Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

While the relationship between Star Wars and the Consoles has been a long one, it hasn't been particularly successful. Even though the original film is now over 30 years old and the games have been based on just about every aspect of the George Lucas imagined universe, gamers have been continuously disappointed with the various electronic offerings. This game steers away from the six live action outings and instead bases its storyline and characters on The Clone Wars movie and TV series but is it any better than all the other games?

Gameplay

This DS outing features an original storyline and the opportunity to pair up two characters in order to make your way though a variety of different levels. These include Jedis including Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and even droids R2-D2 and C3PO. The whole game is stylus driven and after a fair amount of exploration you'll generally end up in a battle of some description. This is reasonably satisfying if a little shallow and involves you wielding your lightsaber in an attempt to hit your opponent top, middle or bottom. Hit the same area too many times and you'll lock lightsabers forcing you to tap the screen repeatedly until someone gets tired. More powerful foes may need distracting in which case you can use your 'Force' to 'throw' an object in their general direction. Further on you'll encounter locked doors, elevators with no power and the developers have also designed a handful of ingenious puzzles. The various challenges are generally based on fast reactions but you'll have to engage the old grey matter too. Finally there's a kind of Space Ace/Dragon's Lair section, which showcases the more impressive cinematics. This involves replicating the onscreen movements, again with your stylus, allowing you to leap around at lightening speed.

After all this hard work you get to access some impressive extras from the main menu. These include concept art, 3D models and even cheats, which let you enjoy the adventure in a completely different manner. The game's end however opens up all the levels and it reveals the various criteria required to unlock all the remaining extras be it collecting a specific number of crystals or completing a level in within a particular time limit. This adds to the replay value, given that this is only a single player experience, and is well worth doing just to experience what you may have missed the first time around.

Controls

Like the recent Prince of Persia outing this is all controlled by the stylus (even the movement) so simply move on to the 'dual screen use' section.

Graphics

The Clone Wars is one of those rare DS titles, which really shows off the power of the system, so much so that you may forget that you're playing on a handheld system. This is largely due to the impressive 3D engine, which allows for a suitably epic cinematic feel both in the cut screens and the main game. It's not just the engine, of course, but how it's used and the game has an attention to detail that will no doubt please all the followers of 'the force'. It's well designed with detailed textures and a whole host of graphical and lighting effects. What makes it even more impressive is the complete lack of slow down regardless of what's happening on the screen.

Sound

The attention to detail continues with the audio. Not only do you get the wonderful John Williams score but also some fine voice acting throughout the game. This helps to underpin the narrative and makes you feel like you are actually involved in an interactive episode as opposed to the usual action adventure with its ever-repeating dialogue. The sound effects are pretty good too, indeed what would a Star Wars title be without the whirring and clashing of lightsabers?

Dual screen

It's fair to say that most of the games that actually utilize the touch screen fail to make it feel like it was part of the game's original design and we've seen many TV and movie tie-ins, which 'bolt on' a series of mini-games to the main feature. The Clone Wars approaches the stylus is a totally different manner though; the whole thing appears to be built around the touch screen interface from movement to puzzle solving. You even have to tap the screen in the many lightsaber battles although the combat elements are probably one of the weaker parts of the game engine.

Final comments

It's been some time coming but The Clone Was is without question one of the best Star Wars games ever to appear on a console and even more impressive when you consider that it's running on a handheld. It's not without its problems though and the shallow combat and linear progression will frustrate some gamers, not to mention the fact that there's no multiplayer. This is outweighed by the sheer entertainment factor though and The Clone Wars provides an engaging storyline with enough well-implemented touch screen elements and production values to rival some of the more powerful console titles. If you do happen to have a few spare vouchers left over from the festive period, you won't go far wrong with this excellent title, which is indeed 'strong with the Force'.

Pro: Great Sound and Visuals
Con: Gameplay a Bit Linear
Final score: 8.1

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