Reviewed: June 6 , 2005
Reviewed by: John Wekluk
Publisher
Ubisoft
Developer
Ubisoft Montreal
Released: May 4, 2005
Genre: Action
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Everyone
7
7
6
7
7.5
Supported Features:
One would be hard pressed to find someone who has been alive in the last 25 years who has not seen a Star Wars movie, or at least heard of Star Wars. The vast majority of the population could probably tell you what Ewoks are or who Darth Maul is, while, at the same time, not knowing the name of the current vice president. The Star Wars franchise is that big and has been for a quarter of a century now. With every new movie release comes a slew of merchandise, such as action figures, toothbrushes, sleeping bags, books, cereal, candy, and video games. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is no exception.
Ubisoft brings The Force to the Game Boy Advance in the form Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the video game. The Republic is under attack by the callous count Dooku, and General Grievous has kidnapped the leader of the Galactic Senate, Chancellor Palpatine. Jedi Knights, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, must fight their way through an army of droids in order to save the Chancellor. “Both Jedi are marked by fate…and the Dark side is more prevalent than ever, leaving only pain and suffering in its path. Hearts are destined to be broken and lives destroyed. Which path will you choose?” Let us find out.
Revenge of the Sith is a side-scrolling, hack n’ slash adventure. Players choose either Anakin or Obi-Wan and battle their way through a whole lotta droids, while wielding their lightsabers. What makes this game different than your typical hack n’ slasher is that each character has the ability to upgrade their moves(by finding hidden Customization points) and to power-up. Additionally, each character has a distinct fighting style.
Both characters have a health bar and a Force bar. Separately, Obi-Wan has a Focus bar and Anakin has a Fury bar. Basically, when the Focus or Fury bar is full the player can do a single move, by holding down the B button, that will wipe out all enemies on the screen. Obi-Wan gains Focus by using the Force and deflecting lasers, while Anakin gains Fury by fighting.
Gameplay, overall, is very smooth. The button reaction time is excellent and using the Force(the R button) takes no getting used to at all. It just flows. Any Star Wars fan will become giddy after just one Force choke. Also, Anakin’s ability to fight backwards is a nice touch.
One drawback is the repetitive nature of the game. The enemies come in the form of droid after droid after droid after droid. This becomes tedious very quickly. One of the strong points of the Star Wars franchise is the vast amount of distinctive characters that they have to offer. Instead, the player gets a tan droid, a brown droid, a dark brown droid, and to change it up, the occasional blue droid. Obviously, this is not the whole game, but a player will tire of the same enemies right away.
The multiplayer mode has both a Cooperative mode and Last Jedi Standing mode. The cooperative mode has both players fighting side by side during the Clone Wars and each player is able to use his or her enhanced character from the Single-Player mode. In Last Jedi Standing, two players are dropped into an arena and forced to fight off as many enemies as possible. Last player standing wins. Players can not use their upgraded characters in this mode. A player must play with another person, connected via GBA cable, in order to reach these modes. There is no single-player option to these additional adventures, which is another drawback.
The graphics in Episode III are nothing spectacular, but at the same time they do the job quite nicely. Ubisoft does not try anything too fancy, which is a plus, since sometimes annoying, or overly ambitious, graphics can distract from the gameplay, which is the major strong point in Revenge of the Sith.
This game is rife with blues and browns, which go along well with the entire theme of the game. The characters are smooth and the lightsabers are very vibrant. The character text and the menus are very easy to read, too. Nothing to complain about here.
Star Wars is known for its themes, and a player gets plenty of them in this game. Though, the themes themselves are of high compositional quality, they suffer from being presented in generic MIDI-sounding format. They do not have the same impact as if you were to hear them in surround sound at the local movie theater. The cymbal crashes sound compressed and lack that traditional Star Wars “umph!”
The sounds effects in the game are superb. From the “ping-ping-ping” of the enemies’ lasers to the “woosh” of the lightsaber, a player will truly be impressed by the fluidity of the sounds. Nothing was overlooked as every last droid crashing to the ground can be heard crisply.
Revenge of the Sith is not a walk in the park and the multiple difficulty levels will make it easy for a player, who likes a challenge, to revisit. Start off slowly, then turn up the heat and see how well you do.
With the multiple difficulty setting, upgradable characters, power-ups, and a percentage complete chart, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith definitely has some replay value. Though, that value is severely hindered by the fact that the game can become tedious and boring rather quickly. Despite the repetitive nature of the game, Ubisoft has delivered an above average side scroller that any fan of Star Wars will enjoy.
Revenge of the Sith may not go down as an all-time classic, but the innovative gameplay, excellent sound effects, and smooth graphics make it an enjoyable video game foray into the world of Star Wars.
If you are a Star Wars fanatic, pick this game up, but do not expect to be blown out of the galaxy. Do expect, however, to have much more fun than sleeping in your Jar Jar Binks sleeping bag.
