Topic: PREVIEWS: Star Wars: The Clone Wars

[Crimm]

Take a hold of the lightsaber, as you fight the duels from the upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars film.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/previewArt.cfm?artid=16207

 In Star Wars mythos, The Clone Wars are a series of conflicts between the Galactic Empire's army of cloned soldiers and the Confederation of Independent Systems' army of androids.  These wars, which take place between Star Wars Episode II and Star Wars Episode III, are the subject of an upcoming CG motion picture Star Wars The Clone Wars, and the TV series of the same name.    

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels is the Wii exclusive game designed to take advantage of the Wii Remote by putting the lightsaber in the hands of players.  Lightsaber Duels tasks the player with re-enacting the duels from the upcoming movie and TV series.  The motion controls should allow for an accessible game and the cast of new and returning characters each feature different skills, to foster unique experiences.    

In an interview with IGN, Ken Fox, the game's producer, stated that the game is not intended to be a "lightsaber simulator," but rather an "intuitive" experience.  Swinging the Wii Remote left to right will cause your character to do the same.  Character movement is controlled via the Nunchuk's analog stick, and various force abilities (such as Force Push, and Force Throw) are mapped to the buttons.    

The titular lightsaber duels are one-on-one affairs, which (based on gameplay footage) appear to take place in either full 3D or in a more restrained 2.5D.  The arenas feature destructible elements that can be chopped off and hurled at your opponent.    

On top of the single player story mode, Lightsaber Duels also features multiplayer battles and a series of challenge modes.  Opponents can choose from a variety of characters to either battle it out or complete a series of objectives in order to earn rewards.    

A lot of effort has gone into the game's presentation.  In the same interview mentioned earlier, Fox noted that the game features over 4000 lines of character specific dialog, written by one of the film's writers and delivered by the original actors.  He states that, "When you [play] as Obi-Wan versus General Grievous, they will say things to each other that they will never say to any other character."  Visually, the game adopts the visual style of the CG film.  The trailer shows a variety of environments and stylized character models.    

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels is scheduled for a Q4 2008 release, which puts it after the August release of the film.

[Morari]

The visual style of the CG film? Is that going to be akin to the visual style of the Cartoon Network miniseries? That "style" was fugly. Poor, overexposed Star Wars.

[Kairon]

The visual style of the CG film? Is that going to be akin to the visual style of the Cartoon Network miniseries? That "style" was fugly. Poor, overexposed Star Wars.

You DARE assail the style of Samurai Jack? BEGONE DAEMON!

[ATimson]

The visual style of the CG film? Is that going to be akin to the visual style of the Cartoon Network miniseries?

Unfortunately.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Tartakovsky's Clone Wars > Lucas' Episodes 1, 2, 3, CG, NEXT GEN, high def, beard, Indiana Jones and the land of the KOCS, and Krust of the Old Replublic.

If the cartoon was "bad" then adding a 3rd dimension with per-pixel facial hairing and butt shading is the end of Hollywood.

[Crimm]

http://www.starwars.com/theclonewars/

[NWR_insanolord]

Is it just the way I'm reading it or does this game sound like the exact same thing as the Duel mode in Force Unleashed? The Wii gets 2 games with it and the 360 and PS3 don't get it at all.

[Dirk Temporo]

The visual style of the CG film? Is that going to be akin to the visual style of the Cartoon Network miniseries? That "style" was fugly.

Die.

[Morari]

The visual style of the CG film? Is that going to be akin to the visual style of the Cartoon Network miniseries? That "style" was fugly. Poor, overexposed Star Wars.

You DARE assail the style of Samurai Jack? BEGONE DAEMON!

Yes, I do. It tends to look like a gimped Flash cartoon. A lot of those Adult Swim shows seem to be taking on ridiculously primitive styles though, so perhaps I'm just not "with it" enough to see the significance.

[Kairon]

Flash animation has it's own look, as does clay-mation(I <3 clay-mation!!), Don Bluth style rotoscope (see Titan A.E.), or cel-animation. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's necessarily bad. Maybe not your taste (I'm a little leery of Don Bluth's humans...), but it isn't categorically bad.

[ShyGuy]

Obi Wan's face was carved from wood. FROM WESTERN MAPLE WOOD

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

HOW YOU IDENTIFY WOOD SO WELL?

[ShyGuy]

Need I say more?

[Morari]

Flash animation has it's own look, as does clay-mation(I <3 clay-mation!!), Don Bluth style rotoscope (see Titan A.E.), or cel-animation. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's necessarily bad. Maybe not your taste (I'm a little leery of Don Bluth's humans...), but it isn't categorically bad.

I'm perfectly capable of telling the difference between mediums, and am not trying to force my taste upon anyone. I would argue however that the brunt of what I mentioned is categorically bad, and purposely so. Such styles are not used because they look interesting or add any aesthetic value, but because they are cheap to work with. If you can look past that and appreciate the story that is being told, that's fine, but don't try to say that it is a stylistic choice, because it isn't.

I'm also quite fond of well done claymation. It still beats the heck out of a lot of the CGI used today.

[Arbok]

Such styles are not used because they look interesting or add any aesthetic value, but because they are cheap to work with. say that it is a stylistic choice, because it isn't.

Okay, so Kung Fu Panda opens with a scene done in the similar fashion to Samurai Jack... would you argue they did that because it was cheaper or that it was a stylistic choice?

[Kairon]

Flash animation has it's own look, as does clay-mation(I <3 clay-mation!!), Don Bluth style rotoscope (see Titan A.E.), or cel-animation. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's necessarily bad. Maybe not your taste (I'm a little leery of Don Bluth's humans...), but it isn't categorically bad.

I'm perfectly capable of telling the difference between mediums, and am not trying to force my taste upon anyone. I would argue however that the brunt of what I mentioned is categorically bad, and purposely so. Such styles are not used because they look interesting or add any aesthetic value, but because they are cheap to work with. If you can look past that and appreciate the story that is being told, that's fine, but don't try to say that it is a stylistic choice, because it isn't.

I'm also quite fond of well done claymation. It still beats the heck out of a lot of the CGI used today.

I don't know. The Clone Wars animation style doesn't seem some color-in-the-lines Flash animation. I see it as having flair and style that is significant in the wash of Flash animation out there. It is shaped by the medium it's in, but beyond that I think that there is also artistry in how it's evolved to use its constrictions. I know that, upon first seeing Samurai Jack, I was awestruck: I'd never seen anything like it. In fact, the tendency for long stretches without dialogue in Samurai Jack, and certain sections of the Clone Wars animations, should suggest that the art style is beyond functional and actually doing a lot of narrative heavy-lifting. Of course, this doesn't mean that it's universally likable, but I can't help but be impressed.

If we're going to expand this to the rest of flash animation... that may be a discussion for another day, lol. Is Ben10 done in Flash?

Also, <3 Ray Harryhausen.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

LET THE ART SNOBS COME OUT

EVAN!  I CHOOSE YOU!

*POKETHROW*

[Kairon]

LET THE ART SNOBS COME OUT

EVAN!  I CHOOSE YOU!

*POKETHROW*

OH NO! WE'VE INADVERTENTLY SUMMONED THE MAN-CRITIC OF OREGON!!!

[AV]

I don't like the art style in Clone wars, but this game does seem like they are trying to make something decent.

I enjoy the sword fighting in No more Heroes and this seems like it might be an evolution of that. The idea of 1:1 is amazing, but in real life I would grow tired of swinging wiimote constantly.

[Pale]

I don't know if I like the art style.... All I can really conclude at this point is that it is an odd choice.

The new movies contain soooo much CG, that watching that trailer could trick someone into thinking it was a live action Star Wars flick... and then a character walks out and BAM! shocker!

If you look at Sqaure-Enix CG, it's usually relatively stunning and realistic, save for all of the characters having an anime look to them.  That's very similar on paper, but why do I feel less confused watching Square CG?

[Crimm]

One trailer I found had a fantastic looking battle scene.  It was stunning, so the character art seemed weird.  I think I've softened in my initial revulsion, because I now see that part of this art style is giving even identical characters some distinctness.