LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
The Star Wars universe is huge, and has so much potential for computer games cross-overs; combine this with the fun world of LEGO, and you have a great little treat on your hands.
This is the third LEGO Star Wars game, and it is the best looking LEGO game yet. While the game isn’t completely appropriate for the hard-core gamer, it isn’t entirely childish either; if you and a friend have a few spare hours, you will be surprised how much fun you would have with the game.
Set in the time between episode 2 and episode 3, the game follows the events of the clone wars. Taking inspiration from the Clone Wars cartoon series, you take control of literally hundreds of Star Wars characters; the adorable LEGO universe adds a humorous spin to the otherwise serious Star Wars franchise, and it really shines in the mid-battle cut-scenes.
Unlike other LEGO games, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars has a larger focus on large strategic warfare. While there are the familiar adventure moments that we have seen in previous LEGO games, for the most part in the Clone Wars, you control large armies of clone troopers and build bases to push back the battle droid armies.
Fighting off hoards of robots is greatly satisfying, it’s often very surprising how much fits on the screen at any given moment; watching your little LEGO characters bound about with lightsabres and using the force, is absolutely brilliant.
Taking down robots gives you more LEGO pieces to build up barracks, create attack turrets and call in air support. The Clone Wars is very ambitious, sometimes offers a little too much to make it appealing to the younger generation.
As well as this, there are space battles, mini-games and a great hub world to explore. You begin the game on an alliance ship, strolling about interacting with the characters you have met and unlocking new areas of the ship to explore.
There are thousands of things to unlock in the game, which will keep you playing for hours; golden LEGO bricks will let you build new toys to play with, and new characters will join you in your fight once you have finished the level they are first introduced in. You are constantly rewarded every few minutes for completing goals; this pushes you through the experience and fills you with satisfaction.
You can switch between characters at any time during the level, and each new character has a unique skill. After finishing a level you can replay it at any time; returning back will help you find unlockable content by performing tasks that only certain characters can complete.
Playing with a friend is really where this game shines; the whole campaign can be played all the way through with another player, and the screen split is done incredibly smartly. At first the screen splits in half, but it will move accordingly to where you are on the map, this means you won’t ever lose your cooperative buddy.
I only had a few issues with the Clone Wars, and most were forgivable and redeemable. In a few occasions I had to restart the level, as a glitch stopped me from progressing and I would find myself sometimes frustrated as I had no idea how to move forwards.
The controls are otherwise simple and decent, but sometimes the gameplay mechanics were difficult to grasp, something that I am sure children would find nearly impossible. It would be nice to think, that this is because the developers wanted parents to play with their children, however this sadly won’t be the case.
I thought when I first played this, that I would be able stick with it from start to finish, but I eventually felt fatigue from the fairly repetitive strategic battles.
The Clone Wars is most definitely not the most favoured of the Star Wars stories; the references that would otherwise be hilarious are sometimes lost or confused. There is a lot of fun to be had with the Clone Wars, but unfortunately only in small doses.
Verdict: 7/10
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360,
Genre: LEGO, platform, stategy
Publisher/Developer: Lucas Arts/Traveller’s Tales
Release: March 2011
Edward Lewis Female First