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Released on May 5, 2005 by LucasArts and developed for the PS2 by The
Collective, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
adapts the film of the same name in a third-person, action-adventure
style, featuring light RPG elements
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When
Revenge of the Sith's video game adaptation was announced
for every sixth-generation console but the one I owned, I was a little
disappointed, but movie adaptations were usual terrible, and I wasn't overly
bothered. Besides, the sixth-generation console I DID own, the Nintendo
GameCube, was the exclusive home for
Resident Evil 4 at the
time, and I was likely on my third playthrough of that all-time great by then.
However, throughout the 20 years since, I've heard that
Revenge of the Sith does some cool stuff only hinted at by the movie's setpieces, and can
even diverge at the end, if the player so chooses. Considering it's the 20th
anniversary of the film and game, and I've picked up a PS2 in that timeframe, I
decided it's finally time to give
Revenge of the Sith a
playthrough. Was it worth it?
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That apocalyptic feeling from the film arrives intact
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Revenge of the Sith's production values wow immediately. Film
footage is woven into the menu screen, along with high quality music from the
Star Wars films. The game offers several modes. There's a one or two-player duel
mode, a limited two-player cooperative mode, and the game's bread-and-butter,
the single-player mission mode. Immediately in the single-player mission mode,
the game immerses the player into the world of the film, through the trademarked
Star Wars opening crawl.
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You're in the movie!
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Immediately, a smooth FMV, featuring footage straight from the film's
opening scene (two weeks before the film was released!), introduces Obi-Wan
Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker flying into an enemy flagship, then segues
directly into an animated cutscene of the duo busting out of their ships and
slashing through droids, before the game gives the player direct control of
Anakin.
Revenge of the Sith does these transitions for all of its 17
levels, before handing control off to the player of either Anakin or Obi-Wan,
depending on which section of the plot the player has reached.
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For some levels, like this first one, you'll have a CPU buddy who
provides a helping hand
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The game gives tutorial advice through the first few levels, teaching
the player how to fight enemies and perform force actions.
Revenge of the Sith goes to lengths to not just be a button-masher. Many different forms of
attack are mapped to the PS2 dual-shock controller, from a light and quick
lightsaber attack, to a slower, stronger one,, to even blocking and strafing.
There's a button for a lightsaber throw attack, to a grapple, to a force push,
to even force lightning (unlike in the films!) when Anakin goes dark. There
are even specific jump attacks.
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Obi-Wan is a Van Halen fan
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The player can even learn new moves and strengthen ones they already
have via the game's RPG-lite system. Through each level the player has an
attack meter. The more enemies the player attacks and destroys in a given
amount of time, the faster the meter fills. The higher the meter gets, the
higher rated the player's enemy kills are, going from "fair," to "good," to
"impressive," to "masterful." The meter starts going down when time goes by
without enemy destruction. The player receives experience points for how many
enemies are destroyed in each level, and more points are given for enemies
destroyed at higher ratings. The player can then use these experience points
to either strengthen current moves or learn new ones. The player can
even replay a level and attempt to do a better job and earn more experience
points (only the overage amount above the previous high score is added). This
ensures the player will be a Jedi Master by the end of the game and a
lightning-throwing terror if they go back to early levels (if they're using
Anakin...which is kind of funny in levels where he's doing it right in front
of Obi-Wan).
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"Great job using your anger and hatred to fry those battle droids,
Anakin! Hey...wait a minute!"
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With all that said...
Revenge of the Sith is definitely a hack and
slash button-masher. At times, I would pull off fancy combos that would take
years of training at the Jedi Temple to master. Eventually, I found that I
could level up much easier by spamming the quick attack. Eventually, some
enemies can block, and more strategy is needed, but the majority of the time,
mashing will do the trick. The levels are incredibly straightforward, nearly
on rails as the player goes from point A to point B, even if the graphics are
in 3D. Levels do have secrets, but these are generally confined to blowing up
a crate or compartment to find hidden health power-ups, etc. As it goes on,
the game throws more and more enemies at the player, until, unfortunately,
there were a couple of moments my PS2 locked up, the game froze, and I had to
start the level over, both times when I was near the end of that level.
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Could no one else attack me for a second? I don't want my PS2 to
bug out!
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Thankfully,
Revenge of the Sith does throw in some variation, so
that its gameplay doesn't get old. The first element is not my favorite: at
select moments in several levels, the game switches to a first-person shooter
view, as the player is placed behind a cannon, and tasked with blowing up
enemy ships. This mode is fairly fun, but one of my freezes happened during
one of these segments, so I dreaded this happening again. The second element
is the game's best element of all: lightsaber duels.
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Hello there
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It is hard to win a lightsaber battle by just mashing buttons, though
mashing buttons when lightsabers are locked up is actually a cool, intentional
part of gameplay that allows the player to unleash a devastating combo. The
lightsaber duels in
Revenge of the Sith are incredibly cinematic and
worth the price of admission. If anything, the nuance and complexity in the
controls feel like they are more geared toward these duels than they are the
regular old levels (apparently, film fight coordinator, Nick Gillard, was
consulted for this element of the game). In these duels, the lightsaber
combos, grapples, blocking, and strafing all come to life. All of the major
lightsaber battles from the film are here, along with some very cool added
fights not seen there (like Anakin versus Mace Windu!). Fight levels are
generally multi-staged (i.e., all the different locations Obi-Wan and Anakin
fight through in Mustafar) and are the most fun and engaging moments of this
game.
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Twice the pride, double the fall
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| It's like poetry, it rhymes |
As for the actual graphics,
Revenge of the Sith looks great, one of the better
visual displays seen this generation. Everything looks like it does in the
film, smoothly drawn and animated, with fancy lighting effects, and tons of
things going on onscreen at once. The duel with Count Dooku, massive ship
battle in the background, is particularly stunning.
Revenge of the Sith looks great and runs smoothly, framing rarely
dipping...except for the two times my game froze.
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| It was said you would bring balance to the Force, not freeze my PlayStation! |
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| I guess none of the duels--the best part of this entire game--froze my game |
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| If you remember a room from this film, it is probably in the game! |
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| I forgot to mention in the body of the review, but you have a blue health meter, and a red Force meter. The Force meter refills slowly on its own when depleted. A health pickup, or Force Healing must be used to refill a depleted health meter. If the health meter runs out, then a level must be restarted from the last checkpoint (because your character is dead). |
The game sounds great, as well. Music comes straight from the films...all but
Revenge of the Sith, which I guess was not yet available. The music sounds
brilliant and uncompressed. The plentiful voice-acting is also top notch.
Though the major actors from the film do not appear, James Arnold Taylor and
Mat Lucas, who have voiced Obi-Wan and Anakin in other media, are the next
best thing, and they do an excellent job. Sound effects also sound straight
from the films. The sound here is wonderful.
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| Hmm...why would there be a level AFTER the final duel? |
The game's 16 levels don't take a ton of time to plow through--maybe 10 hours,
but there IS an attempt here to add value. Upon beating the single-player mission mode, a 17th level
becomes available: the opportunity to fight the film's climactic duel as Anakin. Rather
famously, winning the duel in this bonus level as Anakin unlocks a new, quite unique ending that
defies the actual events of the film. Beating levels and leveling up also
unlocks bonus art, bonus characters and arenas for the duel mode, and bonus
levels. The art is fun, concept work for the game, that also sheds some light
on the film, particularly on scenes that were cut.
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| Deleted scenes from the film just mean more levels for the game! |
The additional characters for the duel mode are a fun addition, as is the duel
mode itself, which can either be tackled by a single player against a CPU or against another player
in a versus mode. Lightsaber dueling your friends as Star
Wars characters, particularly when the mechanics are decent, is always going
to be a good time.
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| I wonder if he means Old Ben Kenobi? |
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| I always wanted to see Obi-Wan have to fight himself, and I guess this is as close as it gets |
As for the bonus levels, there isn't much to them. The idea of a
Yoda-focused stage is exciting, until it's revealed that that stage is just a
single-button attack Yoda fighting a few guys in one room for a few minutes.
All the other bonus levels are similarly minimal. The coolest is a time leap
to
A New Hope, and though it is again just a one-room level, that room is in the Death Star, and that level is Darth Vader versus Obi-Wan. There's also a cooperative
mode here that, while not quite as minimal as the game's bonus stages, is
still disappointingly short. Then again, if the game froze on me
in the single-player missions, I doubt it would run very smoothly with two-players.
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| FMV from 1977! |
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| If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine |
Overall,
Revenge of the Sith is a fun if short and flawed game. I did
get a nice dose of nostalgia from it, even though this is the first time I've
played it. For Star Wars and particularly prequel and
Revenge of the Sith fans, this game is a must play. For hack and slash
fans, this is a probably. For everyone else, it's a maybe. There are certainly
worse movie tie-in games from this generation of consoles...
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| I said one-button attack, but Yoda can jump around in his one-room level too. I guess it is just a bonus level. |
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