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Posted on: Sep 16, 2008
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
WORDS BY: Corey Cohen
Ah, life’s simple pleasures. Exploring new worlds…chatting with your robot sidekick…hurling Stormtroopers hundreds of feet in the air. It’s good to be a Sith warrior, skilled in the ways of the Force.
The Force Unleashed offers one of gaming’s great setups. After a short prologue where you play as Darth Vader, you’re cast as the young boy he’s just discovered: the son of a dead Jedi, seething with Force power. Sensing opportunity, the Dark Lord takes you. Cut ahead 16 years, and you’ve become his apprentice and learned to tap into the power of the dark side. You’re sent to eliminate the last of the Jedi Knights, in service of the Republic…and the story moves onward from there.
Over the course of 10 missions — about a dozen hours of play on normal difficulty — you’ll visit famed Star Wars sites (the cloud city, Bespin; the Wookiee homeworld, Kashyyyk) and some lesser-known locations, like the fungal world of Felucia. As in LucasArts’ Jedi Knight games, the environments are often big and expansive — which, in this case, definitely caters to the Xbox 360’s graphical prowess. But where those games let you wield blasters and other weapons, you’re a real Jedi here, using just your lightsaber and your Force abilities. So the action’s a little more close-up and immediate — and that plays to the game’s strengths.
Force Unleashed’s finest moments are in the typical combat scenario: en route to your objective, you move through an area, you’re mobbed by a half-dozen (or more) grunts, and you have to nix their numerical advantage with sheer, overwhelming brutality. So you cut loose with your Force powers — using Force Grip to fling a canister at advancing soldiers, frying nemeses with Force Lightning, or using Force Repulse to repel nearby foes in all directions. Or maybe you just slash ’em with your lightsaber, using cool combo moves like Saber Slam (a Lightning-infused saber) or Saber Swing (“home runs” a guy into the distance) to put them down.
The game definitely cooks in these situations of you-against-many, where exercising your awesome powers and diverse abilities is a rush. These encounters are everywhere, so yes, they occasionally feel repetitive in that “go here, kill enemies; go there, kill enemies” way. But whether you’re plowing through Stormtroopers in a TIE-fighter factory — hey, Vader said “No witnesses!” — or obliterating droids on Raxus Prime, these scenarios offer a genuine sense of Jedi godhood. And the tactile feeling of using Force Grip to, say, pick up a Felucian Shaman and hurl him across the screen (using the right thumbstick) makes you feel that much more connected to the action.
Wed, 06/17/2009 - 03:14
Posted by AK89
A fairly entertaining game, though by the time I had gotten all of the mind-numbing achievements I was thoroughly sick of it. As a true Star Wars geek, parts of the story annoyed me. Rahm Kota is a pathetic excuse for a Jedi. All Shaak Ti's apprentice (can't remember her name) has to do to escape a well-deserved death is say "I'm sorry, I'll never do it again!" (seriously, Starkiller? I thought you were supposed to be a merciless killer). And this annoyed me more than anything: the Emperor and Vader know by the end of the game who their enemies are, who created the Rebellion. Yet none of these three people go into hiding over the next several years; on the contrary, one is the leader of a planet and the other two are Senators! So why aren't they killed?
A lot of minor story-related things irked me enough to really bring down the game for me, although gameplay was quite captivating...for a time.
Tue, 10/14/2008 - 23:41
Posted by EarlessDiablo
i shouldn't have bought this game
Tue, 10/07/2008 - 02:43
Posted by ubetter
i played this game and beat in 4 days. and i must say im glad i rented this game first because i wasnt pleased at all with the games outcome. the story was good enough to keep me playing, but the gameplay wasnt polished and some parts of the game were just annoying. all hail to star wars fans everywhere, we deserve better then this.
Sat, 09/27/2008 - 17:47
Posted by ncasolobp
I will say this about the boss battles. They aren't hack n slash. You don't get to just run in there and let loose on a boss like you own the place and move on to the next level. The actual lightsaber portion of the boss fights... makes the Jedi Knight games seem trivial at best. In many of the boss fights don't bother getting in close for lightsaber combat because you'll die unless you're playing on an insanely easy difficulty.
My gripe against the QTE's is that the actual cutscenes are entertaining. I'd like to enjoy watching them rather than figuring out what buttons I'm going to need to push and when.
Thu, 09/25/2008 - 16:15
Posted by n00bIEwaN
I am going to have to agree with insomniak. A bunch of hype with little to no return. Yeah, the graphics were great but what big game recently hasn't been??? Luckily, my brother borrowed this game and surprised me with it. Kicked it around for a couple of hours and we both came to the same conclusion. This is a rent. Play it, 'ooh' and 'ahhh' it and drop it in the box when you're done. Hopefully, it will be at least the once through.
Agree with the score.
-n00bIEwaN
Sun, 09/21/2008 - 06:57
Posted by FalloutN1ck
This is a great game i love to force blast people 300 yards away and the graphics are crazy but it could have had more of a story made it a lil longer or even put in jedi battles or trails like in the wii and psp versions
Sat, 09/20/2008 - 13:14
Posted by Rev_bob_w
I was expecting a game more like the old Jedi Knight games. Not even close. How are game made 6 or 7 years ago still better than the turds they put out now.
Thu, 09/18/2008 - 18:33
Posted by insomniak
I gotta tell ya I was really looking forward to this game. Its been so hyped that I was sure this would be THE Star Wars game and, dare I say, grand enough to compete with KOTOR. However after playing the demo I was dissapointed to see another great game concept dashed by shitty controls. Unfortunately thats a deal breaker for me. There are so many great games out for the 360 right now that you really have to exceptional for me to invest in your game and this was simply not exceptional. If you are a Star Wars nerd you'll probably like it cause, well, your a Star Wars nerd. However if your like most of us who enjoy the movies alot but are not obsessive or nerdy about it then you might be very dissapointed. Luckily there is a demo over Xbox live so you can try for free and decide for yourself.
Wed, 09/17/2008 - 22:25
Posted by LocoGray
I love the game, but it is not quite what I expected, I must admit. I was hoping for a little more KOTOR in here, but the game is good enough, I won't complain about it and have enjoyed playing it. The score is perfect...great review. I am still crossing my fingers that someday, someone will mesh "Mass Effect" with a great Star Wars story...
Wed, 09/17/2008 - 22:05
Posted by blindside80
Well deserved score. This is a geat game for star wars fans.