Fox's Review: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3, 360 versions)

[Fusion]

So we travel back into a galaxy far far away to revisit the all-too-famous world of lightsabers, blasters, Jedi, Sith, and George Lucas.  Better known as the Star Wars universe.  Today's story encompasses Darth Vader's secret apprentice who is simply known as 'Starkiller', who is simply given assassination jobs which aren't inherently evil and as much as you'd like to play the dark side of the force, I don't really think you'll get that thrill here.  This game is also the most notable game for having the most people in the fanbase begging it to be released on PC for some reason even though we all know what Grand Theft Auto 4's system requirements are going to be because of Euphoria, now just up the processor requirements and there you go, compensation for Digital Molecular Matter.

There's 2 versions of this game, the Wii, PS2, and PSP versions respectively look to be vastly different games, I'll try to rent a copy of any of those to see how different it is, if at all.


(Graphics: 7/10)

The style of the game and the locales it plays out in are well-represented and well lit, there's usually not much graphical error in this game, with the exception of a few very easy to spot out level design errors where the low poly terrain just dissolves to a not-matching high-poly surface.  This is also compounded by an unusual amount of glitches in certain spots.  Digital Molecular Matter is pretty much just for cosmetics, and even though it works, you can find instances of it working far too well, being able to push metal doors into and through walls, for instance.  You won't actually notice much of this in-game, because it seems to have been included just for the sake of it being there and it being pushed, this game could really do without the applied DMM.  As for the characters, Starkiller himself was closely modeled after his voice actor, and the resemblance is definitely there, though I think his jaw line was slightly edited to look better.

The Force this time around has been given a color, meaning you can 'see' the blasts of force you and other Jedis\Sith throw, as well.  The sabers I think are half done right, half done wrong.  The saber glowing effects are far greater than I would've expected, instead of taking a lazy route, the lightsaber has it's own individual colors and it's unique tip.  But in lighter environments, it becomes very hard to see your lightsaber blade, not that that's a problem.


(Sound: 8/10)
The soundtrack to this game is composed of both John Williams' classics and other music from the archives of LucasArts.  I haven't tried to figure out if any music in this game is new or not, but you won't be listening to it much because it's hardly mood-setting and is more just there.  Each of the enemies has their own kind of unique sound.  Other than that, outside of a few new sound effects, the sound effects for the lightsaber are pretty much Star Wars standard fare.

I should also note that the voice of "Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager" is the Darth Vader voice in this game.


(Gameplay 4/10)

It's another game where Graphics and Storytelling overtake the Gameplay, though this score is low for different reasons than most.  There isn't an excess of storytelling like in Metal Gear Solid 4, but there is an excess of level length as well as a lack of variety in the levels.  Usually it just all equates down to the same platforming using the same platforming tricks with very similar obstacles that don't really get challenging if you get all of the force powers the game has to offer.

The force targeting system in this game is spotty at best.  You pretty much have to maneuver Starkiller into line of his target, and even then, there's still a chance that, like in Ninja Gaiden 2, that Starkiller will decide a piece of destroyable equipment is a far better target than a Stormtrooper for his lightning.

The lightsaber combat is purely hack-n-slash, and there are a good number of combos that'll keep you interested in playing to find them all.  Some are difficult to pull off, others are easy to pull off, and the game somewhat rewards improvisational thinking by kind of creating your own combo attack chains.  For instance, with all of the combos, you can pull off a Sith Strike, and chain it into a Sith Smash.  Those are seriously Lightsaber combo names, by the way.

Now the flaws of the gameplay come in the repetitiveness.  Starkiller never goes beyond the Lightsaber & Force Powers he has, and the actual Force Powers outside of the combos are extremely limited and 1 or 2 border on absolutely useless compared to other methods of killing.  Though they also kind of reward getting yourself swarmed, since it's easy to just blow all of your enemies away in one swoop.  A kind of new force power is "Telekenesis" although it's called "Grip" in-game.  This force power isn't anything like the grip you see in the Jedi Knight games or the movies no less.  Starkiller's grip is picking up enemies, objects, or starships with his Force powers and throwing them about, either into walls, away from him, to something behind him, into force fields or such.  The major disappointment is that some of the larger objects Starkiller can throw just end up poofing out of existance when you throw them, and you can throw some really large objects at times.

Lightning itself makes a return, the whole shooting lightning from finger-tips thing, that is.  Major problem here is that it will never arc   to other targets despite how it looks, and is generally useless even when maxed out for anything other than big machines and Purge Troopers.  Also, sadly, unlike the movies, sparks will not fly everywhere even with lightning, even though that would've made it much more epic.  The Force powers theirselves also have surprisingly little effect on certain DMM environments, and I've found glitches where piece of levels would just vanish, though those would work entirely.  There's also one spot in the 2nd mission (as Starkiller) where you can reach a spot on the wall where you will act as if you're falling, but will not fall and in fact will be 'stuck' on a ledge.  I've also ran into instances where I could not move Starkiller at all. 

There is also one major and easy to catch glitch on the 2nd visit to Felucia.  You will find a series of force fields that you must pull glowing wires out of their sockets to disable the barriers.  This also means that enemies cannot be shot, and you can also use your force powers through these force fields, excluding lightning.  There will be a purge trooper stationed near a door.  Push the Purge Trooper into the doorway, then let him walk towards you.  When the door behind him shuts again, he will ALWAYS trip for no reason.

The menu system suffers from the Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 Unoptimized issue.  There are loading screens -everywhere-.  Even where there really shouldn't be any loading, there are.  Did the Digital Molecular Matter take up so much memory that we have to load 2D artwork and 3 sound effects, no 3D effects whatsoever and such?  Load times when choosing different costumes... It's as if the game doesn't actually load up just the new costume and respawns you at the checkpoint, no, the game loads the entire level again.  This results in nearly DOUBLE the load times.

I should also note: This game does NOT unlock Darth Vader\Yoda in Soul Calibur 4.  Though they're available through DLC now.

(Overall 6/10):

The Force Unleashed has an interesting story, plot, and character development, and would more make for an interesting Star Wars movie, but as a game, it's a letdown.  I was very sure that maybe this game wouldn't be effectively just 'meh', but I was able to beat it in 2 days, the achievements are just killing stuff with stuff rewards and do nothing to actually give the game any more replay value other than going through the game with all the powers you already have, the fact you can't play as Vader again throughout the game any more is saddening enough.  There's even a way to use cheats and have the activated cheats saved into your game.

In short, the graphics are nice, the sound effects are just there, not harming or helping, Chad Vader is Darth Vader, and the platforming feels like something I could make in Game Maker even though it'd be in 2D.  Good on paper, not in execution.