In 2000, Lucasarts produced an abysmal Star Wars beat-em-up called Jedi Power Battles. While it was slightly playable on the Dreamcast, the Playstation was not kind to gamers. It's a shame too since Star Wars lends itself so well to this classic born-in-the-arcade genre. Finally, with Episode III, it works.
Following the plotline of the film, Episode III on the DS is a 2-D beat-em-up mixed in with some brief 3-D flight segments. The latter is the only thing separating it from the Game Boy Advance versions. All of the fighting segments are exactly the same as they are on the GBA.
That's hardly a complaint. It covers everything a successful beat-em-up needs to, including spot-on hit detection, a plethora of destructive moves to keep things fresh, and replay value in the form of Obi-Wan and Anakin who take different paths through the game. The sprites feature an enormous amount of animation, replicating the lightsaber battles in perfect 2-D form. Enemies are somewhat varied, though not enough to keep this from becoming repetitive at a few points.
The boss battles attempt to add some variety, and slightly miss the mark. Lightsaber duels take place on a single plane. All you're required to do is block high or low and then counter-attack. Other bosses have specific ways to be destroyed, and those add the needed refreshment from the basic hacking.
These stages also feature hazards, most of which simply end up becoming annoying. Falling objects that drop too quick to avoid are not fun, and they serve no purpose. To get you through these few rough spots, you always know that at the end of a level, you can power-up your chosen Jedi in a few different categories, or add a new force move to your repertoire. Some of these prove to almost essential (health restore), while others provide entertainment value (force push a rock onto a clone trooper).
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