First Impressions - Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rubik’s Puzzle World and Raving Rabbids 3

First Impressions is what I hope will be a regular feature here on Ordinary Gamer. As I mentioned, whenever I receive/purchase games to review for PALGN, I plan to post some initial thoughts here, before doing a round-up article of sorts with my final conclusions. At the moment I am reviewing four games for PALGN, which are Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels, Rubik’s Puzzle World and Raving Raving Rabbids: TV Party.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance
Platform: DS

I generally take licensed games with a grain of salt; they’re usually a feeble cash-in that was rushed just to make a quick buck during the Christmas holiday period. You can imagine my surprise though when I loaded Jedi Alliance and discovered its high production values. The graphics are quite good for a DS game, and there’s absolutely heaps of voice acting – something which is commonly overlooked in DS titles to save space on that tiny cartridge. Sadly, the gameplay feels very average. You appear to spend most of your time walking down hallways, tapping away at any objects that light up. Combat is pretty much the same as well: tap tap tap tap tap tap. There doesn’t seem to be any real depth, though I must admit I have to play it a bit more before passing judgement.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
Platform: Wii

A fighting game from Aussie developer Krome Studios. Having finished work on The Force Unleashed for Wii a few months ago, I had high hopes Krome would have been able to dish up a top notch Star Wars fighter. Sadly, it looks like it wasn’t meant to be. There’s too much waggling involved, and the controls just aren’t tight enough. I know the Wii remote would make a perfect lightsaber, but can’t developers take a note out of Smash Bros. Brawl’s book and stick to a traditional control scheme? Controls aside, it’s a fairly standard fighter. You’ve got your health meter, combo moves and special attacks. I haven’t really experienced much that makes it stand out in the over-crowded genre, though it’s nice Krome included footage from The Clone Wars animated film and TV series.

Rubik’s Puzzle World
Platform: Wii

I’d never heard of this game before, but as soon as I saw the name Two Tribes my heart filled with joy. I loved Two Tribes’ Toki Tori on WiiWare, so I was curious to see if they could pull off the same charm with Rubik’s Puzzle World. The general idea behind the game is to solve cube-based puzzles. As redundant as that sounds, it’s actually rather thought provoking and addictive. There’s a wide range of puzzle types included in the package, though I think I’ll save detailed descriptions for the final review. It’s certainly a quirky title, however just from a few quick sessions, it isn’t something that will appeal to hardcore puzzle fans.

Rayman Raving Rabbids: TV Party
Platform: Wii

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! With that out the way, quite a few people know I was very fond of the original Raving Rabbids. Not only was it a great introduction to the Wii’s motion controls, but it also challenged players to achieve perfect scores and unlock videos and concept art. Last year’s entry was, quite frankly, a disappointment. Ubisoft simply made the mini-games too easy, and the there was a stronger focus on multiplayer that left solo sessions bland and boring. From what I’ve played of TV Party, it’s a step in the right direction. While all games are playable in multiplayer mode, solo players should be able to get a lot more enjoyment out of it than Raving Rabbids 2. In particular I love the new dancing mini-games where you have to strike poses with the Wii remote and Nunchuck, copying the actions of an on-screen coach. I’m certainly looking forward to playing this more over the coming weeks.

Full reviews are planned to be published on PALGN over the next two weeks. I’ll continue regular blog entries over that timeframe.