Found this bugger somewhere in the office today. It’s mine now.

Star Wars: Force Unleashed cover art

I just finished the game last night and I’m having such mixed feelings about this one.  On one hand, there’s so many things that make this game fantastic but there’s some parts that feel so painfully unpolished.

If you’re follow the Star Wars timeline via the films, this game takes place just between Episode III and IV.  Towards the end of Revenge of the Sith, Anakin carried out Order 66, which saw the start of the Great Jedi Purge, which took place just before the end of the Clone Wars.  Then when Episode IV kicked off, Vadar stopped purging Jedis but went on to focus on the rebellion led by Princess Leia.

The key events that led to the rebellion are answered in this game so at least for me, it connected all the dots without reading the novels.  The game is great in this aspect as it’s official Star Wars canon.  

For the most part of the game, you play as Vadar’s secret apprentice, though the first level you get to control someone else, as part of setting up the plot for the rest of the game. 

For most parts of the game, you’ll be using a lot of force as well as saber attacks.  As you level up your character, you earn points to purchase and unlock more powers which allows fancier and more powerful moves.  By the end of the game, you should be able to slash the helpless Storm Trooper, fling him in the air, jump and slash him some more, then slam him back on the ground.  This is really where the game shines – by a certain point, I actually felt… powerful.  In which other game can you pick up a Trooper with force grip, zap him with force lightning, fling your saber to impale him, then throw his body out the window?

Unfortunately, this is about all in the game that really shines.  The other parts range from mediocre to downright broken.  Some gripes:

• “Save” doesn’t really do anything because if you die after you save in mid-game, you’ll still respawn at the last checkpoint before you saved.
• Controls are terribly unresponsive, and at crucial battles it really pisses me off if I die because the game can’t detect your button presses.  (Then you respawn before your last save point).  
• The in-game cinematics are well shot and the recreation of Star Wars universe is gorgeous, except the dialogue and lips don’t sync most of the time.
• Block doesn’t work very well.  If you hold block (Left Trigger) while you’re down, you’re not going to block when you get back to your feet.  You have to pull the trigger again when your feet is on the ground to work.  Irritating if you’re under heavy blaster fire.  Then you die, and respawn before your last save.
• Camera is wonky.  Some parts when you’ll have to jump certain obstacles, the camera is so fixed on you that you can’t adjust it to see where to land.  Then you miss, and respawn before your last save.

But my biggest gripe is really the horribly unimaginative button-pressing sequence at the end of every boss fight.  In geekspeak, it’s called Quick Time Event, where you follow an on-screen sequence of buttons and when you get it right, the boss is killed.  How imaginative, using a mechanic that’s 25 years old and worse, something that totally breaks the flow of the game.  I don’t understand they needed this because the hack-and-slash mechanic in the rest of the game works so well.  And worse, the button sequences aren’t even remotely challenging.  To take down and AT-ST, for example, you just have to press no more than 4 buttons with about a second in between.

I think Lucasarts, as a content company has shown it’s definitely weak in creating compelling gameplay and in this outing, it really shows.  The demo posted on XBL a few weeks ago had great promise, maybe because it was such a short level no one really noticed the gaping flaws.  I really wished Lucas would have held this back for a couple of months to iron out the kinks, or better still, work with a proper game developer to make it right.

For a game that was almost right, it turned out mostly wrong.  In summary, I score the game:

Art/Graphics: 4/5
Music/Sound: 4.5/5
Controls/Playability: 2/5
Production Value/Design: 3/5
Replay Value: 2/5
Overall: 15.5/25 or 62%

Overall, if you’re Star Wars fan, you should play this to know what went on.  If you’re not, then you won’t be missing much if you didn’t buy this.  You can always borrow from a Star Wars fan who has this.

Happy Star Wars Day* to you!

* – unless you live in Los Angeles.