What levels it succeeds on can't match up to its faults
The Force unleashed should have been one of the greatest games of 2008; it should have perched itself as a nominee for GOTY; it should have given Star Wars geeks all that more canon story to add to their catalogue. TFU was meant to do a lot of things, but sadly only managed to live up to a few.
As a story it does at least give some more insight into the destruction of the Jedi , the birth of the Rebel Alliance and even more character development for everybody's favourite robotic asmastic. There isn't all that much story to grasp on though sadly, considering how much backstory was created by the KOTOR games it's a damn shame they couldn't give you a tale that could actually keep you entertained till yet another prequel/sequel comes along. TFU's story seems like a very small chapter added in for quick measure just to tie up a few more loose ends instead of giving a whole new story. Maybe that's what it was meant to be, but it's not what I wanted.
TFU puts you in the role of Starkiller, Vader's secret apprentice. Like your typical sith lord, Vader is planning on betraying The Emperor for supremacy over the galaxy with Starkiller at his side. It starts of as simple as that with Vader sending you out to hunt some of the last remaining Jedi - one of which is a key figure of the Jedi community, too. Though it will of course get more complicated than that and Starkiller will soon enough question his own loyalties and his own morality at that too. The story does appeal well enough to star wars fan I'd say and the voice acting that delivers it all is surprisingly good, much more so than any of the acting found in the Star Wars prequels.
Sam Witwer does a beyond brilliant performance as Starkiller and has definitely set his mark on the character. Especially thanks to him actually having himself photo generated as Starkillers appearance. The story will contain many characters from both sagas prequel and original which should force a smile or smirk from any star wars devotee's.
So, the story is generally a success giving even more star wars characters for people to dress up as and a good tie in to the in betweens of EP 3 to 4. It's from there though that the game begins to falter.
Gameplay especially. It's a typical hack n slash game all over. From the beginning to end you'l be doing the exact same thing throughout. Though the game is at least rather short in fact so I suppose it won't matter to some. The general gameplay scheme is definitely pretty fun with theres a good variety of force powers to take advantage of. Initially when only faced with Stormtroopers it can be deviously entertaining to swing them all about or throwing explosive barrels on top of them. But once the larger and more force resistant enemy's come along, then frustration starts to become a common occurrence. The game will get pretty tough as it progresses but for the wrong reasons. For starters there will a number of attacks that can't be blocked and which tend to knock Starkiller to the ground, or at least off balance, and will leave you sliding across the floor because the enemy will keep doing that same unblockable move.
It's also impossible to counter mid-combo of some enemies and thus if they get that first attack in you'll be forced to take the full damage. What's more, the level design doesn't do a great deal of telling you which areas are safe and which will send you to your own awkward death. You may very easily find yourself being knocked off the edge, while barely even noticing you close to the edge to begin with.
Finding yourself surrounded by enemies all doing that same unblockable explosive attack will certaintly test your patience, especially with the sigh inducing load times.
The combat may have its problems, but it still can give you alot of entertainment if performed right. In a large part to its difficulty it will then be very satisfying once you do manage to take down that squad of anti-flinching Felucians. What's more you may eventually manage to learn how to deal with all the frustrating short comings the combat offers - it may be clunky at times and sometimes won't even respond, but whats in store is at least worth it. Fantastic animation work from Starkiller definitely gives you the look of one powerful lightsaber wielding Sith., at that.
The force powers on offer too are rather fun to unleash. Lightning is always a treat and against some enemies will probably be your only tactic for victory. Force grip may not be too practical with most of the later enemies, but once you actually get your grip on someone it can lead to a lot of joy and hilarity swinging him through the air, shocking him with lightning then force pushing the prat of a cliff. Force push is your other main force technique which is just as powerful as it should be. You're not limited to say tripping over a couple of droids like in most Star Wars games; no, Starkiller is eventually able to force push someone from one side of the environment to the next.
The right combo's of all these wonderful and violent techniques can then equal some fetching eye candy.
The graphics overall are rather impressive. The character models especially are almost photo realistic, with a notable regard to Starkiller who again is a representation of Sam Witwer. There's no gore though sadly, which is surprising considering the amount of violence was promoted and indeed seen throughout. Nonetheless, throwing someone covered in lightning to a group of unsuspecting wookies is most certainly a sight to see again and again.
Sound as I mentioned with the voice acting at least is a real triumph. The soundtrack is what we've all heard before, countless times, but I at least still find it suits and while it did happen to disappear into the background at times due to aforementioned strong familiarity to the tunes, that didn't less the enjoyment of the classic Star Wars theme tracks. Sound effects are the same - recycled lightsaber and blaster fire. Again though, it all serves its purpose and frankly has no reason to be altered.
On a whole it's a rather short game, probably only taking around 10 hours at most on your first run. There is at least a surprising amount of costumes to unlock. What is annoying, however, is if you happen to wear one of the many costumes that isn't canon to the story chapter it won't show up in the cutscenes. With so many costumes to unlock it is rather strange and quite unexpected. Lightsaber crystals of all colours are scattered about aswell, so in some aspects Starkiller can be made to look like your own type of Jedi/Sith. He won't learn any new lightsaber styles though, so he'll always weild his lightsaber the same way behind the back. Which isn't much to moan about, but considering the amount of downloadable skins there is you'de think they would at least have their own lightsaber styles to accompany the characters.
Playing through again is recommended since after all the upgrades you've gone through and all the new combo's you've assembled, you're then allowed to play from the beginning with everything you were left with. Costumes, lightsaber crystals and of course level 3 force lightning! SW - TFU is a riotously better experience when you'll now have a reliable tactic for most enemies this time around. The game will be made considerably easier of course, but it's much better this way, really giving you the feel of a powerful Sith warrior. There is also holocrons hidden through the levels, they are what rewards you with the lightsaber crystals and a couple of costumes. They can satisfying to find since some are hidden rather well or at least placed in a hard to reach area, and make up the games existent replay value.
Replay value may be present, but it's not all that engaging, with most I'de guess will find just one run-through sufficient to get that much more Star Wars canon. But if you can tolerate the frustration of completing it to begin with, I'd advise you give the game at least one more playthrough to be able to play the game just that little bit closer to how we were all expecting it to play like.
