So much potential....
Now, the bad. You will find some of the levels of this game to be incredibly frustrating. As in Jedi Power Battles, enemies can "block" your lightsaber attacks. And some enemies will take this to a whole other level. There some enemies, such as the dual-lightsaber wielding Jedi in the Jedi Temple that are nearly impossible to defeat with your lightsaber alone. It does require some Force powers, but it just isn't that fun. It just feels a little off, when the "Chosen One" is pulling out all the combos that he can, and is still getting his rear end pelted by a no-name Jedi. What's more, there are a LOT of enemies who will be able to repeatedly block your lightsaber attacks. It adds challenge obviously, but also a level of frustration that shouldn't be there. Unlike in the movie, where Anakin and Obi Wan really didn't have a whole lot of trouble with droids, in this game, you will have a ton of tough clashes with them. Even the feared Droidekas are pretty easy compared to some of the Electro-staff wielding bad guys you'll face on a regular basis. Luckily, you can pluck enemies up with the Force and throw them into lava if they are really bugging you. Yes, you can actually do this. But when the gameplay starts getting tedious and frustrating, because you are basically doing the same thing from level to level...hacking and slashing bad guys...it does feel tedious. Especially when the enemies block every other slash you take. And then some. Even Jedi Power Battles had the decency to give you the "Ultimate Saber" mode....which made your lightsaber behave the way a real lightsaber would....enemies can't block your attacks. That mode would have made this game a lot of fun actually. Much in the same way that Ultimate Saber mode made Jedi Power Battles a little easier to swallow. But no such luck here. On top of the sheer frustration that can mar the gameplay, there is a distinct lack of a certain level that really makes this game feel incomplete. The Yoda vs. the Emperor fight. This clash in the film was a very, very important one. But you don't get a whiff of it in this game. It's highly disappointing.
Speakng of Yoda and the Emperor....there is the Dueling mode, which probably provides the bulk of this game's replay value. To be fair, the game designers really tried to make this reflect how the sword fights are really done. And this mode can be very fun. This game does a much better job than Jedi Power Battles at this. But as much as they tried, the dueling still feels like one player slashes a lot....the other player blocks. The other player slashes a lot...the other player blocks. It doesn't "feel" like the dueling from the films, where BOTH fighters are swinging their sabers. But it feels enough like lightsaber dueling to make it worth playing. You get to play as Anakin, Obi Wan, Mace Windu, General Grievous, Count Dooku, Vader, Old Obi Wan....and two new characters that were put into the game, Serra Kato, a duel lightsaber wielding Padawan, and Cin Drallig, a swordmaster from the Jedi Temple. Again....NO Yoda or the Emperor! No offense....but Star Wars fans don't really care about Serra Kato and Cin Drallig. We wanted Yoda and the Emperor. Its absolutely inexcusable that they made a dueling mode without two of the characters involved in one of the most important duels in the film. But...the characters are very well represented in the dueling mode, with their individual strengths and weaknesses. For example, Dooku is very elegant and precise with his attacks. Grievous is an all-offensive killing machine, but unlike the others, he can't Force-heal, or use Force powers of any kind. So a good balance is struck. The other game modes are decent. Playing as Yoda in his little scenario is a treat, although its far too short. You just run around killing helpless Clonetroopers. The Vader scene is just fighting Old Obi Wan on the Death Star. The coop mode is decent, but not great. The camera angles can be absolutely horrible. And playing as Grievous' Bodyguards in their scenario is absolutely appalling. The controls for the Bodyguards is simply horrifying....honestly, some of the worst game controls I've seen on a PS2 game. And they move SOOOOOO slowly, it's not even worth playing. Also, they don't have their trademark capes. It just doesn't feel like you're actually playing as one of the Grievous Bodyguards. Considering how many Star Wars fans were looking forward to this little mission....it's a huge disappointment. Bottom line, the game does have some value, but it could have been so much better if it had not been rushed out to be released before the film. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and I chose to trade my copy of this game back in. If you are a hard, hardcore Star Wars fan, you definitely need to play this game, but rent it first. For every good point about the game, there are one or two bad points about it too. I wish I could give this game a better score.