Game Review: Star Wars… The Force Unleashed

 

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was a game that I personally had been looking forward to, and when it came out on September 16, I picked up a copy immediately. After playing it and seeing the game in action for myself, I can say that it’s a good game…not great, but good.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has you playing as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice in between the events of Episode III and Episode IV as you serve your Sith master in controlling and maintaining order in the galaxy. The story of the game helps flush out this largely unexplained time period between the original and new trilogies and answers some of the questions fans of the series might have had. The game explains how the Empire built such a vast war machine in such a short time, gives us a glimpse into the birth of the rebellion, reveals more about Darth Vader’s and Emperor Palpatine’s relationship, and shows us what happened to some of the other Jedi that escaped Order 66 (hint: most of them met their end at the tip of the apprentice’s lightsaber).

But the focus of the game is not to answer the questions of diehard fans, but the character and adventures of the apprentice himself. Left without an official name and known only as ‘Starkiller,’ he was taken by Darth Vader from his Jedi father at a young age and raised under the Sith ways of the Dark Side. As a child he showed amazing potential, being able to pull Darth Vader’s lightsaber out of his hands with little effort. Starkiller, now a young adult, has grown into a killing machine of Force powers and is sent across the galaxy at the bidding of Darth Vader in order to hunt down what few Jedi remain.

That is the main focus of the game, fighting your way through alien worlds with your incredible force arsenal. With the slogans “May the Force blow your mind!” and “Unleash the power of the Force!” the game promises to unleash the full potential of the Force, and it delivers. Starkiller can wield a lightsaber like the best of them, lift objects many times his size and weight with the Force, shoot lightning from his fingertips, and unleash blasts of pure Force energy that send objects and enemies flying. The game also features a leveling system, meaning that by the end of the game Starkiller can become an unstoppable Force wielder able to pull entire starships out of the sky. Combine those skills with Starkiller’s lightsaber abilities, and the Force will indeed blow your mind.

However, the main premise of the game is also its biggest flaw. The game’s Force targeting system is supposed to focus on whatever is center in your view, but often targets things that you might not want it to. You can’t pick up that Stormtrooper and throw him around like you really want to, because the game is instead locking on to the pile of crates the Stormtrooper is standing next to. Things like this and others like it are minor annoyances, but they happen consistently and can get very frustrating, distracting from the fun of the Force powers themselves. The enemies can be almost as annoying, as Starkiller has the ability to sometimes recover quickly when knocked down, meaning that enemies will occasionally knock you to the ground, and Starkiller will struggle to his feet just in time to be knocked over again. When you go from having full health to dying simply because the game developers didn’t put enough thought into recovering from attacks, you can’t help but get a little upset with the game.

While these things are upsetting, one can’t let themselves become distracted from the game itself. When you get right down to it, the game is fun to play and is definitely worth a look, despite its flaws. While not exactly long (hardcore gamers will probably be able to finish it in a couple of days) it’s definitely worth it if you’re a Star Wars fan or want to see what the Force can really do.

One last note is that the game has been released on multiple gaming systems, meaning you might need to choose which one to buy it on. The Xbox 360, PS2 and PS3 versions offer almost identical gameplay, while the PSP and DS versions have been scaled down to work on the smaller systems. The DS version incorporates the Touch Screen to an extent, while the Wii version uses the Wii’s signature motion sensing controls to the game’s advantage. Throwing Stormtroopers around is even more fun when you’re using the Wii’s nunchuck to throw them or are swinging the Wii Remote to attack with your Lightsaber, but it also adds even more complications to the already annoying targeting system.

By Phillip Daly