Video game review: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360)
It’s been a while since console gamers have had a solid Star Wars action game. Xbox owners were treated to the definitive Star Wars role-playing experience in BioWare’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (and arguably its sequel) and got to play a pretty good squad-based first-person shooter in Star Wars: Republic Commando. GameCube owners were privileged with awesome arcade-style space combat along with authentic visual design and high production values with Factor 5′s Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, which was preceded by the popular Nintendo 64 game Rogue Squadron.
However, that fun, action-packed game in which players get to slice enemies up with lightsabers and wield the full power of the Force had eluded console gamers until the release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, developed by LucasArts. PC gamers had long been able to boast about their ability to play the well-written and beautifully designed Jedi Knight games in which lightsaber duels and powers like Force Grip and Force Lightning were a normal part of the gameplay while console gamers had to settle for lame titles like Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi and Star Wars: Obi-Wan.
Force Unleashed takes Star Wars gaming to the next level for both console and PC gamers alike by introducing us to a whole new scale of Force powers. No longer are you just knocking stormtroopers off their feet with your Force Push – in this game, you can send them flying hundreds of yards into a wall or knock them off a platform to fall to their doom (and the game camera will sometimes follow them to their demise almost like an instant replay). Force Lightning can be repurposed into an electrifying force field and used to charge up lightsaber attacks for more damage. And one particularly impressive set piece shows your character doing something with Force Grip that makes Yoda’s little trick with the submerged X-Wing in The Empire Strikes Back look like child’s play.
In fact, by the time you reach the end of the game, your mastery of the Force will have become so awesome that you make all Jedi and Sith that have ever graced the big screen look like chumps.
The game is not without its flaws, though. There’s a certain inconsistency in how you can interact with your environment. If there’s a heavy duty, industrial strength, titanium reinforced door blocking your designated path through a stage, you can pound your way through that thing with your juiced up Force Push ability. However, if you aren’t meant to go through a door, you can hammer it with your magical blasts all day long and it won’t do much more than dent a little bit (if at all). In some stages, you can shatter windows by driving projectiles through them to cause environmental damage to nearby enemies; in others, it’s as if the windows are made of the most shatterproof glass in the galaxy. And while your character can apparently lift up entire AT-STs and crush them into little balls of scrap metal, there are plenty of plants on Felucia that you can’t even yank out of the ground.
Another problem lies with the targeting system, which seems to rely on a bit too much guesswork to determine what you’re looking at. If there are only a couple of objects or enemies within sight it’s not a big deal, but when you’re surrounded by enemies and wreckage it can be frustrating to grab the right thing in the midst of a heated battle. Thankfully, this type of situation does not come up very often as you generally have more than enough space to maneuver around to a better position.
Probably more annoying is the ability of many enemies to keep striking you while you’re down and unable to defend yourself. It’s not uncommon to be shot down by a well-placed rifle blast and then get hit a second or even third time by more well-placed rifle blasts before you have the chance to get up and try to block or dodge. Especially frustrating is when certain stormtroopers armed with shock rifles incapacitate you with an electrical blast and then fire another shot and then another, each further incapacitating you while the other troopers zap away at you with their standard issue laser rifles.
Fortunately, the pros outweigh the cons in Force Unleashed. The writers came up with an interesting storyline that fits right in between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope and puts you in control of Darth Vader’s apprentice, a man known only as Starkiller. The great thing about this plot compared to that of games like Knights of the Old Republic and Jedi Knight is that it ties directly into the events you saw unfold in the movies instead of being an unrelated supplementary story involving characters you’ve never heard of. The story is appealing to the super diehard fans who read all the novels and comic books without catering specifically to them.
The team also managed to hire a pretty good cast of voice actors to bring the various characters to life. Sam Witwer, seen in such shows as Battlestar Galactica, Dexter and Smallville, is especially good in the role of the tormented apprentice who finds himself betrayed by everything he has ever known. He received much praise from the Star Wars community for his portrayal of Starkiller, whose physical appearance is modeled after his likeness, and is rumored to be reprising the role in the upcoming live action Star Wars television series. In fact, Witwer’s performance is so good that it could be tough for diehard Star Wars fans to witness another example of a video game surpassing the quality of the films.
It’s a shame that the game couldn’t be a complete success, but the good far outweighs the bad in Force Unleashed, which is a must-have game for diehard Star Wars fans and a compelling purchase for gamers just looking for some fun action gameplay set in the Star Wars universe.
Final score: 4 out of 5
Parent to parent
While the violence depicted in the game isn’t really any more brutal than that shown in the Star Wars films, the player does start off hunting down the good guys for one of the most iconic villains in movie history. As the Starkiller, the player will be responsible for slamming, slicing and shocking hundreds of stormtroopers, Wookies, Jawas, and other life forms before the game is over. Further, the game encourages “creative” uses of the Force to take out enemies. Nevertheless, I feel that the game should be just fine for all but the youngest gamers: players aren’t going to see anything they have already seen in numerous Star Wars movies and cartoons.
Experience this for yourself!
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360)
(Amazon)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PlayStation 3)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PlayStation 2)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition (Xbox 360)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition (PlayStation 3)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition (PC)