Like it or hate it, the videogame industry has been powered over the past two decades by feature film tie-ins. Surprisingly, the Star Wars franchise hasn’t truly capitalized on that. Sure, there have been plenty of successful spin-offs like Knights of the Old Republic and Rebel Strike, but they haven’t been released to capitalize on a concurrent movie premiere. There’s an acceptable excuse, though. The first three films were released during the videogame industry’s infancy, and outside of some moderately successful games for the arcade, Atari consoles, and years later, the SNES (which, while memorable, outdated the movies by a decade) there’s hasn’t been much in the way of videogames among the throng of merchandise accompanying those movies. The more recent films had the distinction of being released during inopportune times for the videogame industry. Episode I came as the original Playstation was reaching its final days in the spotlight and the Dreamcast was struggling to gain acceptance, while Episode II released at a point where two of the current consoles were in their infancy. It’s fitting, then, that the final Star Wars film has the highest profile videogame release. The last two flicks have been received less-than-kindly by the critics, and the official games haven’t fared very well among fans. Lucas and co. have one last chance on both fronts. Will the force be with them, or will it be the ‘fours’ be with them? (videogame journalist joke… sorry)

Story:

Ah, talk about tightrope walking. In order to appease trailer-celibate Star Wars fans, I’ll try to reveal as much as possible, while spoiling as little as possible. Episode III continues Anakin Skywalker’s transition from upstart rebel Jedi apprentice to Darth Vader, the full-fledged leader of the Sith. At his side, and eventually, on the business end of Vader’s lightsaber is Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Throughout the game, you primarily control both central characters (some others show up for a cup of coffee) - sometimes together, with the computer controlling your comrade, but, as the game progresses, often apart. Ultimately, as you progress through the game, you’ll see both sides of the story. While that’s nice, it would have been preferable to pick an affiliation and play through it completely. Other Star Wars games have afforded the luxury of choosing the Light or Dark side, and while it’s understandable that dynamic couldn’t be translated to this game (you can’t rewrite history… or George Lucas’ scripts), some choice would have been appreciated.

While I’ve done my best to keep the info general, a word of warning- playing this game will spoil many elements of the film. Between the frequent movie clips (that are initially uninterruptible, too, so avert your eyes if necessary) and the numerous new and returning characters you’ll encounter, you’re sure to become more knowledgeable about this film whether you like it or not.

It’s a bit of a disappointment to see the lack of a storyline associated with the gameplay- there are no choices to be made, and any cutscenes are completely independent of the story. I might be wrong, but I doubt the film will comprise of twenty minute fights with battle droids buffered by scenes of R2-D2 opening doors.

Expect to learn a lot about the movie through the various cutscenes and character appearances, but be prepared to accept the lack of choice and plot-free gameplay.

Gameplay:


Episode III plays, more or less, like a 3-D imagining of the classic SNES trilogy, with a pinch of the Devil May Cry series thrown in. The bad news? It’s a pinch of Devil May Cry 2. The game plays like a modern-day Golden Axe, a brawler with weapons in the place of fists. There’s barely any strategy involved, and in the rare instances where you may happen to get stuck, you’ll be prompted, usually by a comment from your AI partner.