Better than expected
I went into Star Wars Force Unleashed with a certain amount of trepidation. I had been really looking forward to the game but due to some unfavourable reviews which bemoaned lots of bugs I was not so sure it would be the game I had originally hoped. Thankfully my fears were mostly unfounded and I have really enjoyed playing through the game albeit as a rental.
The gameplay is very much combo based button mashing with force powers and a lightsaber at your command. The use of Sith lightning, force push and force grapple are all great fun to use with the physics engine showing some wonderful ragdoll effects of the various enemies you lift up and throw around. Your lightsaber is also a great weapon but I found it less fun than picking up a stormtrooper with the force, sending a bolt of lightning through him and then flinging him up into the air and watch his body flail around as he falls to his doom!! The action does get repetitive but the game throws numerous landscapes and level designs at you as well as seemingly hundreds of stormtroopers, wookies, imperial officers etc. that it keeps you busy and always has you fighting different and more advanced enemies as you progress.
There are boss characters to fight at the end of and during each level. These range from Jedi to Rancors to ’s and many more recognisable Star Wars creatures and machines. These battles start out as tactical button mashing but end with you having to press certain button sequences that flash up in order to run a series of interactive cut scenes which lead to that particular bosses demise. These sequences are very frustrating at times though as without split second, lightning fast reflexes you struggle to finish off a boss first time and need to learn the patterns of button presses and pre-empt them appearing on screen. A lot of the time I was also paying more attention to the button presses to look at the fight on screen which took away from some of the action.
The storyline in Force Unleashed is with out a doubt the best part of the game. If you are a Star Wars fan then you will get a real kick out of seeing events unfold and familiar characters appear before we were introduced to them in the original trilogy of movies. The pacing of the story works well with great twists, turns and revelations ramping up the narrative in the second half of the game.
The cut scenes and characters themselves look great although do tend to walk a little funny and there is something just not quite right about how Darth Vader looks although I cannot put my finger on it. The eagle eyed player will also spot loads of homages to the Star Wars saga especially around the junk yard during the 3 level.
Apart from the main story there are also a series of training challenges which work fairly well to get you used to the controls and the different powers although this system is a little clunky. The upgrade system for your powers, abilities and even lightsaber works reasonably well but to have to go through some loading screens whilst playing to access these screens is cumbersome.
So all in all for the most part the game looks pretty decent, sounds like a Star Wars game should sound and plays very well although is not terribly taxing apart from the button pressing sequences. Where the game excels is in the storyline department and although it is not the best Star Wars game out there it is fun while it lasts and with the promise of some downloadable content including new characters to play as it may well be worth a second playthrough.
