Lego® Star Warstm Iii - The Clone Wars

[Jarrell Campbell]

LegoStar Wars III: The Clone Wars is a Lego-themed action-adventure video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by LucasArts in March 2011 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, Microsoft Windows, and the Nintendo 3DS.[1] It was one of the 3DS's launch titles.[2] The game features missions and characters from the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and its follow-up television series, as well as fan-favorites from the original Star Wars saga, in both single-player and multiplayer gameplay modes.[3][4][5] The Mac OS X version of the game was released by Feral Interactive.[6]

Gameplay in Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is similar to the previous titles in the series, and other Lego video games. Up to two players can switch between different characters to fight enemies in combat, solve puzzles, and progress through various levels. It introduces a few novelties, including scene swap, where players can switch between teams in separate locations to complete multi-part objectives, and boss battles. The game also features some real-time strategy elements, such as commanding large ground armies across battlefields. Also, the space fights have been remodelled to use a more instinctive, 3D-space battle sensation.[7]

Overall, the game engine used by previous Lego Star Wars games has been upgraded. It can now hold more than 200 moving units or objects on-screen. The graphics are more detailed than before, and the lighting has been improved.

New features include scenarios in which players can command large armies of clones to battle against droid armies (although not on the handheld versions), and Story Swap mode, in which players can switch between two characters in different areas whose stories run simultaneously. The game includes split screen combat. All new character features include lightsaber throwing, picking up droids and stepping on certain pads in which Jedi do "combo moves" to destroy certain objects. Vehicle levels have been altered; now, players can land their ship and begin fighting on foot (similar to Star Wars: Battlefront II). All the original elements seen in previous Lego Star Wars games have returned. The hub has also been changed, taking place in a Republic Cruiser named the Resolute and also a Separatist Ship the Invisible Hand. Characters can be purchased on these ships- Separatists on the Invisible Hand; characters from the Republic on the Resolute.[9][10]

The game adapts the animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and various episodes from the first two seasons of the television series of the same name, without dialogue and with many humorous deviations. The prologue level is based on the Geonosian Arena battle from Attack of the Clones.

The game had been in development since late 2009 when the second season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars started. The game was covered up and in June 2010 after the second-season finale The Lego Group started to work on adding the last part of the second season in and new things such as a new hub and a new way to use the lightsaber. Then in late 2010, LEGO finished the game and started to make promotions for it. On 23 June 2010, LEGO released the first trailer for the game and later in 2011 they released some demos and cutscenes. Nintendo released trailers for Nintendo 3DS for the game alongside E3 convention videos featuring gameplay footage. The game was released in 2011 in North America on 22 March, in Europe on 25 March, and in Australia on 30 March following delay of one month.[11] The 3DS version of the game was released on 31 March in Australia as a launch title for the system.[12] A version for OS X was released on 27 October of the same year.[13]

The game has received positive reviews. GameSpot gave 6.5/10 for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii[29] while 6/10 for Nintendo 3DS.[30] IGN's Anthony Gallegos rated the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions of the game 7.5/10, the Wii version 7/10, and the DS, 3DS, and PSP versions 6/10. He commented on the vast variety of content in the in-game hub; "the hub world is open to players to explore, but this time around, Traveller's Tales have really outdone themselves". They further stated "like so much of the Lego games design, when you combine these two relatively unexciting portions together, something strange happens: It becomes a simple, engaging game".[17] GameTrailers gave the game 6.5/10, and called it "one of the dullest in the entire series", strongly criticising the game's repetition.[14]

Prior to the conflict, Darth Sidious, under his alter ego Sheev Palpatine, had spent years amassing political power, eventually rising to become the Republic's Supreme Chancellor. Through his Sith apprentice Count Dooku, he sparked the Separatist Crisis, causing thousands of Republic star systems to secede and form a new government as the Confederacy, with Dooku as its Head of State. Beginning with the First Battle of Geonosis, the conflict quickly spread throughout the galaxy with both sides scoring significant victories. At different points in the war it seemed that either side was likely to triumph over the other. At the war's outset, both sides vied for control of major hyperspace lanes to gain strategic advantage. That particular struggle ended with a Republic victory when Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, secured an alliance between the Republic and the Hutt Clan.

Over a year into the war, Republic Senator Padm Amidala and Separatist Senator Mina Bonteri collaborated on an initiative to end the fighting. However, their collaboration ended after Dooku and Grievous' bombing of the Republic capital on Coruscant. Later, a peace conference on Mandalore also failed to resolve the conflict. With no end in sight, the Jedi worked with local militaries, including Mon Cala's military and Naboo's Gungan Grand Army, and covertly trained an insurgent rebel cell to retake Onderon from Separatists occupation. Similarly, the Confederacy relied upon factions such as the Umbaran Militia and the Zygerrian Slave Empire. Furthermore, a proxy war materialized when Mother Talzin and her son, the now rogue Sith Lord Maul, strove to exact their revenge on both the Sith and the Jedi.

During the war's third and final year, the Republic drove the Separatists into redoubts within the Outer Rim Territories, initiating a campaign termed the Outer Rim Sieges. In an effort to reverse the course of the war, Grievous launched a massive strike on Coruscant through the Deep Core. Much of the Confederate fleet was lost in the assault, along with Head of State Count Dooku. The Confederacy quickly lost its core leadership in quick succession, with Grievous subsequently falling in battle during the Battle of Utapau, and the Separatist Council being massacred on Mustafar. This, coupled with the issuing of Order 66 and the deactivation of the droid army, led to the total capitulation of the Confederacy and, with it, an end to the war.

The origins of the Clone Wars dated back to the time of the Old Republic,[61] which reigned over a millennium prior to the war. That era marked a dark age in galactic history,[1] as the Sith battled their ancient enemies, the Jedi, for control of the galaxy.[62] The Sith suffered from infighting,[63] which ultimately led to their defeat at the hands of the Jedi, but although the Jedi believed they had vanquished their foes,[60] the Sith had merely retreated into hiding. Darth Bane, the last surviving Dark Lord of the Sith, founded a philosophy known as the Rule of Two, which dictated that the entire Sith Order would be comprised solely of a master and an apprentice.[63] Operating in the shadows, the Sith accumulated power and influence in preparation for the endgame of their grand plan: galactic domination and revenge against the Jedi.[8]

Nearly a thousand years into the Republic's reign,[15] Darth Sidious became the ruling Dark Lord of the Sith after betraying and murdering his master Darth Plagueis. Sidious planned to continue the Siths' revenge plot by using his Sith persona and alter ego Sheev Palpatine. His double identity would allow him to deceive and eventually destroy the Galactic Republic and Jedi. In order to infiltrate the Republic, Palpatine became the senator of his home planet Naboo. As the senator of Naboo, he devised a complex scheme to unseat the incumbent Supreme Chancellor, Finis Valorum, and install himself as the Republic's next head of state: as the Republic became embroiled in a dispute over the taxation of trade routes, Sidious secretly allied himself with Nute Gunray, the Viceroy of the Trade Federation, and ordered the Trade Federation to blockade his homeworld of Naboo. When the Senate's characteristic stagnation proved ineffectual at overturning the Invasion of Naboo, Palpatine manipulated and deceived Queen Padm Amidala of Naboo into calling for a Vote of No Confidence in Valorum's leadership.[60]

Sidious found a replacement for Maul in Count Dooku, a former Jedi Master who had left the Order and become integral to the Sith plan for galactic conquest. Sidious and Dooku, the latter of whom adopted the name Darth Tyranus, plotted to manipulate the Republic into a sham war with an opposing state. The Jedi would be forced to serve as generals for a Republic army of soldiers,[15] who would eventually serve as their executioners. Furthermore, the conflict would destabilize the Republic and render it vulnerable to the Sith takeover.[8]

Prior to the Invasion of Naboo, the Jedi High Council dismissed one of its members, Master Sifo-Dyas, due to his unorthodox belief that the Republic would need to raise an army for a full-scale conflict that he had foreseen.[59] Undeterred, Sifo-Dyas contacted the Kaminoans, a species reputed for its cloning industry, and ordered the production of a clone army on behalf of the Republic. In so doing, Sifo-Dyas circumvented both the Senate and the High Council, purporting to have the support of the former.[15] When the Sith discovered the existence of the clone army, they went to extreme lengths to hijack the project. At the time, then-Chancellor Valorum asked Sifo-Dyas to oversee confidential negotiations between the Republic and the Pyke Syndicate, a rising spice cartel that had begun to dominate the Coruscant Underworld. Unaware of Valorum's request, the High Council separately dispatched Sifo-Dyas to resolve a tribal dispute on the planet Felucia.[59]

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