Star Wars Episode III: First Hands-On, New Screens & Media Update With Trailer

We get an incredible chance to go hands-on with Revenge of the Sith, and bring you our full impressions plus a fresh helping of media. Become the greatest of all the Jedi!

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The fighting action is fast-paced and fluid, boasting a good combo system that works as well in the air as it does on ground. The aerial action is underlined with lots of jumping around using the A button, while leaning into combos with a series of attack possibilities is advised; quick attacks are performed with X, "power attacks" with Y and forward "lunging" attacks with B. Thanks to an accessible control design, before we knew it we were pulling off all manner of spinning and jumping combos like a pro.

We encountered a Jedi "block" situation at points during gameplay, in which both weapons clash - and only mashing buttons as fast as possible will win the scramble. Meanwhile, in Jedi duels, holding block while pressing an attack button performs a more offensive block when timed correctly - almost like a traditional fighting game counter attack - leaving your opponent vulnerable and open to a combo-beating for a short period of time. Awesomely, you can mix in Force powers in the middle of a sequence, giving a "combo, combo, Force power" sort of flow that works pretty well.

Essentially, the development team, The Collective, has created perhaps the most authentic lightsaber combat ever, and the fighting looks beautiful as a result. With choreography taken directly from the films, not to mention the many new stunts created exclusively for the game under the auspices of famed Star Wars stunt coordinator Nick Gillard, nothing less is to be expected.

The game also offers a titillating multiplayer versus mode, with the chance to unlock additional characters. For starters, General Grievous - the hideous amalgam of cutting-edge Separatist technology and the broken body of a once-proud Kaleesh warrior - is up for grabs, replete with the ability to wield up to four lightsabers. Since this bad-ass hunts Jedi for sport, collecting his victim's sabers, he often keeps them within his cloak - and nothing would please him more than to add those of the Kenobi and Skywalker varieties.

But that's not the only multiplayer option that will be on offer - multiplayer co-operative play is also unlockable. And although we weren't able to garner as many details, you can bet it involves some kind of fighting.

We saw eleven of (at least) sixteen levels that are available in the final game. Spanning four movie worlds including the planet Coruscant, the sinkhole planet of Utapau and the volcano world of Mustafar, there's no doubt about the artistic merit of the game environment, which is just as well, because each level starts off with a scene from the film.

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