Review: Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes

By Mike Bantick
Thursday, 29 October 2009 09:28

Entertainment

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.....  A new generation of inductees are enjoying the Star Wars experience, this time in the form of the animated Star Wars The Clone Wars series.  So of course there is a need for a video game to accompany the series.  Or is there?

The familiar thrum of a light sabre sounds fill the speakers, but instead of the familiar sights of the beloved Star Wars universe, we are greeted with a new Star Wars visage, a distinct animation style that has seen a spawning of feature film and a number of TV series under the moniker of The Clone Wars.

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes
	Developer	Krome Studios
	Publisher	Lucas Arts
	Rating	PG
PSP, PS3, Wii, NDS, PC, Reviewed on Xbox 360

Children are discovering the joys and fantasy of the bearded one’s epic sci-fi universe through new adventures, including this video-game outing linking series one and two of The Clone Wars TV show.

Republic Heroes will find it hard not to be compared with Lucas Arts branded LEGO video games in the recent past.  RH unashamedly is aimed at a younger audience, with no-fail game-play, forgiving pace and a significant amount of injected frivolousness as befits the TV series and offers a family friendly way for fans to get into their favourite show.

Across three acts, consisting of a number of varied length parts, players will take the role of many Clone Wars characters.  Either bouncing along as a light sabre wielding Jedi Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi or padawan Anshoka Tano or relying on blaster power as Clone Captain Rex or Commander Cody amongst many others.

Players will not be killing anything in this game, though there is plenty of destruction to be had.  It is the hapless Separatist droids that take the brunt of your hero’s firepower, and there are plenty to face along the way.  Combat is a satisfying one button affair for the most part, but thrown in for good measure is droid control, as well as obligatory force powers.

Timing a jump with the X button (Xbox 360) will have your hero mount a droid to use its weapons against its comrades.  Taking control of droids is also a significant part of the puzzle solving aspect in the game, using a spider-droid’s heavy laser to open a path through a rockslide for example.



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