Since I’ve been watching The Clone Wars, I thought I’d check out its primary tie-in game. As an action game it’s mediocre, and as a representation of the show it’s messy. Is there anything to like? Ummmmmm

First impressions, the game reminded me of the later Avatar console games: a co-op focus, simple design in an apparent effort for family-friendliness, and a generally wonky feel. Coincidentally, both are made in Australia, with Krome Studios handling this game. Some DNA from their Force Unleashed port survives into this one, including a way overpowered Force Push ability.

There’s a fair bit of platforming, with a disconcerting snap-to function that attempts to railroad you but doesn’t always work perfectly. Combat is frequent but stiff; levels alternate between Jedi and clone troopers, which gives some variety but neither are excellent. Jedi levels in particular feel hamstrung by an over-reliance on the awkward mechanic of hijacking droids for combat options or mandatory progression.

The plot is all over the place as it attempts to incorporate seemingly every major character from the show. The characters look true to the design of the series (albeit much lower budget), and I think all the voice actors returned, so in that sense it feels authentic. Each new level jumps to a different setting and throws a random pair of Jedi together, or Rex with a new clone. Padme is mentioned during a cutscene but didn’t factor into gameplay as far as I could tell. As a result it’s hard to get a handle on what the game is really about, and the plot doesn’t really start coming together until halfway through the game when Cad Bane is introduced.

Unfortunately this is the point where my play experience halted. My intermittent problems with the game glitching, hanging, or crashing (which I’ll give Krome the benefit of the doubt for and blame a scratched disc) became worse, and I couldn’t continue. I felt only relief. Despite some cool notions, like the gravitic anomaly that causes Luminara and Aayla Secura to traverse ice chunks and ship debris floating in the air at a crash site, many of the levels are in interchangeable space station settings, or the monochrome Ryloth.

The Clone Wars in general has a status quo problem that it occasionally transcends but this game’s meandering plot certainly wasn’t going anywhere, and with its clunky dialogue it lost me fast. I hear the DS version forgoes the attempt at an original plot and adapts episodes of the show; I don’t know whether I’d prefer that or not. Ho hum.