Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

The heroes and legends of a galaxy far, far away have been the protagonists of some of gaming’s most iconic titles. With Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the Star Wars universe finally gets its own character action game with some platforming elements – and it’s backed up by some visually impressive tech.

Spectacular set pieces and with solid storytelling that expands upon the Star Wars universe, this game is a must-play for any of the franchise’s fans. Explore the Dark Side of the Force and enjoy an adventure like few others, as long as you can grasp the game’s somewhat broken controls.

Future Tech

The Force Unleashed has a very simple task that it aims to achieve, and that is to let players feel like the ultimate Force-wielding badass in the galaxy. Everything from the stone-cold protagonist to the edgy red lightsaber exudes coolness. Appropriately, the game’s plot is darker than your usual Star Wars game tends to be.

For starters, whereas in games like Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast you start as a somewhat morally ambiguous character, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed’s Starkiller is a ruthless assassin that devotes his life to the Dark Side of the Force.

Long-time Star Wars fans will also be pleased to see many of the franchise’s iconic characters making an appearance in this game. Legendary figures like Darth Vader make a comeback in The Force Unleashed, and some of them are even playable. The Euphoria engine allows the game to feature some impressive effects and gives every environment an extra layer of interactability. Things like throwing Stormtroopers around and breaking glass panes look amazing in motion: every little thing reacts to external stimuli, making Force powers feel stronger than ever.

Platforming and Controls

Ever since the first God of War game, the character action genre has seen its basic formula entirely revamped. In this game, basic platforming and hack and slash sequences go hand in hand. While we’ve seen some games in this genre doing the 3D platforming segments well enough, in The Force Unleashed the experience is, sadly, not as pleasant.

With a camera that gets in the way too often and some imprecise jumping controls, is almost impossible to enjoy the platforming sections in The Force Unleashed. Add to that the fact that the game runs at 30 FPS locked and you get a sluggish experience that is difficult to control and even harder to enjoy.

Fortunately, the combat, albeit a bit repetitive, feels incredibly well when you go against smaller enemies. Some of the later encounters against massive vehicles or beasts are not nearly as fun as hacking and slashing hordes of Stormtroopers with all your might. In the end, the game devolves into a button-mashing affair where players will have to use the same attacks over and over again just to overcome some of the more obnoxious foes.

Plot and Voice Acting

The game’s plot and narrative are just as dramatic as what we’re used to seeing in any Star Wars film. Add to that the outstanding voice acting and excellent cutscenes and you get a satisfying game with an even better story mode.

For Star Wars fans, the fact that they get to see another episode in their favorite series’ expanded universe should be more than enough reason to recommend this game.

Pros:

• Great visuals
• Impressive physics
• Solid hack and slash controls

Cons:

• Messy camera
• Unresponsive platforming controls