Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes

The game takes place between Season 1 and Season 2 of the television series, featuring the conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS) known as the Clone Wars. The player assumes the role of several characters on the Republic's side, either Jedi or clone troopers, who all have their own stories taking place at the same time, on different planets, but eventually come together at the end of the game.

On Ryloth, Anakin Skywalker and his Jedi Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, are leading an assault on a Separatist stronghold, having to clear the path of battle droids for the clone troopers. Meanwhile, the Juma 9 space station is under attack by Separatist forces, prompting Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon, Commander Cody and trooper Switch to defend it. On their way to the comms room, Obi-Wan and Plo find a heavily-armored Skakoan scientist there and follow him. The scientist reveals his name to be Kul Teska and then engages the two Jedi in a battle, but soon manages to escape, trapping Obi-Wan and Plo. With Anakin having lost contact with Obi-Wan and Plo, they instead contact Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Kit Fisto, who, along with Commander Ponds, arrive to rescue them.

On Alzoc III, Jedi Masters Aayla Secura and Luminara Unduli, and Commanders Bly and Gree investigate the Separatist presence on the planet, reported to them by Jabba the Hutt, and come across floating debris leading to a crashed CIS ship. They eventually discover that the ship was destroyed by a mysterious superweapon and alert the Republic right away, before being attacked by Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress, who was dispatched by Count Dooku to get rid of any witnesses. Aayla and Luminara battle Ventress and manage to trap her inside an ice cave, before returning to the others.

Back on Ryloth, Captain Rex and Sergeant Boomer are captured by the bounty hunter Cad Bane, who tells them to load a key component of the Gravitic Polarization Beam (the Separtist superweapon which caused the floating debris on Alzoc III) aboard his ship, but they are attacked by battle droids, who want it back. Bane frees the two clones so that they could fend off the droids more efficiently, until Anakin and Ahsoka arrive and help them clear out the remaining droids. Afterwards, the Jedi form a reluctant alliance with Bane and agree to help him get the superweapon to his ship, not wanting it to fall into the Separatists' hands. As Rex and Boomer stay behind to fight more incoming droids, Anakin, Ahsoka and Bane make their way to the latter's ship, fighting numerous droids along the way. Eventually, the three arrive at Bane's ship, only to be ambushed by Kul Teska, who reveals that Bane stole the superweapon from him on Alzoc III and wants to claim it back. As Bane makes his escape, Anakin and Ahsoka fight Teska, but he too manages to escape with the weapon.

Anakin and Ahsoka contact Obi-Wan, Plo Koon, Mace Windu, Kit Fisto on Juma 9, who are soon also contacted by Yoda, Aayla Secura and Luminara Unduli. Together, they discuss the situation and soon learn that Teska and Dooku plan to use the superweapon to destroy the sun of the Naboo Star System, as well as that Senator Padmé Amidala, who has been captured by the Separatists on Behpour. The Republic then invades the planet and, during the battle, Commander Cody and Captain Rex create a distraction to give Anakin and Obi-Wan enough time to infiltrate the Separatists' facility and destroy its deflector shield generator, allowing the main body of clone troopers, commanded by Windu and Ahsoka, to storm the facility and destroy it.

Inside the facility, Anakin and Ahsoka make their way to Teska's lab to confront him, while Rex, Cody and Ponds fight their way through numerous battle droids to bring the Twilight to the rendezvous point. While they are waiting for the others to arrive, however, the three clones are attacked by Count Dooku, who seemingly destroys the ship, just as Obi-Wan and Windu arrive and duel him. The two Jedi defeat Dooku, but the platform that they are standing on begins to collapse; Dooku escapes with Asajj Ventress aboard the latter's ship, while Obi-Wan and Windu are rescued by the clones and R2-D2 aboard the Twilight. Meanwhile, Anakin and Ahsoka fight and defeat Teska (with some unexpected help from Cad Bane), before rescuing Padmé, who had sabotaged the superweapon. The two Jedi and Padmé then escape from the facility just as it gets destroyed, killing Teska. Outside, the trio reunite with the others and the Republic celebrates its victory. In a post-credits scene, it is revealed that Cad Bane sabotaged Dooku and Ventress' escape ship.

The game features a two player drop in/drop out co-op gameplay, which allows players to play as either Jedi, clone troopers or other characters. There are 40 missions and the gameplay change in certain missions. In the missions where the player controls Jedi characters, the gameplay is mostly platforming and fighting enemies with melee attacks. In the missions featuring clones as the playable characters, the gameplay switches to a third-person shooting instead. The graphics are similar to the animation stile used in the series which the game is based on.

The overall feel of the game is similar to previous video games published by LucasArts, such as Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars The Force Unleashed, and the LEGO Star Wars series. A fixed camera angle is also used in the game, which was one of the most criticized asspects of the gameplay.[5]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes scored generally negative reviews. Chris Roper of IGN gave the game a 4.8/10, starting his review by saying, "The first thing you'll notice is that pretty much regardless of which system you play it on, it looks rather terrible."[6] Roper then goes on to say "About five seconds after you notice how bad it looks, you'll realize that the game's platforming elements are unresponsive and oftentimes frustrating." He closed his review stating that "Unless you or your kids want to play as Jedi or clone troopers just for the sake of doing so, then there's really nothing here that'll keep anyone, young or old, interested for very long." Roper recommends playing a Lego Star Wars game instead. The game was also criticized on the fixed camera view.

The game holds a score of 46% on Metacritic.[7]

• Official website