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Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels

EMAIL PRINT wii

6.9 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 10 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: LucasArts

Developer: Krome Studios

Genre(s): Action, Adventure

Players: Multi

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: November 11, 2008

Summary

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels immerses you in the characters, locations, and epic duels from the all-new Star Wars animated feature film and TV series. Built from the ground-up for Wii, Lightsaber Duels features an intuitive motion-controlled combat system that puts the Lightsaber weapon in your hand. Mastering the Jedi's distinctive weapon is now within any player's grasp. Play with your friends as your favorite Clone Wars hero or villain - from familiar characters like Anakin Skywalker and General Grievous to new faces like Ahsoka Tano and Asajj Ventress - each with a unique fighting style and set of skills. Exploit your interactive surroundings to defeat your opponent: slice down pillars and Force throw them against your foe. Duel your way through significant Clone Wars locations, such as Tatooine and Teth. [LucasArts]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Official Nintendo Magazine UK

Ultimately, Lightsaber Duels is only really worth getting for either those who have seen and done everything in The Force Unleashed and crave more Star Wars action or for younger gamers who love the recent Clone Wars cartoons and aren't that interested in the live-action movies.

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GamePro

The shallow fighting system, the teenage snark and animation won't impress older fans of the series, but it's good fun for younger Jedis in training.

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3DJuegos

Jedi battles come to Wii in an interesting but limited videogame because the wiimote still hasn't been able to emulate the light saber's performance. This new disturbance in the Force has created a passable but fleeting and incomplete title. If you would like to become a Jedi, be careful, because this game couldn't be enough to complete your Padawan's training.

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GameTrailers

Lightsaber Duels is an average fighter with solid visuals, but it doesn’t deliver on its most important element. There’s plenty of fan service, and swinging the Wii remote around can be fun at times, but the payoff just simply isn’t enough. This one’s still a padawan in training.

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BigPond GameArena

Compared to The Force Unleashed’s Duel Mode, Lightsaber Duels is too simplistic and shallow to warrant purchasing – while it would suit younger fans, the wait continues for the rest of us Star Wars fans for a game that lets us unleash our inner Jedi and use the Wii-mote like a lightsaber in a realistic manner.

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Meristation

Cool graphics, good sound and a great entertainment. Too bad that the most basic thing, the control of the character, simply doesn't work as intended, which makes it really difficult to fully enjoy the game or the feeling like we were using the lightsabers. LucasArts should have waited for the WiiMotion Plus.

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GameSpot

There is no suspension of disbelief due to the simplistic fighting mechanics and imprecise controls, and your dreams of feeling like an all-powerful Jedi remain unrealized. LucasArts gave it a great try, with faithful graphics, sound, and cinematic flair, but for legions of rabid Star Wars fans, it's do or do not. There is no try.

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Gameplayer

While acceptable as a guilty pleasure or five-minute filler with a friend, we’re not quite sure what sector of the Star Wars fanbase Lightsaber Duels will appeal to. With none of the original characters or locations to help older fans overlook the game’s foibles, and a control system that might not suit Star Wars-loving younglings, it could end up missing the mark completely, which is a shame as with a little more attention this could have been a fan favourite.

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AceGamez

Perhaps given more development time, Krome Studios could have turned out a fitting tribute to one of science fiction's most enduring franchises. Sadly, however, Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels isn't the game we were all hoping for.

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GameSpy

Lightsaber Duels may not be exactly what fans were clamoring for when Nintendo unveiled the Wii's lightsaber-esque controllers, but it's still quite enjoyable. The single-player experience won't last you long, though, so you might not want to invest in the game unless you plan on playing with a buddy.

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Games Master UK

Could have been special, given time. [Jan 2009, p.71]

NGamer UK

The coolest of all cool ideas, pieced together in a profoundly uncool way. Wait for MotionPlus to throw up something more substantial.

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PALGN

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels is nothing more than a mediocre fighter that’s hampered by unimaginative waggle controls and simplistic gameplay.

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IGN

A missed opportunity to do much more on Wii -- and strangely, it feels in many ways like a dumbed-down version of Force Unleashed, which came out first.

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Variety

It's the closest a videogame has come to giving players mastery of the ultimate sci-fi weapon, though the controls are so simple, and the story and multiplayer options so lacking, that it will likely appeal only to the same young boys as the film, which hits homevideo this week.

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Game Informer

The graphical style of the show works well on the Wii, and the fighters’ mid-battle banter adds some flavor to the action. I was even amused by the Lightsaber Clash minigames that occasionally interrupted the bouts, even though these sometimes falter due to poor motion control recognition. While these few gameplay elements help make the experience more digestible, it hardly matters because the basic mechanics are a mess.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

Ultimately Clone Wars is a bit of a failure for several reasons, and the fact that it doesn’t do what you’d be forgiven for thinking it should do is just the main one. With disappointing lightsaber controls, the limited gameplay structure, simplistic combat and lack of core audience appeal only provide further excuses not to bother. High expectations or not, Lightsaber Duels doesn’t deliver.

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VideoGamer

Lightsaber Duels will please younger fans of The Clone Wars movie who don't know any better, but for anyone else the combat system will be too frustrating to forgive. The wait goes on for that perfect Wii lightsaber game. Roll on spring 2009.

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InsideGamer.nl

This game doesn’t only have a ridiculous long title, its gameplay is also quite ridiculous. Despite some decent visuals and audio, the game just isn’t fun to play. That’s caused by the inaccurate registration of the player’s movements, while the essence of the gameplay lies exactly there. Thus, Lightsaber Duels is a missed opportunity, and probably only appreciated by the young and inexperienced players among us.

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GamingXP

Children up to the age of ten will be satisfied by the performance of the game, so parents can buy this game without worrying about violence. For the core-gamer, there is no need to buy Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

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Games Radar (in-house)

But to finally give us a lightsaber game, even a crap one, and not enable us to take on the role of Luke Skywalker and battle Darth Vader? That’s just freaking cruel.

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Nintendo Power

We'd love to see a Wii MotionPlus-enahnced version of this game, but until then leave this one in a galaxy far, far away. [Holiday 2008, p.89]

games(TM)

The Clone Wars is spared irrelevance by its style and personality, but only just. [Jan 2009, p.108]

Eurogamer

All quibbles about presentation and content aside, the game is simply incapable of delivering the sort of fluid gameplay the concept demands.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John M gave it a10:
This game is absolutely fantastic. I put off buying the game due to low review scores, but after a furious week of playing, I realized that the low review scores are simply due to fanboy reviewers crying "I like your old stuff better than your new stuff". This has nothing to do with the playability or enjoyment of the game, but rather their dislike of the direction Lucas is taking the franchise. Overall the game is amazing. Controls are tight, gameplay is pure fun and combat strategy is deep. if you actually try to come up with a strategy, you can disembowel wagglers with ease. Simply perfect!

Decepticon Pom gave it a1:
Tedious and unevocative. I completed it within 3 hours.

Robert S gave it a0:
Oh my... I had such high hopes for this title. Especially after loving Wii: Force Unleashed! Now this "Clown Wars" game is apparently from the same developer (Krome?) yet it's truly unbelievable how they could get it so wrong. It's incredibly repetitive & boring beyond belief. I want to feel like a cool Jedi, but I've never been so bored playing a Wii title before. This has completely ruined by faith in Lucas Arts. Raise the bar with Force Unleashed, then take those mechanics and mess them up as much as humanly possible. 0/10. Discgraceful.

Mark R gave it a10:
After playing this game for several days, I have come to the conclusion that the reviews are all wrong. The combat is deep, the controls precise and the game play: pure enjoyment. This game has turned this non Star Wars fan into a rabid fanboi!!!

Tom S gave it a9:
This game is good! The Clone Wars series is also pretty darn good if you ask me. Just because it is animated does not mean it is for kids only!

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Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels

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