Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes (Xbox 360)

Is the Force strong in this ... ahhh, forget it!
10/7/2009 5:51 PM | 7 Comments | Page 1 of 1

Nerd parents have a few consecrated duties when it comes to child-rearing. Firstly, they need to upload to their children's brains every retort they only thought of after getting teased. Secondly, it behooves them to teach their younglings the lore of our people. When the children understand the coolness contained in sacred texts like the Justice League cartoons, "Spider-Man 2" or the original Star Wars trilogy, this ensures a future for our people.

Of course, these works become timeless in the first place because of their ability to serve both adult and pre-adolescent sensibilities. Parents not only hold the purse strings for such entertainments, but they're also usually experiencing it side-by-side with the child. Mom and Dad need to be engaged, too.

In the case of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, the game's pedigree is strong. Most parents will be able to figure out it happens between Episodes II and III of the Star Wars saga, during the battles between the Separatist forces and the Republic. The Separatists are brewing a threat that could shift the tide of the intergalactic war, and it's up to Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, helped by Clone Trooper soldiers Commander Cody, Sergeant Kano and others to find out what it is.

At first glance, Republic Heroes seems ready-made for father/son videogame team-ups. Though it lacks an online option, it's built to be played cooperatively by two players. You'll go alternate between playing as Jedi characters and as Clone Troopers. The Jedi segments consist of melee brawls broken up by platforming, while Trooper levels mix third-person shooting and some puzzle-solving. Jedi also get the new Droid-Jak ability, which lets them take over any mechanoid in the game. You'll use this skill to open up new areas in the game, and turn the opposing Separatist forces against themselves.

Republic Heroes makes no apologies for being a game aimed at tween boys. The game throws tons of enemies at you and moves along at a fast clip. Combat Challenge moments give partners a chance to trash-talk -- tasking players to do things like kill more enemies or collect more points than their partner, and rewarding bonus upgrade points to the better player. The developers also nod to the fact that young fans -- especially Star Wars ones -- love to collect stuff. The game's Shop features all sorts of masks, Droid Dances and cheats that you can unlock, along with the more expected combat upgrades.

The platforming sections sport some impressive environmental design. You'll see the influence of Sly Cooper in sections where your nimble Jedi jumps onto individual shards of ice that float high above the surface.

But those beautiful looks hide some serious problems. The game often feels broken. I fell through the geometry of the world a lot, and the janky automatic camera had a hard time conveying the depth of field necessary for navigating a 3-D environment. The collision detection feels off, too. You'll find yourself getting stuck in walls, missing jumps, and blindly running in the wrong direction. Your artificial-intelligence partner is dumb as rocks -- but what's worse is that by idiotically heading in the wrong direction, they'll limit the directions in which you can move. And the game will push along when you hit certain parts of a level, so there's no backtracking to explore or pick up a missed Force point.

Aside from the consistent bugginess, Republic Heroes cheapens the Star Wars brand. It just feels debasing to have Jedi Master Yoda blurting out tutorial advice every freaking minute. The game's also extremely toyetic to a fault. Droids of every imaginable type jump up to blast you, and presumably to remind kids that they need to buy their plastic counterparts as soon as they put their controllers down.

Republic Heroes occupies a weird space in the current slate of Star Wars videogame offerings. It's more challenging and heavier in tone than the charming Lego Star Wars games that Traveller's Tales has turned out for LucasArts. But coming after the visceral sense of power delivered by The Force Unleashed, the action offered here will feel shallow and underwhelming. Compared to those Force-powered games, Republic Heroes just doesn't have what it takes to capture the interest of fans.

This review is based on a retail copy of the Xbox 360 game provided by the publisher.