Hey, does anyone remember Jedi Arena?
No? Well, there's a good reason for that. Some of us old folks recall it as the first time a video game tried to deliver on the promise of wielding a lightsaber. Fossil records indicate it was in the antediluvian era of 1983, and the Atari 2600 just never quite caught up with our imaginations. A used paper towel tube and a few vocal "Vrrmmms! Wrrvrrumms!" did a better job than the game.
But, that's all changed and you kids don't know how lucky you have it. The console best suited to emulate a lightsaber duel finally gets a LucasArts game that brings the elegant Jedi weapon to the forefront. There is absolutely no misrepresentation in the name Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels. It's Star Wars. It's Clone Wars. It's lightsaber duels.
The game, of course, uses the Wii remote for all your lightsaber attacks and moving your character about, and uses the Nunchuk accessory for Force abilities. As the game launches, you set the difficulty level (from Youngling to Grand Master) and, if you choose to, you can plunge right into the action with "Quick Play," which selects a (previously unlocked) character, an opponent (in one-player play), and sets them against one another.
While I admit being a Wii novice, I know that even experienced players will benefit from running through the Tutorial found at the start of Campaign mode -- especially if you're allergic to reading game manuals. Set aboard the Resolute hangar bay, Anakin Skywalker walks you (as Ahsoka) through the fundamentals of Wii lightsaber duels.
First task: using the control stick to run your character around the sparring space. Next, basic lightsaber moves executed by moving the remote left, right, up and in a stabbing motion. The next steps teach you how to dodge, block, and use the Force to increase your speed, jumps and agility. More advanced tutorials run you through how to use the Force offensively, break out of locks or execute combo moves. While Free and Quick Play allow you to jump right into the action, without knowing these essentials, you're basically just wagging a lightsaber back and forth and not taking advantage of the full power at your disposal.
Campaign Mode moves you along a narrative, but Lightsaber Duels is very light on story. (For those wanting more, original story, check out the Nintendo DS game, The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance) Footage from The Clone Wars movie and series separate and set up the duel scenarios. Early adopters are in for a sneak peek of clips from episodes that have not aired yet: like Asajj's assault on the Tranquility, or Ahsoka's duel with Grievous atop Skytop Station. There are a few, shall we say "speculative" matches that may or may not fit into continuity: You mean to tell me Obi-Wan was dueling Dooku while Anakin was attacking the Malevolence? Good luck working that one out, Wookieepedians.
Lightsaber Duels benefits strongly from having the complete voice cast recreate their characters, which are derived from the animation models used in the show. With the show only in its first few episodes, you're going to hear more Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ventress and Dooku in the game than anywhere else. The characters trash talk, with lines of dialogue customized to their opponents. Obi-Wan has some of the best, including one that will resonate with longtime fans who've done their homework: "You perceive the Force as little as a spoon perceives the taste of food." If you recognize that as a line Obi-Wan was originally supposed to say to Vader during their duel in Episode IV, give yourself a million nerd points.
The location designs are authentic as well, and if you can pry your eyes off of the duel for a second or two, you'll spot fun details like little Rotta the Hutt hanging around an abandoned throne room, Jawa voyeurs peeking over dunes, or R2-D2 battling an enemy droid in the background. Each level offers the opportunity to hurl bits of scenery at your opponent, but don't expect fully wreckable environments like in The Force Unleashed.
Different characters offer a variety in terms of available health and Force ability, and are further differentiated by the combos available to them. Given EU-friendly descriptive names like Jung Ma assault, Tyvokka's Patience and Strength of Soresu, these maneuvers are basically three to four successive directional moves on the remote. In early games, you're likely to stumble upon them by accident, allowing you to act like you meant to do that. But they're powerful and worth learning, because unleashing multiple combos against an enemy just feels great.
The characters in the game include Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Dooku, Ventress, Grievous, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto Mace Windu and a new creation, EG-05 Jedi Hunter Droid -- a necessary inclusion in order to give the bad guys more lightsabers at their disposal. While single-player action is entertaining enough, particularly with the story-based Campaign moving you through locales and characters, it's the two-player mode that gives the game its longevity. Enemy A.I. can only offer so much variety, and playing against a living opponent guarantees an endless stream of trashtalk that the ESRB can't slap a label on.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels is now available alongside The Clone Wars movie on DVD and Blu-Ray, and The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance for Nintendo DS.
