Yes, after the recent Bounty Hunter title with all it's cool visual styling, great storyline and fairly complex puzzle elements woven into the plot we now have another relatively impressive Star Wars game which sets out to recreate the intense action-packed battle sequences from Episode II. This time the game is almost exclusively vehicle-based combat including just a few brief on-foot levels to add to the game's varied missions (more on those later).

The story begins right where Episode II left off with the Battle Of Geonosis and will see you taking on 16 separate missions across 6 diverse worlds. You will assume the roles of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu at various times as you lead the Republic's Clone Army in a military campaign against the Confederacy Of Independent Systems. This Separatist movement, under the leadership of Count Dooku, has launched a devastating offensive through the galaxy and Separatist droids have swarmed over every star system, sowing chaos and destruction across Republic worlds.

The storyline does a good job of filling in some finer detail about the Clone Wars and jumping straight into the action from where the movie left you hanging gives the game appeal in this respect. As you battle through each action-packed level you begin to uncover a plot to unleash a devastating super-weapon against the Republic. Your main objective then becomes to thwart this plot and destroy the weapon at all costs to save the Universe from Sith domination!

As well as allowing you to play as 3 separate characters at different points in the game (the game chooses for you) Clone Wars also puts you in or on one of 5 different assault "vehicles" throughout the various missions. Although they all share a similar common control layout each has it's own distinctly unique handling physics and arsenal and presents the gamer in turn with a unique gaming experience each time. The 5 vehicles are the Speeder Bike, TX-130S Republic Fighter Tank, AT-XT Assault Walker, Republic Gunship and the Maru - the domesticated beast of burden raised by Wookies on the moon Alaris. While the Maru level adds a really nice diversion by far the most manouevrable and ulitmately satisfying vehicle to use in battle is the Fighter Tank and it's the one you'll spend the most time and cover the most ground in.

Each has it's own appealing features though be it the heavy pounding laser guns and Proton Mortar of the less responsive Assault Walker or the Gunship's large array of firepower including the bright green Composite-Beam Pinpoint Lasers as seen near the end of the movie. One sequence also sees you fleeing through the forests of Kashyyyk on a Separatist STAP, the floating hover scooter used by enemy droids.

Vehicle handling is generally quite intuitive and as mentioned earlier each is a given a unique feel with actions such as strafing, turbo boosts, primary and secondary weapon fire and all changing slightly from vehicle to vehicle. You may find one or two minor issues here and there to start with - the Walker for instance is a little clumsy to use at first and it takes a while to get used to the rotating upper body turret that replaces the quick strafing action of the Tank. The Gunship can also feel like a bit of a dog with it's lumbering, wide arcing turns but it must be remembered that it's role in battle is primarily that of a troop transporter rather than a highly maneouvrable fighter aircraft. Besides, it's satisfying arsenal with which to dispatch large volumes of droid opponents is so much fun to use when things get intense and it appears to be fairly impervious to a lot of enemy fire.

One thing that did get a little annoying while flying the Gunship though was the obvious invisible barriers designed to keep you within a certain area. There's more than a couple of spots in the game where they seem to be too restrictive and in too close proximity to the action and when you move into one of them your ship is often very unceremoniously turned back for you while you momentarily wrestle for control. Collision damage with a nearby obstacle as a result can be a little frustrating! While we're on the subject other collision detection throughout the game is a little inconsitent meaning you can easily fly right through some structures whilst contacting others results in a jerky re-orientation of your vehicle.

Vehicles controls themselves consist of the following general layout - left analogue stick for thrust/steer, right stick for looking up/down, X for primary fire, square for secondary fire, circle and L1 for special abilities/turbo boost, triangle for switching between 1st- and 3rd-person views, R1 for zoom and L2/R2 for strafing left/right in the Tank or on the Speeder Bike, STAP, Maru or when playing on-foot. In the Gunship L2 slows you down to minimum speed whilst R2 speeds you up to max. In the Walker L2/R2 rotate the turret left and right. Later in the game you also have the ability to send 4 different commands to your wingmen or support team using the 4 directional pad buttons.