Feature: Star Wars

Sword Play

The associate producer of the Revenge of the Sith game, Justin Lambros, talks to Starburst about combat techniques and visits from a certain Sith lord…

Tell us about your involvement with stunt co-ordinator Nick Gillard and the Star Wars game.
Nick took a whole week training our animators in the art of lightsaber combat, which has been an amazing help since the focus of our game is providing that authentic lightsaber combat. In that same week that Nick was here, Hayden Christensen also came to visit to give us insight into Anakin – his movements, how he acts, and how he portrayed him… In fact, one of the things that I’m really excited to see in the game is [where] Hayden put a combination of dodging lightsaber attacks with his ability to twirl the lightsaber, and so he made this really great combo where he’s able to dodge attacks as they come in, and then spin his lightsaber behind his back, and really kind of show off how he is the most powerful Jedi that there is.

It was an amazing experience for the whole team to be able to work side by side with Nick and see how he constructs a lightsaber action sequence – to see the basic movements and everything… He actually taught our animators how to do his job. [It] helped us be able to actually know and feel the physicality of being in a lightsaber fight… Many animators film themselves doing specific movements that they’re animating. We took a bunch of reference footage of our animators working with Nick, running through sequences – you know, being Jedi, being battle droids, and how they would attack and defend and all that stuff. So now our animators will actually know and feel what’s right as they animate it.

So the development team at The Collective actually fought with lightsabers?
Yeah, one of the fun things about Nick being at ILM was he let us experiment with the actual stunt sabers from the film. So, we had a group of animators and combat scripters squaring off against one another, practising the moves Nick taught us. Also, we would set up elaborate situations against multiple enemies, and Nick would show us how he takes them down with a variety of moves.

What exactly are your plans in the game for the evolution of Anakin Skywalker from Jedi hero to Sith villain?
The evolution of Anakin as a character in the game is going to be one of the most dynamic and exciting parts of it. You’ll start working side by side with Obi-Wan Kenobi as you have been for years in the Clone Wars, and you’ll be very similar. You’ll fight together as a team, you’ll use your lightsaber similarly, and you’ll kind of be the standard Jedi heroic general that fought in the Clone Wars. But as it progresses and Anakin gives in to the dark side, then he’s able to tap into a whole other side of the Force, and he’s able to use powers that are much more dynamic and powerful and sinister and deadly. And so, as he evolves in the game, he ends up being much different than Obi-Wan.

There's more on Star Wars in
Starburst #324

Photo © LucasFilms
Feature © Visual Imagination 2005. Not for reproduction

Taken from

Starburst #324
June 2005
ships from May 5 2005
News-stand Price
UK £3.99 / US $7.99

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