6/01/2005
Video Games
By John Gaudiosi / Special to Washington Post
Lucasarts Entertainment See the film before you purchase the "Revenge of the Sith" game.
• "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge Of The Sith": The final "Star Wars" movie is about to finally deliver the goods on the big screen, and this latest Star Wars game shows that the Force has regained its strength in video games as well. But don't play it until you've seen the movie.
Revenge of the Sith features the likenesses of the actors from Episode III but sound-alike voice work from the cast of the animated "Star Wars: Clone Wars" TV show.
The game's single-player mode alternately puts you in control of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi as they battle through 16 missions set in some of the flick's locales. Novice gamers will be able to jump right in, turn on a lightsaber and hack enemy droids and clone troopers with ease. Veteran gamers should like the 70 combat techniques and assorted Force powers (for example, the ability to use telekinesis to move a TIE fighter out of the way) that can be learned as you progress through the game.
The game's arcade action, however, can get repetitive: The enemies may be all over the map in terms of appearance, but they tend to fight the same way. Two multiplayer options add some replay value. One cooperative mode ups the ante with more enemies; the other, a versus mode, allows you to duel as any of the characters defeated in the single-player game. That should be enough to keep fans busy until Star Wars Battlefront II ships later this year
