GameSpy Review of Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels

When Nintendo first revealed the Wii's unique controller, one of the first images that popped into everybody's head was pushing that big, inviting A button and seeing a glowing blade shoot out of the top of the Remote, complete with the familiar hum that signals that some dude's gonna get his arm (or hands, or legs, or head, or torso) chopped off. It's no wonder that so many people began clamoring for LucasArts to create a "lightsaber game" for the Wii. What kid hasn't grabbed a stick, a cardboard tube, or the occasional microphone stand and waved it around while making "woosh" noises, pretending to be a noble Jedi or a dastardly Sith Lord?





It took a while, but we've finally got our "lightsaber game" in the form of the aptly named Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- Lightsaber Duels, which is based on the new "Clone Wars" animated series on Cartoon Network. As the title suggests, this is purely a one-on-one fighter, where the Wii Remote becomes a virtual lightsaber allowing you to hack and slash your way through a gauntlet of opponents.





The controls are pretty intuitive. The Wii's Nunchuk moves your character around the arena, and pressing the A button while moving allows you to quickly dodge attacks. Obviously, waving the Remote causes your onscreen avatar to swing his or her lightsaber. Although your character's motions don't mirror your moves exactly (we'll have to wait for the release of the Wii's MotionPlus for that), their swings do follow the direction you wave in. Holding down the Nunchuk's Z button allows you to add limited Force effects to your attacks.










Each character has a variety of combos that are initiated by waving the Remote in a certain pattern. Simultaneous attacks will cause you and your opponent's sabers to lock, forcing you to complete a reflex-based challenge to overpower them. This will take the form of rapidly waving your Remote back and forth, quickly flicking the Remote in a particular direction, or completing a series of precise movements before the enemy does. For the most part the controls work quite well. Only occasionally did we take a stray hit due to the Wii misinterpreting our movements.





An Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age





The main single player experience is Campaign mode, which follows the story of the Clone Wars movie and TV series. Although this mode utilizes a decent amount of footage from the show, it's a bit haphazardly assembled. Unless you're already familiar with the plot, it's highly unlikely that you'll understand how the elaborate conflicts set up during the intro cinematics are resolved with one or two duels. Another problem with this mode is that the series only has three main bad guys that wield lightsabers: Count Dooku, General Grievous, and Asajj Ventress. Repetition sets in pretty quick as you fight that trio over and over.















Even so, Campaign mode isn't terribly long, so you'll soon be diving into the other modes. Battle mode is your typical arcade-style mode, and Challenge presents a series of goals (such as defeating an enemy with a specific move) to complete. Clearing the challenges is essential for unlocking new characters and other goodies.





With its fairly limited single-player game, it seems pretty clear that Lightsaber Duels was intended to be a multiplayer game. It's certainly not the most technical fighter out there, but given the game's physical nature it's a lot more fun playing it with a friend. Unfortunately, even multiplayer feels a bit limited thanks to the game's tiny roster of characters. Once you've gotten everybody unlocked, there are only ten fighters to choose from. With so many Jedi characters around during the Clone Wars, it's a shame that there are so few to play as here.










The characters that are available, however, look and sound quite nice. Both the graphics and animation look good and are true to the show. The show's voice actors have also recorded tons of dialogue for the game. Sometimes, however, the characters can be a bit too chatty, and you'll often hear repeated dialogue during battles.





Lightsaber Duels may not be exactly what fans were clamoring for when Nintendo unveiled the Wii's lightsaber-esque controllers, but it's still quite enjoyable. The single-player experience won't last you long, though, so you might not want to invest in the game unless you plan on playing with a buddy. If nothing else, it's a good sneak preview for the inevitable 1:1 sequel when the MotionPlus is released.

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