About a year ago, a friend of mine sent me a link to the trailer of “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed,” a new game from LucasArts. At the end of the trailer the main character drags a Star Destroyer down to the ground with the Force. Let me repeat that. The guy pulls a huge space ship out of the sky WITH HIS MIND.
I was pretty geeked up for the game’s release. Then it was delayed. And delayed again. Finally, close to a year after its original release date, it’s finally here. Was it worth the wait?
Well…yes and no.
The game is pretty cinematic in scope; it borrows the opening fanfare and on-screen crawl from the Star Wars movie series to appropriately set the mood. Very cool. In fact, the plot is one of the strongest elements of the game, with a compelling storyline that actually makes you care about your character and his companions. This is combined with excellent voice acting throughout to create an immersive experience that sets a new standard for storytelling in the often hit-or-miss history of Star Wars games.
The game play is also generally very good. The game is an action platformer somewhat similar in style to the Devil May Cry series. The main character, Starkiller, has a wide variety of attacks at his disposal, using either his lightsaber or “force powers,” which you can use to pick an object to throw at an enemy, pick up and throw the enemies themselves, or use powers such as “force lightning.”
However, there are a few problems. A little too often in the game, a level will devolve from intense action to “find the one random thing in the level and move it,” which leads to a lot of unnecessary backtracking and is indicative of poor level design.
The camera can also be a major obstacle, as it often focuses in awkward directions away from battles. It is adjustable, but when you’re being shot at by 20 stormtroopers it’s a bit of an inconvenient time to make adjustments.Also, the game is a little short. There is roughly eight hours of game play time, and although there are a few little extras that you may want to go back and unlock, the replay value is pretty limited.
And, yes, you do get to play the level where you bring down the Star Destroyer, but that turns out to be one of the most frustrating parts of the game. In fact, I think the level may have been scrapped altogether had it not been so heavily hyped in the trailer.
In the end, “The Force Unleashed” is a pretty good game with a fantastic story wrapped around it. It feels like you’re playing through a seventh Star Wars film, and it is worth a rent, if not a buy.