Broken_Pixel's Reviews - Star Wars : The Force Unleashed

When it comes to licensed games, Star Wars is the king. There have been many games, spanning over many consoles. There have bee the good (Knights of the Old Republic and Battlefront) and the not so good (Attack of the Clones and Flight of the Falcon). But at the end of the day, it’s Star Wars, and it’s going to sell even if the games does suck. And that brings me to the latest chapter in the Star Wars universe, The Force Unleashed, the untold story of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. And you could tell this was going to be a hit, seeing how the demo was the most downloaded demo ever. So, with all the hype, the promise and speculation, The Force Unleashed, just like many a licensed game, fails to deliver the goods.

The story is the games high point by far. The Force Unleashed is set between episodes III and IV, and follows Darth Vader’s secret apprentice Starkiller. As Vader’s apprentice, you will have to do his bidding. At the beginning of the game, the missions Vader gives you are mainly to eliminate Jedi, but later on these missions will change. I won’t say more, because that would spoil the excellent plot. There are many plot twists, some of which can be quite shocking. You can really feel the Sith’s ruthlessness, especially Vader’s. I’m going to be honest here, this would have been better as a film, so you don’t have to put up with the frustrating game play flaws, of which there are many.

Being called The Force Unleashed, it would be a given that the force would play a big part of it. There are quite a few force powers that Starkiller can harness. The two starting powers are force grab, where Starkiller can lift people/objects up to great heights and then throw whatever your holding with ease. The other starting power is force push, where Starkiller uses the force to pull off a really powerful push, that can open reinforced steel doors. Later on in the game you unlock more powers like force lightning and light sabre throw. At first these powers can be really entertaining, lifting up a Storm Trooper then pushing him into all his comrades like a bowling ball into skittles. But later on there is no point in doing all the fun stuff, because all you want to do is get through the game. The Force Unleashed features a levelling up system for your force powers. You level up by getting power orbs, you get power orbs by either levelling up or completing special tasks. You can make your powers stronger, like charging your force push and you force lightning gets amazingly powerful. You can also change Starkiller’s appearance, you can change his costume and light sabre colour.

I am going to be honest here, some aspects of the game are broken. The most broken aspect is by far the aiming. It is just ridiculously frustrating. Why? Because the camera is determined by the direction Starkiller is facing, not the direction the camera is facing. That is just plain stupidity. However realistic a game gets, it is still a game. Treat it like a game. It is just so frustrating. When you are in a heated battle against many Storm Troopers, and you feel like using some force lightning, you might end up hitting a wall or something. Next problem, the win button, otherwise known as force lightning. At first, it’s good, but later on it get ridiculously overpowered. When you get to a boss, all you will have to do is use force lightning, run away, let your energy recharge and repeat a couple of times. Problem number three, it’s a easy game. Especially when it comes to bosses, some are just pushovers that could be beaten in a couple of minutes. Quick Time Events, I hate them. That’s my opinion , and I despise QTE’s. They just completely take you out of the experience (the shockingly bad aiming may have already done that tough), you expect really epic light sabre duels, you get that in a sense, but your not doing it, really. All you are doing is pressing X then O ect. It’s a real disappointment really. It had real potential, but a few areas that could have been fixed have basically ruined the game.

It’s not all doom a gloom though. The graphics are spectacular. They really are. Firstly the cut scenes look incredible. The effects look great. Especially the light sabre duels. The in-game graphics are pretty amazing too. The landscapes are vast, detailed and beautiful, the characters themselves are look very nice too. All the force effects look really good, especially the force lightning. The physics are amazing. LucasArts obviously invested a lot of money into getting the physics just right. The Force Unleashed uses the Havok, DMM and Euphoria engines. And LucasArts own Ronin engine. So they know they have done themselves some good with the physics. The sound, as everything Star Wars, amazing . When you first start the game you are greeted to John William’s epic score and the classic scrolling text , you know this will retain Star Wars epic standards of soundtrack. And it does, practically every piece is great. One problem, sometimes in cut scenes, the music can often over power the dialogue. This is very annoying, especially at the ending.
The Force Unleashed has so much potential. It could have been one of the pinnacles of licensed games. It should have. There are just too many major flaws. It ticks two boxes Story and Graphics/sound. But the final box might as well not be there. Because game play is just to glitchy and bugged. It can be a good laugh at the start especially the Wookie genocide on the first level. But as you get further on, it becomes a drag and gets frustrating. If you are a Star Wars fanatic who just has to experience every chapter, the chances are that you already have The Force Unleashed. But that’s really all I could recommend this game to. But if your interested in the story, just watch the cut scenes on You tube or something, so you don’t have do experience this game. And left dwelling on what could have been.

5/10

No bugs on 360 version. ...Well, from what I've played.

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Good review tho' - try and use more linking words (however, therefore, moreover...) to make it flow a little better. Some bits just read like bullet-points for example:

"One problem, sometimes in cut scenes, the music can often over power the dialogue."

You're just stopping and starting too much. It would be better as:

"There is one problem however; sometimes in cut-scenes the music overpowers the dialogue."

You also need to use more semi/colons.

I'm not the best at English, so just take this with a pinch o' salt. It's just my opinion.

Thanks, and I'ma little dyslexic, so my grammer can be complete balls sometimes >.<

No problem =) ...I really liked reading your review, but I (much like Plex =P) can't help giving a little criticism. n_n

I know, I need all the criticism I can get really, to improve. Seeing as I want to become a Gaming Journalsit =]