Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes provides a burst of entertainment for fans of the TV series, while disappointing gamers with poor controls, level design, and camera quality throughout platforming levels. Players will find themselves walking through familiar environments as popular characters such as Anakin and Obi-Wan. Levels include exciting combat with a range of characters as well as a platformer aspect, though the entertaining aspects are outshone by the game’s functional gameplay faults.

Ties In Well with the TV Series

Many who have played this title will agree that this is possibly the only area that it excels in. The campaign is split into three separate chapters with familiarity for avid viewers of the show. Large Republic ships and intriguing worlds are recognizable for loyal fans, making the narrative a fulfilling aspect to offset other flawed facets of gameplay. There are even references to the show’s pilot season as well as the 2008 movie to establish an extra layer of comfort for avid Star Wars fans. Just about every character from the show is introduced at some point during the campaign, which is playable in both a solo and couch co-op mode. Playable characters include Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka Tano, and briefly as Cody the clone trooper and other Jedi such as Plo Koon and Luminara Unduli. Furthermore, fans of the franchise will be overjoyed at the sight of villains like Count Dooku and Cad Bane, with all the original voice actors present in dialogue.

Fun Missions, Minus Faulty Controls

Players will spend time swinging lightsabers at enemies, leaping across platforms to reach objectives, and collecting to boost earned points at the end of each mission. By gaining points, players can spend them on certain upgrades for combat as well as silly additions like droid dances. This game does pose a selection of boss fights along with simple puzzle-dependent levels, and even phases where Star Wars-inspired vehicles are piloted. On the downside, most of the action is clunky and unimpressive with graphics which lack in detail and engagement. The controls pose a major issue on any device the game is played on, save the Wii’s sensory hack-and-slash capabilities which actually perform better than Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 controllers. The combos and force powers are fun to use for a short time, before glitchy attack animations put a damper on smooth transitions from enemy to enemy, making combat quite cumbersome overall.

Level Design & Camera Quality

The issues with combat fluidity are made worse with perplexing level designs and poor camera quality - graphics seem to blend the background with the floor on which players stand on, making it difficult to navigate to objective locations. Even though environmental aspects like canyons, starships and factories can seem appealing at first, combat seems to throw it all into chaos. Interactive elements are nearly impossible to identify, such as a rope to swing on, since the animations all blend together without much distinction. To top it off, the camera is often too far away or at an unfortunate angle which can’t be fixed, so platforming levels which require a lot of leaping can appear difficult due to the irritating camera angles.

Bottom Line

This isn’t necessarily a game that’s worthy of a long-held attention span, no matter how accurately it depicts the beloved TV series. Platform levels are hindered by poor camera angles, combat is irritating with unresponsive controls, and levels are made more difficult simply because the aesthetics serve to confuse players at every turn.

Similar Titles

For a set of games which have accomplished a Star Wars feel along with truly fun gameplay, the Lego Star Wars series includes six titles which truly achieve the goals that Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes was attempting to accomplish.

Pros:

• Depicts the TV show’s setting and characters in an accurate fashion

Cons:

• Controls are often unresponsive
• Level artwork blends colors to an extent that breeds confusion
• Camera angles and quality make gameplay irritatingly difficult