Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

"The Force Restrained"

After all the hype surrounding the game, and playing a few multiplayer battles against my friend on the Wii, I thought this game was going to be amazing. The graphics had looked incredible, the force powers and game mechanics were amazing, and it was the Canon story bridging the Prequel Trilogy and the Original trilogy. Could you make a game any better?

Well.... it turns out yes. You probably could. Force Unleashed failed to meet expectations, and I will explain why below.


Graphics: 9/10

If there is one thing I cannot fault this game on, it is graphics. The graphics are phenomenal. While the newer gen. systems may have had BETTER graphics, that does not take away from the graphics on the PS2. The game has proper looking textures, when you release a wave of force the ripples are drawn flawlessly, and you could probably make out every last button on the lightsabers if you really tried. Unfortunately, the graphics were probably the best thing about this game.


Gameplay: 5/10

The game opens with you playing as the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader himself. It is a feeling of pure power, as though nothing can stop you. That Wookie? Force choked before he has a chance to fire. That one? Hurled off a cliff. That one there? Cut down with your crimson blade. Unfortunately, this is only the tutorial. Once the real game starts it starts to go downhill.

Starkiller, the main character of the game is certainly more agile that Darth Vader, but he loses that feeling of raw power you had when you were Vader. Oh well, not a big deal, we all knew that we wouldn't get to play as Vader the whole game through. Your peerless arsenal of powers as Vader have been reduced to a meager few powers, but you can gain more as you play. In the first few levels, in fact, the game is still incredible and new. You gain force powers rapidly and throwing that Stormtrooper clear from that bridge with the force still feels good.

....And then the game fails to deliver. After the first few levels, lifting a Stormtrooper for the millionth time and bombarding him with nearby debris has just lost its flair. And in fact, there are now enemies you can't throw or zap, period. And this is perhaps, one of the game's largest flaws. The enemies. Now, every game needs a challenging enemy or two. Even a Sith will encounter challenges from time to time! But the game takes it to ridiculous portions. You will want to throw the controller through the T.V. screen after your shot down by that SAME squad of Stormtroopers for the sixth time. And most of the melee enemies are a nightmare to fight. They will block 90% of your attacks, and it seems that no matter how many times you pick them up and drop them on their heads, or blast them with lightning, they will just keep coming back for more. And fighting 4 or more at a time, as you will often be forced to do, really sucks. And don't even get me started on a jetpack wielding enemy.....

Bosses aren't that great either. Granted, the first few are great, when they still seem new and fresh. But, like a lot of things in the game, boss battles have lost their epic feel when you're just going through the motions for the 11th time.


Story: 3/10

The story is cut and dry. Granted, we didn't come here for the story, we came to kick ass with the Force. But, seeing as how the story to this game is rather important, it deserves a look at and simply doesn't measure up. You have betrayal left right and center, most of which are terribly predictable, and a love story that literally seems to pop out of nowhere. Hey, at least there was chemistry in that godawful nightmare that was Anakin and Padme. In this one, it literally appears out of nowhere. And as a side note, is it necessary that female pilates ALWAYS have an accent?

Replayability: 4/10.

As I said above. The game is great while it retains that new fresh feeling of tearing enemies limb from limb. But it loses most of its luster when you've done it a hundred times, and just know you'll be doing it another hundred times just to finish your first playthrough. In games that are pure combat (and that is pretty much what this game is, not a puzzle in site), there needs to be a bit of variety in what you can do, and when I say variety, I do not mean slamming debris into an enemy instead of slamming an enemy into debris. The only real reason I would replay this game is to get the second ending, which you can only get by playing the whole game through, as the final decision comes at the end (and is really the only decision you get to make in the entire game.)


Overall rating: 5/10. While not absolutely terrible, and definately playable, The Force Unleashed did not manage to meet it's expectations. Initially portrayed as you playing an unstoppable Sith with legions of powers at his command, swatting aside Jedi like flies, the reality is a Sith with a few variants of the same powers who will most likely struggle to defeat a wookie with a big stick.

Buy or Rent? I would strongly suggest renting this game. It is not worth shelling out more than 15 bucks over.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/22/09

Game Release: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (US, 09/16/08)