After watching the epic Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, one of the most-anticipated movies of the year, I was not surprised to see a video-game adaptation on the store shelves. More rewarding is the fact that the game was so entertaining.
The Collective is probably best known for its development work on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer game and for its previous collaboration with LucasArts on Indiana Jones and the Emperor`s Tomb. Both games earned critical acclaim for their excellent fighting systems and engaging story delivery.
In Revenge of the Sith, The Collective takes these same elements and refines them, taking the game to levels previous games have not reached.
The well-known gist of the story is that young Anakin Skywalker finally evolves from a whiney Jedi Knight into the dark kickass guy we`ve all come to know as Darth Vader. Gamers, playing as both Anakin and his former mentor, Obi Wan, play out the events leading to the birth of Vader.
The action is non-stop in Revenge of the Sith. Each level begins with a short clip from the movie to set things up, and then throws the player to the wolves armed with nothing more than his light sabre and the power of the Force.
Thankfully, the combat system is very smooth and easy to get the hang of. As with its previous successes, The Collective has developed a deceptively easy control scheme that gives players access to a variety of different moves and combos that are simple to chain together.
The game also features some basic RPG-style character development, which rewards players with experience at the end of each level. Players can use this experience to beef up their character`s attacks and abilities, rising up through the ranks until ultimately becoming a Jedi Master.
Another plus about the game is the huge amount of unlockable content. Throughout the game, players will unlock special bonus missions.
These bonus missions help to flesh out some of the events in the film and allow gamers the opportunity to access some of the characters not otherwise playable in the main game. There`s also a huge gallery of original design artwork to unlock, as well as a few extra characters for use in the game`s multiplayer duels.
Revenge of the Sith is a treat to both the eyes and ears of any Star Wars fan. The graphics are quite crisp and well defined, with everything remaining faithful to the source material.
The voiceover work is incredibly done, although very little of the film`s actual cast was used for voicing the game. Instead, the cast of the popular Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon stepped in to provide the in-game voiceover work.
Recent reports on the Web have claimed that the PS2 version comes up just short of its Xbox counterpart in the A/V departments, especially for those gamers who have full home theatre systems. Apparently, the game`s audio lacks the same punch that is delivered from the Xbox`s six-channel surround sound.
Now the bad news: Revenge of the Sith does have a few flaws. First off, it isn`t very long. An average player can probably play through the game from beginning to end in about eight hours.
Thankfully, the co-op gameplay and multiplayer duels add some extra replay value, but not a lot. Also, whether you`re fighting battle droids or clone troopers, the enemies are all basically the same units, just dressed up a little differently.
As a result, the combat starts to feel a little repetitive on occasion. Finally, some minor technical glitches made it into the game`s final release. Issues with clipping and collision detection come up from time to time, and serve to distract from the game`s otherwise impressive experience.
Despite all of this, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith still scores top marks as being one of the better movie adaptations to grace home consoles. Fans will definitely appreciate the gameplay and production quality. The collaboration between The Collective and LucasArts has proven itself to be very impressive.
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