Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels (Wii) Review

Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels is a one-on-one fighting game that fails to meet its full potential due to the limitations of the Wii remote. The game is well crafted and technically proficient effort, featuring excellent stylised graphics and great audio, but it ultimately fails to provide a compelling gameplay experience. A limited roster of characters and a short single player mode also limit the overall appeal of the title.

The game is based on the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated film and television series and sees various characters from the Star Wars universe face off in arena-based multiplayer lightsaber duels. The story is told via pre-rendered cinematics, which look fantastic, but only serve to remove the player from feeling like a part of the action. The story itself follows along with the movie, which is skewed towards the younger crowd, and successfully brings with it a “new” Star Wars feel. This is not storytelling in the Episode IV to VI vein, but very much in the Episode I-III vein. Each cinematic will introduce the next opponent and then it is straight into a two round battle. Rinse and repeat with many of the same enemies popping up again as the game progresses.

The game is controlled using the nunchuck and Wii-remote combination, with the control stick handling movement and Wii-remote motions used for lightsaber attacks. Players can also use force attacks, throws and special attacks in addition to combination attacks. While the motion control recognition is well implemented, with very few instances of mis-read swings, ultimately the controls fail because of the limitations of the Wii-remote. The motion controls do not allow for the precision control required of a fighting game and very quickly lead to the motion control equivalent of button mashing…waggle. This removes almost any semblance of strategy from the game and causes battles to degenerate into something close to a game of chance.

Because of the waggle, all 10 characters end up feeling like a carbon copy of the others, even though each one has their own special list of combinations and special moves. The game is well crafted though, with very detailed characters that are true to the unique style of the source material, fantastic looking environments, excellent audio and a great presentation that matches the Star Wars feel. The special effects add to the overall presentation, the frame rate remains constant and there are no technical glitches. The characters are well voiced, but some lines do repeat a little too frequently.

With only 10 characters and a relatively short story mode, Lightsaber Duels will not last long as a single player game. Because of the uninspired gameplay, the included multiplayer mode will not significantly add to the lasting appeal either. There are a few extras to unlock, including other costumes, but nothing that will be able to engage players beyond a single play-though.

Personal thoughts Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels is not a bad game. In fact, I found it to be quite a well made game. The motion controls are responsive, the audio visual presentation is top notch and the concept is good, but none of that can make up for the lackluster gameplay. I don’t know how many times I have said it, but replacing button presses with motion controls will only make a game worse, not better. Yes, moving the remote left will swing the lightsaber left and moving right will swing it to the right, but it is quite obvious that the motions are just substituting for button presses. This is the same problem that has stymied every game that has attempted to implement any sort of realistic sword fighting action since the Wii launched. The Wii remote is incapable of being used like a sword. Developers, please wait until the motion plus accessory is released and then give us sword fighting games, until then, stop trying. Either that, or go down the path Suda51 did with No More Heroes. So much more satisfying and fun.

The game also suffers from the developers having to draw on substandard source material. Anyone old enough to remember when the original Star Wars trilogy were being released will most likely detest anything that has come out of George Lucas since Episode I. Star Wars was always a little camp, but the original movies were still fun adventure films. Episode I started off the new stories poorly and it just got worse from there. Silly characters, appalling dialogue, dumb stories and an over-reliance on digital effects combined to make Star Wars fans groan as each new installment put another 100 nails in an already sealed shut coffin. The Clone Wars, sadly, is no better and that automatically puts The Lightsaber Duels behind the eight-ball when it comes to getting fans to care.

Well, chalk up another disappointment for Wii owning Star Wars fans who were hoping to be able to live out their Luke Skywalker fantasies. All credit must go to Krome Studios for almost succeeding at the impossible task of making a sword-fighting game on the Wii playable, but unfortunately near-enough is not good enough. Wii owners have been screaming for a lightsaber game since the launch of the console and this is the closest that they are likely to get in the Wii’s present state. The addition of the Motion Plus accessory may change that this year, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for anyone outside of Nintendo to get that right for at least a couple of years.