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PS3 Review - Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
Jamie Donnelly
It won’t be long before every single popular movie franchise has a Lego adaptation. To name just a few; Traveller’s Tales have taken on Batman, Harry Potter, and will be taking on Pirates of the Caribbean in the summer. In the mean time, Traveller’s Tales is returning to the franchise that made its gaming formula so popular; Star Wars. Having already comprehensively covered the original films and the prequels, the latest entry will be focusing around the events of the Clone Wars. Can it live up to its predecessor’s excellent reputation?
Developer: Traveller’s Tales
Publisher: LucasArts
Platform: PC, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS
Release Date: NA - March 22, EU - March 25, AU - March 30
Story
The story follows the events of the The Clone Wars as they are depicted in the first two seasons of the animated series. I have only seen a few episodes from this series, and so am unable to comment on how closely they stick to the source material. As far as I know, and if the original Lego Star Wars games are anything to go by, the story will be pretty much exactly the same. What I can tell you about the story is that it is done in the usual charming Lego way, and the cutscenes mange to convey everything that is going on without the need for a single word. If the Lego characters were real, they would be receiving Oscars for their ability to portray emotion and inner thought with the simple use of gesture and facial expression. The familiar cast of characters from the Star Wars films are present, and so despite not knowing the story I still felt at home in the galaxy.
Gameplay
The first immediately noticeable difference between The Clone Wars and its older siblings is the sheer scale of everything. The intergalactic battles feel as mighty as they should, and there are many occasions where droids continually flood the screen and your Jedi is lost in a sea of crumbling blocks. One moment you are solving a basic puzzle, or slicing your way through a wall, and the next you are piloting a ship and firing torpedos at an enemy’s hull. Despite the occasional slow pace for a puzzle or two, the excitement is nearly constant and the ever changing environment and gameplay makes this possible. I have played many Star Wars games, and have never felt so much like a Jedi as I did in The Clone Wars.
Some of the set pieces that occur during story mode are on par with any realistic action title. Levels are so varied that you literally cannot guess what will happen next and this prevents many of the gameplay elements from becoming too familiar. For instance, in one level I was chasing somebody through a ship and was actually starting to get fed up of using my mind to throw objects back in their direction. At the moment I thought this, almost as if the game had Jedi powers of its own, a giant robot appeared and then moments later I was plummeting towards the ground while battling atop the aforementioned mechanical creation. I was still engaging in the same activity of throwing an object back towards the direction it came from, but the spectacular way in which it was delivered meant it rarely became mundane.
Levels are not just varied in terms of set pieces, but they are varied in terms of what genre you are playing as well. While the typical level layout of previous games remains intact, in which you must defeat the droids and solve the puzzles, there are now battles which take a very RTS approach. It is probably the simplest RTS I have ever played, but it pulls off the general feel of RTS games and manages to entertain at the same time. You have to take various bases by destroying the enemy’s buildings, and then build your own buildings in their place. There are a range of buildings such as force shields, barracks and cannons. The tactical element is lacking, but it is a Lego game so nobody is going into the game with an advanced military strategy textbook at their side. It simply adds another level of fun and once again demonstrates the scale that this game has taken on; at times it almost felt like Dynasty Warriors as I slashed my way to another objective through the thousands of droids that the enemy barracks were producing.
As with most Lego games, you will get everything that the single player gives you and more from the Co-Op mode. Simply mucking about with a friend is half the fun, and it makes sections of the game where you are following two different paths through a level feel really authentic (On single player you switch between the two via a nifty picture-in-picture mode). The major gripe I have with co-op is the split screen that looks to be a set feature for all Lego games. The camera on the old games was annoying in that it didn’t allow you to wander too far apart, but I found the new “Dynamic” split line to be annoying and confusing. I realise it may simply be a compromise feature as a solid split would not work, and neither did a single screen, but I hope it can be refined for future Lego games and made to be more of a help than a hindrance.
Replayability and Difficulty
As always, there is an almost intimidating number of collectibles to be discovered that will keep you playing long beyond the completion of the levels. The problem with the collectibles this time round is that the objectives required to get them are often incredibly tedious. In the previous instalments, you would need to go through on Free Play and utilise every character and their unique skills in order to find the minikits; it gave each level a much required variety. Although there is still this element within The Clone Wars, too many of the minikit objectives boil down to having to destroy ten trees or similar mundane objects before the treasure appears.
If your only concern is completing levels, then The Clone Wars is a very easy game. You have unlimited lives as always, and so if you can’t complete a level due to dying then I suggest you reconsider quitting your day job to become a professional gamer (Unless the reason you are dying is because your spaceship randomly disappeared and left you falling through space, respawning, and then falling through space again in an infinite loop of Lego death, as happened to me on one occasion). The game is difficult in the sense of collecting everything, and filling up your true Jedi bar (the more coins you get, the more it fills up) will be very difficult if you allow yourself to die too often.
The issue I have with the difficulty is when it comes to the puzzles. They are mostly as parsimonious as the rest of the experience, but there is a real lack of consistency when it comes to signposting. It is not a major problem, but it did mean I found myself having to play around with objects in some rooms just to see if they did anything at all, and then in other rooms it was so obvious where a puzzle was that it broke the aesthetic and feel of the game.
Look and Sound
This is undoubtedly the best looking Lego game to date, and everything has vibrancy and a sharpness that helps bring the Lego to life. It is also a credit to the game that despite the sheer scale of everything and the amount going on, the frame rate never dropped and was consistently smooth throughout the entire experience. The audio does everything that you would expect, with familiar clashes and beeps during every space battle atop a background of the legendary orchestral Star Wars theme.
Overall
It manages to be bigger and bolder in every aspect, while still holding onto the charm that makes LEGO games so endearing. I was not even that familiar with the events of the Clone Wars, but the cutscenes still managed to make me chuckle with their blend of recognisable Star Wars characters and slapstick comedy. This is a must purchase for any fans of the Lego franchise or Star Wars.
Pro’s
- Gameplay is hugely varied
- Action-packed Set Pieces
- Every aspect is bigger and bolder than the previous instalments.
Con’s
- Gathering collectibles can become tedious
- Inconsistent signposting for puzzles
- Horrible Split-Screen
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is the Lego gaming mantra at its very finest. On the surface it may look very similar to the previous Lego Star Wars instalments, but it is in a galaxy of its own as far as the gameplay goes.
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