A forgettable movie-game conversion. A great audiovisual showing is let down by repetition and basic gameplay mechanics.
This awesomely anticipated movie could never make its way to the box office without a game following in its wake, and prior to my rental, I was thinking: "Oh God, here we go... another pathetic movie tie-in." But nevertheless, after being impressed by the movie (in comparison to the other two prequels) I had nothing else to blow my money on, and picked the game up anyway. So let's don the rubber gloves and the facemask, and delve deep into the guts of this movie tie-in...
The first thing that strikes me is the core gameplay mechanics. There's nothing innovative about it; you control a character with a list of combo moves and attacks, and you mash every enemy in sight to their core components. In fact, it's best to think of Episode III as a Star Wars beat-em-up.
There's very little tactics and strategy in the gameplay. Most of the time the game revolves around beating up familiar Star Wars enemies. Another painfully obvious thing is how there's next to no variety in the game; the game holds itself together with the same repetitive missions and forgettable button-mashing. The only thing that really changes is the character used in the missions; you either play as Anakin Skywalker or Obi-Wan Kenobi, although both of them are usually in the environment at the same time, watching out for each other.
Despite being two totally different Jedi, with completely differing qualities to their ability, both Anakin and Obi-Wan play almost exactly the same... neither of them seem to be more agile or more powerful over the other. And your partner - again, either one of these two - has the intelligence of a goldfish. The enemy AI really is useless, and when you need it most, it's on the other side of the room admiring the scenery.
These glaring flaws let down what could have been a half-decent, entertaining conversion. Sometimes there's a glimmer of enjoyment in slicing droids to pieces. After all, you're a Jedi, for heaven's sake, and you're fighting for what's right! It really is a shame that such a promising concept is hamstrung by such repetition and killed by these recycled, bland gameplay mechanics.
The only thing that could carry you through the painfully similar missions is the unlockable content. Unfortunately, most of these bonus extras are yet more missions, which happen to be even more soul-crushingly tedious than the ones in the campaign. You can gain access to some great Star Wars characters in the end, such as the almighty green messiah we like to call Yoda.
On the multiplayer front, there's a 2-player battle mode similar to games such as Tekken and Dead or Alive. This is a mildly entertaining way to pass the time. Despite the flimsy combat, seeing the humiliation flare in a friend's face is as satisfying as it is in any other multiplayer game. Once you've kicked their heads in by repeatedly pressing the same button, you can smile and quote annoying snippets to emphasize the fact that you have serious skill. Even if that skill is aimlessly smashing in the exact same button again and again to earn your stripes.
After all the everlasting combat in the game, it's evident that the film's events are recreated startlingly well. Episode III has some great visuals on offer. Lightsabers have never looked better, and the character models are pretty well created when compared to the real-life counterparts. The various environments are also of a high standard, and cutscenes are taken directly from the movie. The only real things I have to criticize in this area is the distinctly clunky animation. Jedi are meant to be elegant, with admirable, flowing movements. Sadly, these Jedi are more like wooden puppets than the adaptable, gymnastic, swift warriors they are meant to be.
The sound is also of an excellent standard, but then, being Star Wars, it's impossible not to be great. You still can't beat the John Williams musical score, and familiar sound effects are used here, from the trademark blaster fire and the vvrring noise (See: Professor Frink's interpretation, Simpsons enthusiasts) of the lightsaber as you slice it around.
In conclusion, this game is basically a basic, cookie-cutter action tie-in wrapped in glossy wrapping. It's fallen straight into the movie-game trap that almost every game slips into, and the result is a forgettable movie-game conversion. There's a great audiovisual showing here, but sadly, it's let down by unforgivable repetition and undeniably basic gameplay mechanics.
-stevenscott14