2/5 ★ – fez219's review of LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.

This feels very much like the Lego Indy 2 for Lego Star Wars. There's a lot of clever ideas at play and it's very experimental, but most are executed poorly. One big thing to get out of the way: this game came out way too early. It only covers some early arcs of the Clone Wars, many of which were very weak. There's a few strong arcs represented but it's a bummer seeing such strong content from the later seasons not represented at all here. The missions feel very disjointed and will be very confusing for those who have not watched the show. The biggest problem with the game is its level design. Longer levels are back, but this game features some of the most repetitive and drab levels yet. SO many missions are boring hallways and very few do anything creative or fun. There's a few new interesting mechanics, but the puzzles and combat feel less inspired than other lego games. The cast of characters and vehicle roster are both great, but with such weak levels, it feels pointless to unlock anything. There's some great ideas like a more connected hub, seamless ground/space transitions, and split-up characters that need to work together. The last idea is probably the best executed here and slightly spices up what would be otherwise boring sequences. Space is lame and extremely repetitive, and the hub is boring to explore and a pain to find everything in. There's also a big emphasis on RTS sequences, which did not pan out. Commanding units and calling in bases requires your commander unit to physically move to the unit and where they want to attack, and it is not smooth at all. I would have much rather had some sort of reticle that zooms out from gameplay to help select units; Halo Wars show that this can be done on console (although I obviously wouldn't expect something nearly as sophisticated for a mechanic that is only present in some levels). idk if later Lego games do strategy again, but I could see it being really fun and hope this isn't TT's last attempt at these kinds of mechanics. As a huge fan of TCW and Rebels, I really hope to see a lot of animated content in The Complete Saga in 2021. I would totally purchase dlc if it included missions from either series. Hopefully this isn't the last we see of Lego The Clone Wars!