Funny. When I heard of Force Unleashed, I was expecting a shitty story as an excuse to excellent, Jedi Knight-level gameplay. Turns out it’s the opposite. “The Force Unleashed” has a brilliant script that enriches the universe created by George Lucas and shows us the birth of the Rebel Alliance, with compelling new characters and the old ones we know and love at their best. Meanwhile, the gameplay suffers from some problems that are indeed annoying, but in the end don’t prevent this game from being a hell of a lot of fun – even if it’s short. I finished the main campaign on the same day I rented it.
The story: the Empire has been hunting the few jedis who managed to escape the “Order 66″ seen on Episode III of the new trilogy. On a mission in Kashyyk, planet of the wookies, Lord Vader kills a Jedi Knight in hiding, only to find out he has a son with great power but no training. Vader adopts the kid as his apprentice, and years later, known by the alias Starkiller, the apprentice becomes Vader’s hitman – in what Vader claims is a secret plot to overthrow the emperor.
It was George Lucas who came up with this plot and its (excellent) twists, which goes to show the neckless old toad still has it in him – all he needs is to let Star Wars behind and move on to other projects, and maybe he can redeem himself in the eyes of all his (millions of) critics. Personally, I had fun with the new trilogy and thought it had its moments, but I admit it has serious flaws (like Hayden Christensen). It’s writer Haden Blackman, though, who wrote this game’s script and his work is truly good, introducing very interesting new concepts, like Saarlacs being cruelly used as military bases. The dialogue is sharp (something I have come NOT to expect from Star Wars recently) and the characters are interesting. Starkiller himself is very charismatic and humane, and his chemistry with his pilot Juno Eclipse and his robot Proxy is very well-developed. Proxy, by the way, is memorable, especially because he was programmed to think up ways to kill Starkiller and execute them – but when he’s not doing that, he’s Starkiller’s friend. This leads to a priceless dialogue when the apprentice notices the ship he’s in is going towards a star. And the well-known characters of the series are brilliantly portrayed. There hasn’t been a Darth Vader as threatening as this one for a long time. Princess Leia also makes a good appearance.
The superb voice-acting helps. Sam Witwer’s voice gives us clues of the good the apprentice has in him, despite having spent his whole life trained in the dark side, and Matt Sloan has no trouble replacing James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader. The entire cast breathes life into the characters, and so do the great cutscenes that add as much expression as possible to their faces and bodies. Loading the levels while the cutscenes play – a technique used in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Heavenly Sword – is also very welcome.
But, well, this is a game, so how does it do in that aspect? Well, everything that was promised is here. Levitating enemies and throwing them against walls, bombs and each other? Yes. Impaling them with lightsabers? Yup. Grabbing objects, electrifying them and throwing them against waves of stormtroopers? Uh-huh. Only it’s not as well executed as it was hoped. The targeting system is too loose, and it’s extremely easy to force grip something you didn’t intend to. Also, the game often misinterprets where you want to throw an object, and automatically throws it in the wrong direction – usually in an empty wall instead of the several stormtroopers blasting the shit out of you.
But I’ll be damned if, despite those flaws, it isn’t good to force grip a stormtrooper as another one holds on to his hand, then levitating both and throwing them off a chasm. This, combined with other powers like force push, lightning and saber throw, give the player a true sense of power that makes the action extremely efficient. Also, the game uses quick-time-events (QTEs) well, incorporating them into the gameplay so they won’t show up unexpectedly. They’re mainly used as the final blow against a powerful enemy, like a rancor or an AT-ST. If only the mechanic had been better polished, then it’d be perfect. As it stands, some flaws undermine the experience and make you feel like a lesser Jedi sometimes.
The Euphoria engine (same one from GTA 4), also with Havok physics, are very important in making the experience fun. Enemies writhe when held in the air by you, and also when they’re flying to their deaths. They try grabbing on to ledges and colleagues, they truly have a sense of self-preservation. But again, there was lack of polish here. On several ocasions I lifted a stormtrooper ridiculously high and let him drop. He survived falling on the rocky ground. But when I threw another relatively softly on a wall? He died instantly. Also, even AFTER you kill the enemy, he misteriously comes back to life and starts writhing if you force grip his corpse again.
Not to mention the pitiful AI. I lost count of how many times I saw Stormtroopers strangely interested in something on the wall rather than the murdering sith about to cut them in half with a lightsaber. But this resulted in several funny moments, I’ll admit, like when a wave of stormtroopers marched out of an elevator, one of them tripped and all of them fell on each other. Nevertheless, this is STILL the best gameplay of this kind I’ve seen in games. I never played another game where levitating enemies in the air was so intuitive and fun.
As for the lightsaber, its role in Force Unleashed is definitely smaller than in other Star Wars titles. The star here are definitely the force powers, but it’s still good to hit enemies with your saber and make them fly away with a particularly powerful combo. Fighting against other jedis in “Force Unleashed” doesn’t work as fluidly as it should, but it’s very cinematic and challenging all the same. There’s a decent variety of enemies, like rancors, AT-STs, typical cannon fodder, enemies with miniguns, etc. Some of them are infuriatingly annoying though, like a turret that shoots a laser so powerful it sends you flying backwards – usually when you’re on the edge of a chasm.
That’s another of Force Unleashed’s problems: Starkiller is a very powerful jedi, but when it comes to platforming, Prince of Persia kicks his ass. Vader’s apprentice so much as comes NEAR the edge of a cliff, he easily slip and fall. Not to mention his force jump is too fast to actually allow the player to land him in the right place, which often leads to death or having to climb a bunch of platforms all over again.
But here’s Force Unleashed’s greatest quality: it’s straightforward. I didn’t get stuck once. The level design and the art direction are superb (the junkyard planet is a masterpiece), and the game is linear, therefore there’s a lot of enemies all the time for you to battle. The puzzles are simple and intuitive, and try not to take more than two or three minutes to be solved. Force Unleashed doesn’t bore the player: it’s great action from beggining to end, with a very good story keeping you interested. Not to mention some awesome moments, like when Starkiller (i.e. you) has to manipulate a huge Star Destroyer with his force grip power.
Shame it’s too short. It’s worth playing again to see the other ending (which I don’t know because I completed the game only once – and the ending I chose is very efficient and touching). But the lack of multiplayer and other features turn Force Unleashed into a limited experience. So, in a nutshell: DEFINITELY worth a rent, it’s a lot of fun and a great story. But buying it, depends. I can never get tired of throwing stormtroopers around. Can you?
And do I even need to mention how good the soundtrack is?
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