The first 20 minutes of my experience with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed elicited the following emotions: cautious optimism, growing excitement, pleasant surprise, awe, sinister pleasure, LMAO, delight, holy shit and goose-bumps of the “that was fucking awesome” nature. In that order.
I’ve been waiting for this game for a long time – ever since I saw the first demo video way back in late 2005. Since then, the hype has thickened, and we’ve heard new tidbits exalting the game. In addition to all the buzz on the incredible physics, rendering, AI, innovative gameplay, etc., it’s also been said that TFU boasts a compelling story that will add a new perspective to the Star Wars cannon – the tale of Darth Vader’s secret Sith apprentice.
The impending release of this game is pretty much one of the major reasons I threw down for a next-gen console (along with GTA IV and Mercenaries 2, which I still haven’t picked up, actually). I’m also the biggest Star Wars fan I know. So needless to say, I was slightly crestfallen when a few less than positive reviews started rolling in on TFU.
Fuck those guys. If you love this universe unconditionally (which means you can actually still watch and enjoy the Prequels while ignoring all the mind-numbing shittyness), then you will gleefully soil yourself while playing this game. Because it’s BETTER than the Prequels. Oh my god, it’s so much better. The Devs told us that it feels like Star Wars, that you’re essentially playing a lost chapter of the Saga. And from my three-hour foray into the first three levels, they absolutely nailed it.
You’ve got the typical characters – the young adventurer, the sidekick and the tough-but-cute love interest, but I haven’t had a problem with any of it yet. The protagonist’s droid, Proxy, is like a fun mixture of Threepio and HK-47 (of KotOR villainy). The main character, Starkiller (a nice throwback to Lucas’s original surname for Luke Skywalker) is voiced and mo-capped by Sam Witwer, who I’ve actually really liked in his minor roles in Battlestar Galactica and The Mist.
The gameplay is immensely satisfying. The first level has you playing as Vader, and you essentially have all of the major Force powers at your disposal. As promised, the physics may blow your mind. Slam a wookiee into a giant tree trunk and watch the outer bark slough off. Force-pound a grove of smaller trees and watch them splinter. Storm troopers and wookiees are nothing to you – just masses of bodies to toss aside or cut down a single hit (one hit, ‘cause you’re Darth Fucking Vader).
I got my new favorite 360 achievement here: “Worst Day-Shift Manager Ever,” and I just about fell out of my chair laughing.
The main story is what we expected – you’re hunting down hidden Jedi some 16-20 years after the initial purge we saw in Episode 3. The levels are beautifully designed. Plenty of junk for you to play with and toss around. Each level I’ve played has ended with a Jedi encounter, and they’ve been very innovative so far.
Nice transition to my gripes. The boss battles are innovative in terms of dialogue, setting and events, in my opinion. The second one in particular was cracking me up – felt like one of the funnier WoW bosses, or the insane ramblings of some Rapture citizen. The problem is, they’re not straight-up lightsaber battles. They probably shouldn’t be, given the game’s heavy focus on The Force, but it’s not immediately obvious how you should come at some of these guys. You’re relatively weak compared to them, and while you can chip away at their health bars by tossing them around or zapping them with lightning, they can knock entire halves or thirds of your life away with single hits if you’re not careful, and there are no health pots or power-ups nearby.
Which takes us to the set-up scenes and loading times. LONG. Too long, in my opinion. I spent nearly an hour on a minor boss before I figured out how to take him down. The problem is, each time the game reset me to the saved position, I had to clear the area, wait through two unskippable cut-scenes, start an event and then kill the boss. Oh, and not fall from a very precarious bridge. This is pretty typical, I know, but aren’t we past not being able to skip the minor cutscenes at this point in game design?
Overall, the game is 10/10 for first impressions. Rent it, buy it, watch a friend play. It’s completely worth it.
I’ve been waiting for this game for a long time – ever since I saw the first demo video way back in late 2005. Since then, the hype has thickened, and we’ve heard new tidbits exalting the game. In addition to all the buzz on the incredible physics, rendering, AI, innovative gameplay, etc., it’s also been said that TFU boasts a compelling story that will add a new perspective to the Star Wars cannon – the tale of Darth Vader’s secret Sith apprentice.
The impending release of this game is pretty much one of the major reasons I threw down for a next-gen console (along with GTA IV and Mercenaries 2, which I still haven’t picked up, actually). I’m also the biggest Star Wars fan I know. So needless to say, I was slightly crestfallen when a few less than positive reviews started rolling in on TFU.
Fuck those guys. If you love this universe unconditionally (which means you can actually still watch and enjoy the Prequels while ignoring all the mind-numbing shittyness), then you will gleefully soil yourself while playing this game. Because it’s BETTER than the Prequels. Oh my god, it’s so much better. The Devs told us that it feels like Star Wars, that you’re essentially playing a lost chapter of the Saga. And from my three-hour foray into the first three levels, they absolutely nailed it.
You’ve got the typical characters – the young adventurer, the sidekick and the tough-but-cute love interest, but I haven’t had a problem with any of it yet. The protagonist’s droid, Proxy, is like a fun mixture of Threepio and HK-47 (of KotOR villainy). The main character, Starkiller (a nice throwback to Lucas’s original surname for Luke Skywalker) is voiced and mo-capped by Sam Witwer, who I’ve actually really liked in his minor roles in Battlestar Galactica and The Mist.
The gameplay is immensely satisfying. The first level has you playing as Vader, and you essentially have all of the major Force powers at your disposal. As promised, the physics may blow your mind. Slam a wookiee into a giant tree trunk and watch the outer bark slough off. Force-pound a grove of smaller trees and watch them splinter. Storm troopers and wookiees are nothing to you – just masses of bodies to toss aside or cut down a single hit (one hit, ‘cause you’re Darth Fucking Vader).
I got my new favorite 360 achievement here: “Worst Day-Shift Manager Ever,” and I just about fell out of my chair laughing.
The main story is what we expected – you’re hunting down hidden Jedi some 16-20 years after the initial purge we saw in Episode 3. The levels are beautifully designed. Plenty of junk for you to play with and toss around. Each level I’ve played has ended with a Jedi encounter, and they’ve been very innovative so far.
Nice transition to my gripes. The boss battles are innovative in terms of dialogue, setting and events, in my opinion. The second one in particular was cracking me up – felt like one of the funnier WoW bosses, or the insane ramblings of some Rapture citizen. The problem is, they’re not straight-up lightsaber battles. They probably shouldn’t be, given the game’s heavy focus on The Force, but it’s not immediately obvious how you should come at some of these guys. You’re relatively weak compared to them, and while you can chip away at their health bars by tossing them around or zapping them with lightning, they can knock entire halves or thirds of your life away with single hits if you’re not careful, and there are no health pots or power-ups nearby.
Which takes us to the set-up scenes and loading times. LONG. Too long, in my opinion. I spent nearly an hour on a minor boss before I figured out how to take him down. The problem is, each time the game reset me to the saved position, I had to clear the area, wait through two unskippable cut-scenes, start an event and then kill the boss. Oh, and not fall from a very precarious bridge. This is pretty typical, I know, but aren’t we past not being able to skip the minor cutscenes at this point in game design?
Overall, the game is 10/10 for first impressions. Rent it, buy it, watch a friend play. It’s completely worth it.
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