Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

"Unleash Your Guilty Pleasure"

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...


LucasArts develops a game that fully lives up to its title. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed combines a practically cinematic movie with the awesome and magical power that is known simply as The Force. The Force Unleashed is a third person lightsaber wielding game that dives into the slice and dice action of the deeply explored world of the seemingly never ending conflict between the Jedi and Sith. LucasArts has already done tremendous work exploring the intellectual aspects of our choices with the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, but The Force Unleashed lets the cinematics do the exploring while you cut straight to the action.


You can very well consider Star Wars: The Force Unleashed as another episode of the original Star Wars saga due to this incredible effort to bring a cinematic experience to the game. Unlike many of the Star Wars games, and even the CGI Clone Wars movie, The Force Unleashed brings you back to the original series in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Instead of diverting into an entirely different plot with the classic characters only having supporting roles in the story, such as the case with the somewhat criticized Shadows of the Empire, you actually begin The Force Unleashed as Darth Vader himself on mission to destroy the last remaining Jedi that survived "Order 66". The story of The Force Unleashed focuses heavily on Darth Vader and his relationship with The Emperor as they reach the peak of the Empire's success after the Clone Wars. It is very in depth and stays true to the concept, but there are certain points that will stir the critic in you. What follows in this game is definitely what made you a fan of Star Wars in the first place. I have a hard time deciding if this is actually a game or a movie I am watching. Oh, and expect plenty of Force Choking.


The controls of The Force Unleashed are incredibly easy to get used to. The fighting style is much different than any other Star Wars game and you will have many tutorials to show you what buttons does what for you. There are not as many Force powers to perform as I would have imagined. There are a considerable amount of options given in Knights of the Old Republic, for instance. However, The Force Unleashed is really focused on the game play of the Force's power and manipulating it to achieve some excellent strategy or to enjoy some poor enemy go flying over a cliffside. This time around you will be able to manipulate the environment and objects to pick up and sling around. I haven't had this much fun toying around with the environment than when I first equipped the Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2. Considering the use of lightsabers and how deadly these weapons can be, the violence factor is not much of a concern here. There is no blood or gore associated with all of the fighting you do in this game. Some critics will be disappointed that your lightsaber does not slice your opponents up, but when has the Star Wars series ever tried to go for a mature rating? Some love blood and gore for added realism, but the Force Unleashed stays very true to the series in keeping the violence as mild as can be. However you do get loads of enemies to fight off ranging from the extremely dispensable Stormtroopers that you can throw out spaceship windows to hunting down some vicious (and fun to fight) rancors.


The Force Unleashed is a linear experience as well. As it is only a single player game with not much emphasis on all of the Xbox Live possibilities you do not get a lengthy game or a game that you would go back and play again and again. As a straight up start to finish experience with possible alternate endings, you do not get much replay value or Xbox Live action, but there is a lot to go back to see in this game. The Xbox Live achievements are very easy to obtain. Most of them involve you have to kill a certain number of enemies in some fashion and there are also level completion achievements-nothing too difficult. The level of difficulty that you play on is a very huge factor as well. If you decide to play this game on the easiest difficult then you can basically walk through the entire game without ever dying. Harder difficulty levels will make you enjoy this game a whole lot more by having to strategize your moves and powers against many different and skilled opponents.


What I find truly amazing about this game are the graphics as well as the cinematics of The Force Unleashed. The in-game graphics are superbly detailed and the environments are all susceptible to being manipulated or damage in some way. For example, the first level in this game would guarantee a Jedi plenty of work in the logging or construction industries. My guilty pleasure is actually taking droids that look like R2-D2 and turning them into the tin cans they really are with the force abilities. Characters are all highly detailed except for enemies that look like clones (no offense to the Stormtroopers). The backgrounds are also something that will make you stop to watch as you can see some great distance and view some very beautiful landscapes as well as a lot of background activity. The cinematics of The Force Unleashed makes this game feel like more of a movie than a videogame. The CGI graphics are realistic as well as very representative of the original characters that appear in the plot. The voice acting is exceptionally good although some fans may be disappointed in some original characters not being performed by the original actors, however you get some excellent voiceovers, effects, and of course the cinematic music of Star Wars to go along with it.


Final Recommendation 8/10

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed gives you a classic Star Wars experience, but that experience is somewhat short lived by the lack of Xbox Live options as well as the linear game that it is compared to many other games of this franchise that dive deep into multiple story lines as well as game play options. Since The Force Unleashed is really more of a cinematic game that fills in the huge gap between episodes three and four of the original series I would definitely recommend this game as a rental. It is not really worth the purchase unless you are of course, a huge fan of Star Wars. The Force Unleashed is not disappointing in the least because if you don't like the plot, there is nothing to not like about using the power of the Force to crush enemies. The Force Unleashed is definitely a starting point for LucasArts in terms of the game play and the ability to manipulate the environment around you. So it is no surprise that you will see trailers in the “Extras” section of this game that expand on more of the continuation of environment effects to be added to other games they are developing. While The Force Unleashed may seem like a guinea pig to this end, it is still one awesome cinematic experience and you will be amazed by the story that this game offers.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/25/08

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