So today I'm reviewing... a Star Wars game? Oh crap. Help me
Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope...of not filling this review with terrible
Star Wars references.
The game in question is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a
little ditty that came out a few years back, and is a fun foray into another
side of the Star Wars universe.
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| Is there anything more enjoyable than slaughtering countless Wookiees? Well, maybe Ewoks, but these other hairy guys will just have to do instead. |
You take up the role of Starkiller, a secret apprentice to
Darth Vader. Vader found you when you were a child, and has been raising you
all these years in the hope that one day the two of you would be able to defeat
the emperor. To train you towards this purpose, you are sent out to hunt Jedi,
which shouldn't be too hard, considering how easy they went down in episode 3.
To help you in your tasks you have two companions: a
training droid who is programmed to kill you, while also fulfilling the
requisite role of comedic relief; and the lovely Juno Eclipse, your pilot, who
fulfills the other requisite role in the Star Wars universe of the love
connection that causes a crisis of faith. Juno is the Padme to your Anakin,
with a pull stronger than that the Death Star excerts on the Millennium Falcon,
and an intensity hotter than the suns of Tatooine. You know what, I think I
took that one a little too far.
Additional characters assist you as the game progresses, and
the focus of your mission shifts from hunting Jedi to founding a rebellion.
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| I'd let her be my pilot any day of the week. |
Now make no mistake about it, Unleashed is purely a console
game. You'll notice it first in the graphics options, which consist of a high
detail check box and no more when starting up the game, and then much more when
actually playing. I made it through the first couple of hours using a mouse and
keyboard, but never felt I had quite the precision that the game should offer. After
switching to a 360 controller, things went much smoother, particularly when
using the force to grab and throw objects. The developers should have done more
to make a mouse and WASD offer the control that two joysticks do, because it
plays really well with the right controls, and poorly without. For example, there
comes a point in the game where you have to pull a star destroyer out of the
sky, and I'm uncertain you can even complete it without a controller, as you
need to be able to hold down on both sticks, or presumably S and pull the mouse
constantly back. And yes, I did say pull a star destroyer out of the sky. On
that part, the game does not fail to deliver.
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| Ah, and Luke can't even lift his X-Wing out of a swamp. |
Your raw ability set is pretty narrow, since you're limited
to the keys on a controller. Besides a dash, lightsaber attack, and jump, you've
basically lighting, force push, lightsaber throw, and the aforementioned force
grip, though upgraded abilties, as well as the combination of these, grant you
access to more inventive ways of killing everything you come across. Its really
the combination of various attacks that make the base combat interesting. For
example, you can grip an enemy, shoot him with lighting to electrify him, and
fling him into one of his buddies, causing the first to explode and the second
to take plenty of damage. Pulling of more difficult combos - such as my
example, which produces a lighting grenade, a kill or two, and probably a crush
bonus - results in greater experience points, allowing you to level up faster.
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| The force is strong with this one. |
As you level up or find special objects scattered throughout
the various levels, you'll gain points that you can spend to upgrade stats like
health or damage resistance, unlock new combo attacks, or increase the raw
strength of your abilities. Your choices of what skills you've unlocked, and
how you allocate your stats, will play a role in how well you can handle the
game as it progresses, and you face more difficult enemies.
The missions themselves all follow the same formula - hack
and slash your way to the end, past the mini boss, collect any bonus power ups
or complete bonus objectives if you want, until you finally arrive at the end
of the level, where you engage in some boss battle. However, when you're
playing the actual game, the monotony that my description would seem to convey
disappears. Suddenly you are Starkiller, apprentice to Vader, a person so
secret that none may know of your existence, and so any that happen to see you,
be they imperial or otherwise, must fall to your will. No obstacle is too great
for you to overcome, be it that AT-ST you just sliced in half or the giant
rancor you stabbed in the eye with your lightsaber, and then electrocuted to
death. After a time, you feel that you could take on Alderaan all by yourself,
no Death Star required.
 |
| There's nothing I can say here that could make that cooler. |
The environments are pretty cool. You visit some memorable
locations, such as Kashyyyk, Cloud
City, and the Death Star,
as well as others that aren't part of the movies. Each has its unique style and
enemies, and even the few that you do revisit later in the game, are almost
completely changed. Even stormtroppers, which appear in almost every level,
come in a variety of flavors, helping to mix things up a bit.
When you're not hacking your way through a planet's
population, there is a story to follow. Now I'm not such a Star Wars nerd that
I could spot the error of using an AT-ST with the incorrect weapon
configuration, so I can't tell you how canon this game is, but for the casual
fan it does tie in very well with the movies, but is also a great story by
itself.
**Warning, this next paragraph contains some spoilers, so if
you don't want to risk it, skip down some.**
Later in the game you are offered a choice, with one
resulting in the creation of an alternate timeline where Vader is gone and you
have replaced him. If that appeals to you, you should get the Ultimate Sith
Edition, which adds three additional missions to the game, and is what was
available through Steam when I purchased it. In two of those additional
missions, you are given the opportunity to explore this timeline through an
altered version of Episodes 4 and 5, starting by hunting down droids in a level
that includes parts of Episode 6, to fighting Obi-Wan as his party tries to flee
Tatooine, to engaging the rebels on Hoth. It makes for a good time and an
interesting thought experiment rolled into one.
**Alright, its safe.**
I had picked up this game almost two years ago for $15,
which was a good deal at the time. However, more recently I picked up the
sequel for $5, during a holiday sale in which the entire franchise was 75% off.
You're not like to see that price again for while, but if its been there once,
it will be again. Still, the game is worth at least $10-$15 for what you get,
so anything less than that is a bonus, but do make sure to get the Ultimate
Sith Edition. For my investment, I ended up with a play time around 12 hours,
and a pretty good experience. Still, because of the heavy consoleness of it,
I'm going to dock it a point off of what it could be, and say its only a 7 out
of 10.
So, the final breakdown:
Score: 7/10
Suggested Price: $10-$15, has been lower
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