Obi-Wanchronicles the adventures of young Obi-Wan Kenobi across five acts as he battles the evil Trade Federation, the Black Heth crime organization, and other assorted baddies. The story is nothing new, and it's hampered a bit by theEpisode Isetting, which simply isn't as compelling as the setting of the classicStar Warsstories.

Since you play as Obi-Wan, the primary weapon in your arsenal is the lightsaber. Using a third-person view, you use the left thumbstick to control Obi-Wan and the right thumbstick to control the lightsaber. In principle this sounds fantastic, but in practice it's a mess--the camera constantly shifts angles, making it hard to see certain enemies, and planning a coordinated attack with the lightsaber is unnecessarily difficult, especially when multiple enemies are swarming in from all sides.

Graphically,Obi-Wanis lifeless. It fails to take advantage of the Xbox's fancy graphics hardware, and the environments are empty and plain.The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a game released for the obsolete Nintendo 64 system, features much more beautiful graphics. And playingObi-Wanafter playingHaloorMunch's Oddyseewill make aStar Warsfan weep at the thought of how goodObi-Wanshould have looked. Compounding the ugly graphics problem is the fact that the game will slow to a crawl at certain points, making jumping or fighting practically impossible. Almost as bad as the poor graphics is the horrid voice acting (Obi-Wan sounds like Mike Myers doing a bad Scottish accent), and the all-too-frequent cinematic cutscenes look like they were slapped together in five minutes.

There are some tiny diamonds in the vast rough, such as the ability to use Force powers to throw objects at enemies or pull weapons out of their hands. A feature sure to please fans of the dramatic saber fights inEpisode Iis the multiplayer Jedi Battles mode. This mode lets you and a buddy engage in fierce Jedi duels, using characters from the movie and game. Unfortunately, these few nice touches aren't enough to overcomeObi-Wan's bland setting and lame execution.--William Harms

Pros:

• Force powers
• You get to use a lightsaber
• Multiplayer Jedi Battles can be fun
• Great music and sound effects

• Foes parry Obi-Wan's lightsaber with clubs
• Horrible graphics
• Atrocious voice acting
• Clumsy controls
• Empty levels