This game is a challenge but has a great story. It’s quite a thrill to defeat it at all, even for one like me, who fails at hitting bonus goals. The Clone Wars video game is a blast if you love playing as a heroic Jedi Knight, flying fast vehicles and enjoy the Tales of the Jedi or Clone Wars eras.
Synopsis
You play alternating between Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi and his gifted Padawan Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars, serving on the front lines. While some fighting is on foot, a lot is in turbo speeder tanks, gunships and even on STAPS. During the course of events, Dooku has discovered a deadly weapon left over from the Great Sith War. It is up to the Jedi, in particular Anakin Skywalker, to defeat this terrible weapon.
The Clone Wars video game story starts at Geonosis, then Rhen Var (last know location of Ulic Qel Droma in Tales of the Jedi), Raxus Prime (the junk planet.) Alaris Prime (a wookiee colony), Rhen Var again, and finally, Thul, location of a Sith temple.
History:
The Clone Wars video game ties into the Great Sith War, the Jedi Knights Ulic Qel-Droma and Exar Kun fell to the dark side. Ulic was the apprentice. But Ulic returned to the light after a tragic battle with his own brother. He helped the Jedi defeat Exar Kun, though he himself lost his powers. He spent years seeking redemption, and finally found peace and died on Rhen Var. The story of the Great Sith War and the fall and rise of heroes is told in Tales of the Jedi comics.
The Clone Wars video game starts at Geonosis as Mace Windu and Luminara Unduli prepare the way for the Jedi to rescue Obi-Wan. (Of course Anakin and Padmé need it to, as they charged off on their own!) I’d consider it a ‘getting the feel of the game’ beginning. But as war proceeds, they find that Dooku is looking for something specific, a deadly game changer that will tilt the war in his favor. This ancient weapon Dooku seeks was last defeated by Ulic Qel-Droma himself, in the Great Sith War.
Spoilers
Anakin is captured on Raxus Prime when he runs ahead chasing Dooku. He is taken up to Alaris Prime, and left to die when Dooku unleashes the Force Harvester to test it. Fleeing with a new ally, a woman named Bera, and the wookiees, they devise a plan to warn the Republic. Filled in on the history by the Council, Anakin is sent back to Rhen Var to find Qel Droma’s tomb, where he finds Ulic Qel-Droma’s holocron. The ‘Ulic’ gatekeeper tells Anakin there is a way to resist the effects and destroy the weapon, and he will teach it to him. It also warns him to beware the Dark Side.
In the end, only Anakin can face the Dark Reaper because he is the only one who learned from Ulic’s holocron and hears the whisper of his spirit. This feeds his feeling that it’s his destiny to stop this war.
I can teach you to harness the power of the Force around you, making you immune to the Dark Reapers effects for a short time. But this knowledge comes at great risk. The knowledge you seek is very powerful Anakin, or it will lead you to the dark side.- Ulic
Clone Wars Video Game
“I’m not afraid.” – Anakin
“You should be. I once thought I was impervious to the allure of the dark side. I was mistaken. Do not take the same path as I.” – Ulic
Gameplay
You can select difficulty levels in the Clone Wars Video Game. I found it hard on even ‘padawan’ level, as I’m just not a good pilot in tight spaces in these things. And to top it off, of course, the enemy is shooting back at you!
The next biggest issue for me is that Lucasarts was never consistent, even on XBox specific games, on what button did what. For instance, what swings the lightsaber in one game like Obi-Wan for XBox, does something different in another, even if they both involve lightsaber combat. And since the last game I played before this was Starfighter on the PC (with a Logitech gamepad, not the XBox controller) the ‘fire torpedoes’ button isn’t the same.
So essentially you have both lightsaber combat, turbo tank, stap and republic gunships to deal with. I’m sure many (maybe most) people, can train the muscle memory for this. As I said the real issue is that these games don’t use the same controls so if you’ve played a similar game with a different control set up, it’s a trick to get used to.
Clone Wars Video Game Story Continuity
The Great Sith War took place 4000 years before the movies as detailed in Tales of the Jedi comics. Ulic Qel Droma actually warns Anakin of the dangers of the Dark Side in this as well as guiding him. Rhen Var is his last resting place, where he trained his one and only student, Vima Sunrider. This particular weapon was not shown in the comics, although other ancient and even deadlier weapons were. Ossus is mentioned as ‘having fallen’ in the Clone Wars video game, suggesting that ancient devastated world did have some connection to the Republic though there was little there post Return of the Jedi.
The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader by Ryder Windham suggests that Anakin learning to resist the Dark Reaper increased his pride and arrogance, disdaining Master Kenobi’s instruction. I didn’t quite get that impression from the Clone Wars video game myself, although it did give further hints that Anakin felt it was his destiny to be the hero and he was impatient about it. It did not improve his ego, but I didn’t see it making it worse. His attitude seemed consistent with what was in the comics and the Genndy Tartovsky Clone Wars. It wasn’t until after the Battle of Kamino that it began to change.
Anakin, wait!
Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Fate of Thule final mission, as well as in numerous books and comics. (Anakin usually didn’t.)
Alaris Prime is a Wookiee colony, which Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan helped out in Galactic Battlegrounds. I believe it’s revisited later but I haven’t played that far yet. Alaris Prime is kind of your starter level.
Cydon Prax, a bounty hunter opponent, first appeared in Boba Fett: Crossroads.
Raxus Prime, the junk world, first appears in Boba Fett: Fight to Survive young adult book, and is a mission level for Starkiller in the Force Unleashed, which came out years later.
