Still not that Strong with the Force

Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (Xbox, PS2; $49.99; Rated T for Violence; http://www.lucasarts.com/)

(three stars)

Taking a page out of the “Lord of the Rings” playbook, “RotS” does a great job with integrating film footage into gameplay stages. Although this title lacks the amount of polish in the transitions between film and game that the “Lord of the Rings” games had, it’s always nice to see Lucasarts working closely with Lucasfilm, especially now that they’re living under one roof in George’s new San Francisco compound.

“Borrowing” another page from the successful “Lord of the Rings” games, “RotS” allows players to accumulate experience points based on how Jedi-like their skills are. Points can be spent at the end of each level to increase the skills of either protagonist Obi-Wan Kenobi or Anakin Skywalker. As Kenobi’s skills increase, his adeptness with the Light Side of Force powers increase as well- Force Pushing further, healing quicker. Conversely, as Anakin descends closer to the Dark Side, so do his Sith powers of Force Lightning and trademark Force Choke. Just don’t upgrade little Ani too quickly, you’ll have to face him in the final stage as Obi Wan.

Although the animations of Jedi acrobatics are fun to play with and experiment, ultimately this game is a typical hack-and-slash affair through the seminal moments of Episode III. All of the back flipping and fancy lightsabering is neat, except for when your character is getting pummeled by blaster fire because he won’t stop his little dance to actually slice some enemy limbs off!

Static camera angles add to the frustration of off-camera enemies having their way with our heroes, to which the only defense is to deflect blaster fire. This does prove to be a problem when surrounded on (and off) camera. Gameplay is artificially lengthened by “ray shields” which won’t allow players to proceed until defeating all the enemies in a section; and I find it hard to believe that the Trade Federation would put so many ray shields in one room- it feels more like the Dark Hand of tired developers.

Most enjoyable are the unlockable Jedi to duel with in the multiplayer mode, which includes Yoda and Old Ben Kenobi, as well as asthmatic Darth Vader. That, and the ability to replay the final climactic battle as Anakin, to see what would happen if Kenobi didn’t leave him on Mustafar as a Jedi filet.