First Impressions: Star Wars The Clone Wars games

[Sk8teland85]

Well today I was in a bit of a game buying mood so I went ahead and bought both games based off the recent Star Wars the Clone Wars series and movie. As some of you may know there George Lucas has made an animated series and movie out the events that take place between Star Wars Episode 2 and Star Wars Episode 3. Also in this series are books, toys, and of course 2 videos games (one for the Wii and one for the DS). After playing a little of both I figured I would give my first impressions of both.

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels

The first of these 2 games I played and the one I am going to start with is Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels for the Wii. Now this is actually a Lightsaber duel style fighting game that uses the Wii remote to mimic a Lightsaber. This is of course one of those game ideas that flew right into Star Wars fans heads when they first saw the Wii remote and for the most part I have to admit this does a great job at it.

The controls work surprisingly well and are very responsive especially when compared to the earlier attempts of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Once you get into a duel it actually is rather easy to get the hang of but difficult to master which is always a good thing in a fighting game. The visuals are also well done and do a good job representing the characters and environments from the show they are trying to represent. Now some of the animations are a bit choppy close up but other than that the game runs pretty smooth overall.

Your basic Lightsaber duel except you are in control

I do have a few complaints though. For one while the concept of using the Wii remote in a full mock Lightsaber duel while nice and cool can be rather tiring on the arms after a while. Having to make all these motions quickly and accurately did leave my arms a bit on the sore side after I was done. Another complaint I have is that the characters are just too chatty during the fights and the dialog is just too repetitive. Now this is not a deal breaker but it still is annoying hearing the same line over and over again in a fight.

Those complaints aside though I will admit I have enjoyed this game so far. Yes it may be a bit shallow and repetitive but it still make very good use of the Wii controls and lets face it using the Wii remote to control a Lightsaber is pretty dang cool.

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance

The next game I got to play was Star Wars The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance for the DS. This game unlike Lightsaber Duels is actually a full fledged Action/Adventure game. This one is actually one of the better Action/Adventure games I have played on the DS. It also has a surprising amount of depth to it.

The gameplay for this one is fully stylus driven and sort of controls like Phantom Hourglass at times. To move you just point to where on the screen you want to go and you go, to interact with an object you click on it. This is very simple to learn and works very well overall. Combat is also rather easy, you just tap away at an enemy until they are destroyed. There are also puzzles that are done by various action with the stylus and they all work well.

Another thing I picked up on while playing is the overall presentation. This has to be one of the best looking DS games I have seen. Everything just looks great on the small screen of the system and the characters are rather detailed. There is full voice acting which is also very well done.

Trust me this looks great on the small DS screen

I do have a few complaints though. For one while it is nice to have cinematic camera angles in games, in this game they are just a hassle. The problem is the screen size, since the DS screen is small at points you character is just way too small on the screen. Another compliant I have is that you cannot skip the cut scenes. This is just annoying especially when it is before one of those quick time events.

I actually enjoyed this game more than the game on the Wii. It has great presentation, solid controls, and an interesting story. While I found a few things I did not like, I still look forward to playing through this one.