The Clone Wars Heroes Star

You can assume control of enemy droids by skewering them with your lightsaber

So there really is no excuse for such a lame rip-off as the clone wars heroes star.

So if you're a fan, you'll love the story and setting.

The look of the game copies the quasi-anime character art of the show, with all of the big eyes and odd proportions perfectly preserved. There are lots of inside references to various plot points from the show's first season and the theatrical movie that launched this franchise in the summer of 2008.

Virtually all of the show's characters make appearances throughout the course of the campaign, which can be played either solo or drop-in cooperatively with a friend on the same system (there is no online multiplayer support).

You spend levels fighting, jumping from one platform to another, and collecting glowing stars to earn points.

There is a fair bit of looseness in character movements, which results in lots of sliding around and extra steps. You can never seem to stop exactly where you want to stop or jump exactly where you want to jump, which results in much frustrating skidding over cliff edges to your doom.

It seems impossible to nail the proper timing in situations like this because either the game is strangely touchy at certain moments or the controller ignores your commands half of the time.

You wind up jumping to your death dozens of times in these levels, often missing what should be routine jumps so completely that the platform you were aiming for wasn't even touched. The only positive aspect of these suicidal leaps is that the camera shifts slightly as you plummet to your doom, giving you a better angle on the situation for your next attempt.

Levels at least fly by fairly quickly. But even though you never feel bogged down, you do feel like you're stuck on an assembly line. The utter lack of surprises here makes the eight or so hours it takes to get through the campaign seem more like 80 hours.

Even the most diehard Clone Wars Heroes Star fan will have a hard time stomaching this disappointing effort. All of the control problems, confusing level design, and weird camera positions create a perfect storm of stupid that makes for one spectacularly frustrating.