Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (PS3) review

Contrary to what the title might lead you to believe, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is technically the fourth title in the series, due to the updated release of The Complete Saga.  Awkward numbering (a long-standing issue with Star Wars anyway) aside, does the game hold up to the standard set by its predecessors?

Lego Star Wars III follows the story of the Clone Wars animated series (with a small piece for the preceding movie).  In the story mode, you play as various heroes of the Republic, clones and Jedi alike, in constant battle with the Separatist fiends.  The series’ long-standing style of simple adventure-platforming with drop-in-drop-out co-op, one-button combat, and very basic puzzles remains well in tact, as does a strong focus on in-game collectibles.  Minikits are back (collect all ten in a level to unlock a new playable character), Power Bricks (still used to unlock in-game “cheats”) are hidden around a large “hub” level, and Gold Bricks are scattered well throughout.  This time around, the Gold Bricks are needed to unlock new portions of the hub level as well as a super special vehicle for collecting all 130 of them.

There are three basic types of levels in the main story:  First, you have the basic “point A to point B” style, which has been around since the series started.  Simply follow the linear level to the end, overcoming obstacles along the way.  Second are the space combat levels.  You fly around in a spaceship shooting down enemy ships as in previous titles, but there’s a new addition to the formula: You can also land the ship at specially marked landing pads for a little on-foot action.  It’s not a huge change, but the interplay between your actions on the ground and in flight make it an entertaining addition.

No way I can take that thing out in this! But if I land on it...

The third level type is all-new for the series: Ground Assault.  You’re dropped into a large-scale skirmish that plays out like real-time-strategy light.  Both sides have base energy nodes, around which structures such as infantry barracks, vehicle generators, and shields can be built by spending studs.  There are three levels of structures you can build: regular can be destroyed by any attacks but is inexpensive, silver can only be destroyed by explosive attacks and costs more, and gold needs to be melted down by rapid-fire attacks (preferably steady laser beams) and costs the most to buy.  Building is as simple as stepping on an empty space next to a power node controlled by either you or nobody (building takes control automatically) and pressing the Action button to bring up a menu.  Make your selection, pay the studs, and the structure appears almost instantly.

At first, this new mode sounds surprisingly complicated for a Lego game, perhaps too much so for kids to enjoy.  These fears are eliminated by the fact that the enemy AI strangely never actually attacks your structures or builds any more than it starts with.  It mostly just seems to wander the battlefield aimlessly, fighting whatever of your troops it happens upon.  If you want a strategic challenge, this mode is also available in a 1-on-1 vs. mode (local multiplayer only).  Your friends are definitely going to fight back harder than this dumb-as-bricks AI.

The scale is large; the challenge, not so much.

Of course, a general lack of challenge is nothing new for the Lego game series.  In combat, death is penalized only by the loss of some Lego studs (in-game currency which is earned by destroying objects in levels); you respawn right where you were (unless you’re inside an enemy base in Ground Assault, in which case you’ll be warped out of it near where you entered), free to continue.  The only purpose of keeping studs is to obtain “True Jedi” status (requiring a minimum number of studs held in a level) and buying random in-game stuff, none of which is actually required to complete the story.  This makes the series very kid-friendly, but may turn off some gamers looking for something a bit harder.  Even if you don’t mind it being easy, be warned that 100% completion of this title is actually more tedious than in previous Lego games, due to the requirement to play 32 repetitive, boring Ground Assault matches to earn all of the Gold Bricks.

The main charming draw of the Lego game series has always been seeing your favorite characters act out familiar scenes, but with a humorous pantomime twist.  This is designed to work best if you’re already familiar with the source material.  Having not watched the Clone Wars TV show, I found it a bit harder to follow the story than I have with previous titles.  I have seen the movie, however, and the level dedicated to that certainly lived up to expectations.  It’s not really a deal breaker for the game if you’ve seen the series or not, but the cut scenes are sure to be more enjoyable if you have.

Content:

The game is rated E-10+ for Fantasy Violence and Crude Humor.  The violence is very minor, as it’s all done with cute little Lego people who fall apart when killed.  “Crude humor” seems like an overstatement, as the worst thing in the game is some clones sitting on toilets.  It’s Lego’s, so it’s not like you see anything.  You might run the risk of some giggling from the younger folks in the room, but certainly nothing damaging.

Conclusion:

Lego Star Wars III doesn’t try TOO hard to deviate from series convention.  This means that if you didn’t like it before, this won’t change your mind.  If you did, you’ll probably like this one too.  Unimpressive but functional visuals remain par for the course, as does the soundtrack made up almost entirely of existing Star Wars scores (plus a couple of cute remixes).  Fewer Ground Assault missions and/or better AI would be welcome improvements, but the package does benefit from lacking in major bug issues like the last couple of Lego games have.  It’s not the greatest family game you’ll ever play, but it’s still well worth a look for the young and old alike.

7/10

Note:  This review was written based on the PS3 version of the game.  The Xbox 360, PC, and Wii versions should, to the best of my knowledge, be comparable.  The DS, 3DS, and PSP versions, on the other hand, are actually different games and this review does not stand for them.