Star Wars : The Force Unleashed (STFU?!? Well…CHARMING!)
By: The Almighty Bobfish and Jedireaper Posted on October 16th, 2008 under PS3, Star Wars, The Force Unleashed
THAT’S RIGHT FOLKS, this time you get not one, but two reviews for your money. Which you must admit is a pretty good deal since we’re not charging you a penny for even a single syllable of this deep and engrossing expulgation (is that even a word?!?) of superior personal insight. By which I mean, we’re both gamers so we obviously must know everything about every game ever made ever.
On a more serious note, both Mister Reaper and myself are long time fans of the Star Wars series. Between us having logged a staggering number of hours both watching, reading, and playing a dizzying variety of the of the available media. Both officially sanctioned, and unofficially. In fact, we have both dabbled, on more than one occasion, in the fan fiction side of things on more than one occasion. And I myself was introduced to the table-top RPG by West End Games more than fourteen years ago. So, whilst I freely admit this does not make either of us experts, or the voice of truth, it should at least impressive upon you the gravity of our familiarity with Star Wars as a whole.
So, having inflated our ego’s (actually, it’s the id, but that’s another story) quite enough already, let’s to the meat and two veg if the situation. The Force Unleashed, how does it hold up?
Sadly, it doesn’t.
I was dubious right from the outset. Some three years ago when I first saw teasers for the game on the Star Wars Galaxies forums (that’s the Star Wars MMO by the way, but I’ll talk about that in depth another time) I was extremely apprehensive. Whilst everyone else was posting comments that pretty much consisted of “ZOMG! That roxxors” I was somewhat more reserved in my opinion. Yes, graphically it was impressive, and even though it seemed ambitious at the time, with the Playstation 3 and X-Box 360 already starting to show their potential I was confident, at least, that it would be able to match, if not surpass, the technical aspects demonstrated.
But when it came down to it, all the video (at the time) consisted of was a series of short demonstrations of telekinesis and Force lightning. Oh, and at one point the, at the time (as I recall) unnamed protagonist slamming his lightsabre into the ground to make a shockwave that damaged nearby enemies and flung them up into the air. Something which doesn’t seem to have made it into the final game, but may have lead to the jumping slam attack which is in the finished product.
All of this may have been utterly amazing to fans of massive, slick action scenes. But I’ve never been one of those, much favouring plot development and outstanding acting, either vocally speaking or in the flash. When details of the plot itself, and Lucas changing the story yet again, were released, all of that lingering apprehension turned into a full blown “groan *roll eyes*”. And yet, still, in a moment of weakness and rapid fanboydom I bit the bullet and picked the game up from my local Walmart.
I must confess, the opening scenes and the first sub-level as Darth Vader was initially quite inspiring. And the small cinematic explaining how he first comes to find our erstwhile anti-hero was an extremely powerful piece of computer animation. Which had unfortunately been sullied by the idiotic boos fight immediately before it, and the incorporeal, vanishing scenery which had cropped up at numerous times along my short exploration of the Wryoshyr tree village of Kashyyyk. For a game as supposedly technologically advanced as this to have sprites become insubstantial and then simply vanish I find to be more than a little insulting. If games on the previous generation of consoles were able to manage the information, then surely this amazing technology we are assured we have paid for now will be able to do it far, far easier. But apparently not.
Add to this the clunky, unresponsive control scheme and you may begin to see where my disappointment is stemming from. As if the massive change in the Star Wars cannon isn’t reason enough (Darth Vader formed the Rebel Alliance, I mean, what the hell?!?) I came to the conclusion that the game was intentionally programmed to be as buggy as it was simply to make it more challenging. Because, to be frank, even on the highest difficulty setting the only actual difficulty came from the fact that the lock-on refused to target anything I actually wanted it to latch onto. Often deciding that I, clearly, want to focus all my attention on that rock that’s about fifteen feet behind the massive rancor currently trying to stand on my face.
And then we have the boos fights. Each of which requiring some little trick to actually finish. The most notable being on your second mission as Starkiller. Facing an odd little Doctor Octopus looking dude called Kazdan Paratus who, literally, cannot be injured with your lightsabre. After the first blow he immediately counterattacks, even if previously stunned or in some way incapacitated. And I have long had serious issues with enemies that blatantly ignore attacks. Now, I don’t want a game to be easy, but if I’m shoving a beam of energy that can cut through anything into your face, I expect at least a flicker of a reaction. Am I asking for too much?
Another major bone of contention was the Force grip power. For whatever reason, it was decided that this could only be used when you were standing completely still, so that Starkiller could focus all his attention on holding the object (or later objects) of choice up in the air. Now, this is a man who can telekinetically rip a Star Destroyer down out of the sky. And yet he has to remain completely focused when picking up a rock the size of your fist? Seems a little flakey to me. And don’t even get me started on the picking up inert enemies (always fails for some reason) or the fact that some enemie have a shield which makes them immune to telekinesis. Riiiiiiight.
Well, I’ve been decidedly less than complimentary thus far, you must be beginning to wonder if the game has any redeeming features at all. Unfortunately, I have to say, it actually does. “And how is this unfortunate?” I hear you cry. I say unfortunate because of the travesty that is the game as a whole. There was so much potential for this to be a truly outstanding game and a worthy, noble entry to the official Star Wars cannon. But it was squandered on blatant fan appeasement. I mean, really, was there any need at all to have a battle with Darth Maul?
And Starkiller himself. Advertised as being a true disciple of the Dark Side who has a personal, spiritual experience and ultimately redeems himself and becomes a champion of the Light in an unexpected twist. From the first cinematic where Vader tells him to kill everyone including the Imperials, the look on his face immediately betrays his distaste of wholesale slaughter. So how is his latter reversal in any way unexpected?
Having said that, however, the outstanding performance by Sam Witwer as the Dark Lords Apprentice adds a lot of sincerity that has many of us lamenting for a better script. With only a few small changes the scripting could have been top notch and truly spectacular. I mean, Hel’s teeth, Lucasarts even brought in Matt Sloan (probably best known for his portrayal of Chad Vader : Day Shift Manager which he produces with his good friend Aaron Yonda for their website splu.net), and whilst I think it’s fantastic that he has been given official recognition and sanction by Lucasarts, it’s also extremely saddening to know that it happened in a venture that was so disappointing as this.
To the point : Jedireaper’s lamentations
I thought the game was solid and addictive, with an engrossing story and good use of both background sounds and music. But at it’s heart is nothing more than a repetitive action game boasting incredible set pieces, boss battles and graphical effects. I would say the Force truly is unleashed, but nothing more. A linear gameplay mechanic and samely bosses don’t help the replay value, nor does the omission of online or at the very least split screen co-op. The latter being a feature which was included in The Force Unleashed on the PSP. Jedi Power Battles anyone?
If you really must experience the story of The Force Unleashed, buy the novel. It is just as repetitive as the game, seemingly nothing more than a glorified walkthrough/guide, but it at least delves into the back story and the moral choices Starkiller makes in a much more satisfying way. Though, to be honest, I don’t recommend either.
Closing arguments : A sum up and the scores if you will
With some extra content soon to be made available (free as far as I am aware) via download on the Playstation Store and X-Box Live Marketplace, there has been a small amount of replay value added in. But as this consists of an extra level and a few new characters to play as, it’s nothing Earth shattering. And playing through the game as Luke Skywalker would be just…bizarre. But, as always, these are just personal opinion, and as the game is still selling well and earning a lot of good comments from no small percentage of it’s player base, it leads you to suspect that it may not be as bad as some of us have painted it.
Or, perhaps, some of us are just more easily pleased than others. Some will love it, some won’t. The choice really is yours. But if our recommendations carry any weight, then we both advise against wasting your money. Try out the Jedi Knight series instead.
Bobfish says :
Graphics 8/10
Gameplay 6/10
Audio/music 8/10
Plot/Scripting 6/10
Overall 6.5/10
Jedireaper says :
69%
Good, but flawed.
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