Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Xbox 360, PS3 Review
A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, LucasArts decided to cash in on the Star Wars franchise in any way they could. A slew of shoddy titles followed the cinema release of the Star Wars prequel films, and the only decent Star Wars titles in the last decade (Knight of the Old Republic & Lego Star Wars) are ones that weren’t developed by LucasArts.
The Force Unleashed has been four years in the making and isn’t a movie tie-in or a spinoff, but covers whole new ground spanning the timeframe between Episodes III and IV. Its aim was to give us a whole new outlook on Star Wars Universe using the some of the latest technology such as Havok physics, Digital Molecular Matter destructibility and Euphoria realistic character animation.
In this objective it has been largely successful. The game begins with placing you in the shiny black boots of one of the greatest screen villains ever created. This prologue, set on the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk, gives you an excellent idea of what to expect from the rest of the game. As the Sith Lord Vader you’ll be flinging yelping Wookies left and right, Force-choking Stormtroopers that dare to get in your way and watching as the wooden dwellings splinter realistically around you.
At first it’s a fantastically liberating experience of extreme power, but once you realise that you are literally invincible and that no challenge exists whatsoever it sours the fun somewhat. Luckily, once you take on the role of Vader’s secret apprentice and crank the difficulty level up on subsequent levels you’re certainly vulnerable and must hone your combat skills to ensure your survival.
New force powers are unlocked as you progress through the game, and can be upgraded each time you level up. Despite this customisation element, by the finale you’ll have a mere five different abilities, and even with the large number of lightsaber combos possible things start to get a little repetitive. It must be said that the lack of Force-based environmental puzzles that go beyond ‘electrocute this generator, pull this switch, blow open these doors’ is a huge disappointment, as the possibilities of gameplay that actually require some cognitive thought are vast.
Thankfully, the graphically-stunning enemies and locations are varied enough to hold the player’s interest. Even though three of the nine proper levels are revisits to previous locales, these actually work brilliantly as before-and-after shots of the Galactic Empire’s Imperial occupation of those planets. The sunny, fresh leafy-green Kashyyyk of the prologue becomes a bleak wasteland, the air filled with ashes and the natives enslaved to build the Emperor’s war machines.
Although most of The Force Unleashed feels like an authentic part of the Star Wars Galaxy, LucasArts clearly realised they would have to artificially create some challenge so that the player can’t just run through each level holding down the Force Lightening button. This is the cue for Force-Resistant force-fields, characters strangely immune to being electrocuted and metal boots which mean an enemy cannot be thrown with the Force, despite the player being able to lift other extremely heavy objects with no problems. These elements feel discordant, but were a necessity, as the Force powers seen in the game are much more extravagant than those seen in the films.
This is exemplified by a confrontation with a massive Star Destroyer towards the end of the game. But what should have been the defining moment that showcases the apprentice’s burgeoning strength has somehow been turned into the most tedious and frustrating part of the game due to poor on-screen instructions and generally bad game design.
When you best this challenge, the game switches to a CG cut-scene for the dramatic conclusion, thus highlighting another conflict within The Force Unleashed. Gameplay and story are starkly defined and separated here. There will be a cinematic scene at the beginning and end of each mission, and almost no narrative exposition whatsoever during each level.
This is a shame because it doesn’t take long to become clear that The Force Unleashed tells an excellent tale. In fact, it’s arguably better than Phantom Menace, which might not sound like a compliment, but it is. With appearances from new and old characters alike, the game actually provides a surprising amount of insight into the relationship between Vader and The Emperor, and the formation of the Rebel Alliance. Anyone who is a fan of Star Wars will want to experience this story, but it doesn’t change the fact that you could simply watch the cut-scenes on YouTube and not really miss out.
The Force Unleashed is visually and aurally impressive on Xbox 360 and PS3, which certainly helps to immerse you in the fictional galaxy that LucasArts has built. Facial motion-capture, while not quite up to the standards of Heavenly Sword, certainly adds emotion to the generally high-standard voice acting.
The classic John Williams Star Wars theme is present, alongside some original compositions that fit in well with the Redemption theme of the game. And of course, all the wonderful authentic lightsaber and blaster noises are included and never grate.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an essential play for any fan of George Lucas’ creation. Unfortunately, the gameplay feels a tad repetitive, un-ambitious and never quite lives up to the superb storytelling. As Yoda might say, – “Lazy level design is the path to the dark side. Lazy level design leads to irritation. Irritation leads to apathy. Apathy leads to mediocre review score.”
12 comments ↓
Ed
October 4th, 2008
“Mediocre review score”????
Seriously, if you want to give a medriocre score, don’t give a 7 out of 10!!!
Ed
October 4th, 2008
But nonetheless, the review was good, keep up the good work!
Seth
October 4th, 2008
Well, the gameplay itself would have got a 5/10, but the quality of the story redeemed it to a 7/10.
Irish
October 6th, 2008
honestly, I hear a lot of people complain about the star destroyer level. The on-screen instructions work fine, and the tie fighters are quickly dealt with once you figure out that you can force-grab and shove them into each other. And there really are numerous combo’s and options for the apprentice (lighting bomb is way fun, as is the grapple options followed by a lightning/shove combo).
I’d give the game an 8.5/10 at the very least due to minor issues and have to say that it seems like most modern gamers these days are unappreciative of a game that legitimately challenges you at times.
Seth
October 6th, 2008
A game shouldn’t be challenging because you’re trying to discern what the game designers wanted you to do. The gameplay should just be legitimately challenging. Even if you found the Star Destroyer part easy, you surely can’t argue that it wasn’t tedious and unimpressive.
I did mention the large number of possible lightsaber combos, but there’s still a slight button-bashing feel to the lightsaber combat. Also, the fact that you have to hit an enemy numerous times with the lightsaber makes it feel more like a giant glowstick than a sword made of deadly plasma energy that can slice through metal.
There are several other faults and disappointments that I could have mentioned, but it’s still a nice bit of throwaway fun. Rest assured though, if this game didnt have the Star Wars license then it wouldn’t get a second look.
Irish
October 6th, 2008
First, absolutely I can argue that the star destroyer part was fun. Throwing ties into each other is absolutely gratifying in that pseudo Jedi badarse sort of way. and once you get that down, the entire sequence should take no longer than most boss battles in the game.
As for trying to discern what the designers wanted you to do, well there ARE on-screen instructions, and you’ve been grabbing tie fighters out of the air on earlier stages. I fail to see how the solutions to this level could have been in any way ambiguous or unclear.
And the fact that you have to hit people numerous times with your lightsaber is something of a trite complaint. If it only took one hit people would complain that the game was far too easy. The revered Jedi Knight titles (which include the “one-hit kill” element of using the lightsaber) are challenging more for the level design than for combat and bosses. To make video game combat with a lightsaber involved challenging and fun, It would require a certain, depowering or more of a focus on platforming or elemental hazards.
Although, once you get one of the upgrades that enhances saber skill, none but the most powerful enemies scarcely survive more than three strikes. And most enemies only take two at the most. So the lightsaber isn’t exactly a “glowstick” either.
Really, the only flaws I can see is that the force grab is pretty unintuitive for some of the more faster paced battles. Trying to get clever with it while fighting a rancor will just get you killed quickly. Bosses spamming attacks that stun you and hitting you with them while you are down is pretty frustrating, but If I can deal with that sort of cheapness in online deathmatches… I got no right to complain here. Those purge troopers can be real bastards, especially when they got snipers backing them up. But they are never unbeatable, just tough.
Basically… the worst complaints I hear about this game is… it kills you if you take it lightly. which, in this age of save points strung together like some obscenely intricate connect-the-dots puzzle is a great sin. I grew up on the 8-bit and 16-bit era and appreciate that sort of challenge returning to a game, and think it enhances the game, not detracts from it.
The game has enough options for combat that you should never be bored, and keeps things challenging so your gaming talents are tested. Even the length didn’t bother me since the core game is enjoyable enough to keep going back to again and again.
Seth
October 6th, 2008
I’m glad that you clearly enjoyed your experience with this game, and I do agree that it was necessary to weaken the lightsaber for the sake of gameplay. I couldn’t really find any replay value as it’s a pretty linear experience.
I did mention how you really need to increase the difficulty level to properly enjoy the game. I wasn’t referring to the tie-fighters when I said the Star Destroyer moment was tedious and unimpressive, and I’m certainly not the only person to share that opinion if you look at other reviews. It was a good game, just disappointing…
Especially the over-reliance on QTE’s and cut-scenes.
Faroon
October 15th, 2008
“Especially the over-reliance on QTE’s and cut-scenes.”
How true is that? I thoroughly enjoyed the game, but WHY SO MANY QTEs? Very frustrating.
Seth
October 15th, 2008
QTE’s now seem to be something of a cop-out for developers. When they can’t find a way to make gameplay entertaining they can just stick in a QTE and make anything happen with a few abitrary button presses…
Stefan from South Africa
November 13th, 2008
This game offers alot of technology which will be used in better games later on. They didnt release it for the PC so i settled to play it on the PSP. It sucked. But i guess because the PSP didnt use any of it technology… (Multi collision physics) Whcih pretty much makes the games… The AI was random scripts and the graphics…. well I played it on the PSP (nough said)
Brian
February 3rd, 2009
Storyline makes this game, weak light saber found me using force push/toss more to kill than anything. AI should be better at defense so one or two strikes with the saber kill. Found it very annoying how weak the saber is. Not really interested in playing this again except for the ending. So two times through the game about does it for me. Not really the type of game I usually buy. I want something I can play over and over.
Ab Paris
June 1st, 2009
Have they ever done a create a player game before?