games on the Xbox (ooh, pretty!), as well as the usual high frame rates and spotless sound.

One thing I noticed about some of the levels was the familiarity. When I was cruising along in what amounts to a speeder, the control scheme and feel reminded me a lot of the PC remake of Battlezone from several years ago. Since I enjoyed that game quite a bit, the comfortable feel earned a grin or two extra. The controls are pretty standardized in keeping with most other games out there—left stick for movement, right for view. That makes it quite readily playable, especially if you've spent any time at all playing Halo (or most any other Xbox shooters, for that matter). There aren't really any quirky unique controls to get used to, and once I got underway, it was smooth sailing. The really nice thing is that the controls are consistent between missions. They are the same when you are fighting in Jedi mode as they are when you are cruising along in the various vehicles, so you don't get disoriented trying to figure out what the controls do every time you switch.

Since this is Star Wars based, the one thing that is distinctly and universally expected is the Jedi. Naturally, there is the presence of those lovable wielders of light sabers and the force to be found. Running around in the levels that involve what I like to call "Jedi mode" (you run around as Mace Windu and kick butt) involved plenty of the things that you would normally associate with Jedi. What is your weapon? A light saber of course! You can either run along, merrily cleaving your enemies in half the old fashioned way, or you can break out the old Jedi light saber boomerang of doom attack. The Force Push Jedi power is pretty darn funny, too—great for squashing crowds of bugs and enemies. I did pause for a second and think to myself "Wait a minute, doesn't me using the Force to kill a bunch of critters kind of lean towards the dark side?" Then, the second passed, and I was rushing on to save the Republic.

By Carlson