Master Engineer of Sigmar's Realm: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (SWTFU) promised to give gamers are truly unique experience set in the Star Wars universe, by putting the power of the force at our fingertips in a never before seen way. Has it delivered? The simple answer is Yes and No.

SWTFU follows the story of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice – Starkiller – during the period of time between Episodes III and IV. The story is without a doubt one of the games strongest assets, which fits well into the canon – if stretching it just a little – but still leaving the player with a satisfying finale and a worthy respect for the games protagonist. Starkiller’s journey fits across 9 stages, from Felcuia to Bespin and even the under construction Death Star. As with all Star Wars games nowadays you are faced with the standard “Light or Dark” choice close to the games end. The twists seem believable and the actions of the cast feel real, certainly showing that there is some originality left in the Star Wars name.

The levels themselves are quite enjoyable in my opinion. The are quite long and expansive though they do force you down one specific direction. The design is fantastic in some places and lacking in others. That’s not to imply that the levels get worse as you go on, it’s just that some areas feel like they had more thought put into them than others. For example moving through the Sarlaac on Felucia is certainly interesting, whereas the Bespin seems rather bland and ultimately uninspired, with no memorable moments.

The game does have its moments though. My best memory is the segment where you have to pull a Star Destroyer out of the sky using the force. The boss fights are ok aswell, though they can feel very straightforward (but not repetitive if you know what I mean). The problem with the boss fights is that when you reduce your opponent to a low health, you then trigger a quick-time event, which will continue to loop even if you get wrong, meaning there’s no consequence to hitting the right button. The actual action that occurs during a quicktime event is quite impressive, and is definitely the most entertaining part to watch in a boss fight. Having said all that the boss fights are real battles of the force, with the challenge only becoming more of a battle as you raise your difficulty level.

Using the Force is fun, I mean come on, who doesn’t like picking up a helpless stormtrooper and fling him miles into the sky. Or how about leaping in the air, raining sith lightning down on the people below. The combination of using the force with your close combat attacks works well, with a good variety of combos. Coupled with the variations of force powers using the Force has never been so much fun. Going with the new manipulation of the force was the much hyped molecular matter programming, which was designed to make materials react realistically to the conditions, for example wood splintering where its cut, or metal bending according to the reactions its put under as opposed to the game being pre-programmed to respond in a certain way. This technology was very evident in the Prologue but didn’t seem to feature as much as I thought it would as the game progressed. It’s quite possible that the tech was simply too expensive to impliment into the whole game. The only times the tech is seen is when you really have to use it (like bending metal panels so you can jump on them or force pushing your way through a door). The levels are a physics fun house, but just not as much as we intitially expected.

Naturally giving you all this power would make killing stormtroopers and co a little easy, but the game appropriately confronts you with enemies that have means to at least temporarily resist the force or are simply to large for a force push to knock them over. These enemies require you to change tactics, meaning you don’t need to resolve to the same old combos for success. Further incentive to vary the combos is that you’re rewarded for style. You get more points the better style you use. When you achieve a certain number of points you level up, allowing you to upgrade force powers, combos etc. You can also pick up upgrades in the form of Jedi Holocrons, aswell as new lightsaber colours, crystals and robes. The main problem here is that when you obtain new upgrades you have to open a menu to carry them out. And there’s a bleedin’ load screen in between!! This seems totally unneccesary and evidence of shoddy design. The game isn’t without its glitches either. I’ve gotten stuck on terrain, or was half floating of the ground during an in-game cutscene and there is sound clipping left right and centre. Boss fights can be a pain in this repect aswell, as during the first fight he stood protected by a force shield indefinitely, not letting me land any blows or nothing.

If you’re a Star Wars fan, certainly give this game a look. The story is interesting enough to at least give it one playthrough, and collect holocrons adds a little replay value. The lack of Trophy support is pretty inexcusable, especially considering the PS3 was the lead platform.
Ultimately though, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a good experience, which just about gets by even with all its technical glitches. It’s hard to shake of the feeling that Lucasarts have put out such an unpolished game, but they know it’ll sell…because it’s Star Wars.