The Force Unleashed

About a month ago, the new LucasArts game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released for all the major gaming platforms, so being the big Star Wars fan I am, I had to pick this one up. Unlike most Star Wars games, George Lucas considers this story to be an official addition to the six main cinematic installments he has made in the series, with this one covering the events that take place between Episodes III and IV. As you'll see from the cutscene above (from the first part of the game), you play Darth Vader's secret apprentice as he is being trained to help Vader one day defeat the Emperor. Obviously, this doesn't end up happening, but the story along the way is quite well-done and certainly interesting for Star Wars fans, offering some insight into the relationship between Vader and Palpatine.

As the secret apprentice, you run around doing Vader's secret missions, all the while using the greatest set of Force powers we've ever seen in the Star Wars franchise (at one point, you even make a Star Destroyer crash using only the Force...). To be fair, most of these exaggerated powers were probably included simply to show off the game's extremely robust physics engine that allows you to pick up almost anything and throw it anywhere you like. On top of that you've got Force Lighting, Push, and Repulse, a Light Saber throw, and a few others, but easily the coolest part of the game is grabbing things and flinging them around like they're weightless.

After a short period of being a bit frustrated with the game's controls and difficulty level, I eventually got the hang of it and started having a lot of fun. Unfortunately though, the game is too short: there are only nine levels, and of these, two or three are mini-levels and two more are essentially repeats of previous levels (albeit with different maps). The good news is that if you reach the end and want to finish leveling up your character before fighting the end boss, you can go back to any level you like and replay them, which I did twice to complete my character's training. While this does give the game a little more length, by the end you're not really up for running through the game on a higher difficulty level, as you've already played it three times!

I did finally finish the game today, and despite my complaints, I'm really glad I picked it up. I was a big fan of the Jedi Knight series, and this is the closest thing we've had to that in awhile. Plus, the story, acting, game mechanics, and motion-capture elements of the game are all top notch, so despite the length and a few annoying glitches, I had a good time playing this one. Definitely recommended for a week-long rent if not a purchase.