SWE2: Attack Of The Clones
(Gameboy Advance)

Just like every other big blockbuster movie this year a GBA game has been made to cash in on the franchise. But while you expect Scooby Doo and Men In Black 2 to have some cheap game thrown together at the last minute can we expect the same for our beloved Star Wars...

Everything starts of well with a decent rendition of the famous theme music pumping out of the GBA's sound chip. Since the game follows the plot of the film closely you are welcomed with still images from the actual film with story and dialogue being wrote in text below. The images are quiet clear for the GBA although I have seen some amateur efforts on the Internet that do a better job.

Once you get past this point everything goes downhill.

The game kicks off with a side scrolling level, reminiscent of games past games like Golden Axe, where occasionally the screen stops still and you have to fight a number of baddies before you carry on. The majority of the levels are like this. Not only is this a boring idea that has been done to death on many games, but it's done very badly. While you get to wield your lightsabre about as Obi-Wan or Anakin it is spoiled by slow and unresponsive controls giving the baddies a very unfair advantage in fights. There are also a lack of restart positions and the levels are too long to not have them. So when you die you have to go back to the start of the level and begin all over again.

The graphics, while very pretty and well made when seen in stills, animate pathetically. The character you control seems to have no weight whatsoever so you just glide along the level. There is also little smoothness when moving from one pose to another. It should also be added that because of the big, pretty sprites the game screen seems too zoomed in for you to get a good look around a level. All to often you have to take a leap of faith when jumping platforms because you can't see far enough in the level to know where you're going to land.

Worse still are the "3D" flying levels. The first one you come to is a level in which you have to fly though Coruscant chasing after the assassin Zam Wessel. The first thing you'll find are that the graphics are hilariously blocky and ugly. It's even worse when your speeder starts to move. For a start the speeder moves too slowly for the game to be exciting and just lets you notice how fake the 3D affect to the course is. Also you have no sense of depth or height making you regularly bump into other craft. This would have been acceptable if it weren't for the fact that the slightest knock destroys your speeder and you have to go back all the way to the start of the level.

There is a 2 player link up game where you have to fight each other that improved the overall package a little but in the end this is a disaster. No doubt LucasFilm and THQ will be watching the money roll in thanks to the license but take away the Star Wars element and this game wouldn't have even been released.