Star Wars: The Clone Wars review (Xbox)

The Clone Wars offers four multiplayer modes that can be played with up to four players in a split-screen view, or with up to eight via Xbox Live or the system link feature. Unfortunately, there's no option to play through the campaign cooperatively, which is a bit odd, considering you're often fighting alongside computer-controlled allies anyway. The existing multiplayer modes can be fun, though. Duel is basically a deathmatch mode, allowing players to pit the game's various vehicles--and their skills--against each other. Control zone is sort of a king-of-the-hill mode in which players gradually earn points by occupying a designated area and fending off any would-be usurpers. Conquest, the most popular online variant, is a team-based game that pits the Republic's arsenal against that of the separatists, and it's reminiscent of the Battlezone PC games in its combination of action and strategic elements. You can capture outposts, which in turn build AI-controlled units that you can control using the game's simple command interface. The object is to eventually destroy the other team's base. Finally, Jedi academy is a cooperative survival mode that pits players against wave after wave of enemies.

When playing these modes online, you'll get the usual Xbox Live frills, such as the quick match mode (which you can use to quickly jump into any of the four multiplayer modes), voice chat, and a leader board with player rankings. On the other hand, you might find it difficult to get into a smooth-running game session. Though the game tries to recommend a maximum number of players based on the connection speeds of the players who've joined a session, in practice, the online multiplayer game tends to feel somewhat laggy and unresponsive compared with the single-player game. It's certainly playable and can be fun, but it isn't always the fast and responsive online gaming experience you'd hope to get over a broadband connection.

The game uses a fairly good-looking 3D engine that capably handles large maps for both ground vehicles and flying ones. The best aspect of the graphics is the way they're able to evoke the sense of being in the middle of a gigantic infantry war--you'll actually see tons of clone troopers shooting it out against tons of droids as you plow past them in your hovertank. In the gunship, you'll see some even larger-scale madness taking place far down below. If you look carefully, you can tell that most of these infantry are actually static and really are nothing more than background scenery. But it's some great background scenery, and it does a fine job of making you feel like you're taking part in those epic Episode II battles. Besides that, the game's character models and vehicle models are pretty simple, and arguably none of the Episode II vehicles rival the classic Star Wars ships in terms of design--the gunship, the hovertanks, and most of the vehicles in Clone Wars actually look rather generic. More importantly, the game's frame rate can be very unsteady, slowing down severely during what ought to be the fastest-paced moments. Overall, The Clone Wars might look slightly better than the versions of the game already available for the GameCube and PS2, but by Xbox standards, it doesn't look great. Nevertheless, its visuals certainly get the job done.

The game's audio is a predictable assortment of Star Wars effects, especially the nearly nonstop cacophony of your various vehicles' identical-sounding blasters. John Williams' musical score, which blares almost as loudly as the blasters and explosions, perhaps isn't as riveting today as it used to be, but it's still an essential part of the Star Wars formula. The voice acting in The Clone Wars is decent, and even though all the main characters' voices are impersonated, the fakers do a fairly convincing job.

Convincing is a good word for The Clone Wars, which ultimately succeeds at making you feel like you're on the front lines of a big Star Wars ground battle. Despite some strategic elements, it really is a pure action game at heart, filled with plenty of targets to shoot at, plenty of power-ups to collect, and a good variety of tough missions to accomplish. The online multiplayer mode does a fine job of extending the game's mileage, making The Clone Wars suitable at least for a rental by the casual Star Wars fan, but worth keeping for those who really enjoyed Episode II.