Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes

An impressive-looking homage to the massively popular TV show that features all of the heroes, but no real heroics…

First impressions last, especially in the realm of videogames. Our initial reaction to Republic Heroes was a little bit: ‘Ugh?’ Although this is an Xbox 360 game, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s running on Wii – not because of the stylised ‘cartoon’ artwork, but because everything looks so angular and rough-around-the edges.

The size and complexity of the various worlds you’ll battle through just about make up for the slightly scruffy appearance. Republic Heroes is certainly action-packed. And although it’s sometimes hard to figure out where your current hero is supposed to be headed next, repeatedly falling off ledges or jumping clumsily over cliffs, the overall impression is of flashing light-sabres, fizzing lasers, explosions, and lots of robots both small and occasionally very large. Star Wars, in other words.

It is just about possible to enjoy playing Republic Heroes. The Jedi heroes have some cool manoeuvres that include hijacking droids (ride robots like rodeo) and Force attacks. The concept isn’t as developed as The Force Unleashed however, and although this is a kids’ game not nearly as fun. When the game puts you in charge of Clone Troopers you’re in charge of a more of a run-and-gun set up, and this comes close to GI Joe insanity for pure blasting thrills.

Our main bugbear with the whole campaign is that you cannot escape the feeling of being squeezed through each mission. Added to this sense of routine is the frustration of never really choosing a clever route, and quite often not being sure where the pre-determined route actually lies. LucasArts does try to keep the action varied with shoot ’em up sections and vehicles, but these feel under-developed.

So why do we still kind of like this game? We think it must be the attitude. The enthusiasm for the storyline and characters shines through, and overall there is an epic feel to the missions. There are some nice graphical touches amid the confusion, with cool animations and decent enough special effects.

No medals then, but worth celebrating to a degree.

3 out of 5