Beyond the Movie:
On May 19, the Force is with moviegoers as Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith treats them to the final chapter in Lucasfilm's Star Wars saga. PlayStation 2 and Xbox owners don't have to wait that long to experience the rise of Darth Vader, however. On May 5, they can actually play through the adventures of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith videogame from LucasArts. But that's only the beginning. Whether expanding upon your favorite scenes from the movie, including moments edited from the movie, or even presenting an outright alternate ending, the videogame exceeds the boundaries of the film to deliver the ultimate Jedi action experience.
From the opening mission in the hangar of a Trade Federation cruiser to Obi-Wan and Anakin's climactic duel, even the game's most recognizable locations re-created from the film branch out beyond the movie. "What we wanted to do was expand upon ideas and scenes that were maybe cut short or just don't appear very long in the film," explains Justin Lambros, the game's associate producer. "We're able to fully realize different environments, attacks and events that may just be a minute or two in the film sequence."
Some of the more notable expansions on scenes you'll see in the movie are as follows:
- Mission 9: Obi-Wan's lightsaber duel with droid leader General Grievous spans different, new settings on the planet Utapau. It's a much longer fight that feels truly epic in the game.
- Mission 10: At one point in the movie, Anakin faces off against Jedi Master Mace Windu within Chancellor Palpatine's quarters. Their confrontation reaches a whole new level in the game.
- Mission 12: After his fall to the dark side, Anakin confronts Jedi Master Cin Drallig (based on the movie's stunt coordinator, Nick Gillard, who also helped LucasArts and The Collective to create the best lightsaber combat possible) in an exciting duel lasting several minutes. Cin is seen for only a few seconds in the movie.
- Mission 13: After defeating General Grievous, the movie only shows Obi-Wan use stealth in escaping Utapau. In the game, he must face the entire clone army!
- Mission 2: Early in the mission, Anakin and Obi-Wan must fight droids and escape a flooding generator room. This level is based on a sequence that was filmed for the movie but was eventually cut.
- Mission 6: In the movie, you will see Anakin and Obi-Wan take on General Grievous' bodyguards. However, you won't see the ship turn upside down like it does in the game, an aspect of the scene originally conceived for the film that didn't make the final cut.
- Mission 11: Before he confronts Cin Drallig, Anakin challenges swarms of lesser Jedi Knights within the Jedi Temple. The film portrays this very briefly, but the game uses a considerably longer sequence to illustrate these important events in Anakin's turn to the dark side.
As if the movie's large assortment of rival Jedi, battle droids and other nemeses wasn't enough, the team behind the Revenge of the Sith videogame created other new enemies specifically for the game. Most notable is Serra Keto, Cin Drallig's headstrong apprentice whom Anakin duels in Mission 11 just before taking on the Jedi Master himself. Other game-exclusive characters joining Serra in the Jedi Temple are Jedi Brutes and Jedi Snipers. New battle droid types -- Air Battle Droids and Grapple Droids -- were also conceived just for the game, as were specialized clone troopers known as Clone Blaze Troopers (who fly and shoot with flamethrowers), Clone Heavy Gunners and elite Clone Assassins.
"But even with all of its expansions and additions, we were very careful not to spoil key moments of the film," comments Lambros. "The game does a great job telling the film's central conflict, but it's more visceral and very exciting to live it interactively. In fact, there's so much emotion and character development in the movie that we'd never be able to cover that in a single game. And it's important to note that we're not just re-creating the movie scene-for-scene in 3D. It's important that the game serves its medium, not just retells the film."
The open-endedness of the videogame also allows you to do something that will certainly excite even the most casual Star Wars fan -- to totally change the history of that famous galaxy far, far away. You may at first think your ultimate Jedi action experience concludes once you've lived the film's unforgettable climactic duel and defeated Anakin as Obi-Wan -- but it's not. After that, you'll replay the battle wielding the power of the dark side as Anakin. Defeating your former master triggers a shocking alternate ending. You'll know that from that point on, the galaxy will never be the same again...
Example: Invisible Hand:
During the height of the Battle of Coruscant, the journeys of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi begin aboard General Grievous's flagship, an enormous cruiser named the Invisible Hand, where the allies fight to free Chancellor Palpatine from the clutches of the Separatists.
Droves of enemies stand in our heroes' way, from familiar battle droids, super battle droids and droidekas to new opponents like grapple droids, air battle droids and buzz droids. The action moves from the cruiser's hangar to a flooding generator room, continuing on to a thrilling elevator ride and even a showdown with Separatist leader, Count Dooku.
Even if they should manage to free the Chancellor, can Anakin and Obi-Wan survive a further onslaught? More battle droids of every type await -- including the bodyguards of droid leader, General Grievous, tenacious droids built with one purpose in mind: to destroy a Jedi. But then again, these are no ordinary Jedi...