After our screenshot scoop and subsequent first-ever preview of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, I already knew I was pumped for this game. Its E3 demo turned out to be not quite what I had expected, but I still came away from it very satisfied and still very much looking forward to the game this fall.

Clone Wars is primarily a vehicular-based action game that bears more than a little resemblance to Factor 5’s Rogue Leader...and that’s no coincidence. Pandemic has already met with Factor 5 several times to share ideas for this game. Unlike Rogue Leader, however, Clone Wars takes place entirely on the ground or near it. There is one flying vehicle, the Republican Gunship, whose low-flying atmospheric missions actually comprise a good chunk of the game. Another 10-20% is on-foot missions, which sound cool but unfortunately were not available in the E3 demo.

However, the majority of the game is played in hover tanks and other ground vehicles, right down in the middle of the action. If you’re visualizing Twisted Metal or Vigilante 8, you’re on the wrong track. Clone Wars presents massive battles just like the ones in the Attack of the Clones movie, and although you’re a Jedi and have an important role, this is a war and it’ll go on with or without you. The current engine allows for dozens of vehicles (some quite huge) and hundreds of individual clone soldiers and battledroids to be onscreen at once.

Unlike in Pandemic’s previous tank-war games, you won’t have very much strategic control over other units in Clone Wars. You can control a small backup squad with D-pad commands, but there are no resources to gather or new units to build during the missions. The only heavily strategic mode is a multiplayer game called Conquest, which I didn’t get to try out.

So Clone Wars is all about action, and it handles that much perfectly. The hover tank level I played was hectic and fast-paced, and there were always plenty of Separatist enemies for me to take out, even though I wasn’t sure of my long-term mission objectives. LucasArts assured me that there are several other playable vehicles for this type of barely-above-ground mission. There’s only one flying vehicle (maybe more secret ones, we’ll see), but it’s absolutely stunning. The Republic Gunship is equipped with infinite homing missiles (they recharge over time) and a set of monstrous dual green lasers that also auto-target. It doesn’t take much skill to use either weapon; flying missions are more about your plan of attack, evasion, and getting from one place to another, often with precious human cargo onboard.

As if all of this weren’t already brewing up to be a great game, Pandemic is including several multiplayer scenarios that are surprisingly innovative and entertaining, for up to four people with the GameCube version. The standard Deathmatch mode is actually made quite interesting, because not only can you choose from all your Republic vehicles (not including the Gunship), but you can also use the Separatist machines, and there are no restrictions that say each player has to pick one or the other side or whatever. Each vehicle is remarkably different from the others. For instance, the hover tank is excellent at strafing, but its weaponry isn’t very powerful. That big wheel-thing you see in the movie can’t strafe at all, but it’s very fast and can ram into other vehicles for an almost instant kill. The thing that looks like an AT-ST walker (probably the precursor to our beloved chicken-like friend) has a weak gun but very powerful mortar shells, and instead of strafing he can turn his head from side to side to track a target. The developers hope frequent players will test out all the vehicles and eventually stick with the one that best suits their playing style. Other than Deathmatch, there is also the aforementioned strategy-heavy Conquest Mode, plus co-op Jedi Academy (which can also be played single-player), where you have to destroy endless waves of oncoming enemies in what has been described as being a little like Galaga. Cool.

Overall I was very impressed by the visuals and controls in Clone Wars, and it sounds like the game has plenty of original ideas that should set it apart from your typical action game. I’d still like to see Pandemic drop a first-person RTS tank-war bizzomb on the GameCube, but for now I’m really looking forward to playing more of Clone Wars.