Author: Angelo Casciorizzo

Platform: Xbox 360
Release Date: April 3, 2012
Distributed by: LucasArts
Price: $449.00

Star Wars R2-D2 Console: 4 out of 5 stars
Kinect Star Wars: 3 out of 5 stars

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…. OK enough of that. The Star Wars Limited Edition Xbox 360 is really well done. When I finally got it and started to open it the nerd in me was very excited. Being a long time Star Wars fan and that my other 360 was broken there was no doubt in me getting this.

It comes with the Xbox 360 Console which is custom themed to R2-D2. The Kinect Sensor is the first white one of its kind on the 360. The wireless controller is gold and themed to C-3PO. The controller is detailed very nicely. A 320GB hard drive is the largest available on the 360. It also comes with two games Kinect Star Wars and Kinect Adventures.

Hooking everything up was pretty easy. Upon turning the 360 on for the first time the console made its first R2-D2 sound. The console will make R2 sounds when you turn it on and off from the console or open and close the tray from the console. If you use the controller to power on/off the console it will not make the R2 sounds.

Now on to the Kinect Star Wars game. It starts off with C-3PO and R2-D2 and recently recovered Jedi Archives. Listening to the two droids go back and forth with each other like they do in the movies gives a good feeling of being immersed into the Star Wars Universe. You have several different modes you can select from.

Campaign Story: The bulk of the content in the game. You are a padawan learner and you go through the Clone Wars. The voices at times do not match with the animation. The voice acting is not the greatest but it is not bad either. When it comes to the lightsaber battles it is almost like a turn based RPG. At first your enemy will attack you and you have to block then once you build enough stamina you go into a lock where your weapons clash together and you have to break the lock by doing one several different options like Force Push, Kick, or Head butt you opponent. After successfully doing so, you can now attack your enemy. This gets repeated until one of wyou go down. Now I must say that the Kinect did capture the movements pretty decently. Also the nerd in me I used my Master Replicas Lightsaber hilt to give it more of a Jedi feeling for me. This did not affect the Kinect at all regarding being able to read my movements. Depending on what hand you use for your Lightsaber the other is used for your force moves. You can force push or grab and toss your enemies around. Not all enemies can be affected by the force. One thing that does ruin the experience is the use of cut scenes. While playing you are constantly put into a cut scene where you have no control over your char. It does this pretty often and does get annoying.

Pod Racing: This is done really well and one of the better mini games available. The controls work great and you have to hold your arms up as if you were in the podracer itself. When you pull your arms back your racer slows down and applies the break. Thrust your arms forward gives you a burst of speed. Turning can be a little bit tricky but once you are used to it you should not have any problems. The story is geared more towards a younger audience but is fun none the less.

Rancor Rampage: You are the rancor and everyone else is your meal. Nom Nom! This mode is very entertaining and a lot of fun. You are a rancor on the loose and you can pretty much destroy anything in your path. You can also eat the poor people that are running around. What is also fun is you can pick up people and throw them, you do get added bonus the farther you can toss them.

Duels of the Fate: This mode takes you through a series of Lightsaber duels. This is pretty slow and not as exciting as one would hope.

Galactic Dance Off: Who of us would not want to dance with Slave Leia!! Well after this you will not be 100% fulfilled. Even though the story line may not make sense it was indeed fun if you can get past that. I mean I can’t see as Leia having fun and smiling while Jaba’s captive. Yes in the game it does seem like she is having a good time, but as I said if you can get past that part the play is fun.