The Star Wars series hasn't really gone down well with fans as of late. The prequel films were really criticised by most film critics, while the recently released Clone Wars film also opened to less than stellar reviews. That being said, however, The...
The Star Wars series hasn’t really gone down well with fans as of late. The prequel films were really criticised by most film critics, while the recently released Clone Wars film also opened to less than stellar reviews. That being said, however, The Clone Wars animated television series has been well received by fans. With the recent Star Wars: The Force Unleashed performing quite favourably, Lucasarts saw room to create yet another set of Star Wars games, this time based on the succesful TV series, The Clone Wars. Lightsaber Duels is the Wii exclusive made by Australian development studio, Krome Studios, and is more of a multiplayer experience. Jedi Alliance, however, is a story based game that is developed by Lucasarts’ recently opened Singapore studio. Jedi Alliance, exclusively for the DS, offers a lot to Star Wars fans but as a game, it only just passes.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Jedi Alliance takes place between the prequel movie Attack of the Clones and the final prequel, Revenge of the Sith. In it, players take control of two Jedi from the Jedi Council, in their search for the mysterious Nightsisters. Although I am not a huge fan of the expanded universe of the Star Wars franchise, a little bit of research finds that the Nightsisters have been included in the expanded universe for some time. Anyway, back to the story, why are the Jedi tracking the Nightsisters? It’s because they’ve stolen a shipment of lightsaber crystals from the Jedi, which, as you could imagine, could prove problematic. It’s certainly much more refereshing to play through a completely original story rather than just reliving the events of the Clone Wars, something we’ve all done countless times before already.
The DS has never been known to render completely flawless three dimensional graphics, but in this case, the game’s source material works in favour of Nintendo’s very popular handheld. If anyone has seen the advertising material for The Clone Wars, they’ll know that the games take a very different art direction to what we expect from, well, the real world. Characters appear blocky and very simplistic, and this translates beautifully into the in-game graphics. Character models are sufficiently detailed, and look almost exactly like their counterparts, even casting some realistic shadows rather than just circles. The environments are quite varied too, which isn’t surprising considering the team working on the game had full access to Lucasarts’ assets. The framerate can take a hit at some points, though, all in all the game runs quite smoothly.
With a title like Jedi Alliance, you’d probably expect there to be some degree of teamwork involved in the gameplay or story, or both. The crux of Jedi Alliance’s gameplay involves choosing two Jedi for each mission, with one being primarily playable and the other acting as backup. Players are moved with the stylus, as per other games, with most of the actions also being mapped to certain movements with the stylus. The gameplay itself is very basic and formulaic, with most levels being the same string of events. Basically, you’ll explore a bit, defeat a few enemies, complete a very simple minigame to progress further, and then repeat. It’s kind of disheartening as it does kill interest in continuing the game. There are also some puzzles thrown in for good measure, and they are very, very simple tasks that sometimes border on tedium rather than being fun at all. When lightsaber duels DO happen though, you’ll feel very rewarded as these fun segments are few and far between, and although incredibly simple, they are fun and satisfying. Finally, the game also has “Jedi Action Sequences”, which are basically glorified quicktime sequences in which players must trace certain shapes to survive during very intense custcenes. It’s a shame these battles aren’t conducted in realtime, but they still do, regardless, mix gameplay up a little.
The game also, as you would expect, allows co-operative multiplay over the DS’s wireless connections. Players with another copy of the game can join in with another play and they can tackle the main story mode together. We managed to (luckily) test out this feature and it worked out quite well. It’s a tad unfortunate that players can’t go online for a co-operative game, considering that some games have done it and done it well, but still, the functionality offered is more than competent.
The audio in Jedi Alliance is pretty goddamn good for a Star Wars game, having a fully scored soundtrack just like previous films and games. The voice acting is also quite top notch, and although the likes of Ewan McGregor et al couldn’t reprise their roles, the replacement voice actors do quite a good job. The music itself also does a great job at pulling you into the game’s action, or simply fearing a dark character as haunting and foreboding music plays.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Jedi Alliance, is a fairly shallow game. And it really pains me to say it too. It’s hard to say why I didn’t have a lot of fun playing it, but if I had to put my finger on it, I’d say it was largely because the game is based on an animated series in which a large proportion of it’s target audience is younger children. Naturally, with the PG Rating + a cutesy art style, I can see where Lucasarts are going with the marketing for this title and in that regard, they’re definitely catering to the correct audience. Jedi Alliance will have young ones entertained for quite some time, while older fans may want to just stick with The Force Unleashed for the moment.
STALKER, Clock Tower, Shadows of the Damned, and more.