Firstly, the object of both games is to run around shooting everything in sight. The major difference between the two is in Clone Wars, you drive vehicles whereas in Bounty Hunter, you're on foot. Essentially, the game play is the same- run and gun. Admittedly in Clone Wars you do get different vehicles from the TX-130 Republic Fighter Tank- a hover craft with guns and missiles; a Speeder Bike; the AT-XT, a precursor to the AT-ST- missiles and guns, plus a plasma shield. My favorite, the Republic LAAT/I Gunship with its multi-rockets, rapid fire blaster cannons and wicked continuous beam lasers, and the silliest one yet- the Maru, which is kinda like a big tauntaun with dual blasters mounted on it. However, regardless of what you're in the job is still basically the same.

Count Dooku, along with his allies the Trade Federation, the Galactic Banking Clan, the Commerce Guild and the Separatists armies are waging war across the galaxy, and looking for an... wait for it... an ancient Sith artifact, (surely not! -ed.) Don't get me wrong, I like ancient Sith artifacts, but given the volume of Star Wars stuff I have read, there have been an awful lot of them. The game begins right in the middle of Attack of the Clones- with Mace leading the infiltration into the Geonosian arena escorting transports full of Jedi, destroying anti-orbital cannons and finally using a Republic gunship to take out Techno-Union and Trade Federation Core Ships. Next, it's on to the planet of Rhen Var to evacuate it before the Trade Federation invades.

Then to Raxis Prime- a junk planet and the location of the Sith artifact, the Dark Reaver- the first mission of which is an irritating speeder bike chase where the terrain frustrates, because places that look clear of debris seem to have invisible walls that damage your bike and prevent you from going forward. Next it's on to one of the moons of the Wookie homeworld, Kashyyyk where Dooku plans to test the Dark Reaver- a tough mission as Anakin attempts to escape the life-leaching field of energy. Back to Rhen Var for some fun gunship missions- lots of stuff to shoot as you fly around attempting to bring down the planetary shield so the Republic forces can invade. Finally, all forces converge on the planet Thule, the planet where Dooku has set up the Dark Reaver, which resembles a giant segmented sphere that sprays out purple energy. You must also defeat Dooku's bounty hunter henchman, Cydon Prax.

Graphics are pretty good, but the PS2 really starts to strain when there is a lot of stuff going on around you and it starts to drop frames making for some pretty choppy visuals. Plus, if you get too close to objects and vehicles, the texture quality is quite low, as is the polygon count. For the most part I found the architecture, vehicles and visuals to be quite pleasing, especially on the planets Raxis and Thule. Mission maps, while pretty linear, are quite large, giving the player lots of places to go. Sound quality is excellent, but pretty standard effects for a Star Wars game- I did encounter some music problems where it seemed as though that part of the audio track was skipping. The big downside for this game with me was the fact that I finished it in less than 15 hours- less than half the time it took me to complete Bounty Hunter. Then going back to try to get as many bonus points to unlock extra features took perhaps another five.

DVD Extras include unlocking four two-player maps- big deal, playing games split screen just doesn't interest me. A unit viewer that enables you to look at all the 3D models from the game, a `making of' video, the quality of which is so lousy that it's annoying to watch, a jukebox function that lets you listen to music from the game, and a sketchbook of some very nice concept art. Plus you can watch all the cut scenes whenever you want. I must admit, Matt Lucas, who does the voice of Anakin almost convinced me that it was Haydon Christensen until I checked the booklet to make sure. LucasArts games can always be counted on to provide lots of little extras making their games a good value for Star Wars geeks like me.

A good game? Yes, it's a good game, just too darn short for my liking, plus I like a little more meat to my stories and game play. It's probably better on the Gamecube or the Xbox and would have been better on the PC, especially when it comes to graphics.

14 of 16 found the following review helpful:


"Begun, the Clone War has!" - Jedi Master Yoda  Jan 04, 2003
This game ROCKS!!! Who could ever imagine, when watching A New Hope and Princess Leia mentioning the Clone Wars, that 25 years later, there would be a video game about it!? A MUST for the old AND new trilogy fans! Pilot a Republic Tank, Republic Gunship, speeder (like one from Return of the Jedi), AT-TE walker and EVEN a maru! You can even be MACE WINDU, the second baddest Jedi in the universe (after Yoda, of course). Fight hailfire droids, homing spider droids, dwarf spider droids, super battle droids, battle droids, AAT's and fighter tanks! Get this game, fight in the most epic war in Star Wars history!

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:


Could Have Been Better.  Apr 24, 2003 By tvtv3 "tvtv3"
As an inexperienced gamer and a STAR WARS fan, I enjoyed playing THE CLONE WARS. The game starts off with the Battle of Genosis from the ATTACK OF THE CLONES movie and fills in a few plot holes from that film. However, the main point of this game involves an ancient, destroyed Sith device called the "Dark Reaper". The Reaper was an almost invincible weapon the Sith used in their battle against the Jedi 1000 years ago. The weapon was defeated and destroyed, but not totally. Rumor has it that Count Dooku has located the remains of the Reaper and plans to resurrect it in the Clone Wars in order to eleminate the Jedi.

The story is a bit far fetched, but this is the STAR WARS universe we're talking about; things get that way every once in awhile. The graphics are decent, but could have been better. Levels do tend to go from being easy to difficult to easy, but the easy levels give a person a break posed by the challenges in the previous and next level to come.

My favorite part of this game are the dual player games. My brother and I thoroughly enjoy those. We especially like the Genosis Academy. The best duo to have in that level is "Wookie" (type in NERFHERDER in the Options/Bonus menu) and Yoda (whom is opened after you beat 45 bonus missions). The double team of those two together is almost unstopable.

Overall, I found THE CLONE WARS to be a fun and exciting game. The graphics and story could have been better and some of the challenges aren't that difficult. Nevertheless, it is a fairly challenging game and has some great dual player options. Recommended for any beginning to average gamer and any STAR WARS fan.

4 of 4 found the following review helpful:


This game rocks!  Feb 08, 2003
ok i played the game and its really cool there is also a way of
getting to play as a battle droid cheat:ROGERROGER
this game is the best game ever

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:


Great game for Star Wars fans  Jul 16, 2003
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was unrest in the galaxy. The Clone War has begun and the evil Darth Tyranus is digging up an ancient weapon:"The Force Harvester". He wants to test the weapon on the Kashyyyk moon on some wookiees and Anakin Skywalker. After you escape, the story begins. Mace Windu and jedi master Yoda talk about the Dark Reaper, a weapon that was used to kill thousands of jedi in the great Sith War. One jedi knew how to destroy it, and Anakin must learn how to destroy it to, because the weapon would be the end of the Republic.

This game is great for Star Wars fans. The multiplayer is very fun. There are some negative things in the game though. The graphics are bad (except in the cinematics), sometimes the missions aren't original and the last level is almost impossible without cheats.

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