Hello there.
"Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" is the sixth "Star Wars" movie, released in 2005 and the epic conclusion to the Prequel Trilogy of the "Star Wars" movies. Nowadays the movie has a plethora of memes dedicated to its dialogue, but broke box office records back in 2005.
Due to the popularity of "Star Wars" in general, a video game adaptation of "Revenge of the Sith" was created for both home consoles by The Collective & LucasArts (rest in peace), and handheld consoles by Ubisoft. The version I'll be reviewing today is the Gameboy Advance version, released June 9, 2005.
I've had the GBA version since I was five or six, and it's a game I've played a lot of. However, does it fare to the critical eye?
A Retelling with Liberties
"Revenge of the Sith's" story is retold in the GBA game, with Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, our two playable characters, saving Chancellor Palpatine. However, after saving him, Obi-Wan and Anakin go on their own path with Obi-Wan betrayed and Anakin deciding to become very wholesome with the Chancellor.
Anakin is such a nice guy. The game takes liberties with the story for the sake of gameplay, as Obi-Wan and Anakin start with the same first four levels before diverging into different paths,
For example, three levels are dedicated to Obi-Wan attacking and killing Clone Troopers, while in the movie, he only ever kills Clone Troopers at the Jedi Temple. What a rude guy.
However, this is to parallel the three levels where Anakin is "partying" with the Jedi. Both Obi-Wan's escape, and the Jedi Temple "massacre" happen at the same time. I don't mind the liberties though; it still tells the important parts of "Revenge of the Sith."
Although, I did mind the skimming as elements such as why Padme's life is in danger. However, the focus here isn't the story, but the 2.5 beat 'em up gameplay.
Defence and Offense
This is where the fun begins. "Revenge of the Sith" for the GBA has Anakin and Obi-Wan using their lightsabers and force abilities to slice enemies, block attacks, reflect lasers, and more.
The force abilities are the most fun to use, having their own energy bar that slowly regenerates. Both characters can Force Push enemies to the ground and Force Pull an enemy towards them for crowd control. These abilities also pull/push projectiles/items on the ground towards enemies.
Anakin and Obi-Wan also have their own unique force abilities. Obi-Wan has: Force Speed to temporarily slow down time that doesn't affect himself, Force Heal, Force Shield to limit stuns/damage types, and Mind Trick to stun enemies.
[Credit for the second, third, and fourth photos: MajinObama]
Anakin on the other hand has: Saber Throw as a projectile attack, Absorb to absorb enemy's health to fill his Fury, Rage to temporarily increase his damage, and Choke to both damage and stun enemies.
[Credit for the first, third, and fourth pictures go to: MajinObama]
Each force power can be upgraded two times by collecting Customization Points, which the player receives based on their performance in levels and by finding them in the levels. Upgrades increase the effectiveness of force abilities, for example, Force Shield can go from limiting damage types to making Obi-Wan temporarily invincible.
I know Ewan Mcgregor and his Obi-Wan performance are seen as Gods, but this game just took it to a whole new level. After each level, you can choose to increase your health, force bar, or your attack power, but only once each level. This only applies when you beat the game for the first time on your save file.
Both characters also have special bars. Focus and Fury for Obi-Wan and Anakin respectively, when filled up, can let Obi-Wan and Anakin do incredibly powerful attacks. When full, the player can do a screen nuke. These bars are filled up by dealing damage.
For only having eight buttons, "Revenge of the Sith" for the GBA has an addictingly great combat system. It's not deep, but it has the right amount of depth to keep me coming back for more.
The force abilities are so much fun, with Force Heal and Force Choke being my favourites. Force Heal is a lifesaver since you get to heal whenever. Force Choke lets you stun multiple enemies and it's highly damaging too. It's also really satisfying as someone who always had Force Choke as their favourite force ability.
I can't say I got much mileage from most of the other force powers though, however they still have their uses. Force Absorb is great for filling Fury, Force Speed can get you out of sticky situations, and so on.
The force abilities also play well into Obi-Wan's and Anakin's Ying and Yang of defence and offence. Obi-Wan calls for a more defensive approach as his abilities protect him; while Anakin's force abilities deal great damage, requiring a more offensive style.
Not what I meant by offensive.
This difference is also shown in the enemies they fight. While both characters fight droids, Obi-Wan goes up against tricky Clone Troopers that require careful approach. Anakin "trains" with Jedi that can use the force and Mustafar soldiers where Anakin must defeat the leader to progress, making defence ill-advised.
On top of that, it's smart design to base their force abilities on their fighting styles in the movie. Despite the liberties, the game nails this aspect of both characters.
Feels like "Star Wars"
Despite the graphical and music limitations of the Gameboy Advance, "Revenge of the Sith" for the system still feels and sounds like Star Wars. The visuals, while more colourful and lacking in dark lighting, look incredible and have aged well.
The game even opens with the iconic Star Wars text crawl when you create a new save file, which looks impressive. The sprites also look fantastic with great animation. The character portraits also look nice, not perfect, but I dig the style.
[Credit: MajinObama]
The sound effects and music are fantastic too, although that's to be expected with any "Star Wars" game post-NES. The sound effects sound like they're right out of the movie. The music is also remade to compensate for the GBA's limitations, being remakes of songs from the entire prequel trilogy and the 2003 mini-series.
However, the music being compensated gives it a unique charm. A lot of the songs still sound amazing and give a different feel to them, some of which I even prefer over the originals. The composers did an amazing job converting the iconic soundtrack.
Overall, "Revenge of the Sith (GBA)" runs and feels amazing, with only a few minor glitches. Interestingly, the DS version of "Revenge of the Sith," which is identical to the GBA version but adds 3D spaceship sections that look neat and improves the soundtrack to the point where it sounds like it’s straight out of the movies.
While I think the GBA version is more charming, the DS version is beyond impressively shocking. I mean... How did they achieve this amazing sound quality for the Nintendo DS?!
Bosses and the Difficulties
"Revenge of the Sith" for the GBA has seven bosses, with three mini boss types. Mini bosses are fun and well-designed, but the real fun is with the bosses.
Bosses are lightsaber duels where Anakin/Obi-wan must block the boss's attack(s), either blocking upwards or downwards, and then strike afterwards when there is an opening. Bosses will do a stance showing what attack they'll do before they do it.
[Credit: MajinObama]
While these fights have elements of trial and error, when you nail them, they are beyond satisfying and fun. The fights are well-designed, testing your defence and reflexes effectively.
The difficulty of "Revenge of the Sith" depends on which difficulty you choose. Padawan is easy, Jedi is normal, and Master is hard and must be unlocked. Each difficulty gives a different number of beginning extra lives, Jedi gives two, Master gives none. Extra lives can still be picked up though.
Jedi difficulty is the right amount of challenging, but fair, Master difficulty is tougher as you must do everything in one live unless you pick up an extra live, but it's still perfectly fair. The only unfair moment I can think of would be the tall robots charging at you from off-screen, which you can't block, that's cheap.
The highest difficulty is admittedly a cakewalk for Obi-Wan, as he can heal whenever with Force Heal. Anakin on the other hand...
...Other, OTHER hand... Struggles... A lot. I died plenty of times on Master difficulty as Anakin. He can only recover health with health pick-ups, Bacta Tanks. His enemies are also more aggressive due to his more aggressive abilities overall.
Oddly enough, I died the most to the Obi-Wan battle. It took a bit to relearn how to fight Obi-Wan as his attacks are tricky, but when I did, it was beyond satisfying. It's also a great note to end the game on, as it's a fantastic challenge.
Furthermore, the congratulations screen for being Master difficulty on both routes is rewarding. They even suggest a new way to play the game.
Which... I tried.
I could unironically see myself doing this though.
Overall (S)
The GBA "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" video game is a very wholesome time that is another happy landing in my GBA collection. It's indeed quite a bold one but manages to do it like no other Star Wars game has.
In all seriousness, despite most force abilities not being all that helpful, I had an incredibly fun time with this game. The adaptation of the story is good enough, the presentation is stellar, the gameplay is well-executed and addicting, the bosses are amazing, and there's a good amount of replay value.
Just uh... Get a used copy. A new copy of this game is extremely expensive, and it's not THAT long to justify a price of over $200CDN. The game is only about an hour or two if you only place it once.
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