Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Review - PS2

6.5

Gameplay: 5
Graphics: 6
Audio: 7
Multiplayer: 5
Innovation: 5

The epic Star Wars saga finally came to a satisfying end recently with the release of the last of the six movies Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith; we witnessed Anakin’s evil beginnings and watched as countless Jedi were murdered at the hand of Emperor Palpatine after he issued Order 66, justifying the empire’s rise to power. Inevitably a game based on the blockbuster movie has been released, allowing us to dive deeper into the storyline and play as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker themselves.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith follows the movie’s storyline quite faithfully. While it does stray in various areas where it features scenes cut from the movie and extends certain others for gameplay purposes, the overall storyline focusing on Anakin’s rise to power remains intact and all of the locations are recreated almost flawlessly, recognisable immediately.

Gameplay

The game takes place over sixteen levels - seventeen if you count a bonus level at the end – that switch between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, begin with a briefing in the form of a slight outline of the storyline’s progress and are laced with a number of cut scenes highlighting events and injecting dialogue in order to bring characters to life and create drama.

The levels themselves, while appearing conventional, could be described as series of fighting arenas; rather than being able to explore freely as in similar games such as Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, you’re confined to small locations with irritating invisible walls. In each area you’re swarmed with ever appearing enemies that predictably alter in type to become more powerful as you eradicate the weaker ones of the lot. After you’ve destroyed all of the enemies in an area - be those battle droids, clone troopers or Jedi trainees - you’re able to progress manually or via repetitive puzzles that involve cutting through locked doors or throwing your saber at pipes in order to destroy the controls that operate them. Herein the game consists of button-mashing fighting in the form of a combination of saber and force moves.

It’s not all as bad as it sounds, though; halfway through the game you’ll acquire stage two force powers, with which your powers such as Force Push and Force Grasp grow more powerful and subsequently help to make the game much more enjoyable; you’ll never get tired of pushing poorly-footed enemies into lava or chasms or picking them up and hurling them into each other. At this stage and beyond you’re also able to use Force Grasp to lift explosive barrels, rocks and more, all of which can be used as weapons and hurled into enemies, knocking them to the ground and adding a hint more variety to the fighting.

The lightsaber combat itself is composed of a decent array of combos that can be strung together using the Square, Triangle and Circle buttons to perform light, heavy and critical attacks respectively. You’re also able to grab and push opponents (continued next page)