Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Score: 75% ESRB: Everyone 10+ Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment Developer: LucasArts Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Action
Graphics & Sound: Maybe I've just started getting jaded about the quality of games coming out for the PSP and Nintendo DS, so that GBA games have lost their luster. Maybe that's the case and maybe Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith for the GameBoy Advance isn't quite as bad as I think it is, but I'm not sure. In general, the side-scrolling action game's graphics are about par. There isn't anything that makes this game stand out in the visual department. As you trek through the halls of the droid flagship or buildings of Coruscant, they all start to blur together. Sure one set of levels has buildings in the background while the other has windows open to space -- but since you spend three or four levels in the same location, you get bored with the backgrounds really fast. At least Revenge of the Sith's sound and music gets high marks (like most Star Wars games). The audio aspect has the familiar SW tunes and lightsaber and blaster sounds. Most of the background music consisted of the original trilogy, John Williams classics, and helped to make the game just that much more authentic.
Gameplay: Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith gives you control of Anakin Skywalker or Obi-Wan Kenobi as the two characters play through the movie's events. At first, both characters will have the same mission (going through the Invisible Hand and rescuing the Chancellor). But after that, the characters' paths diverge to let you see all of the events of the movie from each character's point of view. Anakin's path leads him deeper into the Sith's plot and eventually into the hands of Darth Sidious. Along the way you will develop and upgrade force powers like Saber Throw, Absorb, Force Choke and Vader's Rage. Obi-Wan's powers include Force Heal, Speed, Shields and the Jedi Mind Trick. At the end of each level, you will get upgrade points based on how well you did in the mission. These points can be used to up the strength and effectiveness of these powers. Power-ups during the levels like Yoda's Protection and Palpatine's Order also help to give you a temporary boost while mowing down battle droids, super battle droids or clones. Unfortunately, the game's interesting RPG-like element is overshadowed by the repetitive and seemingly uneventful levels. You move from screen to screen battling waver after wave of the same enemies. Typically, the levels themselves blend together. The GBA version of Revenge of the Sith also boasts a two player mode that lets you and a buddy either fight hoards of baddies to see who the last Jedi standing is, or join together in the Cooperative Mode to fight through the Clone Wars.
Difficulty: Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith has three difficulty settings: Padawan, Jedi and Master (which has to be unlocked). The Padawan setting is fairly simple and will let you run through the general levels and most of the bosses pretty quickly. Both Jedi and Master levels throw more enemies at you and ramp up the boss battles to make them more of a challenge. As you progress through the game, you can easily get a feel for how much effort it takes to take down any of the baddies that come your way, so by the time you get past Count Dooku, you should be able to handle pretty much anything Episode III throws at you (in the generic levels, that is).
Game Mechanics: I found myself constantly stumbling over Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith's controls. When I wanted to jump, I attacked, when I wanted to attack, I jumped. Most of the time, the controls seemed counter-intuitive and my fingers just couldn't get used to the basic controls, which is odd for the system with the fewest controls. This experience made the game even less enjoyable. Basically, Star Wars' graphics are about fair, the game's control scheme has problems and the gameplay itself gets a bit repetitive. For hardcore Star Wars fans, you probably already have this game, and if you don't and you still want the Revenge of the Sith in the palm of your hands, then you might want to look at the DS version. At least it breaks up the repetitiveness with the occasional 3D space shooter.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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