Star Wars The Force Unleashed
A Review - By Gaetano Prestia
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed worked up a strong following well before it was even released. We’ve seen a sudden influx of everything Star Wars over the past decade with Episodes I-III as well as the latest (and most lacking) contemporary addition to the franchise with The Clone Wars. We’ve seen some decent-to-good game additions to the George Lucas lovechild with the Battlefront series, as well as the unforgettable and somewhat flawless RPG series, Knights of the Old Republic. However, the gaming community has never truly experienced the power of The Force (and more notably, the Dark Side) in a video-game. With The Force Unleashed, gamers are given the power of the Dark Side as they control the secret apprentice of Darth Vader. But is The Force really strong in this title?
The Force Unleashed takes places in the relatively unknown time between Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope. Controlling Darth Vader's secret apprentice code-named "Starkiller" but born Galen Mare, you hunt down the last remaining Jedi in the universe. The story plays out like a very important part of Darth Vader’s rise to power and overall it’s executed fairly well. It has a very dark and fast-paced narrative, not unlike that of Revenge of the Sith. There are countless references to franchise favourites and anyone with a basic understanding of the story shouldn’t have any trouble with the plot. There a mild references to Vader’s past and his recent transformation to The Dark Side and when this is coupled with the story of Starkiller, you have a strong plot that is executed through solid voice-acting and great directing. Most importantly, the game fits in with the Star Wars universe and doesn’t stray away from the main story line between Episodes III and IV.
TFU is a straight-forward and simple beat em’ up action-title that incorporates basic upgrading elements and fairly challenging boss battles. It’s not a flawless title when it comes to the gameplay, and it seems to do more things wrong than right
Firstly, the Euphoria Motion engine has been used to the best possible advantage. The engine was first used in Grand Theft Auto IV with revolutionary results and critical acclaim. In TFU, the use of the engine for The Force gameplay elements is integral to the games enjoyment factor. There isn’t a game for the Star Wars universe that has so successfully portrayed The Force like TFU has, thanks to Euphoria. From picking up objects or enemies and slamming them down to the ground, to beaming out waves of energy to knock down nearby attackers, the execution of the engine with the most important aspect of the Star Wars franchise must be highly applauded. Furthermore, it’s not just the ability of The Force that is impressive, but also the outcomes caused by your characters actions. For example, if you pick up an enemy using The Force and move them over towards a ledge or solid object, they will grab onto it and wave around in the air as if a large fan is blowing them away. The rag-doll effects are also quite impressive and almost on-par with what we saw in GTAIV.
Unfortunately, while the ability of The Force and the incorporation of Euphoria can be applauded, the instances in which to use Starkiller's powers can’t be. Beat ‘em up’s are rarely applauded for their environments and originality, and repetitive gameplay is always a major downfall for the genre. TFU suffers from repetition and lacking environments as well as a low difficulty meter. While enemies increase in numbers and power as the game progresses, even the most novice of gamers shouldn’t find much challenge in this title. The AI isn’t overly intelligent and far too often will enemies ignore you while you run past them or even stand stationary while you continue to slash and dice their mates. In some instances you’re bombarded by a hoard of enemies but after a few jumps and air-glides, you’re out of their range and only half run in your direction to continue the fight. The other half walk or stand around as if it’s their first day on the job and they don’t know what they’re supposed to do.
Thankfully, the boss battles offer plenty of challenge and are quite enjoyable. Acknowledging when you have the ability to upgrade your Force powers is integral to your success, as you won’t be able to progress through bosses unless you have at least 2-3 different powers of The Force with some slight upgrades. The upgrading system is somewhat overly accessible but seems to fit in with the tone of the gameplay. You can access the upgrade menu at any point during gameplay and buy or upgrade powers. Perhaps it is meant to feel like a real-time learning experience for a Sith, but it still feels overly accessible.
As made popular in Resident Evil 4, boss battles are cinematic and take a slightly different approach than the basic combat gameplay. Once the boss gets down to a certain amount of health, you’ll have to press buttons in accordance to what appears on screen, which will in turn start a cinematic of actions that are dependant on whether you push the desired buttons in time or not. This method seems to have become the norm in action titles lately and it takes away the pleasure of really “finishing off” a boss. It was great in Resident Evil 4 because the bosses where incredibly challenging and while the bosses in TFU offer plenty of difficulty, the length of the battle doesn’t quite justify having cinematic finishes. It doesn’t offer any sense of completion and makes the battle feel far less rewarding.
The battle environments are a mixed-bag with some inconsistent design and terrible camera angles that make in difficult to fight through a hoard of enemies. Some areas are great and fun to fight through, with plenty of power-ups and space to battle in, while others offer no sense of imagination and originality and feel boxed in. Some of the later areas are designed so poorly that the camera goes haywire, making it impossible to get a sense of where you’re standing and where the enemies are. TFU is filled with glitches like this that bring down the overall level of the gameplay. Some of the cave-like pathways twist and turn. This in turn confuses the camera, and suddenly enemies around the corner that you can’t even see are attacking you.
It’s a shame that repetitiveness, camera problems and lacklustre map design infect this title, as the gameplay elements of The Force are inventive, original and incredibly enjoyable. If there were more to use the power on in terms of difficulty as well as imagination, then TFU wouldn’t seem so generic and lacking.
Graphically, TFU stands tall on its environments, which are lush and generally beautiful. Some areas shine more than others, particularly those in which the universe and passing ships are visible. There is some clipping issues as well as some major lagging problems, which bring down an otherwise good presentation. The clipping issues infect most stationary objects so try to stay away from a cluster of bushes or boxes. Momentary freezing also occurs often enough to frustrate and cause problems during combat. The character design doesn’t impress as much as the environments do, but it gets the job done. There are some really interesting and artistic enemies to fight through, some of which are new to the Star Wars universe.
In reference to the game sound and audio, it definitely sounds like it’s part of the Star Wars universe. The musical score is on par with what is expected for the franchise and sound effects are integrated well. Voice-acting is decent with some memorable and not-so-memorable performances. There are some sound-a-likes as well, with Darth Vader being the most noticeable. The voice-actor does an OK job of creating a dark, frightening voice, but it just doesn’t compare to James Earl Jones.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an inconsistent action beat em’ up. Almost all of gameplay, sound and presentation have their major pros and cons, with the most notable being the lack of any significant challenge in the gameplay. The use of Euphoria must be applauded as it makes controlling The Force an absolute pleasure. Unfortunately, that pleasure cannot be rectified on challenging enemies because they don’t exist in this game. The boss battles offer slight encouragement for the gameplay, but the cinematic finishes take away any real feeling of success.
Gameplay
6.5/10
Euphoria is the gameplay's only saving grace. Not-so-good AI and low difficulty bring the game down in this category significantly. Using The Force is fun for the first hour or so, but because it doesn’t take all that much to kill an enemy, using it to its full aggressive ability is rather pointless and unsatisfying.
Graphics
7.5/10
Lush, bright and beautiful environments let down by slowdown, lagging and freezing. There’s some interesting and inventive character design as well as some familiar Star Wars locations.
Sound
8.5/10
Familiar sounds with good voice-acting, but slightly off sound-a-likes.
Value
5.5/10
Hardcore gamers will absolutely breeze through it in less than 6 hours. If you choose to upgrade all of The Force abilities and unlock everything, as well as use The Force to its utmost ability on enemies (which isn’t necessary), you’re looking at around 8 hours tops.
Overall
6.5/10
The score is not an average of each score above, which was a 7. It would be difficult to rate this game any higher than what has been given above because the most important aspects of any game – the gameplay and value – are either lacking and/or inconsistent. What The Force Unleashed does well is provide Star Wars fans with a solid, 6-8 hour Star Wars experience with an all-new story that is executed well. What it doesn’t do well is provide hardcore gamers with a challenging, consistent and lengthy action title that uses The Force in such an enjoyable manner. The Star Wars series is screaming for a title like that.