Star Wars: The Clone Wars Review
The Clone Wars is what you could say is a treat of what is to come. This is a very special part of the Star Wars history. It is the first game based upon the Clone Wars, which fans have waited for. Though, it is no Rouge Leader, it’s still a good game, and I love sci-fi and Star Wars, so it’s even better for me. One of the major faults is that the ability to choose whatever vehicle for any mission is MIA (Missing in Action). Therefore you’re stuck with whatever vehicle is scripted in, and most of the time you’ll be controlling the boring tank. The several worlds you visit are different, making the graphics fresh, and the bonuses are worth every last bit.
PROs
Single Player: Campaign
Each world is very different from the snowy mountains of Rhen Var, to the junk yards of Raxus Prime, the forest of a Kashyk moon, and the deserts of Genosis. The flying sequences are some of my favorite, taking down Techno Union ships is so cool. Using your linked lasers to smoother ground vehicles is very cool, too. The battles are very alive, though I wish you could crumple and blowup druids. The special attacks (and a speed boast) had a little fun to it, and super lasers and invincibility help you get out of tight spots. The bonus missions are fun, and add strategy to the game. You have to spend more time killing enemies, destroy radar dishes, and more. It adds a little spice to the usual mission goals. Some different kinds of missions, including a race through the junkyards of Raxus Prime, a ride through Kashyk as a Maru, and another but it’s lame, so you’ll see it in the CONs. You can control your teammates in certain missions, issuing an attack, defend, regroup, or break command. It adds a little depth and Rouge Leader-esque action. It also comes in 3 difficulties, which are basically easy, medium, and hard.
Muliplayer
Mulitplayer in Clone Wars can be described as “awesome” and where the creativity is at. I’ll explain the different modes of play:
Duel
This is your basic deathmatch type option. So far I have the choices of (note, I have 41 out of 48 bonuses) Fighter Tank (Republic), AS-XT Assault Walker, Hailfire Droid, AAT, and Droid Fighter Tank. I’m sure there is later, but that’s a pretty good selection. Each is slightly different, for example, the AAT is slow but heavily armored, the Fighter Tank fast and fairly armored, and the AT-XT has very heavy fire, good armor, but is pretty slow. If you want your standard death mach, here, take it and have some fun.
Control Zone
you have to take over the area (a circle shows you the perimeter), and stay in for as long as possible, preventing the enemy from take over. Kill the enemy, also.
Conquest
the best of the bunch, you take over bases, build turrets, and have units that you can control. Purely awesome.
Thule Academy
Be the fighter tank or XT-XT Assault Walker, and take on the Separatists armies, for as many rounds as possible. It keeps getting harder, and it gets hard, believe me.
Genosis Academy
Choose one of 4 Jedis (Mace, Obi Wan, Anakin, and some random dude) and re-live the famous Genosis arena battle. You have o fend off Genosians, then Trade Federation droids, then Super Battle Droids, and so on. It’s awesome, one of the best and most creative multiplayer options.
CONs
Single Player: Campaign
Despite have a worth-while, fun single player, it has some bad problems. For one, you can not even choose the vehicle you use. I wanted to trot through each level, unless the flying segments, or other levels like the maru couldn’t let me, as an AT-TE and just rain havoc upon the droids. Your stuck most of the time with that fighter tank, which I enjoy, but the other vehicles? They’re just much, much cooler then a tank. Imagine going through the first genosis levels as an AT-TE or a AT-XT Assault Walker. Another problem is the lack of the permanent D-Pad system, which would have added a load of fun. I want to control the Mobile Assault Cannon, very, very bad. Despite, these problems the campaign is still very fun.
Multiplayer The multiplayer is extremely fun, and very inspired. Though, it is host to a few problems. One is the lack of vehicles at the beginning. You gain a few vehicles as the game goes on, and I’m once you beat it on the higher difficulty levels, and get all bonus points there will be more. The other problem is that you have to get maps as bonuses. The jedi academy is received by a certain amount of bonus points. Though, this does add replay values, and is only a minor complaint for the most picky. The worst problems are the graphical problems in the jedi academy- the characters look good but the coliseum looks horrible. This doesn’t take away from the great fun of the multiplayer option though.
Aspects of game
Graphics:
The graphics are very good in most areas of the game. Vehicle models look simply sweet, the Spiders, the AT-TE, the federation core ships, look all great. The snowy hills of Rhen Var look great, and the crashed drop ship is awesome. The genosis battle looks simply put, sweet. All the levels are pretty vibrant and alive, with the best looking of them has to be Thule. The dark atmosphere of Thule and it’s mood are portrayed very well, the dark sky and lighting add intensity. Taking down Techno Union ships never looks better in Clone Wars. Not to mention, the ship explosions are one of my favorite parts. Along with all this, the cut scenes are simply give you a feeling of awe and amazement. The look as good as the movie, well maybe not that good. But they look almost as good, as good as it can get on a console. There are some graphical problems, though, as I mentioned the Jedi Academy is rather ugly. Some models in the real time cut scenes in levels are a little iffy. The major complaint is that some of the graphics are a little blocky, though not most.
Sound
Another high point of the game is it’s sound. The rumbles of incoming spider droids and the roar of STAP engines is sweet. The voices are very good, too. The one problem would have to be that some of the speech is said over other lines. This is mainly in the academy, when Mace says all players are dead (something like that) and at the same time- Round __ is ready (again, not exactly what he says). Though, these are just minor faults. Finally the sound is very good, well above average.
Gameplay
Most of the single player is basic-shoot ’em up gameplay, but it’s interesting too. The mission goals (and bonus mission goals) add spice to the game, and the Star Wars universe aids the fun factor. The huge battles and sometimes boss battles add to the gameplay, along with creative missions (maru, speeder bike, on foot) and a boring one (STAP race) change around the gameplay slightly. The multiplayer, is totally different (except duel) in the gameplay factor. You can fight hordes after hordes of the droid armies on foot with a lightsaber, or with a vehicle, control a area and destroy a friend to gain points, or take over bases, build turrets, and build tanks. The multiplayer is a very fun factor of this game, and maybe in the next game (clone wars don’t end in this game) they’ll add some of multiplayer stuff (conquest) and the RS-style hanger. It would be awesome to build bases and tanks in single player….
Replay Value
The three modes of difficulty and un-lockables add a big amount of replay value. The new maps you can unlock are totally worth it for multiplayer. Along with that, the unit viewer, and sketch book are my favorite bonus-materials I have unlocked. As in most games, you’ll probably get some cool un-lockables for beating the higher difficulties. Replaying the levels just to play them, to learn about the Star Wars universe is most likely something Star Wars fan will par take in. The mutiplayer is where you’ll be at after beating this game and unlocking everything, just for the fun.
Feel/Look
The look and feel of the menus is very Star-Wars and futuristic, which is a great thing. It brings an added dose of realism to the game. The main menu (campaign, options, and multiplayer) is that off a republic drop ship. It’s one of the coolest title/main menu screens I’ve ever seen. The actual levels themselves have a great Star Wars feel to them.
Conclusion I like this game a lot, being a big Star Wars fan. If you’re a fan, pick this one up right now. Let the force guide you. If you’re into shooting or vehicle games, pick this one up. Otherwise? Give it a rent first, though I’m pretty sure you’ll like it. The one thing that really bothers me is what it could have been. With a little more time in the development studio (a month and a half about) the could of fixed the small problems Even added a vehicle choice option, which would have made this game great. But, hey, it’s still a fun, exciting game that most people will like.
Visuals: 8
Sound: 9
Originality: 7
Replay: 9
Overall: 8