Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Posted July 19, 2003
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away -- last Fall, to be precise -- LucasArts released the latest in its long series of Star Wars games to the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, meeting with somewhat of a tepid reception. Though the XBox incarnation of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" wouldn't hit stores until the following April, developer Pandemic Studios took that time to implement some substantial changes that made it well-worth the wait. Along with some additional graphical polish, "The Clone Wars" has made a leap into the online fray, a significant enhancement not offered on either of the other consoles.
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" wisely bypasses the bulk of Attack of the Clones. So much of the middle of the movie focused on the budding romance between Padmé and Anakin, and their nascent, awkward relationship wouldn't have translated particularly well to the world of console gaming, dating simulators never really having fared all that well stateside and all. No, the game leaps straight into the last half hour of the film, beginning with the climatic battle on Geonosis and progressing from there into cinematically untread territory. Attack of the Clones may have been limited to a single such battle, but as the title of the game correctly suggests, the scope of "The Clone Wars" is much larger.
Gameplay:
Though "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is a shooter at heart, the mission design and variety of vehicles steer it away from the monotony that plagues a number of other games in the genre, many of which feel as if I'm playing through increasingly difficult versions of the same exact level for hours at a time. Various levels place the player in a variety of crafts. The Republic Gunship is the only of the lot that soars into the sky, while the others hover closer to the ground. Among them are a swift Republic Fighter Tank, a speeder bike and the similarly light and speedy Single-Trooper Arial Platform, and a Separatist armored tank that boasts a destructive cannon. On the ground, players can roam on foot, Lightsaber in hand, and portions of other levels require marching in an AT-XT Walker or battling perched atop the domesticated dinosaur-like Maru. The craft differ in more than name and appearance, varying in speed and their capacity to absorb damage. Most of the ships in the game have two weapons: weak but inexhaustible primary fire, along with a more powerful secondary weapon with limited ammunition. Rounding out the arsenal is a special ability that further differentiates the ships, including an additional burst of speed, plasma shields, a Jedi force push, powerful composite beam lasers that can target multiple enemies simultaneously, and a sweeping seismic pulse emitter. "The Clone Wars" also isn't centered around a nameless pilot or a single central character. The game begins with the player in the role of Jedi master Mace Windu, later taking the mantle of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Though much of the single player Campaign strikes the same couple of notes repeatedly -- 'protect the convoy' and 'clear out the badniks so we can land' are muttered so frequently that "The Clone Wars" makes for a perfect drinking game -- the number of goals per mission coupled with the variety of ships lends "The Clone Wars" a bit of diversity. Frantic races, rescue missions, and destroying enemy installations are also assigned throughout, and the majority of the game's sixteen missions each include a number of goals to accomplish. Dying before the completion of a mission often returns the player to the beginning of the current goal. However, "The Clone Wars" doesn't save unless a mission is completed, so the remainder of a mission must be finished in its entirety before powering off the system unless the player wants to start again from scratch.
The majority of "The Clone Wars" has one of several characters piloting some machine or another, and that's clearly where Pandemic's efforts were primarily focused. The portions of the game that take place on-foot almost seem like an afterthought, boasting lackluster animation, jerkier controls, and an overall lack of current-gen polish. There are thankfully very few of these to endure, and the hastily-constructed sequences tend to be rather brief as well. Perhaps there was concern that the game didn't have enough of a Star Wars feel, so goals involving concussive Force blasts and flinging Lightsabers were added in at the 11th hour to balance things out. Whatever the motivation may have been, the handful of these missions seem sorely out of place and would've been better off if excised altogether.
The single-player campaign offers three difficulty settings, ranging from Padawan (Easy) to Jedi Knight (Intermediate; default) to Jedi Master (Difficult). The game doesn't merely toss the player to the wolves, though, with some goals featuring accompanying crafts to ease the burden of fighting an interplanetary war. The wingmen often contribute very little, but it's the thought that counts. A number of powerups are scattered throughout the various modes as well, including the traditional health and ammo, along with 'Super Blasters', temporary invincibility, a cloaking shield, and a disintegration field.
The campaign culminates in a battle against the Dark Reaper, a near-invincible ancient weapon of the Sith. Emphasis on "near-invincible". The character that's pitted against the Dark Reaper claims he is immune to its effects -- I'll avoid going into any detail as to what leads up to this point to steer clear of spoiler territory -- but for something I was supposedly immune to, it sure resoundly managed to kick my ass over and over again, even on the lowest difficult setting. A helpful voiceover hints that you should watch out for its devastating, practically inescapable laser. Yeah. "Use the Force to guide you..." Where? Towards GameFAQs.com? The difficulty in defeating the Dark Reaper isn't quite in-line with the rest of the game and marked the only time that I genuinely felt frustrated playing it. The finalé of a game shouldn't be a cakewalk, but the monstrous spike in difficulty struck me as rather abrupt.
The controls are excellent and intuitive, requiring only a couple of moments to master. No need for any sort of in-game tutorials or even so much as a casual glance at the manual. As is the norm, the left thumbstick moves your characters and various crafts, and the right stick adjusts the camera. As frequently as camera issues are cited as fatal flaws for the past couple of generations of consoles, I never found myself in a situation where manipulating the camera was necessary. Depending on the craft, the shoulder triggers strafe, adjust speed, or rotate turrets. The view can be toggled from third-person to first-person at any time, and also included is a Zoom mode that I managed to avoid using for the entire course of the game. The D-Pad, in certain portions of the game and the Conquest multiplayer mode, issues commands to your squad. To aid in decimating the Separatist army is an effectively executed auto-lock mechanism along with a radar screen in the bottom-righthand corner of the screen that indicates the presence of friends and foes.
...and now, the gripes. Colliding into some environments is highly variable. Infrequently, crafts pass through some obstacles without any problem whatsoever. Frequently, though, collisions jerkily propel the player in a seemingly random direction. This may have been by design, but I found it to be highly disorienting and frustrating. There were also a number of instances where I found my various ships repeatedly bouncing on the ground, unable to reorient myself and destroying my craft in a matter of seconds. I also managed to have Anakin walk about a quarter of the way through his parked craft before entering the outpost on "New Alliances", though this not surprisingly has no actual bearing on the gameplay.
Though I haven't stumbled upon similar reports elsewhere about any instability in "The Clone Wars", I inadvertently locked the game up twice. The first instance occurred on "Liberation of Kashyyyk", shortly after finishing off the Harbinger. I left the game paused between completing that level and before the next had an opportunity to load. When I hopped back on my couch and pressed Start to continue, the screen turned black and apparently had no interest in moving forward. Despite waiting several minutes, the following level remained elusive, and I had to restart the system. I didn't lose my place, but I wasn't quite as lucky the second time around. A nastier lockup occurred in the shootout against the pair of Protodekas on "Dark Side Rising". Mid-battle, the game abruptly froze, emitting a shrill buzzing noise and leaving my controller vibrating ceaselessly. Again, I had to power off the XBox, this time losing my progress, having to restart the penultimate level from scratch. I didn't mind all that much, as "Dark Side Rising" is probably my single favorite level in the game and playing through it again was hardly a chore, but that sort of lockup is not something I'm particularly fond of seeing in general.
Unlockables, including multiplayer maps and characters, a sketchbook, a virtual CD player, and a making-of video, provide some incentive for playing through the single player mode. These bonuses require amassing a certain number of points, which are acquired by completing some of the 48 optional goals scattered throughout the game. For players who don't feel compelled to invest the time or effort, a submenu allows players to enter cheat codes widely available online. Unlocked cinematics can also be replayed at any time.
Where "The Clone Wars" shines brightest is in its multiplayer modes, which include up to four players duking it out on a single XBox, multiple consoles connected via System Link, and, most notably, up to eight players pitted against one another over XBox Live. Some craft are exclusively playable in the multiplayer mode, such as a second Separatist tank and a Hailfire Droid.
There are four primary multiplayer modes, two of which ought to sound rather familiar. The first is "Duel", a free-for-all Deathmatch where the player who amasses the most kills wins. "Control Zone" is a 'King of the Hill' battle for supremacy, featuring a large ring on a map, and the winner is the player who manages to stay in the circle the longest. "Academy" diverges from the expected modes somewhat. Waves of CPU-controlled enemy forces are launched at players, encouraging cooperation in wiping out the small army of STAPs and tanks. Between each wave, a number of power-ups appear, pitting players against one another to snag the goodies necessary to stay alive when the next wave appears.
Most interesting, though, is "Conquest", which adds a real-time simulation feel to the action-driven mix. Players are divided into Republic and Separatists, and each has the opportunity to commander neutral outposts. Staying within an outpost for a certain period of time constructs turrets, and when four turrets are built, mechanical minions are created. Though these newly-created machines are directly controlled by the CPU, they can be issued commands, such as defending its base or attacking the opposing team. Each outpost creates two units, and as long as all four turrets remain intact, new units respawn as the current ones are destroyed. Decimating the other team's turrets allows their outposts to be taken over, further strengthening your numbers. Converted bases can also be armed and configured to attack when docked. The game ends when the opponents' headquarters has been destroyed.
The biggest problem playing over Live is a lack of players. Over the past couple of days, I found it almost impossible to find anyone playing. As a result, the comments about the multiplayer modes are based almost entirely on one-on-one combat in my living room.
"The Clone Wars" also features a Leaderboard with the stats of the more successful players, as well as additional downloadable content. Currently, two additional maps are available, presumably with more to come.
Graphics:
Visually, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is a mixed bag, despite receiving a considerable visual upgrade from the previously released PS2 and GameCube incarnations. As was the case with the gameplay, it's apparent from even a few minutes of play that the bulk of the effort was devoted towards the more traditional shooter levels that comprise most of the game. The various ships are nicely modeled, both when engaged in battle and during the inevitable explosions that scatter shards of metal across the landscape. The brief Lightsaber missions are a graphical embarrassment, suffering from stiff character animation and a jerky framerate. Portions of the shooter levels were infrequently bogged down at times as well, such as the Harbinger battle in "Liberation of Kashyyyk" and the encounter with the Spectral Guardians in "Lost Legacy". These slower moments did not occur nearly as consistently or to as great an extent. It doesn't appear to be the expected case of too much happening at once; the most hectic levels in the game, particularly the sequences on Thule, don't suffer from so much as a single hiccup. The framerate also stutters occasionally during a number of the rather plain-looking cutscenes rendered by the in-game engine. The pre-rendered cinematics are obviously spared from any such issues. The limited draw distance can also be somewhat disconcerting, such as the appearing/disappearing spires on "Fate of the Republic" or the oddly blanketing shadow appearance of the backgrounds on the multiplayer Academy map "Thule Moon".
Despite the fact that the "HDTV 480p" box on the packaging remains unchecked, "The Clone Wars" does offer progressive scan capability as well as a widescreen mode. It's possible in-game to toggle between widescreen and fullscreen output rather than having to resort to specifying one or the other in the XBox dashboard.
Audio:
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" sounds phenomenal when played on a home theater, boasting excellent Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Directionality is reasonably strong, and the surround channels roar with activity as lasers burst from all sides and fallen enemy ships careen past your hovertank. The low-end is astonishingly heavy, and I doubt more than a couple of seconds of gameplay passed without some sort of thunderous rumble booming from my subwoofer. The center channel, as is often the case with XBox games, is largely neglected, limited primarily to the droids' electronic squeals and various menu sounds.
Out of the box, the sound effects dominate the other elements of the audio, and I almost immediately felt compelled to enter the setup menu and bump the volume of the music up a few notches, giving John Williams' instantly recognizable score the presence it deserves. Just as the music was plundered from the vaults at Skywalker Sound, quite a few of the sound effects appear to have been culled from the archives as well. The combination of the two lend "The Clone Wars" that distinctively Star Wars sound, to such an extent that even playing with your eyes closed, there's no doubt what license is attached to this game. Considering how wooden some of the performances were in the film that inspired "The Clone Wars", a case could be made that the dry, undistinguished voice acting contributes further to its aural authenticity.
Conclusion:
Much has been said on message boards and various websites about the mediocrity of the single player campaign of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". I would personally peg it as incrementally above average, which admittedly is not the most glowing praise, but it's more than I'd bestow on a lot of games. I'm typically the sort of gamer who picks up a controller and plays for perhaps an hour or two at the most. "The Clone Wars" managed to grab my attention for four-to-six hour chunks at a time, and though I wasn't overwhelmed with the experience, I'd absolutely consider playing it through a second time. I wouldn't say the same about "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" or the later levels of "MechAssault", other XBox Live capable games whose single player modes have largely met with disinterest.
The brevity of the sixteen missions is probably to its benefit; the game is over before things can get unnecessarily repetitive. Despite the similarity of a number of the goals and the same few types of enemy craft that appeared incessantly, the single player mode in "The Clone Wars" never felt stale or as if its meager length had been padded out with filler. Though I didn't keep particularly close tabs on the amount of time it took me to run through the single player campaign over the course of two days, I'd estimate it to be somewhere in the vicinity of 10 or 11 hours.
Though I found the single player mode to be moderately entertaining but nothing special, "The Clone Wars" is an entirely different experience in multiplayer. The variety of modes offer an extensive amount of diversity, moreso than the handful of other Live games I've played to date. "Conquest" in particular shines, diverging away from the "shoot/kill/grab stuff/shoot some more" design I went in expecting and towards something much more creative.
At the very least, "The Clone Wars" would seem to be an essential rental for XBox Live subscribers, assuming they have better luck finding opponents than I did. At a lower price point, I'd have recommended it as a purchase, but the game's flaws make it difficult to suggest plunking down fifty bucks sight-unseen. I still recommend "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", primarily to subscribers to Microsoft's online service, though I'd either wait for a substantial price drop or swinging by the video store for a rental first. A borderline recommendation.
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" wisely bypasses the bulk of Attack of the Clones. So much of the middle of the movie focused on the budding romance between Padmé and Anakin, and their nascent, awkward relationship wouldn't have translated particularly well to the world of console gaming, dating simulators never really having fared all that well stateside and all. No, the game leaps straight into the last half hour of the film, beginning with the climatic battle on Geonosis and progressing from there into cinematically untread territory. Attack of the Clones may have been limited to a single such battle, but as the title of the game correctly suggests, the scope of "The Clone Wars" is much larger.
Gameplay:
Though "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is a shooter at heart, the mission design and variety of vehicles steer it away from the monotony that plagues a number of other games in the genre, many of which feel as if I'm playing through increasingly difficult versions of the same exact level for hours at a time. Various levels place the player in a variety of crafts. The Republic Gunship is the only of the lot that soars into the sky, while the others hover closer to the ground. Among them are a swift Republic Fighter Tank, a speeder bike and the similarly light and speedy Single-Trooper Arial Platform, and a Separatist armored tank that boasts a destructive cannon. On the ground, players can roam on foot, Lightsaber in hand, and portions of other levels require marching in an AT-XT Walker or battling perched atop the domesticated dinosaur-like Maru. The craft differ in more than name and appearance, varying in speed and their capacity to absorb damage. Most of the ships in the game have two weapons: weak but inexhaustible primary fire, along with a more powerful secondary weapon with limited ammunition. Rounding out the arsenal is a special ability that further differentiates the ships, including an additional burst of speed, plasma shields, a Jedi force push, powerful composite beam lasers that can target multiple enemies simultaneously, and a sweeping seismic pulse emitter. "The Clone Wars" also isn't centered around a nameless pilot or a single central character. The game begins with the player in the role of Jedi master Mace Windu, later taking the mantle of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Though much of the single player Campaign strikes the same couple of notes repeatedly -- 'protect the convoy' and 'clear out the badniks so we can land' are muttered so frequently that "The Clone Wars" makes for a perfect drinking game -- the number of goals per mission coupled with the variety of ships lends "The Clone Wars" a bit of diversity. Frantic races, rescue missions, and destroying enemy installations are also assigned throughout, and the majority of the game's sixteen missions each include a number of goals to accomplish. Dying before the completion of a mission often returns the player to the beginning of the current goal. However, "The Clone Wars" doesn't save unless a mission is completed, so the remainder of a mission must be finished in its entirety before powering off the system unless the player wants to start again from scratch.
The majority of "The Clone Wars" has one of several characters piloting some machine or another, and that's clearly where Pandemic's efforts were primarily focused. The portions of the game that take place on-foot almost seem like an afterthought, boasting lackluster animation, jerkier controls, and an overall lack of current-gen polish. There are thankfully very few of these to endure, and the hastily-constructed sequences tend to be rather brief as well. Perhaps there was concern that the game didn't have enough of a Star Wars feel, so goals involving concussive Force blasts and flinging Lightsabers were added in at the 11th hour to balance things out. Whatever the motivation may have been, the handful of these missions seem sorely out of place and would've been better off if excised altogether.
The single-player campaign offers three difficulty settings, ranging from Padawan (Easy) to Jedi Knight (Intermediate; default) to Jedi Master (Difficult). The game doesn't merely toss the player to the wolves, though, with some goals featuring accompanying crafts to ease the burden of fighting an interplanetary war. The wingmen often contribute very little, but it's the thought that counts. A number of powerups are scattered throughout the various modes as well, including the traditional health and ammo, along with 'Super Blasters', temporary invincibility, a cloaking shield, and a disintegration field.
The campaign culminates in a battle against the Dark Reaper, a near-invincible ancient weapon of the Sith. Emphasis on "near-invincible". The character that's pitted against the Dark Reaper claims he is immune to its effects -- I'll avoid going into any detail as to what leads up to this point to steer clear of spoiler territory -- but for something I was supposedly immune to, it sure resoundly managed to kick my ass over and over again, even on the lowest difficult setting. A helpful voiceover hints that you should watch out for its devastating, practically inescapable laser. Yeah. "Use the Force to guide you..." Where? Towards GameFAQs.com? The difficulty in defeating the Dark Reaper isn't quite in-line with the rest of the game and marked the only time that I genuinely felt frustrated playing it. The finalé of a game shouldn't be a cakewalk, but the monstrous spike in difficulty struck me as rather abrupt.
The controls are excellent and intuitive, requiring only a couple of moments to master. No need for any sort of in-game tutorials or even so much as a casual glance at the manual. As is the norm, the left thumbstick moves your characters and various crafts, and the right stick adjusts the camera. As frequently as camera issues are cited as fatal flaws for the past couple of generations of consoles, I never found myself in a situation where manipulating the camera was necessary. Depending on the craft, the shoulder triggers strafe, adjust speed, or rotate turrets. The view can be toggled from third-person to first-person at any time, and also included is a Zoom mode that I managed to avoid using for the entire course of the game. The D-Pad, in certain portions of the game and the Conquest multiplayer mode, issues commands to your squad. To aid in decimating the Separatist army is an effectively executed auto-lock mechanism along with a radar screen in the bottom-righthand corner of the screen that indicates the presence of friends and foes.
...and now, the gripes. Colliding into some environments is highly variable. Infrequently, crafts pass through some obstacles without any problem whatsoever. Frequently, though, collisions jerkily propel the player in a seemingly random direction. This may have been by design, but I found it to be highly disorienting and frustrating. There were also a number of instances where I found my various ships repeatedly bouncing on the ground, unable to reorient myself and destroying my craft in a matter of seconds. I also managed to have Anakin walk about a quarter of the way through his parked craft before entering the outpost on "New Alliances", though this not surprisingly has no actual bearing on the gameplay.
Though I haven't stumbled upon similar reports elsewhere about any instability in "The Clone Wars", I inadvertently locked the game up twice. The first instance occurred on "Liberation of Kashyyyk", shortly after finishing off the Harbinger. I left the game paused between completing that level and before the next had an opportunity to load. When I hopped back on my couch and pressed Start to continue, the screen turned black and apparently had no interest in moving forward. Despite waiting several minutes, the following level remained elusive, and I had to restart the system. I didn't lose my place, but I wasn't quite as lucky the second time around. A nastier lockup occurred in the shootout against the pair of Protodekas on "Dark Side Rising". Mid-battle, the game abruptly froze, emitting a shrill buzzing noise and leaving my controller vibrating ceaselessly. Again, I had to power off the XBox, this time losing my progress, having to restart the penultimate level from scratch. I didn't mind all that much, as "Dark Side Rising" is probably my single favorite level in the game and playing through it again was hardly a chore, but that sort of lockup is not something I'm particularly fond of seeing in general.
Unlockables, including multiplayer maps and characters, a sketchbook, a virtual CD player, and a making-of video, provide some incentive for playing through the single player mode. These bonuses require amassing a certain number of points, which are acquired by completing some of the 48 optional goals scattered throughout the game. For players who don't feel compelled to invest the time or effort, a submenu allows players to enter cheat codes widely available online. Unlocked cinematics can also be replayed at any time.
Where "The Clone Wars" shines brightest is in its multiplayer modes, which include up to four players duking it out on a single XBox, multiple consoles connected via System Link, and, most notably, up to eight players pitted against one another over XBox Live. Some craft are exclusively playable in the multiplayer mode, such as a second Separatist tank and a Hailfire Droid.
There are four primary multiplayer modes, two of which ought to sound rather familiar. The first is "Duel", a free-for-all Deathmatch where the player who amasses the most kills wins. "Control Zone" is a 'King of the Hill' battle for supremacy, featuring a large ring on a map, and the winner is the player who manages to stay in the circle the longest. "Academy" diverges from the expected modes somewhat. Waves of CPU-controlled enemy forces are launched at players, encouraging cooperation in wiping out the small army of STAPs and tanks. Between each wave, a number of power-ups appear, pitting players against one another to snag the goodies necessary to stay alive when the next wave appears.
Most interesting, though, is "Conquest", which adds a real-time simulation feel to the action-driven mix. Players are divided into Republic and Separatists, and each has the opportunity to commander neutral outposts. Staying within an outpost for a certain period of time constructs turrets, and when four turrets are built, mechanical minions are created. Though these newly-created machines are directly controlled by the CPU, they can be issued commands, such as defending its base or attacking the opposing team. Each outpost creates two units, and as long as all four turrets remain intact, new units respawn as the current ones are destroyed. Decimating the other team's turrets allows their outposts to be taken over, further strengthening your numbers. Converted bases can also be armed and configured to attack when docked. The game ends when the opponents' headquarters has been destroyed.
The biggest problem playing over Live is a lack of players. Over the past couple of days, I found it almost impossible to find anyone playing. As a result, the comments about the multiplayer modes are based almost entirely on one-on-one combat in my living room.
"The Clone Wars" also features a Leaderboard with the stats of the more successful players, as well as additional downloadable content. Currently, two additional maps are available, presumably with more to come.
Graphics:
Visually, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is a mixed bag, despite receiving a considerable visual upgrade from the previously released PS2 and GameCube incarnations. As was the case with the gameplay, it's apparent from even a few minutes of play that the bulk of the effort was devoted towards the more traditional shooter levels that comprise most of the game. The various ships are nicely modeled, both when engaged in battle and during the inevitable explosions that scatter shards of metal across the landscape. The brief Lightsaber missions are a graphical embarrassment, suffering from stiff character animation and a jerky framerate. Portions of the shooter levels were infrequently bogged down at times as well, such as the Harbinger battle in "Liberation of Kashyyyk" and the encounter with the Spectral Guardians in "Lost Legacy". These slower moments did not occur nearly as consistently or to as great an extent. It doesn't appear to be the expected case of too much happening at once; the most hectic levels in the game, particularly the sequences on Thule, don't suffer from so much as a single hiccup. The framerate also stutters occasionally during a number of the rather plain-looking cutscenes rendered by the in-game engine. The pre-rendered cinematics are obviously spared from any such issues. The limited draw distance can also be somewhat disconcerting, such as the appearing/disappearing spires on "Fate of the Republic" or the oddly blanketing shadow appearance of the backgrounds on the multiplayer Academy map "Thule Moon".
Despite the fact that the "HDTV 480p" box on the packaging remains unchecked, "The Clone Wars" does offer progressive scan capability as well as a widescreen mode. It's possible in-game to toggle between widescreen and fullscreen output rather than having to resort to specifying one or the other in the XBox dashboard.
Audio:
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" sounds phenomenal when played on a home theater, boasting excellent Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Directionality is reasonably strong, and the surround channels roar with activity as lasers burst from all sides and fallen enemy ships careen past your hovertank. The low-end is astonishingly heavy, and I doubt more than a couple of seconds of gameplay passed without some sort of thunderous rumble booming from my subwoofer. The center channel, as is often the case with XBox games, is largely neglected, limited primarily to the droids' electronic squeals and various menu sounds.
Out of the box, the sound effects dominate the other elements of the audio, and I almost immediately felt compelled to enter the setup menu and bump the volume of the music up a few notches, giving John Williams' instantly recognizable score the presence it deserves. Just as the music was plundered from the vaults at Skywalker Sound, quite a few of the sound effects appear to have been culled from the archives as well. The combination of the two lend "The Clone Wars" that distinctively Star Wars sound, to such an extent that even playing with your eyes closed, there's no doubt what license is attached to this game. Considering how wooden some of the performances were in the film that inspired "The Clone Wars", a case could be made that the dry, undistinguished voice acting contributes further to its aural authenticity.
Conclusion:
Much has been said on message boards and various websites about the mediocrity of the single player campaign of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". I would personally peg it as incrementally above average, which admittedly is not the most glowing praise, but it's more than I'd bestow on a lot of games. I'm typically the sort of gamer who picks up a controller and plays for perhaps an hour or two at the most. "The Clone Wars" managed to grab my attention for four-to-six hour chunks at a time, and though I wasn't overwhelmed with the experience, I'd absolutely consider playing it through a second time. I wouldn't say the same about "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" or the later levels of "MechAssault", other XBox Live capable games whose single player modes have largely met with disinterest.
The brevity of the sixteen missions is probably to its benefit; the game is over before things can get unnecessarily repetitive. Despite the similarity of a number of the goals and the same few types of enemy craft that appeared incessantly, the single player mode in "The Clone Wars" never felt stale or as if its meager length had been padded out with filler. Though I didn't keep particularly close tabs on the amount of time it took me to run through the single player campaign over the course of two days, I'd estimate it to be somewhere in the vicinity of 10 or 11 hours.
Though I found the single player mode to be moderately entertaining but nothing special, "The Clone Wars" is an entirely different experience in multiplayer. The variety of modes offer an extensive amount of diversity, moreso than the handful of other Live games I've played to date. "Conquest" in particular shines, diverging away from the "shoot/kill/grab stuff/shoot some more" design I went in expecting and towards something much more creative.
At the very least, "The Clone Wars" would seem to be an essential rental for XBox Live subscribers, assuming they have better luck finding opponents than I did. At a lower price point, I'd have recommended it as a purchase, but the game's flaws make it difficult to suggest plunking down fifty bucks sight-unseen. I still recommend "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", primarily to subscribers to Microsoft's online service, though I'd either wait for a substantial price drop or swinging by the video store for a rental first. A borderline recommendation.