Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Pros • Xbox Live definitely enhances multiplayer • Slightly improved graphics	Cons • Wish I had more game rule options • Framerate problems more noticeable playing online • Basically the same game as before
Bottom Line The best version of the three, though the muliplayer is the really selling point. Already available for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube, The Clone Wars really poses one relevant question for the reviewer. How does the addition of Xbox Live support enliven the proceedings?

I’ve summed up my feelings on The Clone Wars before in my review of the GameCube version, which you can read here. Because I ran down the plot, premise, and other essentials of the game in that review, I’m just going to get right to the point for the Xbox version, which is the Xbox Live support.

If you read my previous review, you’ll see that I liked the multiplayer aspects of The Clone Wars quite a bit. And this is the only version to support online play. All four multiplayer types offered by the game can be played through Live, although if you choose Conquest, you get a new version of this mode. As before, positioning your tank in certain areas will generate turrets to protect your base, and AI units. But now, you also have a shield generator around your main base. Permitting that to fall can end a game right quick, because you can now also dock with missile launchers, which can fire missile after missile that you can guide right into the heart of the enemy base. If you choose to play Conquest splitscreen, it will go to the “Classic” version.

I like the new Conquest very much, and have had a pretty good time playing with seven strangers. The multiplayer aspect of The Clone Wars has always been its brightest feature, and I wonder what would have happened if the developers had decided to focus more on the multiplayer, to an Unreal Championship-like level.

I do think it’s a little puzzling that you aren’t given more options with this mode, such as the option to play “Classic” Conquest, or turn off the missiles. Today I played in game in which beforehand someone suggested not using them, which the rest of use agreed to. We had to use the honour system, and beforehand swear that we would not use them. Well, some jackass on the Blue Team did it anyway once my Red boys began to beat them down. It would make things better if there was just an option to turn it off before the match started.

Graphically, The Clone Wars is a busy game with lots going on, even though the multiplayer games do tone down the number of vehicles on screen. Still, I experienced more framerate problems than usual with the Xbox version when playing on Live. The prep screens for multiplayer games do indicate the connection speed of other players though, so you can see what you’re getting into, and I could determine that the “teleporting ships” wasn’t a connection issue.

The graphics are slightly better than the other console versions, but not drastically so. Still, it’s great seeing massive battlefields just alive with troops slugging it out again. Control wise, nothing to complain about. Since the Xbox and GameCube controllers both have dedicated triggers, I find those versions a little easier to control that the PS2 version. It just feels more natural to grip triggers.

There’s nothing much new except for the Live support, so be aware that if you’re buying this game, you’re buying mainly for Xbox Live if you’ve already played it on other platforms. It may be that there is more to come for The Clone Wars though. The Xbox Live options include the ability to download new maps. At this writing, nothing new was available, but I like that it’s built in.

Thanks to the expanded multiplayer, I have no trouble calling the Xbox version of The Clone Wars the best of the bunch.

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