Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on the PS2 (and Xbox if you’re so inclined) has an interesting legacy. Initially reviewed as a somewhat mediocre game at its release in 2005, the game got a better rap from word of mouth. Back in the day, one of the more pronounced aspects of the game was how it offered an alternative ending to the final battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan, where Anakin manages to avoid Obi-Wan’s cut and stabs him. The game has a lot of stabbing, probably partially because of rating reasons, as bloodless stabs with a lightsabre are more child friendly than using the same weapon for decapitation. The game was out about the same time as the movie it adapts, so it’s rather faithful in its adaptation. Some parts are made out of cut sequences from the movie. Some are missing to keep the movie less spoiled. It’s an extended but condensed version of the film, with all the major action sets getting extended while most of the talkie bits got cut. This is a fine adaptation, as the medium requires player action. It’s more interesting to mow down Jedis in their temple as newly-turned Darth Vader rather than just see a snippet of it and see the aftermath.
The meat of the game is in its combat system though. At first, it seems like a standard action game with the usual Light, Medium, and Heavy buttons with Block. These are what the player most likely ends up mashing, as it takes you most of the way of the game. Opening the manuals shows that the game indeed has three levels of attacks, there are tons of other maneuvers the player has access to. Your usual Force powers are there, but also launchers, counters, air tech escapes, perfect deflections… it’s a game very much inspired by Soul Calibur and the devs cited this in old interviews. However, if we’re frank, a lot of this goes unused in the main campaign, as moving down the generic mob enemies doesn’t really require mastery over the mechanics. The occasional grab and twist do the job, but most of the skill the player has is locked behind an experience points system, with Health and Force gauges having hidden upgrades in most of the levels. It’s an uneven design, and the developers seem to have known this, as the game has an emphasis on 1-on-1 fights as it goes on. The stages don’t really lend themselves to exploration, which is a bit of a shame. Yet at the same time, this is a blessing as the game has very little to no fat. It concentrates on being a damn fine license game and does that very well.
The mechanics may be a bit wasted in the single-player mode, where you mostly cut down enemies in one or two strokes, but they get a chance to shine in multiplayer. The co-op mode allows either Versus or Cooperative, and the surprising amount of choices the player can make in a battle has extended the game’s life. There still are people playing the Versus mode because the game has such a well-developed combat system.
Of course, the game is played online via emulation, so your mileage may vary how well it plays and even looks. The lighting effects just ain’t right on an emulator
While I wouldn’t call the single-player mode a glorified fighting game, it is very much in the spirit of classic belt-scrolling action games like Final Fight and Streets of Rage. The Versus mode is a fighting game through and through though. Was there a split in design among the developers at some point, or did they want to make the best lightsabre combat game of the era in lieu of fighting games, but didn’t find a way to incorporate their desired mechanics into single-player mode? Star Wars doesn’t really have strong mob enemies per se, and the movies made it very clear that the Droid army could be cut down rather fast. Even the Clones go down fast and are about as accurate as the meme version of their Imperial Stormtrooper successors. The Boss battles are a break from the in-setting monotony of the general stages in that, which makes me question if mechanics clearly designed to work best in multiplayer would work in single-player, generally speaking.
Fighting games generally don’t veer off their course; it doesn’t matter who the opponent is, AI or human. Shooting games’ single-player mode tends to put the player into a heroic role, whereas in multiplayer everyone’s more or less a generic soldier of the army. Core mechanics stay the same, but rules are revised for balance. This balance is the key, of course. Single-player can be as unbalanced as it wants to be, either for or against the player, but that doesn’t roll with multiplayer. Games like Phantasy Star Online and Monster Hunter share the exact same core rules and mechanics both online and offline, but whereas MonHun is fun alone still, Phantasy Star alone is dull. Yet I spend several hours playing it on the Dreamcast.
So, a game should share its single-player aspects within the multi-player, where the opponent can be either AI or human, or work in the same or similar role in a cooperative role. Revenge of the Sith sadly doesn’t do this outside Boss battles, which is why the game is just mediocre. It damns the game. The stage designs and the flow of them are well-realized and offer a nice, straightforward action to play through, but the mechanics or the secret upgrades don’t really support them. You have a Versus mode that makes the best out of the mechanics but went largely unnoted by the larger group of reviewers. The game probably should’ve been split into two projects. One becoming one of the best license games to date, and the other would’ve been one of the best fighting games of 2005.
To use another game as an example like this, Mega Man Battle Network is something similar. The main game and the enemies you fight are all very much their own thing, while the multiplayer Versus mode is effectively always a mirror match. What you can have, your opponent can as well, version-exclusive Battle Chips aside. Many fans to this day would want to see a game set in Battle Network‘s setting, but with the human character serving as the player’s own avatar and a customizable NetNavi. With this, the player could create their own unique NetNavi for competitive play, effectively offering the same asymmetrical Versus play the main game offers. Just with both players have access to unique strategies and elements unavailable in normal play. Sure, later games in the series allow you to play with other Navis in limited quantity, and the Japanese-only 4.5 offered multiple readily-made Navis to play with, but 4.5 is more or less a gimmick as a calendar and such. Capcom could still print loads of money with this concept, but Mega Man as a whole is less the main dish nowadays. It’s more akin to a can of strawberry jam from a few years ago that’s still tasty, but can’t beat the fresher fruits. We can only wish Capcom decides to revive the series, again, sometime in the future. They could do more of these classical games with lower budgets and higher returns.
The Collective, the game developer behind Revenge of the Sith, did have a varied background in games. While their first game, Men in Black: The Game is garbage, they sure got better. Star Trek DS9; The Fallen is a rare, solid Star Trek game, which doesn’t get talked about all that much nowadays. Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb netted The Collective history with Lucasarts, and this is probably the game that got them the Star Wars gig. Emperor’s Tomb may have the usual camera issues, but honestly plays rather well overall. The weirdest thing is, The Collective was merged with Shiny Entertainment of Earthworm Jim fame in 2007 to form Double Helix Games. Their best games were the 2014 Strider game, and 2013’s Killer Instinct reboot. Iron Galaxies had to carry KI after the first season of the game, because they got bought out by Amazon and were merged into Amazon Games, which have produced nothing worth of note.
The Collective was about to find its voice as developers right after Revenge of the Sith. A lot of things from their previous games were coming together here, and in a game or two they might’ve struck bigger gold than anticipated, with or without a license.
I’m sure you’re wondering what’s the point of this post, and the point is that I am very much fascinated by Revenge of the Sith because it’s a schizophrenic game. It doesn’t shine in either of its modes, as separates they’re a bit awkward, but at the same time, the game has so many good points that its mediocrity has a very nice and long-lasting sheen on it. They don’t make games like this anymore, and that’s honestly a bit sad. Revenge of the Sith stands the test of time by being fun and doesn’t waste your time with endless time-wasting details that hamper the play of the game. There’s something cathartic in using menus that are quick and responsive without extra animation to cover unoptimized load times.
Revenge of the Sith is a game that’s very easy to like, but equally, someone could consider it trash. I can’t even say that the Versus mode is its saving grace as the rest of the game is competent. The Versus mode just happens to be the one that clearly has a place in the fans’ hearts, and it is rather sad to see all of this going to waste in history as the Star Wars game that’s just neat. Just a little bit more, and this game could’ve been a bonafide classic broader audience would also talk about. It’s fast to boot-up, fast to get in, fast to get out. You can spend a few hours beating the story and the additional stages, and you can pop it in to play Versus or Co-op with your friend. It’s the perfect kind of library-filler game that’s almost lost nowadays. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, yet leaves such a nice impression that you want to come back sometime later just to play the best bits again. I don’t remember the last time a visibly imperfect game like this shines this brightly almost twenty years after its release.
I really do wish Star Wars would see a straight Fighting game again, but rather than devs trying to model it after Mortal Kombat or whatever would be popular at a given time, would embrace the unique aspects of the movies and make something stand out. Revenge of the Sith was almost there.
Aaltomies 