The Force Unleashed centers around Starkiller, a young Jedi who was spared from death and raised in secret by Darth Vader. Starkiller becomes Vader's apprentice in the ways of the force and takes on the role of Vader's personal, secret assassin. The young apprentice is sent on multiple missions to kill the remaining Jedi who are in hiding following the Clone Wars. By eliminating all possible threats in the galaxy, Starkiller believes that he is slowly getting closer to Vader's ultimate goal of a coup against Emperor Palpatine, and ruling by the Sith lord's side. As he works toward his goal, Starkiller is faced with a number of experiences which cause him to begin to question the justness his work. As the player, we get to choose which side of the force Starkiller will lean to as he continues his mission.
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| Starkiller tried to warn him about jumping on trampolines in the shuttle bay... |
The Force Unleashed's story is actually pretty good. I would even say that it is better than the stories in the first three episodes of Star Wars (I-III, not the older movies), though that's not super hard to accomplish. Even though Starkiller is clearly a brutal assassin, he shows compassion to his friends and even loyalty to them when it might cost him personally. The three main characters in the game, Starkiller, Proxy (Starkiller's personal training droid who attempts to kill him in Kato-esque surprise attacks), and Starkiller's pilot Juno Eclipse, all have interesting interactions. The player grows to care about these characters, which makes the story more engrossing.
As far as its gameplay, The Force Unleashed is basically a Hack-and-Slash style action game with one huge difference, the Force. As you might expect of a Sith apprentice, Starkiller makes use of a lightsaber. The game offers a number of combos and skills to make use of while wielding this weapon. The majority of combat in the game is done using Starkiller's Force powers. The Force Unleashed gives the player to ability to pick up and throw items in the environment, weaponizing everything from rocks and explosive containers to the enemies themselves. Other Force powers are unlocked as the game progresses such as Force Lightning and Force Throw, but really the Force Grip is the main focus of the game.
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| Inevitably, thousands of enemies are going to be thrown off of cliffs. |
Wielding the Force powers is very fun, especially launching objects at enemies from across the room. The aiming system used by the game is incredibly frustrating, however. When lifting and flinging objects, the game uses an aim-assist feature that is extremely nice when it works correctly, and extremely annoying when it does not. A number of times I desperately needed to throw an item at an enemy which posed a large threat to me, only to have the auto-aim decide that I was actually trying to hit a neutral, defense and offense-less creature native to that level's planet. The aiming for the other force powers isn't much better. In most cases you have to not only have your character facing the target, but also have the camera directly behind your character in order for the game to target an enemy. Oh, and did I mention that the camera spins incredibly slowly? If you get flanked by an enemy, you're going to take damage, that's all there is to it. Things don't get much better when facing the levels' bosses. When dueling one-on-one, the camera goes into a long-shot position, making targeting even more difficult.
I also had a lot of problems with the force powers themselves. A lot of times I would use a power only to see the visual representation of my force wave go right through enemies without affecting them whatsoever. Certain enemies in the game are more resistant to some powers, but I would use my fully leveled up powers against base troopers and have them just look at me like I was stupid as a blue force wave passed around them like wind.
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| Please work, please work, please work! |
The Force Unleashed throws a huge variety of enemies at you from both movie trilogies as well as gives you the opportunity to visit planets from both as well. The levels' environments are incredibly well designed and make you feel as though you are actually on Felucia, or on board an Emperial Star Destroyer. These well done environments greatly help to keep things interesting and rewarding, even through the frustration of some of the gameplay problems.
As Starkiller defeats enemies, he gains experience points which allows him to eventually level up. Upon leveling up, orbs are rewarded which can be spent to power up his force powers, unlock new combos, and upgrade his stats. Jedi Holocrons are hidden throughout the levels which, upon discovery, reward the player with bonus orbs, new outfits, new lightsaber crystals, and Force points. Starkiller's costumes cracked me up in the game, as the man literally has a new outfit for every level. I suppose that even Sith need to dress for success. The unlockable lightsaber colors and outfits allow the player to customize Starkiller to their liking, which is always nice to see.
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| I'm sorry sir, but you're used up your clothing budget for this month! |
While Starkiller does level up, gain more abilities, and become more powerful; the enemies that are thrown at you by the game just keep getting tougher as well. I never really felt as though I was becoming as powerful of a Force user as the game made it seem I should be. Frequently the game will give you a new power, and then introduce an enemy that is immune to it in the very next level. It's really too bad that LucasArts chose to go in this direction, as the major discrepancy between the game's story and actual gameplay is confusing. At one point in the game, Starkiller pulls off what has to be the largest show of mastery over the Force that has ever been featured in any Star Wars game or movie. I won't go in to details, or give anything away, but it is really upsetting that in the level right after that show of Force (see what I did there?) you suddenly can't even lift a fat enemy off of the ground...
For a game released in 2008, The Force Unleashed looks quite good. I've already commented on the well designed environments and visuals. For the most part, the game stands up graphically to some of the more recent Xbox 360 titles. There is, however, a major screen-tearing issue with the game as well as some audio bugs. These are minor issues when compared to the general frustration caused by other issues though.
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| Do NOT eat the 'shrooms on Felucia... |
I found the overall experience offered by Star Wars: The Force Unleashed to be an extremely frustrating, yet still enjoyable experience. The story mode lasted me around 7-8 hours, so it's a typical Action game when it comes to length. This game is by no means perfect, but the interesting Force abilities, amazing locations, and varied enemies keep things entertaining. The game is quite old now as far as software goes, but you can likely find it in a bargain bin at your local game store. I would definitely recommend picking the game up if you're a fan of Star Wars, or of Telekinetic powers in games (Remember Psi Ops anyone?). I would recommend against the game otherwise as it will just make most gamers angry.
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