Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | List Price: $59.99
Discount Price: $46.90
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Platform: Xbox 360
Brand: Lucas Arts
Binding: Video Game
Release Date: 2008-09-16
ESRB Age Rating: Teen
Features: - Confront and associate with familiar faces from the Star Wars films, including Darth Vader in addition to new adversaries such as fugitive Jedi and Force-sensitive Felucians
- Unleash and upgrade the Secret Apprentice's four core Force powers - Force push, grip, repulse and lightning - throughout the course of the game, and combine them for ultra-destructive, never-before-seen combos.
- Examples of unleashing the Force in ways never thought possible: Secret Apprentice won't just Force push enemies into walls - he'll Force push enemies through walls, and will Force grip them in midair, zap them with lightning, then drop them to the ground
- Visit locations such as Episode III's Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk and the floral Felucia, the junk planet Raxus Prime, plus an Imperial TIE fighter construction facility
- Decisions made by players throughout the game will determine the path of the story, including multiple endings that will rock Star Wars continuity as they know it.
worth a look, but enjoy the whole unleashed experience [Posted on 2008-11-18]
star wars: the force unleashed is another attempt at a multi-media event by lucas arts like their mediocre attempt with shadows of the empire in the 90s. don't get me wrong, the effort they put into the event was mediocre, i actually enjoyed shadows; but this isn't a shadows review...
this time around we've got a video game/book/graphic novel combo, with one lego spaceship and one action figure (that i know of) thrown in, almost as an insulting after-thought.
but let me just talk about the main offerings. they all complement each other, but are lacking in their own merits, so i will simply review them all.
GAME: i wanted to give this game more than a 3, i really did. but with amazing games like dark forces and jedi knight coming from lucas arts more than 10 years ago, there was really no excuse for this game not being better than it was. the gameplay was fun for the most part, with the exception of the boss-battles. there's nothing i hate worse than interactive cut-scene boss battles. if you're going to have a cut-scene, let me WATCH the cut-scene. the gameplay is completely linear, which granted is to be expected since this game above all else is an interactive story. you do have one mission as darth vader, but you spend the entire rest of the game playing as the apprentice. this is entirely a melee combat game, with the addition of force powers. if you enjoy star wars for it's shoot-outs and space combat, this isn't the game for you. they could have thrown in some space combat with juno eclipse's back-story, but alas it didn't happen. this game is definitely worth playing if you're a star wars fan, but i can't recommend it at the $60 release price; rent it or wait for the price to drop. while you're waiting, give the book a read.
BOOK: sean williams is no stranger to scifi, and he has prior credits in the star wars universe. this was some pretty solid writing, considering the storyline was already predetermined. he complemented the unleashed story and still managed to add to the mythos with a back-story for juno eclipse that i would like to see williams revisit in a novel of her own. a back-story, and explore what-happened to her after unleashed, since we obviously have no mention of her in the original trilogy, despite her obvious importance [sorry, being very vague here to keep it spoiler-free]. worth a read.
GRAPHIC NOVEL: for a special event like unleashed, i expected the comic to be a little better than this. it just seemed a little rushed. i haven't taken a look at any of brian ching's other star wars work yet, so i don't know if this is his best art. there were a lot of proportion and perspective problems that made it hard for me to enjoy for the artwork alone. and some of the most incredible events in the story, such as the scuttling of the star destroyer, were reduced to a panel on a page. that awesome destruction was worthy of nothing less than a splash-page. in some ways, ching's out-of-proportion heads reminded me of carmine infantino's work on marvel's star wars in the 70's. i'm a big fan of infantino's art now, but it wasn't until some year's later with his work on the flash that i could really get into it. only time will tell if i feel the same way about ching after seeing more of his work. the graphic novel is worth a look, but overall, it adds nothing to the story. if you're already getting the video game and/or the book, you might want to skip this one and spend your money on the the art and making of star wars: the force unleashed.
Additional Thoughts (aka Let Me Watch the Video..Not Punch Buttons) [Posted on 2008-11-19]
One additional point I wanted to add to the reviews here that I haven't seen addressed is the poor handling of the controls for the sub-boss and boss battles. Specifically what I am referring to is the "Quick Time Event" as I have seen it titled in some walkthroughs. Basically after you have reduced the boss' health to a certain level the game switches to a series of video sequences of our hero fighting the boss and as the player you have to hit the appropriate button when it flashes on the screen. I found this part of the game to be frustrating because most of the time I wanted to sit back and watch the battle unfold instead of concentrating completely on the button prompt.
Star Wars: Money Unleashed! [Posted on 2008-11-20]
Besides the few glitches this game is solid, solid waste of money! While the gameplay is easy enough and the graphics were above average, what kills Star Wars: Unleashed is value for your dollar! Seriously, what you are paying for is the graphics and the easier playing action system, if you were paying for the playing value it would be less then a $20.00 game. The story was good, but short and the re-play ability is less then most. I have played KOTOR, KOTOR II and other Lucas Arts games over and over, this really does not have that re-play value, maybe you might play it again in a year. Their is not really too many choices for gamers, making this more of a button smash action game and a short one at that.
I saw someone beat the game in 10 hours, I beat it on difficult in less then eight and I am truly dissapointed. This is a renter game, not worth the $60.00 price tag...I would rather re-play KOTOR or KOTOR II!
Could've been great, but missed the mark [Posted on 2008-11-20]
Unfortunately, incredible graphics, awesome powers, and an innovative approach to combat can't ultimately save this game, as glaring shortcomings in gameplay and concept make themselves obvious too often. Whether the good outweighs the bad depends on your tolerance level, I suppose. I find myself tossing down my controller and turning off my console in frustration far too often.
Your super powers are indeed awesome (when they work), and you'd be hard pressed to find a game that offers more fighting combinations, powers, and ways of dispatching your enemies. But there's an inconsistency to every aspect of the fighting. For instance, you can lift huge nearby objects with your force power and hurl them at opponents, but because of difficulty with targeting and controlling the trajectory of the objects, this becomes an exercise in frustration. Also, the effectiveness of your lightsaber attacks against all too many enemies is nearly nill. This forces you to rely on the same kinds of cheap tactics that actually do work, which of course drains the fun out of the game, and removes the element of creativity and variety.
I wish the developers had gone the extra mile and fixed those aspects the game needed to be absolutely legendary and out of this world fun.
Final analysis, rent, don't buy this game.
good story, flawed game play [Posted on 2008-11-23]
the story of the game is sound. There are a few things that sorta clash with the movies, but for the most part, it works.
The game play is horrible. This game was rushed. The AI is borderline too good - on the normal setting. There are levels where you can't ever get up because the AI shoot you, and you fall down, and by the time you recover, they shoot you again. The whole Force Powers are great, except as soon as you get one set of force powers, there's a bad guy that cancels them out - and oh yea, they are the only type of bad guy on that level.
I understand the point of having bad guy types that can resist your Force Powers, but there, not as bad as the game is.
The Star Destroyer level is perhaps the single most frustrating part of video gaming I have ever played. This part is the reason why I give the game 2 stars instead of 4.
I got the game for two reasons, 1.I thought it would be fun to run around and use Force Powers on storm troopers - it is, for the first half of the game anyway. 2. I wanted to know more of the story of what happened between Episodes III, and IV. It fills that part in well I think.
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