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Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes (PlayStation 3)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes review

Game: Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes
Platform: PlayStation 3
Genre: Action (Sci-Fi)
Developer: Krome Studios

Staff review by Jason Venter

November 01, 2009

If you're reading this review and you're thinking that maybe you'll buy Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes, I surely don't need to tell you that "Star Wars" can be absolutely thrilling. With lightsaber duels, space shootouts and fantastic alien planets, the universe that George Lucas created has all of the elements that writers will ever need to craft a science fiction fan's wet dream. Likewise, the video games often bring many of the most obvious elements to the forefront, with varying degrees of success but almost always with a huge helping of excitement.

Republic Heroes is one of the rare exceptions. Despite featuring what had the potential to be a suitably thrilling plot that spans four sprawling planet environments and tracks the adventures of several heroic Jedi warriors and their padawans, the game stumbles at several critical points.

The first problem is the difficulty level. Since this is based on an animated series, I'll assume that the audience for which Krome Studios (the game's developer) was aiming comes closer to age 12 than 30. However, gamers of all ages are up for a challenge and they won't find one here. There are some moments where you'll have to battle hordes of droid troops, leap across dangerous ledges over a gaping abyss and even hop onto a hover bike to speed down corridors where a crash could wait around every corner. Those moments had the potential to be difficult, but they're not because you can hardly take a step without stumbling across another checkpoint.

I'm a big fan of games that refrain from forcing the player to re-play lengthy segments that he's already conquered just to tackle a challenging bit at the end, but Republic Heroes accommodates amateur gamers to a crippling extreme. There are maybe two or three segments in the whole game where you'll have to make more than three or four jumps without passing another checkpoint. Not only that, but anything that you've accomplished remains in place. So if you pass a checkpoint just ahead of a shootout with a bunch of enemies, the most you lose if you die is 2 or 3 seconds of play before you can return to the fray to mop up any of the remaining enemies who didn't fall on your first attempt.

A second issue that I have with the game is the frequency with which you must make leaps that are difficult only because you can't be sure that you'll land on the next ledge. Most games of this sort force you to actually watch for your shadow to judge jumps, but Republic Heroes does things a bit differently. When you make a leap, you move so quickly between narrow ledges that you can't really judge where you'll land. Instead, you have to aim for the ledge ahead of time, hope that you're facing where you should (something that often isn't obvious), then go flying and cross your fingers for the best. Double jumps have been implemented, but they don't actually make you jump further. Instead, tapping the 'X' button a second time while airborne often pulls you to the next ledge like a magnet. This means that jumping is more about luck than skill. Couple that with the frequent checkpoints and any tension that a gauntlet of jumps could have held is completely removed.

Combat had the opportunity to beef things up a bit, but also suffers from the afore-mentioned checkpoint issue and thus serves as a third strike against the game. After all, your only reason to even bother fighting properly is that you don't want to have to wait a second every now and then as your Jedi or clone reappears after falling in battle. Temporary death isn't likely, anyway, because for the most part you have all the power that you need to sweep aside your enemies with Force waves or bullets before they can even attack. Even the more challenging foes can often be killed in a hit or two if you jump onto their backs and press the 'Triangle' button, or if you rush in and swing your lightsaber like a man possessed. Boss battles even lose their tension once you realize that you can't lose. There literally is no "Game Over" screen.

The flaws that I've pointed to could perhaps have been overlooked if the game beefed things up with some real variety, but it does not. There are 40 missions from beginning to end, each requiring anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes of play to clear, but only around half of those bring anything new to the experience. You'll be facing the same basic enemies in the last hours of play as you will the first few. Nearly every time something new is added, you can count on seeing it repeated either within the same stage or in one to follow. The plot for the most part doesn't require such repetition, so I can only assume that the developers were trying to pad the total play time required to clear the game. That attempt was successful, but it also ensured that almost every minute of play turned out half as good as it could have been if a little bit more restraint had been exercised.

I've come down on Republic Heroes pretty hard, and it deserves it, but I don't want to leave the impression that the game has no redeeming qualities. The problem is that each positive is balanced out by a negative. For example...

The plot is quite interesting and really provides a sense of scope as it follows multiple groups of heroes attempting to save their universe from a threat they don't initially understand. You'll see and hear all of the main characters from the cartoon show and they look and sound precisely as they should. However, because the story jumps around a lot you really have to pay attention so that you don't get lost in the proceedings. By the time you get back to the adventure of Anakin and Ahsoka to see how they got out of the jam in which they found themselves, for instance, you might have forgotten just what problem they were even having.

The environments are massive, with wide ledges that are perfect for thrilling shootouts. You really get a panoramic view of wide pits that must be leaped across and there are some infrequent moments that are breathtaking in their grandeur. If you have a large, widescreen television, that really hits home. If you have an older television, though, or a small one, it's sometimes difficult to even tell what's happening on the screen. I say this from experience, as I played it both ways. A decent television is an absolute necessity.

In the end, Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes just isn't a very good game. It has an assortment of serious issues, but the most crippling one of all is that it doesn't trust the player to have a good time. That's evident in the ridiculous checkpoint system and in the repetitive combat and environments. Mostly, it's evident in the way that I don't care if I ever play it again. I'm guessing that most other gamers will feel the same way.

More Reviews by Jason Venter
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