Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith for Microsoft Xbox

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith for Microsoft Xbox, 7.2

Developer(s): The Collective, Inc; Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher(s): LucasArts; Ubisoft SA
Engine: Slayer
Platform(s): Xbox, Playstation 2, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, Mobile Phone
Release date: May 5, 2005
Genre: Science Fiction
Mode(s): Single Player, Multiplayer
Rating(s):
ESRB: T (PS2, Xbox); E10+ (DS, Gameboy Advance)

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is based on the movie of the same name, and part of the culture icon saga that is Star Wars. Unlike most movie games, the Star Wars series always has interesting titles and a good gameplay. If you’re a Star Wars fan or a movie game fan, this game could be for you; otherwise it’s very passable.

In the main story mode you can play as both Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, each with their own different fighting styles based on the Jedi and on their own personality. Each character also has a health bar, a force bar (Energy used to throw people around or throw objects), and a special bar that determines how strong your attack is. Attacks range from fair, good, impressive, and masterful.

One of the main problems in the game is the recovery. When you die you don’t return with your full health bar, which causes you to die more usually in the game before you can recover health. Also, when you die, you are given the option to restart, to continue, or to end the stage; but if you choose to continue, you get a long loading before you enter the stage again.

During the stages you can unlock secrets which raise your force power, your health, or your attacks; once you unlock these secrets you also unlock different goodies in the main game (These which are usually concept art or even new bonus stages). In the stages you also win experience which can be used in the end of the level where you can give the characters more abilities in the game.

While each fighter has their own abilities and fighting styles, aiming can sometimes be a bit troublesome. Although this doesn’t happen as much, when attacking an enemy, sometimes you might miss the character and combo right behind the enemy while the enemy can attack you more easily. However, it’s important to say that the controls of the game aren’t defective, and usually work fine.

The bonus stages in the game usually let you play with characters you can’t play in story mode. All characters have different fighting styles and different motives. Some stages are survivals, while other are boss battles, and some are even jumping platformers.

The story mode also features movie cut scenes from the movie. In regard of this, the cut scenes are of very cheap quality. The movie cut scenes for Star Wars: Rebel Strike – Rouge Squadron III were vastly superior, and the game was released in 2003 and for the Nintendo GameCube.
The graphics of this game also look a tad unpolished and games of the year have looked better.

And to the music, while the music is the traditional Star Wars score and boasts pretty impressive voice actors for characters, sometimes the background music can leave stages randomly and leave you in silence.

One of the worst things in the game is how difficult it can be. More or less, the fact that you don’t recover your full health when you die is part of it. Sometimes large and strong enemies can gang up on you without time to recover, or give you brutal surviving tasks where you have low health without apparent recoveries and strong enemies on your way and not even getting to checkpoints afterwards.

It’s not that the game is exactly difficult, but it’s frustrating. It’s throw your controller at the TV kind of frustrating. This game will make you angry, this game will make you hate, this game will bring you to the dark side of the force.

Gameplay: 7.5, The game on its own right is actually fun, but there are some things to iron out here and there, especially the difficulty and the frustration levels.

Graphics: 6.5, Very average, movie cutscenes are bland and outdated, and the main game graphics look a bit unpolished.

Controls: 8.0, Very good controls, although you might sometimes miss the aim of enemies.

Sound: 6.0, Although the game features an excellent soundtrack and voice actors, the fact that the music can leave you in a stage is a bit of a turn off.

Overall: 7.2, It’s a good game, but it’s passable. If you can resist brutal frustration levels, maybe you’d like to play this game.