Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) [Game Boy Advance]

“There are heroes on both sides.  Evil is everywhere”
-The opening crawl, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

As a child of the 80s and 90s, I grew up believing that any movie, television show, or comic book could be adapted as a beat-em-up game; after all, the brawler genre worked for so diverse a set of properties as The Simpsons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Spider-Man, Alien vs. Predator, and Dungeons & Dragons. Sometimes, the format seemed like a perfect fit for its source material, and other times it was a bit of a stretch. Even if I never got my arcade beat-em-up based on The Sandlot (which you have to admit would have been amazing), there was never a shortage of licensed brawlers.

It’s a bit surprising, then, that the Star Wars license wasn’t among them. Prior to LucasArts’ generally outstanding output on PC in the 90s, there were some vehicular arcade games, Atari 2600 nonsense, and some interesting—albeit deeply flawed—NES and Famicom games. When Star Wars made the inevitable jump to 16-bit consoles, it arrived on the SNES with Super Star Wars, a difficult run-and-gun platformer with gorgeous graphics and top-of-its-class audio. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a brawler, but I suppose that wouldn’t have been faithful to the spirit of the original trilogy. Super Star Wars finally gave us the opportunity to step into the shoes of Luke Skywalker as slaughtered his way across the dune sea of Tatooine before destroying a Jawa Sandcrawler and killing the Lava Beast Jawenko that lurked inside. It’s just like a playable version of the film.

As 2D platformers gave way to FMV shooters, flight sims, first-person action games, and whatever Yoda Stories was, it seemed that opportunity for a Star Wars brawler had passed. The prequel trilogy introduced an emphasis on lightsaber combat, but the 2D brawler was a relic of the past. Fortunately, Nintendo released a handheld console that specialized in the genres and styles of bygone eras: the Game Boy Advance. It was on this very special handheld that Star Wars finally bought real estate in the neighborhood of Golden Axe and Final Fight.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was developed by Ubisoft Montreal for the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS. These versions are largely identical, though each version contains exclusive features: the GBA version features link cable coop missions, while the DS edition features higher resolution graphics, touchscreen special attacks, polygonal 3D dogfighting missions, and space combat multiplayer. A game by the same name released concurrently on PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by The Collective. This review will focus exclusively on the GBA edition.

Interestingly enough, this game released more than a week prior to the film upon which it is based. Nevertheless, its story is largely faithful to that of the movie, even incorporating dialogue from the film. Players may choose to play as Anakin Skywalker or Obi Wan Kenobi in the final days of the Clone Wars. Initially, their missions are identical, though they diverge as Obi Wan and Anakin are given separate assignments by the Jedi Council, recombining at the end for what must undoubtedly be a joyful reunion of old friends.

The audio shines bright for a game on a system with notoriously weak sound capabilities. The music is comprised of very good MIDI renditions of recognizable themes. Lightsaber swings, blaster fire, and other sound effects are immediately evocative of the films and lend credibility to playing through a story in the Star Wars universe.

The graphics are highly stylized and easy to read at first glance. The character sprites have large eyes that go a long way to adding character to the various human characters that appear on the tiny screen. Backgrounds are clean, if not particularly interesting. Hallways begin to seem very similar and a bit formulaic early in the campaign and never really improve as the game goes on.  Enemy attacks are clear and readable, even when there are many enemies on screen. Character portraits appear during dialogue, and they are appropriately expressive, with different expressions for jokes, anger, sadness, and the like.

Graphically, the stars of the show are the animations, which do a lot of the heavy lifting in making this seem like a Star Wars lightsaber combat game rather than just another brawler. Animations are smooth and distinctive. The lightsaber thrusts, swings, and deflections feel fluid in motion, and the way droids fall apart upon destruction seems congruous with the style in which the Jedi use their weapons. Anakin and Obi Wan have different animations that help them feel like distinct characters: Obi Wan is the more refined of the two, employing more thrusts and precision-based attacks, while Anakin attacks with more ferocity and passion. Even when the actual gameplay differences between the two are minor, these animations provide the sensation of different fighting styles.

Combat is simple in concept but varied in execution. Tapping the B button and directional input, players may execute basic combos, perform low sweeping attacks, ground strikes, upward attacks, or reverse thrusts. Pressing the A-button causes the Jedi to jump, though this is of limited use in combat and is primarily limited to avoiding obnoxious environmental hazards. The L button blocks melee attacks and—when timed correctly—deflects and redirects blaster fire. Anakin and Obi Wan have different Force abilities controlled by holding the R button in conjunction with a direction on the d-pad and different special moves that may be activated with various button combinations. Force abilities and special attacks (called “rage” for Anakin and “focus” for Obi Wan) are dependent upon meters which are easily replenished, encouraging their utilization in combat. Anakin’s rage meter fills as he takes or deals damage, while Obi Wan’s focus meter fills as he deflects attacks and uses the Force, further adding to the distinction between the feel of the two characters, as players must play more aggressively with Anakin than with Obi Wan.

Most levels consist of moving from left to right, destroying waves of battle droids, clone troopers, Neimoidians, or jedi. Hidden as drops from enemies or behind destructible background elements are collectibles that may be used to obtain new Force abilities. Unfortunately, this leads to the tedious practice of identifying which background elements may be destroyed and swinging at them mindlessly as they repeat ad nauseum.

Some levels end in boss fights against large droids or vehicles. Of particular note is fight against a tank, which must be destroyed by avoiding and systematically destroying its various weaponry using blaster deflection and Force pushes to throw pieces of dismantled droids or bombs dropped by the tank itself. There are also distinct duel stages, in which Anakin or Obi Wan must engage in duels against other lightsaber-wielders. The player must watch for tells in the opponent’s animations, parry low or high, and riposte when an opening presents itself. If an enemy Jedi or sith attempts to use Force attacks, they may be absorbed by holding the R button. Learning and defending against the various attack patterns of enemy duelists is, without exception, a tense and fun experience. These bosses are sufficiently powerful to feel significant but not so difficult as to become frustrating to fight.

Befitting its handheld status, the campaign is brief and will take most players no more than a couple of hours to reach the conclusion. Individual stages take only a few minutes to complete, making this game ideal for short play sessions. Completed levels may be replayed at will, and completing the game with a character unlocks Master difficulty for that character. As with most beat-em-ups, the replay value lies in the play itself, which I find enjoyable enough to justify another playthrough from time to time.

As a single-player brawler, Revenge of the Sith accomplishes most of its goals with aplomb. Its digestible scope and sequence—coupled with its fluid and varied combat—make it a joy to play in short bursts. It has a distinct Star Wars flavor, fun base gameplay, and a reasonable challenge, offering precisely the game young me would have loved and older me can still appreciate. Its status as a movie tie-in means that it was mass-produced, with plenty of used copies available to purchase on the cheap, unaffected by collector-fueled inflation or scarcity. Is it possible to find a better licensed beat-em-up experience on the GBA? Not from a Jedi.