Genre : Video Game
Publisher: Lucasarts
Developer: Krome Studios
Players: 1
Retail Price: $60
Availability: Xbox 360, PS3 (Also available on PS2, Wii, Nintendo DS and PSP)
The Force Unleashed has easily been one of the best Star Wars licensed games I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. This game pulls out all the stops to deliver a spectacular game from start to finish. The amazing story and fantastic gameplay make for a phenomenal experience that puts your right into the thick of the Star Wars universe. Several games that bear the Star Wars name, such as KOTOR and Battlefront, have provided us with an awesome experience set in the Star Wars universe, but this game reaches a level all to itself that places it apart from even those great games.
In the the game you play as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice in a story that takes place shortly before the events of the original Star Wars movie (episode four). The story does a good job of bridging the gap between episodes three and four, and gives us some insight on how the Jedi were hunted down and how the Rebel Alliance started. The game begins with Vader discovering you as a child and saving you from being killed. He does so in order to train you as his apprentice so that you may help him overthrow the emperor. Your journey as his apprentice, Starkiller, begins with Vader sending you on a mission to hunt down and kill a Jedi to prove that your training is complete. Subsequent missions involve you hunting Jedi or performing other various missions to prove yourself to Vader, while remaining undetected by the emperor. Starkiller makes for an amazing addition to the Star Wars universe and it is my hope that we see him in other aspects of the universe in the future. I don’t want to give away too much as this is a story that any Star Wars fan needs to experience, but anyone who is a fan knows what obviously must happen by the end of the game.
The gameplay is where the game will draw most of its appeal, both to people who are andaren’t fans of the universe. The developers did an amazing job bringing together numerous technologies in order to allow you to experience the full power of the force. Characters react realistically when you throw them around the level, and they will grab onto objects and other people if you attempt to throw them. Objects such as glass shattering and doors being blown open are also done with an amazing amount of realism and make for an experience you won’t find anywhere else. Playing with the numerous abilities in the game is what makes this game great to play.
The first level you play, you take on the role of Vader with a full set of force powers at your disposal. The opening level is a chance to see what kinds of powers you will have access to throughout the game, and give you a bit of a tutorial on how the game plays. The subsequent level then begins years in the future with Vader giving you your first real mission to hunt and kill a Jedi. When you first begin the game with the apprentice you will only have access to two abilities, force push and force grip. Your list of available abilities grows with each new level bringing a new ability for you to master. Force grip was personally one of the most satisfying powers to explore as you are capable of picking up other characters and objects around the environment that include things like Tie Fighters.
New force powers aren’t the only thing you will unlock as you progress through the story. As you defeat enemies you will gain experience points that allow you to level up, and grant you points you can assign in three different categories. One category allows you to upgrade the level of your force powers, making them more effective. Another is in charge of your available combos, and allows you the capability to unlock more powerful moves to unleash on your enemies. The third category allows you increase general stats such as amount of health or how quickly your force meter recharges. In addition to gaining points through leveling up, you can also unlock points in certain categories by finding hidden holocron cubes throughout the levels. Each level has a number of holocron cubes, and finding them results in things like points, experience, or new lightsaber crystals. Crystals can change the color of your lightsaber blade or provide bonuses for Starkiller to utilize in combat.
The game is on the short side and can be completed in roughly six to eight hours, but if you do manage to blast through the game rather quickly you can always play again. You second time through you can play with all of the abilities you unlocked throughout your first run available to you from the start. This should help with finding the holocron cubes you may have missed on your first play through. There are also quite a few training and challenge rooms you can attempt if you want to complete the entire game. All in all the game has a lot of content to offer, but it could have benefited from some additional levels as it did feel a bit on the short side.
Visually, the game looks amazing on the Xbox and the voice work that was recorded is absolutely phenomenal. The cinematic scenes are all beautifully acted out on screen and help make the story feel all the more engaging. The environments you travel through on the different missions look amazingly detailed and provide for some epic sequences in some of the larger areas. One complaint I had is that you only really travel through a few different environments, as you tend to circle back to each of the planets you encounter. The characters in the game all look great, and you are likely to see some familiar faces as you progress through the game. Boss battles can be incredibly cinematic as you are prompted to fulfill quick time events in order to finish off a boss fight.
This was easily one of my most enjoyable games this year and I recommend that anyone who is a fan of Star Wars go right out and pick it up if you haven’t already. If you might be on the fence about making a decison because you aren’t really the biggest Star Wars fan, you still need to play this game for the incredible gameplay experience it provides. The action never skips a beat and it will keep you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next in the story. If you’ve read all the way to this point and still haven’t played the game, I don’t know what you’re waiting for, just get up and play it.
How do I unlock the last cinematic?
There are two different endings to the game. When you fight Vader you are given the choice to run towards the emperor afterwards, or you can jump down and finish off Vader. This changes the ending of the game.