Star Wars is one of the most
lucrative franchises known to mankind. Almost everyone knows of Star Wars or at
least some of its characters, even if they don’t like the movies, or (gasp!)
never seen them at all. Every corner you turn there is some Star Wars related
merchandise that is begging for you to purchase it. With the release of the last
movie in the first trilogy, you knew there had to be a game that ties in with
the movie. Does this movie to game adaptation succeed or fail? Read on to find
out more.
If you know anything about Star Wars
movies then you know that the this movie chronicles Anakin Skywalker’s final
decent from being a brave and whinny Jedi Knight to the much feared Dark Lord of
the Sith: Darth Vader. Throughout this game, players will take on and see this
transformation first hand, and you will play and see these events unfold as you
play both Obi Wan and Anakin.
Since you will be fighting as two of
the most powerful and famous Jedi Knights in the game, be prepared for a lot of
lightsaber fighting. Players will have a wide variety of moves at their disposal
to help trash the enemies that dare come to fight you. The combat in the game is
very easy to get the hang of and is very fluid while you are performing all of
the moves. The control scheme takes only moments to get adjusted, soon after
playing you will be swing around the lightsaber like a Jedi. The only problem
with this is at times the controls seem to lag a bit and are unresponsive. While
it is not present all of the time, it is noticeable during some of the tougher
enemies that you will face.
Not only do enemies have to fear
your deadly lightsaber, but they will also have to contend with your assortment
of Force powers. Players will have at their finger tips Force powers that can
help turn the tide of any battle. First there is Force Push which can put items
such as chairs into the enemies, or just push them out of the way. Then there is
my favorite: Sword Throw, which allows you to throw your lightsaber into a group
of enemies and chop them up. There is also Force Heal, which heals your wounds;
Force Speed, which makes you go really fast; and many more which help you
throughout each mission.
One of the things I really liked
about this game is the amount of unlockable content. As you play though the game
you will be able to unlock bonus missions, concept art, and many other things.
This makes players want to go through the game a few times in order to get
everything.
The graphics for Star Wars Episode
III: Revenge of the Sith are really a mixed bag. First of all you have the
character models of both Obi Wan and Anakin. They are highly
detailed. Their clothes that they are wearing look almost identical to their
movie counterparts. The animation is a joy to watch as well. The way that both
characters move around swinging their lightsabers at the enemies as well as
performing extremely acrobatic moves is just a pleasure to watch. The
environments are really nice in the sense that there is a lot of animation as
well as little items that can be destroyed. The framerate stays nice and
consistent even when you are faced with myriads of enemy droids that only have a
few more seconds left to live.
The main problem with the graphics
is the fact that the texture work is really lacking. Everything in this game
suffers from very low resolution texture use. This is a shame because the Xbox
is capable of so much more than this game put out.
The audio for this game also has
some plus and minuses. First of all, the musical score of John Williams is in
this game, and really helps give the players that feeling they are in the Star
Wars universe fighting off many of the game’s enemies. It will stir up some
emotions in you to play harder as you hear some of the classic tunes such as the
Imperial March. The explosions and lightsaber sound effects sounded just like
the movie, which is a really good thing. The bad thing about the sound is the
voice acting. First players are presented with cutscenes from the movie where
you hear the actor’s voices. Then throughout the rest of the game you will hear
a totally different set of voice acting, which really is distracting.
The multiplayer with the game is
also fun. If players feel like seeing who is the best Jedi in the universe they
can go at it in a head-to-head competition. If you want to work together you can
play with a friend though the game’s missions. This really helps extend the
game’s life and makes it a whole lot more fun to play though with a friend than
the computer AI.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of
the Sith is rated T for Teen for violence.
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Gameplay: 7.5
This game has a lot of repetition in it, with a lack of variety of
enemies to chop down, until much later in the game. The controls could have also
used a little more refinement because at times the controls are not as
responsive as you might need them, especially in the boss rights.
Graphics: 7.6
The graphics for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith are a mixed
bag. The character models look really great and have very nice animation. The
lightsaber effects are also really nice, but everything else has a very “blah”
look and feel to it, and this is due to the low texture use throughout all of
the game’s environments.
Sound: 7.1
The music in this game gives the perfect sense that you are in the Star
Wars universe thanks to John Williams brilliant score. The bad thing is the
voice acting, while it isn’t bad per se, but when you heard the actor’s real
voices in the movie cutscenes, then the voices they used in the game, it is
really annoying, since the voices are not the same.
Difficulty: Medium
This game will provide you with some challenge, especially some of the
boss fights.
Concept: 7.4
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith doesn’t add anything new to
this genre in any sense. What I did like about this game is all of the bonus and
unlockable content. This gives plays more motivation to play though it again.
Multiplayer: 8.0
Find and friend and have a nice lightsaber duel. There is a
one-on-one fighting mode or you can play the game cooperatively with a friend.
Overall: 7.7
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a pretty good game.
There are a few things that the developers could have done to make it a lot
better, including getting the real actors voices to provide for the characters
in the game. If the game was a little bit longer (it takes less than ten hours
to beat), had less repetition, and the controls were just slightly more refined,
this game would have been a whole lot better.
