KMGR of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars"

Image by Don Solo via FlickrYep, Clone Wars the TV series inspired a game for the mobile. However, you don't get to play Anakin or his apprentice this time. You get to play clone trooper Denal, who takes orders from Captain Rex. Denal is a squad leader, so he'll lead several soldiers around. He later can carry grenades and EC bombs (stuns droids and such). Go through 15 missions on 3 different planets, and help the Grand Army of the Republic defeat the Separatist movement.

The game is strangely reminiscent of the Avatar game reviewed earlier. Basically, you control the squad by the D-pad: up is forward, down is backward, then left and right rotates this "direction arrow" 360 degrees, and that's the direction you go (forward or back). Your squad is relatively intelligent. They wil aim in the general direction and shoot any enemy near that if they are in range. If you come up to a short wall they wil crouch and go into cover and shoot over the wall if need be. Make use of the walls as this will significantly reduce your casualties! You'll run into regular droids ("Roger roger"), the heavy droids, the droidekas ("It's shielded!"), and even the occasional spider tank. However, you will have plenty of help. Sometimes you can summon reinforcements, air strikes, or even help from a local jedi.

The game is 2D-ish with a "hint" of isometric 3D. The troopers and the droids are nicely animated, and you'll be taking out hundreds of droids per mission. However, you will lose some troopers per mission. The idea is to minimize your casualties by employing your grenades and EC dets at the right time, and use cover properly.

Most objectives are timed, and you need to reach a waypoint to 'recharge the timer' so to speak. Timer is not TOO tight, but you have no time to dawdle either. You must keep moving, basically. Even bypass some enemies if you must. Some missions even comes in multiple parts.

Music is from the TV series, albeit edited down a bit. Some missions let you be more advantageous in other missions, such as reduce amount of enemy, enable air strikes, and so on. So this linked mission nature makes the game replayable if you got bored and want to try alternatives.

Main complaint is about the control interface. You can sort of get close to where you want to point, but if you want to be precise, like pick up a bonus grenade reload on the ground, which is quite small, you have to be VERY precise to get to it. This leads to delays as you turn 180, go back and forth, and so on. And your squad can be overwhelmed when attacked on multiple sides. You must engage one with grenade, then turn to the other and engage

All in all, Clone Wars is an enjoyable little "shooter" that emphasizes terrain and precision. If you like Star Wars, give it a try. You should like it.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Simple controls, exciting battles of Star Wars / Clone Wars
Cons: Squad AI aren't as good, playing a "peon", control precision has problems