Vader: “Luke, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a mediocre game…” Luke: “Noooo!!"

by Sebastian Stefanov

Fun factor: Average

Worth to: Rent

It makes a majestic attempt to leap over formulaic gameplay, but falls flat into a pool of carbonite

The mother of all hype machines is finally out. After months of watching previews players can finally have a go at the long-awaiting Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The concept took root four years ago when various designers pitched ideas to George Lucas on how to bridge the unexplored period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The result is a game that morphed into a hyper version of the Star Wars universe, with characters able to bring down entire Star Destroyers through the use of the Force.

As was expected many are unhappy with the final product, even on the newer generation of consoles. LucasArts did a phenomenal job marketing the game as one of their biggest titles featuring the venerated Star Wars name. The years of waiting produced a rather good title story-wise but nowhere near the technical masterpiece we were expecting. The Force Unleashed will keep some interested through at least 10 hours of gameplay - more if you decide to have a second run at it for the extra content and alternate ending - but it fails to deliver what some thought would be an open-ended game with slick lightsaber action and depth rivaling Knights of the Old Republic. In any case, the PS3 version is a decent action game, even if it’s a bit on the short side, disappointingly linear and weak on gameplay.

Ah-ha… So Vader and Palpatine are the gambling type

The story takes place a few years after Chancellor Palpatine took control of the clone army and issued Order 66, virtually destroying the Jedi order. Whatever was left of the knights has been scattered across the galaxy only to be hunted down by the emperor’s most trusted enforcer. The adventure begins many years before the game’s actual events. Vader is sent to the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk to find and kill a reclusive Jedi. After disposing of the knight he finds the Jedi’s son who is tremendously strong in the Force. This makes the Dark Lord wonder: “What if I make this boy my secret apprentice and embroil him in an intricate decade-long scheme that will needlessly risk creating a Rebel Alliance that could possibly destroy me and the Empire?” Without hesitation, he kills all witnesses and makes the boy his secret pupil (hey, maybe Darth Vader really does hate himself).

After years of brutal training the secret apprentice, named Starkiller, is sent on various missions to earn his stripes as Vader’s right-hand man by killing a bunch of pesky Jedi. Together they plan on defeating Emperor Palpatine. Starkiller is teamed up with a female pilot named Juno Eclipse (token hotness) and a droid named PROXY, who mainly acts as means of communicating with Vader.

The game’s story is quite good. Cutscenes move the plot forward before, during and at the end of each level - clearly the highlight of the game. Characters and settings remain faithful to the Star Wars universe. The secret apprentice is sent to familiar places fans are sure to recognize from the movies and books, like Felucia (homeworld of the dreaded Rancors and that Boba Fett-eating Sarlacc plant), an Imperial ore facility on Raxus Prime (a famous junkyard world), Cloud City, the Death Star and more. A slew of familiar faces also make cameo appearances: Mon Mothma (important figure of the Rebel Alliance), Senator Bail Organa (adoptive father of Princess Lea) and Lobot (the bald guy with the funky earpieces in Cloud City). In all, great storytelling.

It’s too bad the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions lack a few extra levels included on the PS2. The levels in question have Starkiller fighting shadows of past Sith Lords, Darth Desolous and Darth Phobos, in the old Jedi Temple.

The game starts with an interactive prologue featuring a playable Darth Vader on Kashyyyk. The mission: kill a Jedi. Right there we get a full sense of the game’s limitations and strengths. Vader stomps onward pushing through hordes of monkey-men in somewhat mindless fashion. Sword attacks are limited to a single button with the rest allocated to various force powers: Force Lift, Choke, Repel, Force Push, Jump and Lightsaber Throw. Attack combinations are also possible. It’s here in the early stages that we realize the game is not what we expected. Enemies (in this case the lovable Wookies) are taken out with relative ease. None of them present any resistance and they come in droves. A few simple sword swings are usually enough to take them down.

By the end of the first stage we hope the game gets better. The tree-top Kashyyyk level looks great on the PS3 but it is horribly linear. There are virtually no side routes. Enemies are absurdly easy to kill and the AI leaves a lot to be desired. Opponents are merely there to be thrown around like rag dolls. Taking out enemies is strangely gratifying, though. You can fling objects and pieces of structures at them. You can even lift them with the Force and throw them off the ledge. Vader might be a bit sluggish but he can unload on his rivals like a fore-powered locomotive. Still, it’s a mixed first impression.

To the right of the tour bus you can see Felucia and to your left Raxus Prime

After the Vader prologue players take control of Starkiller. Here things pickup a bit. The Secret Apprentice hops from planet to planet with his ragtime gang doing Vader’s bidding. A Force Powers menu becomes available. Killing enemies (more good guys) gives force points that can be exchanged for improving force abilities. Starkiller has a rather impressive array of moves at his disposal, even from the start. He has all of Vader’s powers and more. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions also include Force Talents that improve character stats, like Battle Meditation, Saber Mastery, Resilience, Vitality, etc. Each one affects Starkiller’s aptitudes, like overall strength, the time needed to charge powers and so on - a good addition that gives the game a bit more depth. There are also combos which mix sword moves with force powers.

Gameplay unfortunately remains straightforward throughout the entire game. Levels have no alternate paths. Each stage forces players to run through a gauntlet of enemies. Level designs on the PS3 and Xbox 360 are more complex and beautiful than on the PS2 but they have the same linearity. Thankfully, some levels have players manipulating their surroundings and some parts require careful jumping. For instance, in Cloud City players can unhinge pipes that release freezing gas (carbonite?) than can freeze nearby enemies. In other parts surroundings can be used to create platforms. The Death Star level has loads of places that require a good amount of precise jumping, mainly to get hard-to-reach Holocrons.

Various Holocrons (shiny cubes) are scattered throughout the levels. They offer Power Crystals that give Starkiller extra skills and can unlock art, costumes or lightsaber colors with three types of densities. Unlike the PS2 version, you can’t change the hilt – not a big deal because hilts are too small to notice in-game.

Graphics, music and sound effects are very well done, as one would expect from a LucasArts game. Voice acting is professional and well-cast, even though Starkiller tends to mumble incomprehensibly from time to time and Vader sounds too expressive in a few spots. Level designs mixed with orchestral music and movie-quality sound effects create a perfect blend of ambience. Felucia is creepy in a dark, jungle kind of way. The Death Star looks like a deadly battle station and so on. Everything is beautiful and atmospheric, but as stated before, it’s all linear – a far cry from what we were lead to believe. When fans got their hands on the various previews the first thing that came to mind was “Wow! Awesome powers!” The second thing was “Wow! Can’t wait to use those powers in the Star Wars universe!” That universe is painfully narrow. What we got is a game as unbound as C-3PO doing ballet (C-3PO is as stiff as a baseball bat; he can’t do ballet).

The Crappy-Camera-View Strikes Back!

Gameplay gets repetitive after a while. Force Lightning is the best attack option. After a few upgrades it’s all anybody will ever need to take down the swarms of enemies, with Force Choke taking care of the rest. Boss fights, on the other hand, require a bit more strategy, though even here gameplay resorts to a couple of moves: Force Push and Force Dash. Starkiller faces a variety of giant enemy bosses whose single weakness is getting a bunch of boulders or containers flung at them. To defeat AT-ST Walkers, Rancors or giant robots players simply dash to the nearest object, push it at their target and dash to the next crate and/or boulder.

Jedi fights have more depth. Players can still fling objects at them but other moves work just as well. Some are immune to specific force powers so experimenting is the key. Lightsaber fights against Jedi look great but are rather disappointing. Starkiller only has a limited amount of sword attacks, restricting the action to pressing the X button as fast as possible. Every so often both fighters lock swords (or lightning blasts), which requires more frantic button mashing to win the duel. The trick is to learn your enemy’s incoming moves and prepare for them by either blocking or running away.

While fighting bosses some moves initiate button sequence scenes that prompt the player to quickly press buttons in the right order as they appear on screen, similar to sequences in God of War. Successfully completing such a sequence does a bit more damage than regular attacks. Once a boss has lost enough energy a finisher button sequence appears. Love it or hate it, that’s how it usually ends.

The camera can really get on your nerves during boss fights. Players have a lock-on feature that lets them focus on a single enemy, unfortunately this lock-on is automatically activated while fighting bosses. Fighting a large enemy like a Rancor forces the player to dash away from it, but with the camera locked on players usually get stuck running into objects out of view. Even with the lock-on turned off the camera can swing wildly between views confusing the crap out of the player.

The game has two endings: a good one and a bad one. After fighting Darth Vader (come on, are we really spoiling anything here?), the Emperor tells Starkiller to finish him off. If you decide to strike the Emperor you get the “real” ending, if you decide to strike Darth Vader you get the alternate ending. Since the game only takes 10 hours to finish the first time around, playing through it again to see the alternate ending isn’t that much of a burden, especially since players get to keep all their Force upgrades. A second run can take three to five hours.


Summary

In all, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the PS3 is an average title gameplay-wise. Action is repetitive and levels are linear. The best part of the game is the story, which efficiently bridges both Star Wars generations. If you ever wanted to know how the Rebel Alliance was formed, this title does the trick. The game isn’t all bad. Action, though mindless, is gratifying. Starkiller can truly dish out some pain. It’s a shame he does it in such a linear way and in such a short amount of time. The game is too short despite the extras and alternate ending. So after all the hype and media frenzy this beast only manages to groan… like that Rancor Luke Skywalker crushed in Jabba’s Palace.

The Force is now Unleashed… in your local video rental store.