Star Wars: The Clone Wars

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It's well-known that Star Wars fans were crying out for a lightsaber game ever since the Wii's unique controller was first revealed. A few months ago this was partly achieved with The Force Unleashed - an enjoyable action romp with a compelling storyline - but as the title suggests that game focused more on Force powers than those lovely glowing blades of awesome. As a result, with a game like Lightsaber Duels, it should be pretty obvious what the weapon of choice is this time around.

Ironically there isn't an awful lot here in terms of lightsaber combat that wasn't in The Force Unleashed. In fact, there are actually less options available to you. The game picks up five different lightsaber swipes (up, down, left, right and a thrust) and each character has their own combination moves that are activated by stringing together various attacks. You can also throw objects at opponents by holding C and flicking the Nunchuk, and use the force to blast energy at them by holding Z instead. And that's about it.

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You can't control the objects you pick up, you can't pick up opponents, you can't interact with the scenery in the same way you can in The Force Unleashed's Duel Mode.

That said, it's a different sort of game and since it's more of a rigid one-on-one fighter there's no need to run around lifting rocks and stuff because most of the time you'll be getting stuck in, trying to parry and dodge lightsaber attacks. As a result, the lack of abilities shouldn't really have a negative impact on your enjoyment of the game.

It's clear that Lightsaber Duels has been designed with two-player gaming in mind. Although the single-player modes on offer are enjoyable enough, they feel slightly lacking. The Campaign mode (which follows the story of the movie and subsequent TV series) can be cleared in about an hour and a half, the Challenges mode (where you're given set goals to accomplish) has a grand total of four stages and the only other option available (which ironically offers the most lifespan) is a Street Fighter-style Battle mode where you simply face a number opponents one by one until you've beaten them all, at which point you'll unlock a new costume or character.

If you're planning on going it solo when getting this game, you'll probably have seen everything in about five hours or so.
However, if you plan on buying Lightsaber Duels with the intent of taking on friends then you'll get much more out of it since it's simple enough for anyone to play yet refined enough for experts to get some pretty tense battles going.

Ultimately, Lightsaber Duels is only really worth getting for either those who have seen and done everything in The Force Unleashed and crave more Star Wars action or for younger gamers who love the recent Clone Wars cartoons and aren't that interested in the live-action movies. Otherwise The Force Unleashed is still really the way to go.