Silicon Fusion >> Reviews >> Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith

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Review:

24th May 2005:
Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
Live the moments from the movie and follow the film's tragic conflict through the perspective of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Posted by John Grothier - Xbox,PlayStation 2 - UK and Europe

It's hard for me to believe now that it's all finally over; the magic of Star Wars will be no more, after yet another disappointing prequel to one of cinemas finest trilogies. It's nothing about not being seven years old again, the new films just don't have the right actors, dialogue and direction the made the originals a classic. Especially the ones not directed by Geroge Lucas. Star Wars will live on - at least in the guise of video games. But if Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is the shape of things to come, I'd rather stick pins in my eye.

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith as a game could have been so much better, it had a lot to live up to, but this Star Wars title really feels like it was quickly boxed up and put on the shelves, just in time for the movie. It features an almost gruelling amount of lightsaber duelling with around 16 missions based on the film. Most of these don't take more than a quarter of an hour to complete and by finishing them players will unlock bonus missions, but it quickly becomes apparent that this title is both repetitious, boring and will try the patience of even the most die hard of Star Wars fans.

In Revenge of the Sith you get to play as both Obi-Wan Kenobi and troubled Anakin Skywalker. If you have not seen the film yet, then I would advise strongly that you at least see the film first, as the game contains all the spoilers from the movie you would expect. The game even includes some badly compressed footage, so if you have any intention of seeing the film, I would hold off from playing the game before you make that trip to the cinema.

As an action title, the game never really stops to give any really meaning to any of the major plots and scenes in the Revenge of the Sith movie, it's just a repetitive stroll down one corridor of baddies after another, with the odd boss fight thrown in for bad measure. Both of the characters have, of course, lightsabers - and at the beginning of the game players will only have a limited amount off attacks to perform. After completing each level you are measured on how well your fighting performance was, and you can level up attacks to make them slightly stronger. As you get further into the game you will find that your combos become more and more complex, but I'd expect many of you to have rightly given up by then.

The lightsaber bashing action is slightly broken up every now and then by some even worse turret shooting sequences, but these are so badly implemented that you will find yourself wishing for more repetitious lightsaber action. The game itself is far too easy, and just by blocking attacks and then countering them you can defeat everything the game throws at you with ease. The bosses, however, do not seem to know how to block attacks, and take a phenomenal amount of damage before it occurs to them to try and block the players attacks. There is a multiplayer mode where you and a friend can bash enemies together, by why put your friendship to the test through that? After you have played through the main game there are small amounts of fun to be had by playing as Yoda or Darth Vader in the bonus mission, but ultimately everything in this title is unimpressive at best.

The graphics in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith aren't bad, and the game looks surprisingly good at times; it's just the piss-poor liner design of the levels and the onslaught of wave upon-wave of defenceless enemies that spoil the game. Also, presumably in a rush to get the game on the shelves, the Xbox PAL conversion is not a good one, with small - but noticeable black bars running down the left hand and right hand side of the screen when playing in 50htz. In 60htz the game skews off to the left; loosing a noticeable area of the picture, and there is no screen adjust option included, which means that you will not be able to manually correct this fault.

The sound in the game features that memorable John Williams' score, but not from Revenge of the Sith, from just about every other Star Wars movie. As for the effects - they're all here, and you've all heard them many times before. The voice acting as not too far short of appalling, and quite rightly both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen did not lend their voices to this poor project.

While the film goes a small way to bettering the disastrous other two Star Wars prequels, the game has very little to offer gamers and Stars Wars fans alike, other than spoiling your enjoyment of the third and final film. Unimpressive, most unimpressive.

John Grothier

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Review Summary:

Third person Jedi action gameplay consisting of a series of lightsaber battles against a small variety of uniquely unchallenging enemies including droids, humans and Jedi. Battle in over 16 levels across four movie worlds including the planet Coruscant, the sinkhole planet of Utapau and the volcano world of Mustafar. Poor in just about every area of gameplay, and this Star Wars title will spoil your enjoyment of the movie, if you haven't seen it already. Remember - 'Do or do not, there is no try'.

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Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
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