Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels

System: Wii
Developer: Krome Studios
Publisher: LucasArts
Genre: Fighting
Players: 1-2

When the Wii first came out, a lot of fans thought it would be the perfect console for a lightsaber game due to the new motion recognition controls. While this may not be the game we're looking for *mind trick* - at least so far – there's some fun to be had in taking on the Clone Wars' most prominent villains and heroes in Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels.

Lightsaber Duels is essentially a beefed-up version of what's to be found in the Duel Mode of The Force Unleashed (with both titles developed by Krome Studios, the similarities are not entirely surprising). More details have been added and the game is more complex in comparison, but it's still easy to get into and enjoy. There's less characters to choose from (seven characters are available from the beginning with three more unlocked later on) but the detail in these inclusions make up for the lack of character variety as compared to Force Unleashed (keeping in mind that most of TFU's character line-up was different versions of the Secret Apprentice). Each character is rated in four separate areas – Force Attacks, Combos, Force Energy and Speed – with a rating of five as the best possible in each field; for example, Anakin has a score of four in Force Attacks, whereas Obi-Wan has a rating of two in that area. Another improvement on TFU is that certain characters wield multiple lightsabers and use them accordingly (General Grievous for example) as opposed to all characters using a single lightsaber.


The control style is also the same – swinging the Wii-mote left/right/up/down performs a corresponding attack. Characters can also stab by thrusting the Wii-mote forward, guard and parry with the B button, and execute a special attack with the Z button and Wii-mote. The meat of battles is in performing combos – certain sequences of saber swings (and the occasional stab) result in more damage dealt to the opponent. Performing enough of these successfully (as long as the final blow connects with the opponent, it counts as successful) adds a bar to a gauge circling your character's portrait – once this is filled completely the next special attack becomes a more devastating onslaught known as a charged combo. The loading screens before duels show two combo sequences for the chosen character, and players can also pause the battle and access the help menu to view the combo lists. All of the combo attacks are given names from either the movies or the Expanded Universe, with references to lightsaber fighting styles and beasts (among other things) showing the amount of attention in transferring the source material to the game.

Most characters can also use the Force – this is represented by a blue bar which varies in size depending on the character. This bar gradually fills up over time, but can also be filled more quickly by successful combo attacks. Once it's filled enough, characters can use the Force on their opponent by hitting them with a Force Blast or throwing debris from the arena at them. Non-Force users like General Grievous aren't able to throw objects indirectly (although they can if their saber connects with ground-lying debris during an attack), but can still use a special attack in place of the Force Blast. There's also three possible 'saber events' during battle: overpowering opponents in the familiar saber lock, unleashing a succession of attacks before the opponent does in a lightsaber barrage, or completing a lightsaber showdown, which is basically a test of reflexes – players have to swing the Wii-mote in the required direction as quickly as possible after it appears on-screen.


There's four game modes available for single-player duelling, as well as the multiplayer option. All of these are available from the beginning of the game. These include the Story Mode, which plays through various events from the Clone Wars movie and series (all of which are linked together by cutscenes - both using the in-game engine and taken from the show and movie); Battle Mode, in which players choose a character and face off against randomly assigned opponents; and Free Play, which allows players to choose any character they've unlocked so far - as well as choose a different costume, a specific/random opponent, and the stage they wish to battle on. Free Play is the same as the multiplayer mode, and there's also a Quick Play option which chooses the character and costume for each player automatically, as well as the duelling arena.

Finally there's the Challenge Mode. This can only be played on the higher difficulty levels (Jedi Knight or Grand Master – none can be challenged on the easier Youngling or Padawan difficulties). Each character has four challenges to complete, such as defeating another character within a certain time limit or using a certain variety of combo attacks before finishing off the opponent. Completing enough of these challenges unlocks the three hidden characters, who then have challenges of their own to conquer. There's also concept art to be unlocked in this mode, which can be viewed along with the various cutscenes in the Extras. If you want to follow the quick and easy path (as Vader did), you can use cheats to unlock characters, levels and other secrets.

A lot of detail has been instilled in Lightsaber Duels – characters taunt and reply to each other before and during battles, with the models lip-syncing each taunt even during battle. There's not a large pool of taunts to draw from though, so it's more than likely that the same phrases will be repeated during the one battle – but it's still a nice touch to add atmosphere to duels. All of these taunts are voiced by their respective voice actors, making the game feel somewhat like an interactive episode of the show, and each character has different things to say to each opponent.

The arenas are interactive as well: certain objects can be slashed with lightsabers and the resulting debris used to throw at opponents, and background characters can also interfere with battle in some way; battle droids lay down blaster fire through certain arenas (which will occasionally deflect off the duellists' lightsabers – sometimes a stray droid will even get in the way of a battle), a Sarlacc randomly slams duellists into the ground on another stage, and at times passing Republic ships will curtain a Tatooine-based stage with sand, obscuring players' view. Players can also hit each other with attacks powerful enough to knock their opponent off the stage entirely – unlike Smash Bros. this won't count as an instant death, as the fallen duellist will simply leap back onto the stage and continue the fight.


Each arena is well designed, with plenty of elements to alter the course of a duel as well as effects that make each stage seem less artificial, such as sparking machinery (some of which can electrocute fighting characters), cascades of molten metal in the Separatist Droid Factory, and an R2 unit wandering through the middle of a duel on a Republic starship. The cartoon style of the characters works well when it comes to models and textures – although the fact that the Wii isn't a high-def console tends to show when it comes to close-ups. Despite this there doesn't seem to be a lot to complain about in terms of graphics.

The menus are simple and easy to navigate (though it takes a little getting used to when checking possible combos), and the sound quality is great – unlike Jedi Alliance, there's no degrading of the voices (though that may be a limitation of the DS hardware requirements), and all of the recognisable Star Wars sounds are there, as well as familiar and new music from the Clone Wars series and film, which add to the ambience of each stage. The controls are reasonably responsive, and the motion control is suited to this type of game, but there's an occasional missed swing or two and it may get tiring after a while. The difficulty levels are decently spaced out as well – Youngling level (the easiest) is good for learning the ropes. Jedi Knight gives a decent challenge, particularly when it comes to non-Force users such as the Jedi Hunter droid, as the CPU can be very frustrating (at times it'll be constantly on the attack and won't give players a chance to recover). Lightsaber Duels probably won't see a lot of replay in single-player (apart from unlocking characters and other extras in the Challenge Mode), but being a duelling game its strength is mostly on multiplayer, despite both modes being exactly the same.


Score: 7.5 “Good Buy”

Unfortunately, WiiMotion Plus was not announced until well into the development of this title (so there's no 1:1 motion control and it won't be compatible with the peripheral when it's released later this year) but Lightsaber Duels seems to fill the void for a saber-slashing game fairly satisfactorily. As mentioned earlier, players disappointed with the Duel Mode in The Force Unleashed may find some welcome improvements (arena sizes for example), although some of these may not seem too significant. If you're looking for a good title to duel against a friend with (or even play on your own), Lightsaber Duels is worth a look. There's no Wi-Fi mode though, so it's limited to purely local play – perhaps in a future title this and WiiMotion Plus will be included, but Krome have done a decent job at putting the game together regardless. The inclusion of Yoda wouldn't have gone astray, though.

Review by TheChimp