Star Wars The Clone Wars Lightsaber Duels

For many people the very first thing that popped into their heads when they first saw the Nintendo Wii’s motion sensitive controllers was...LIGHTSABERS.

The Wii seemed like the perfect console to recreate Star Wars, just for the simple reason that you could swing the controllers to simulate lightsaber battles. It was a Star Wars fan’s wet dream.

Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels, as the name suggests, finally gives Star Wars geeks a chance to indulge their laser sword fantasies, but unfortunately it’s not been worth the wait.

Rather than a rollicking action adventure set in the Star Wars universe, Lightsaber Duels is a lacklustre fighting game with two Star Wars characters battling it out in a variety of dull arenas. The visuals are poor, and the only variation in the gameplay is when you get a friend to fight against.

All this could be forgivable if the controls were spot on, but that’s where the game really falls over. You swing the controller to attack with a lightsaber, but it can only swish side to side, uppercut or stab forward.

The movements aren’t realistic, it just uses pre-set animations, and the delay between swinging the controller and the character on screen moving is annoying, completely ruining the flow and elegance of saber battles you see in the movies. You just run at the opponent, swing the Wii remote and press some buttons to use force powers, and hope that the ungainly movements cause some damage.

Verdict: 28%

A dull, repetitive and irritating brawler that completely fails to take advantage of the Wii’s unique controls. It’s another disappointing use of the Star Wars license.