New features
Overall, the game engine used by previous Lego Star Wars games has been upgraded. It can now hold more than 200 moving units or objects on-screen. The graphics are more detailed than before, and the lighting has been improved.
New features include scenarios in which players can command large armies of clones to battle against droid armies (although not on DS), and Story Swap mode, in which players can switch between two characters in different areas whose stories run simultaneously. The game includes split screen combat. All new character features include lightsaber throwing, picking up droids and stepping on certain pads in which Jedi do "combo moves" to destroy certain objects. Vehicle levels have been altered; now, players can land their ship and begin fighting on foot (similar to Star Wars: Battlefront II). All the original elements seen in previous Lego Star Wars games have returned. The hub has also been changed, taking place in a Republic Cruiser named the Resolute and also a Separatist Ship the Invisible Hand. Characters can be purchased on these ships- Separatists on the Invisible Hand; characters from the Republic on the Resolute.
Plot
Prologue - Geonosian Arena
Set during the events of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, the level begins with Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala being sentenced to death in the Geonosian Arena on the planet Geonosis, after being captured by the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS), led by the Sith Lord Count Dooku. After freeing themselves and fending off the three beasts that were sent to kill them, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padmé are rescued by the Jedi Order, led by Master Mace Windu. In the ensuing fight between the Jedi and the Separatists' battle droids, Windu fights the bounty hunter Jango Fett and decapitates him. Although the Jedi are eventually outnumbered by the droids, they are rescued by Grand Master Yoda and the Galactic Republic's new clone army, much to the frustration of Dooku and the other Separatist leaders.
Following the prologue, the Clone Wars officially begin with the Battle of Geonosis, leaving the galaxy in a state of crisis as a result of the constant conflict between the Republic and the Separatists. Each of the following levels of the game are based on either The Clone Wars animated film or its follow-up TV series with the same name, which both feature this conflict, and are divided in three separate chapters, which have either Count Dooku, General Grievous or Assajj Ventress as the main antagonist, although the chapters can be played in any possible order.
Count Dooku chapter
Battle of Geonosis
Although not based on any episode of The Clone Wars show, but rather also set during Attack of the Clones, the level showcases the Battle of Geonosis, the very first battle of the Clone Wars, from the perspective of Jedi Masters Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, and Ki-Adi Mundi, who lead an attack on the Separatists' command ship. With the help of the clone troopers, the Jedi manage to secure the battlefield, before the clones destroy the command ship, thus assuring the Republic's victory.
Gungan General
After Anakin, Obi-Wan and Dooku are all captured by Hondo Ohnaka and his band of pirates on the planet Forrum, the Jedi Council and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine send the Gungan Jar Jar Binks, the representative of Naboo, accompanied by several clone troopers led by Commander Stone, to attempt to negotiate their release. When Hondo's pirates attack them, causing them to crash, Jar Jar and the clones are left with no other choice but to fight them, eventually destroying the generators that are holding Anakin, Obi-Wan and Dooku captive. As Dooku sneaks away, the former two escape and prepare to fight the pirates, only to find all of them defeated by Jar Jar and the clones, who bring Anakin and Obi-Wan back to the Republic on Coruscant.
Jedi Crash
When the Republic fleet led by Jedi Master Aayla Secura and clone Commander Bly comes under heavy attack by Separtatist Munificient-class freighters, more Republic ships, commanded by Anakin and Ahsoka Tano, come to their aid. Anakin and Ahsoka manage to rescue Aayla and Bly, who help them destroy several Separatist freighters, thus assuring the Republic's victory, before returning them to their Venator-class Star Destroyer.
Defenders of Peace
Shortly after their narrow victory against the Separatists, Anakin, Ahsoka, Aayla, and Bly attempt to relax aboard their ship, but Anakin accidentally causes it to crash on the planet Maridun, where they encounter a village of Lurmens led by Wag Too, who are about to be invaded by Separatist forces led by General Lok Durd, under orders from Count Dooku. Anakin, Ahsoka, Aayla and Bly manage to send a distress signal to the Republic, who sends forces to help them defend Wag Too's village from the Separatists, destroying Lok Durd's AAT in the process, who is subsequently taken into Republic custody.
Weapons Factory
After the Geonosian Separatist leader Poggle the Lesser, under orders from Count Dooku, reactivates a weapons factory on Geonosis, the Republic sends forces led by Anakin and Luminara Unduli, as well as their respective apprentices, Ahsoka and Barriss Offee, to attempt to reactivate them. Anakin, Luminara and clone Captain Rex face the Separatist forces on the battlefield, destroying several waves of battle droids and securing most of the battlefield, but their commander, the tactical droid TX-21, soon reveals numerous golden-plated MTTs, which the Republic forces struggle against. Meanwhile, Ahsoka and Barriss infiltrate the Separatists' facility after fighting their way through numerous Geonosians in the tunnels, and confront TX-21 and Poggle. The latter leaves TX-21, accompanied by several battle droids and a MTT, to deal with them, but the two Jedi manage to destroy them all and then board the MTT, using it to destroy the facility's power core. This causes it to explode and all the remaining MTT to be disabled, thus assuring the Republic's victory, with Ahsoka and Barris escaping just in time and reuniting with Anakin and Luminara outside.
