Reviewed: January 9, 2007
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Ubisoft
Developer
Ubisoft Montreal
Released: December 5, 2006
Genre: Action
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Teen
6
8
8
6
7.1
Supported Features
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
You can't shake a dead womp rat around a software store these days without hitting at least one Star Wars title for one game system or another. And most jaded fans of the franchise will agree that there are a lot more bad games than good ones.
We've already seen that the PSP is capable of delivering a solid Star Wars experience with games like Battlefront, so I was pretty excited to check out Ubisoft's new title, Star Wars: Lethal Alliance; even more so when I learned it was dealing with key events from the movie story, but events we never got to see.
These are the kind of franchise games I enjoy, at least from a story perspective. I'd much rather experience new or filler material rather than relive movie moments.
In the case of Lethal Alliance we find ourselves somewhere between Episodes III and IV playing as Twi'lek slave girl, Rianna Saren. But her days as a slave, her escape, and her teenage life of crime are mere backstory to a grand mission. You are the mercenary that Princess Leia hires to infiltrate Empire-controlled planets and steal the plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star.
Although she prefers to work alone, Rianna teams up with an unlikely accomplice, a multifunction security droid called Zeeo. Zeeo is not only useful for hacking into Imperial systems, he aids Rianna in combat and even assists in navigating through some tricky level design.
Lethal Alliance is pretty much your standard action-style game, played from the third-person view, which lends itself to the cooperative buddy system shared between Rianna and Zeeo.
Each character has their own distinct set of moves and abilities and the levels and puzzles are designed to showcase them. Zeeo is great for slipping through ventilation systems, dodging lasers, and hacking computer terminals, while Rianna is better suited for combat, whether it be from a laser turret, blaster, thermal detonator, or the Thorn of Ryloth, a cool dagger weapon ideal for close-quarters combat.
As typical with most PSP titles of this genre the designers use some intelligent camera tricks and target assist to compensate for the lack of a second stick. Left and right triggers lock onto the nearest target in that direction and squeezing them both centers the camera.
Gameplay generally consists of exploring large, but linear levels. Locked doors keep you from exploring too far from the intended storyline, and a trail of Imperial goons usually leads you to your next objective.
Rianna has some cool moves and killer attacks that put her in a close tie with Lara Croft for PSP's heroine of the year. She can jump and climb, cartwheel and back flip like a trained gymnast, and with some help from Zeeo, she can do a lot of these moves in a bullet-time mode for added effect.
Clearing out rooms is a bit repetitive at times. Your combat is limited to only a few weapons, but you can mix it up by using Zeeo to stun your target then move in for the finish. These dual kills strengthen the bond between human and droid in what is known as Team Alliance. The more Rianna and Zeeo work together the greater your alliance as noted by the expanding meter at the bottom of the HUD, and the more team moves and abilities you can access.
Zeeo also comes in handy for several navigation puzzles. These include his ability to stick to walls allowing Rianna to ride along vertical surfaces, to his ability to fly while Rianna dangles from below dodging city traffic, flaming lava geysers, or laser traps.
Working with Zeeo, Rianna can also make use of "anchor points". Using a combination of the circle button and the A-pad to point and activate each successive point, you will get to navigate some fairly ingenious 3D level designs. Even cooler, these sequences often end with a dramatic stealth kill move from above.
Despite the potential for varied gameplay it all gets too repetitive too quickly. The maze-like levels start to blur together, changing some textures and color themes but little else. Clearing rooms of enemies becomes a mindless and instinctual process and navigating the anchor point puzzles gets stale after the 20th time. There are a few moments of originality lurking throughout the game but you have to endure a lot of mindless combat to experience them.
There are definitely some standout moments in Star Wars: Lethal Alliance when it comes to graphics, and most of them relate to character animation. Rianna's smooth and spry animations glide effortlessly across the screen. When working in concert with Zeeo you can really appreciate those animations in super-slo-mo, and her up-close-and-personal finishing moves are not to be missed.
As mentioned above, the levels lack variety; at least architecturally speaking. Those crazy Imperials and their bottomless pits and narrow catwalks and laser grid traps in the halls and ventilation shafts are way too common.
At least the designers tried to mask the repetitive design with fresh textures and a unique theme for major areas. Everything else about the game is decisively Star Wars including the opening text crawl, menu fonts, and futuristic HUD design. The splash screen artwork for the load screens is fantastic.
There is certainly no mistaking the opening theme song that many of us have been humming for nearly 30 years. You know from the very beginning you are about to embark on a great adventure. The rest of the score blends right into the gameplay, and cues to moments of stealth, combat, and anything in between.
The voice work is exceptional although Rianna's soft spot for Zeeo seemed almost out of character. The rest of the cast all turned in some great performances, which is refreshing for a handheld system where dialogue is either text-only or poorly acted.
The same level of sound quality went into the various effects. Environments came alive with all sorts of electrical and mechanical sounds, and weapons all have futuristic, yet familiar sounds.
Star Wars: Lethal Alliance isn't a long game, but for me the 10-12 hour completion time was long enough. Between the repetitive gameplay and déjà vu level design I was ready to move onto something else even a bit before the game was over.
Thankfully, there was a rather compelling story that kept my interest through to the final credits. Plus, it is kind of cool to fill in those missing story elements hinted at in the films.
I really enjoyed numerous aspects of Star Wars: Lethal Alliance. The game is unmistakably Star Wars in story, graphics, and sound, and delivers some solid action, both in combat and acrobatic puzzles.
But taken as a whole, Lethal Alliance lacks that variety required to keep a game engaging from start to finish. I always expect some level of repetition in just about any game I play, but that jaded feeling came way too soon in this game.
Quite possibly this was because I played the game from start to finish over the course of a few days. This game might very well be much better in small doses.
But regardless of how or when you play one thing is for certain. No self-proclaimed Star Wars fan who owns a PSP should pass on this game. There is some great filler material here, and enough action to awaken the Jedi in all of us.