A Sad Affair Of Shoveware
The Star Wars universe is one that has received a very mixed reception in recent years and while this applies heavily to the high budget, blue screen dependent, prequel movies it also applies to video game series. The Force Unleashed, the latest of Lucasarts Star Wars video game exploits, is truly an intriguing addition to the franchise as Lucasarts really went all out with this one.
Havok, Pixelux Entertainment and NaturalMotion had all licenced out their technologies during development of Force Unleashed project. Outside of game development there were novels, toys and a comic by Dark Horse produced in promotion of the game too. Although the most intriguing of all Lucasart's efforts was to even include the main character as well as either Darth Vader or Yoda on Namco's Soul Calibur IV for PS3 and Xbox 360.
So when it comes down to the product itself, what is it actually like? Well the Force Unleashed on Nintendo Wii is a little different to the other versions on PS3 and 360. The obvious difference of the Nintendo editions comes from the intuitive motion controls. Although despite promises of more original gameplay from this new action adventure game, the Wii version plays far more disappointing in comparison.
Star Wars The Force Unleashed is the bridge between Episode 3 and Episode 4. It details the story of Darth Vader's secret apprentice, Starkiller, who is a discretely trained the ways of the force behind the empire and even Emperor Palpatine. But being a Dark Jedi that he is, it's hard to be so secretive when playing as Starkiller as you have a whole array of Force powers to utilise and master during the game. With a click of C you can shock as many bounty hunters as you want. Or how about shutting up those annoying wookies by using force grab to throw nearby objects at them? Just a quick hold of the Z button and release to fire. Of course if that doesn't work either a swing of the nunchuck will knock any stormtrooper to the ground with force push.
More force powers can be unlocked in-between missions but thankfully the ones we all know and love are free to use off the bat. The already existing powers can also be upgraded in a stats like system which, for example, can make lightning attacks more powerful and make their chains larger. The force powers are necessary in some situation puzzles during play however aren't too difficult or mentally challenging.
The majority of Force Unleashed is spent rather defeating wave after wave of Star Wars themed baddies and basically the aim is to progress by avoiding the typical traps and obstacles commonly found in adventure games like it. This is made complete with a boss fight at the end of each level as well with OTT quick reaction events where you must swing the Wiimote or nunchuck in time with the actions, a lot like an old Sega CD FMV game or the more recent Resident Evil games. The levels aren't completely empty either with collectibles which can be used to buy goodies during intermissions. You also can find new Lightsaber hilts and colours and also are capable of unlocking new costumes to wear later on in the game as well.
There is also a Wii exclusive feature in the form of multiplayer on Force Unleashed, yet it isn't quite as good as it sounds. Essentially it's the single player mode but with two different players trading blows in extremely small matches requiring very little skill. Basically if you know how to be very cheap with your powers then you're bound to win. But you'd more or less have to be drunk or hideously bored to find it entertaining, even with the ability to play as Admiral Ackbar or Anikin Skywalker instead of Starkiller or any other member of the game's cast.
Ultimately not even the inclusion of multiplayer can hide the repetitive nature of Star Wars Force Unleashed. The game can feel very samey later on and not much varies the action or makes it more special than it should've been on Nintendo Wii. But the cool moments themselves from the cut-scenes and presentation are hampered by static visuals and muddy textures, poor even on the Wii's hardware. Though, fortunately, the Wii does benefit from the fantastic music, sound effects and voice acting as standard from Lucasarts.
The Force Unleashed is short clocking under ten hours quite easily. The game's levels are occasionally revisited during the story as well. This is annoying especially as there are minuscule changes when you visit the levels again. There is some replay value but not enough that you'd want to play through the entire game again.
Overall it's a sad affair of shovel ware as the Wii version of Force Unleashed evidently lacks the effort otherwise found in the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 editions of the game as well. Had the developers focused on working on being innovative with the Wii version rather than attempting to clone the other next gen versions than perhaps this would've been a more stimulating title to own on Wii.
