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Old 05-10-2005, 12:00 AM   #1 (permalink)
Cow
 
is on the 6th circle: Heresy

Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Posts: 2,369
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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a better SW game, called Jedi Academy that wasn't based on a movie. But the new game developers took over, and unleashed this average children’s game....

Sound Overview
The sound was fantastic. The voice-overs were verrrry closely matched to the characters as they spoke, which is something you do not see very often in Star Wars games. The sound effects were nice and dependable as always, I never noticed anything wrong. The lightsaber sound effects were nicely done, they seemed to have come right from the movie. I think if the player would use a 5.1 speaker system, you could really get the full effect out of your sound. But I have an old Magnavox tv, and it worked just fine for me.

Graphics Overview
Well, what can I say. General PS2 graphics really, not very detailed, but not horrible. It doesn't look like the folks over at LucasArts went to any certain lengths to improve the graphics past normality. The characters were nice-looking, but it lacked shadows, ect. All of the saber animations were great. The explosions were very PS1ish, with low detail and blotchy effects, however there was no lag in any of the CG scenes at all. The graphics are somewhat comparable to those of Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy. Though the graphics lacked detail, they definitely were exact, most likely because of all the footage of the movie the game developers were allowed. I wouldn't buy this game for nice graphics if that's what you're looking for...

Gameplay
Unfortunately, the only copy the store had was for PS2, but I still checked it out anyway. Generally, when I play a game for the Playstation 2, it is choppy, low-res and hard to play. This game was a bit different.

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So I ran it up, created a profile, and plunged into the world of Star Wars. The beginning of the game was very interesting, with the movie clips and all. Finally, after the clip was over, it let me loose on a pack of droids, giving me gameplay tips as I incomprehensively smashed droids to bits and pieces with my lightsaber, as Anakin Skywalker. The game is not very hard to get used to, mostly just button-mashing. I finally completed the first few levels and moved on to the next. I do admit, I died several times in the process. It is not very easy to die, as there are tanks of health nearby. The best trick to staying alive is to attack quickly and fiercly, and get back and ready for the next enemy.
The swordplay is very interesting, and very similar to the movies. In this game, you can block incoming laserfire twirling your lightsaber deflecting it back at the enemy. Also, this game is much more physical than other SW games. The game involves a lot of special moves and force powers combined to defeat the foes. It makes you really feel cool when doing flips and other moves to one-way-or-another kill your combatant. My favorite move involves grabbing the foe, holding him up like a bully would a kindergartener, and shoving your lightsaber right through his robotic intestines. The game is pretty much solely based around the movie from what I can tell. It follows Anakin Skywalker as he journeys on through his trip to the dark side, becoming Darth Vader. The game switches you characters (Anakin, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a few other recognizable Star Wars characters) every other level or so. After several levels of chopping droids with a lightsaber, it starts to get boring. Mid-way in the game, it finally dons on me that I'm never going to get to use a weapon other than the lightsaber; which really was a minus in my opinion. There are several parts where you get to shoot things in a turret, but they only last a few seconds. There is not really a wide range of enemies, which is also a big minus in my opinion. I was seeing the same enemies every level and the next. Most of them were just droids that like to block your saber attacks, a few being Jedi's that Anakin kills. SPOILER The game ends with a final match between Darth Vader (Anakin moved over to the dark side, but not in the suit) vs. Obi-Wan. The final battle can really get irritating as it takes forever to kill your opponent (whether it's Darth or Obi because there are two endings, where you can play as either one) and you die after just a few hits. I beat the whole game in a sit-in of about 4 hours, turning cheats on when I got desperate. (OMFG COWS A CHEATER )

Multiplayer
*Coop* The Coop is not very good at all. First, you have to actually beat the game to unlock coop, which is only four levels of boredom. Coop is also harder because they take away your bacta tanks (health) and I'm not sure but I think include more enemies. My friend and I played coop for about 30 minutes before it got unbearable. However, you can always use the Force Heal to give back a little bit of help, but it is hard to do while in combat.

*Multiplayer* The Multiplayer in Star Wars is pretty much dependable as was the sound. I had a friend over and we went head-to-head in one of the average MP maps. Multiplayer was almost exact to Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, just without weapons. Again, this is not the game you want for Multiplayer or Graphics.

Overall Conclusion
If you are looking for a few hours of fun, this game will whet your whistle. If you are looking for a highly detailed spectacular multiplayer game, check out Counter-Strike: Source. Revenge of the Sith is just your next installment of the Star Wars series, looking to make money off of younger gamers, and their somewhat ridiculous parents. I would recommend renting this game, as if you buy it, you will have nothing to do once you beat it, except maybe a few days of multiplayer... If you are looking for a multiplayer Star Wars game, try SW: Battlefront or Jedi-Knight Jedi Academy.


Rating
SOUND - 8
GRAPHICS - 7
GAMEPLAY - 7
MULTIPLAYER - 7
OVERALL - 7.5

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First review so don't go too hard guys :S
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