Title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Price: $59.99
System(s): PS3 (PS2, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, DS)
Release Date:September 16, 2008
Publisher (Developer):LucasArts (Havok)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for violence.
Pros: Enjoyable gameplay, fun-to-use Force effects, worthy opponents and beautiful environments.
Cons: Some (albeit it short) menu load times and occasional frame rate drag.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 96/100; A; * * * * 1/2 out of five.
Simply put, this is the lightsaber-wielding, lightning-from-the-fingertips game fans have been itching for. It’s fun to play, fun to look at and packed full with signature Star Wars goodness.
Walk on the Dark Side
You begin the game with a major teaser, playing as Darth Vader at full strength as he creates and “rescues” a force-sensitive orphan. Flash forward a dozen years, somewhere between Star Wars: Episode III andIV, and now you play as an adult version of that orphan, now called Starkiller, who has become Vader’s secret and well-trained Dark Side apprentice (previously unknown padawans seems to be the theme of the year for LucasArts - see the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated feature).
Vader’s still all shades of pissy about the events of Episode III and sends you out to eliminate the remaining Jedi.
All single-player action, the game has that distinct Star Wars feel when on ships and incredibly (almost distractingly) lush and beautiful environments on the ground. LucasArts must have pumped up the effects for the PS3 release because this release looks gorgeous with small moving plants, realistically subtle particle effects and all-round amazing graphics. All of the cut scenes are big-screen quality even if some character’s jaws are still a little Charlie McCarthy (as in the famous ventriloquist dummy).
The pseudo-bummer is that you cannot use all of the cool lightsaber skills right away. Instead you collect hidden information boxes (aka Holocrons) and earn Jedi points to unlock and improve various abilities and ramp up your personal traits (health, healing, Force regeneration, etc). Acquired crystals, which you get by defeating level bosses (Jedi, of course), add powers and pretty colors to your lightsaber. So, as you progress, your Force powers become unleashed. See what they did there? LucasArts, you so clever.
There are also a few context-sensitive attacks in boss battles and a few environmental puzzles required to progress, both similar to and better executed than God of War.
Use the Force? Hecks Yeah I Will!
When you begin the game you can toss pretty much anything around: small droids, boulders, people, walls and even figgin’ tie fighters. That and your Force Push skill are you beginning distance attacks and, yeah, it never gets old lifting up a soldier and repeatedly smacking him into a wall or knocking over a cluster of Stormtroopers with a boulder like their were bowling pins.
As fun as those are, every power you learn adds a new level of enjoyment. You eventually acquire more impressive abilities including the infamous Force Lightning and lightsaber tossing as well as protective shields. You’ll also acquire various combos including a ground pound-esque lightsaber smash, grab-lift-and-slice, crowd-clearing Force dash and other Force-filled button combo attacks.
There are some Dynasty Warriors moments where the game is crowded with opponents on both sides (Vader wants no witnesses, of course) and you feel like you are button mashing your way through. Fear not since those are soon broken up by distant nasties that are best eliminated with a well-hurled explosive crate or by dropping the side of a hill or passing space ship n their head. Yeah, a whole hillside and a whole friggin’ ship. The mix of melee and distance fighting creates an enjoyable, tireless pace that proves this was made by developers who love to play video games.
Despite a few claustrophobic passages, the scale of this game is pretty big with plenty of large areas for tactical combat and small areas to explore for hidden icons. It has a surprising amount of object persistence - if you crushed it, it remains crushed - and enemies don’t randomly respwan. Opponents also have a bit of smarts with some using Force-ish abilities to offer decent challenges and remind you that you really are not so invincible mister Sith-ipants.
Camera issues are rare save the few instances when you get unexpectedly cornered by especially surprising opponents in an odd crevice and haven’t had the time to correct your view. There is a bonus camera moment borrowed from other games. When tossing an opponent you can flick a thumbstick to activate a follow-the-tossed-object camera for extra evil enjoyment.
Menu screens, disappointingly, have noticeable load times which should be basically instantaneous considering the 10-minute content preload to the console’s hard drive when first booting up the game. There were some areas with frame rate drag, which is also a bit surprising for a PS3 release. Luckily, those were pretty rare and often in a large, cleared area which may indicate that the game was actually readying some of that preloaded data.
The Force of Fun is Very Strong in this One
This is one hell (or whatever the Jedi equivalent of Hell is) of a fun game that gets more enjoyable as you progress. The mix of action, environments, abilities and stuff-tossing silliness has sucked me in like a Force-generated vortex and I want more.
Take the walk on the Dark Side with Force Unleashed and plan to spend several sleep-less days acquiring, enjoying and perfecting all your acquired Force skills.
Read [Star Wars: Force Unleashed] Photo Gallery [Gamertell]
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