Genre: Action
Developer: Pandemic Studios
Publisher: LucasArts
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Memory: 3 Blocks
ERSB: Teen
Supports: DD Pro Logic II, Progressive Scan
Also On: PS2
Website:lucasarts.com

Presentation

Star Wars: The Clone War starts where Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones ends. As Jedi Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu or Obi-Wan Kenobi, you lead the Republic Army in the greatest battles of the epic Clone Wars. Your directive: to stop the Separatists from reassembling an ancient Sith weapon of mass annihilation. Battle for survival in a variety of multiplayer games with up to four players, from Deathmatch to King-of-the-Hill -- and even strategic Conquest games. And engage over 30 unique combat units as you wage war across six worlds in the Star Wars galaxy’s most unforgettable conflict. Too bad you’ll forget about it pretty fast.

Graphics
Graphically, the game is exactly what you should expect. While there is some levels with distances to be viewed and even some slow down in some of the most extreme instances, these minor problems can be forgiven with the overall experience. Even the plain 30 frames per second can be exonerated simply because the idea for the game is so unspoiled. The game really shines in the graphic department on particular levels. There are literally hundreds of friendly and enemy units in each battle, stationary targets and background elements at each encounter. But these grand scale graphics don’t hold up well when you come in close. When head to head with another tank. The framerate almost always drop. The first person views from the vehicles look amazing, but when cutting to the cinemas it just isn’t as detailed as I expected and they feel pirated somehow from the film counterpart. Well I’ll stop trying to sugar it up. The cinemas suck plain as that. In the big picture though, the graphics are ok.

Sound
As for sound, the title has signature Star Wars music and all of the familiar sights and sounds of Star Wars. The voice acting is weak because Lucas can never get the real actors to do voiceovers, but you can fake your mind into completing the experience. And may I suggest a sound cue as opposed to a voice actor when you kill the target you wanted to send your wingman toward. But all in all though, the game delivers the dependable experience you’ve come to expect from LucaArts within the limitations of the system. Pretty good sound in all. The game sounds even better with Pro Logic II. The rear channels really get you going. Add 2 points to sound if you have the stuff to hear the game in PLII.

Gameplay
The gameplay is passionate; the control is right on and intuitive especially if you’ve played previous Star Wars titles like Shadows of the Empire and Battle for Naboo. Each vehicle controls significantly differently, each with plenty of weapons and secondary firing capabilities (the four green laser thingy is the best). You’ll scramble a bit when you play it initially simply because the action is so intense, but after a few missions you’ll be tossing missiles around like candy, nuking Separatists forces with ease, and sending wingmen fearlessly into combat with reckless abandon. Umm wait you won’t be sending wingmen any ware because even thought you can order them sometimes. They still don’t do jack s*** . I’ll give it to you straight you’re on your own. And another thing that gets on my nerves is the difficulty. Oh sure I’m pretty damn good at videogames. But to beat a Star Wars game in 2 days? That’s plain nuts. Rouge Leader took me about a month and that was only the 10 regular missions. SW:CW can be better but its still pretty good anyway.

Conclusion
Overall, this title is a solid offering exactly what I was hoping it would be. Is it flawed? Perhaps, but not enough for me to complain (too much). I really like this game, and recommend it to fans of Episode II worldwide. All it really needs is a bit more enhancement on every level, and everyone would have had this title preordered. Lacking that, however, The Clone Wars for Nintendo’s Gamecube gives you a front row seat of the legendary conflict where you control the outcome. I recommend a rental first.

~ditto~