Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

"A short but incredibly fun take on the Star Wars universe."

Let me preface this by acknowledging the plethora of negative press this game has been getting -- scores of 6 and 7 abound in most professional reviews. Truth be told, many of these statements are true, but blown terribly out of proportion. I've completed this game start to finish and collected nearly everything there is to collect and honestly, I have little negative to say here.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a game focusing on its namesake -- the Force and the endless possibilities it provides. Given that the new trilogy has established it can create life, it's more or less boundless at this point as to what they can say it's capable of. As such, they have placed you in the shoes of an unknown yet incredibly powerful Force-sensitive character, going by the codename Starkiller. He has been taken up by Darth Vader after the murder of his father as an Apprentice for two purposes alone -- the completion of the Great Jedi Purge and the overthrow of the Emperor.

Gameplay - 8/10
To many people, the gameplay is divided up into two parts -- lightsaber combat and Force combat. If you ask me, this is where a lot of people get lost on the gameplay front. Integrating these two styles is a critical aspect of getting the most out of this game. That being said, the game provides you with many options. Most attacks in the game focus on your lightsaber, Force Lightning or Force Push, as well as the ever-pleasing Force Grip which turns every enemy in the game into your own personal ragdoll/projectile/grenade. You progress in your own way, leveling up the powers you find most useful first and adding arseloads of moves to your arsenal in an RPG-inspired leveling system. Most of these are mixed and matched in some way via special moves and it really feels like you can do things with the Force not yet explored. I'll admit, an option or code to enable dismemberment would be fun but it certainly doesn't feel like it's missing as you play the game. There are also lightsaber upgrades and costume changes, so lots to mess around with here.

All that being said, there are flaws and fortunately, most of them are to do with the enemies, not your character. Firstly, the bosses in this game are not fun, at least not for myself. They're usually quite frustrating the first time through, with almost the entire fight tilted in their favor. Eventually, though, I've found a niche you can get into with each of them that makes them a cakewalk. Beating most bosses legit, however, takes more time, effort and repetition than they should, in my opinion. There are also times, later in the game, where you can get into inescapable locks being shot by stunning blasts from your enemies until your health bar is depleted. Fortunately this is rare but when it does happen it shows the one greatest flaw in Starkiller's controls -- you can't cancel anything. You have to finish every animation you begin before you can block, dash, Force Push, anything. In some situations this can be a real problem. Again, those situations are relatively unusual, but they do occur and it feels like they remove a small layer of luster from this game.

The targeting system is also a little unusual -- you can't purposely select anything. You can't cycle targets once locked on, and sometimes (when surrounded by a lot of debris) this can get really confusing. Most of the time, the targeting system works well for the game's style, but there are times when you want to smack the game into doing what you expect.

Graphics - 8/10
Pretty good. Best on the 360? Not even close. Some impressive tech at work? Absolutely. The motion capture in the faces really shines for the cinematic nature of the game in between each level. Applied to some higher-poly models in an in-game setting (the cinematics are pre-rendered but with higher quality game models -- big downside being that you don't see your current outfit in cutscenes) this tech could take video game story telling to a new level. Besides that, nearly everything in the game looks how you'd expect and given the iconic nature of Star Wars that's a pretty impressive feat. The physics in the game also lend to the overall graphical appeal. Glass breaks like glass, wood splinters like wood, metal bends like. . .well, not quite metal but still pretty cool since it's completely malleable. The environments are very cool and although you visit some of them more than once, they're completely different the second time around so you're not getting a DMC4 here.

Story - 8/10
I was quite impressed with the story and, by extension, the voice acting in this game. Sam Witwer quite literally portrays Starkiller, lending his face, facial animation and voice to the character. Starkiller is very likable surprisingly, given his initial role in the game. Without spoiling anything, there are some twists and turns and the resolution is pretty satisfying (the canon one, anyway, and you'll quickly realize which that is.) The characters all have vulnerabilities and falter over the course of the tale and it lends a bit of credence to the overall tone. There's also a fair bit of humor in the game which I wasn't expecting and it really helps flesh things out. However, the absolute coolest outfit in the game IS unlocked via the non-canon ending, so I'd say do that first then finish the game as it was intended. =D

Replay Value 7/10
The big flaw. The game's short. Owning it since release it's only taken me five days to complete it, that being with a full time job, fiance and going back through to collect everything and level myself up a bit in between. HOWEVER, this game is a fantastic pick-up-and-play title, great for plopping down for a quick thirty minutes to an hour of fun with your maxed out character. The different outfits, code-unlocked character skins (playing as Palpy and decimating with Force Lightning is good fun) and easily variable combat, combined with the occasional hilarity of the Euphoria engine really make for a very easy to get back into game.

Wrap-Up
The Force Unleashed isn't all it was hyped up to be, but then few games are. If you've played the demo and enjoyed it, the game is monumentally better and gives you great freedom with the ways you dispatch your enemies. It's a short but satisfying game with a lot of come-back-for-more appeal for me and a lot of fan service for Star Wars fans. Whether it's worth sixty-five bones is a matter of opinion, but I don't regret my purchase in the least. All in all, I'm hoping for a sequel that improves on the basic aspects of this game, but the game is polished and exciting enough on its own.

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

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