Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Lucas Arts and Pandemic conspire on this action-packed Star Wars game.

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Everyone has been waiting for Pandemic’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars game for quite some time now, but thankfully with the festive period very nearly upon us, overseer’s Lucas Arts have deemed now the correct time to unleash the official virtual embodiment of the spectacular (and mercifully much better than Episode 1) movie upon us.

Though virtual embodiment is probably not quite the correct term, The Clone Wars actually beginning at the point where episode 2 concluded, and offering you the opportunity to get behind the controls of a variety of authentic Star Wars craft.

So, the basics are fairly straight-forward, what you’ve got here is a fairly standard third-person space and ground combat game, all set against the background of the rich Star Wars universe, and enhanced with some nice Star Wars characters, craft, action, and of course music. What would Star Wars be without John Williams?

First impressions are good, and it genuinely took me a number of minutes just to recover from my initial delight at the games beautifully cinematic visuals. The missions are, on the surface at least, a nicely diverse arrangement too. The first mission of the whole game, proving one of the best examples of Pandemic’s work. It’s a long one and involves all manner of escorting, defending, attacking, all ending in a dramatic and suitably Star Wars-esque crescendo of action.

It’s all nicely interwoven with a plot, of sorts, too – which at very least seems to offer some purpose to the sheer masses of craft you’re going to have to destroy. This is a theme that continues throughout, too…

This initial sense of diversity can get overwhelming at times however, but this should not be confused with a sense of freedom, Pandemic having simplified an outwardly complex design in many ways. Firstly, the game feels like, its ‘on rails’ much of the time, you’re vehicle moving between points of your mission without any sense of free-will involved, and this is compounded by the auto-targeting which barely requires you to face in roughly the right direction to hit your target. It does of course lend the game an ‘arcade’ feel, but also ultimately detracts form the immersion begun by the superb sense of atmosphere and realism The Clone Wars works so hard to create.

Anyway, the controls are nice and simple to pick up, and quite frankly the Star Wars ‘vision’ is in very fine fetter indeed. Perhaps one of the most impressive elements to the game was the sense of realism in the look and feel of the action going on (even if ultimately this is a façade), the impression of a real war raging in the on-screen action.

This immersive action is present throughout in the hordes of friendly and enemy combatants all whizzing around you, destroying each other, and generally creating a mayhem of on-screen activity. Ultimately though, this façade is revealed when it dawns on you that not everything cannot actually be shot at, or interacted with in any way – though it still adds to the cinematic feel wonderfully.

Sadly all is not perfect in the visual department, as things can occasionally get a little blocky, especially during cut-scenes – not this is a major bone of contention given that the predominance of the action is viewed from far away. The aerial combat portions of the game are particularly good however, more than making up for the woeful on-foot action which only proves the game to be a very poor man’s imitation of Jedi Knight 2.

Predictably, the sound track is as damn near perfect as we’d expect from the ubiquitous John Williams compositions we all know and love, and this adds further to the air of realism and cinematic authenticity that surrounds The Clone Wars.

Multiplayer is also included, albeit as just a small option for a little split-screen combat action on this occasion, though you can unveil additional levels by completing bonus objectives, and if nothing else it’s all good clean fun.

All in all, The Clone Wars is something of a mixed bag, and is quite a tough call. The controls are simple, as is the game play design as a whole, making for a fairly linear and uninspired experience – though one that does still have some wonderful cinematic moments which Star Wars fans will love. The action can however grow a little repetitive, and is rarely more sophisticated than a constant barrage of enemies to shoot using the auto-targeting.

However, the obvious weaknesses found in this lack of freedom, and ill-conceived mission design still don’t detract from the wonderful setting and comparatively rich plotting that identifies this as a Star Wars game. When all is said and done, fans may well still enjoy The Clone Wars, despite it being a slight disappointment.

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By Luke Guttridge