LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (Wii)

LEGO Star Wars: The Clone Wars is one of the latest titles in the LEGO series of games, based on the Star Wars: The Clone Was TV cartoon series made in part by Lucasarts and currently airing on Cartoon Network.

I got this game for my 14th birthday, since I'm a huge fan of Star Wars and LEGO games, and the unconventional, off-the-beaten-path style of this game really appealed to me, and it didn't disappoint at all. I'm not a huge fan of The Clone Wars these days, but I liked the earlier seasons, and this game was really true to them; it was serious fun playing through the old episodes I'd seen, and the whole game just felt really cool.

The game follows three bosses: Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress, and General Grievous. These are series of levels in which you play as various characters going on adventures in which dangerous situations are set upon them by these most infamous villains.

I liked the stress they placed on armies in this game; there were all sorts of different clones, with all sorts of Captains and commanders, like Rex and even Cody. This game also introduced a new function: battle levels in which you had to complete a certain mission, like destroying a certain structure, or simply taking over all the enemy bases. When you take over a base completely (by destroying all the structures on it), you can build your own structures to fortify what you have, build new vehicle stations, create turrets, or generate barracks that will spawn legions of troops that you can lead with a captain and then gear against certain targets. These levels were purely strategic and insanely fun; it made you feel like you were in the battle, especially if you'd seen some on the show. This is a seriously good display of what the LEGO team can really do, and this is exactly the kind of thing they should keep up in the future.

Of course, the game also had Bounty Hunter Missions, Character Creators (which, as always lately, are really pretty horrible), and collectible Red Bricks (one of which gives jedi characters dual blades instantly, which is awesome, just saying). However, there were many different spins that were applied to the game this time around. A really surprising function was the fact that eventually, you could use a ship to travel between the Republic and Separatist ships. This was necessary to collect everything, and even to get to certain special characteristic of the game, like Bounty Hunter Missions. I do wish that the Character Creators, well, for one thing, that they had more options, but also that they gave you the ability to have saberstaffs, or back-handed lightsabers as weapons. That would have added a whole new, awesome aspect to the gameplay.

The ways of unlocking characters are also pretty great; as usual these days, some of them just appear in the hub through gameplay, but some could be unlocked by releasing them from jail cells through the use of certain character types. You could also unlock special characters, or ones from previous games, by collecting all the secrets in a level, letting the character out of a bacta tank, and then (sometimes after defeating them) just buy them. This was a really cool function, and I liked the characters, but I just wish they wandered around the hub more. That would have made it a lot more comical and full-feeling.

There are plenty more fantastic characteristics of this game that I can't detail, like the spectacular flying levels, the combat, the puzzles, the new weapons (like chainguns), but I can tell you now that whether or not you've even watched an episode of the TV series, you will love the game if you like Star Wars or LEGO games. This game is fun, realistic, cool, awesome to play, actiony, epic, and a huge step-up from all the other games of LEGO's recent video game era. Just trust me and try this game, and when you love it (which I guarantee you will), buy it. It will be one of the best LEGO game purchases you've ever made, and maybe one of the best in general.