I’m normally quite a fan of Star Wars games. Well, a few, anyway. Battlefront 2 is my absolute favourite, and due to frequent rentals I now know every nook and cranny of all the bad quality Playstation 2 maps. Lego Star Wars I also rather liked, though it seems I might have outgrown it now. Anyway. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the latest offering from the professional cash-cow farmers at LucasArts, and there has been rather a large amount of hype about the game from Star Wars fans and gamers in general. Pre-release promises included a massive amount of Force control; in theory this was used to complete objectives, but gamers only really cared for the dicking about with force lightning. The ability to play as a almost-Darth-Vader-but-not-quite Sith Apprentice was also a focal point of the grandiose promises, and gamers embraced the opportunity to final clutch the red lightsaber. So, now that the background information’s out of the way, we can start.
By the way: Healey’s thorough review is based on about 3 hours playing a rental disc. So there you go.
Right, let’s start with the ritual disembowelment. And I actually use that in a positive sense. From the very start of the tutorial (playing as the big V himself), it’s plain to see why The Force Unleashed was hyped so much. It doesn’t matter whether or not you’re a fan of Star Wars; throwing a Wookie into a massive gate to smash it down is fucking awesome. It only builds from there, and before you know it you’re tossing a TIE fighter into a cluster of stormtroopers. I’m going to be frank here: I actually broke into a smile a few times. Pretty good. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much it.
After the tutorial, you’re put in the space-shoes of apprentice Starkiller, and the game promptly becomes bland. Not actively bad – that takes effort – but just… meh. It seems TFU just can’t keep up the excitement after the first two or so levels, and instead degenerates into a button-masher. With Star Wars. Yup.
I’m not going to go through every single enemy killed in the game; and because that’s basically what the game is – killing enemies – there’s not really much to say. I mean, sure it looks pretty (on the PS3, anyway) and the story’s somewhat interesting (seeing Darth Vader stare deep into a little toddler’s eyes is somehow cute), The Force Unleashed just can’t keep up the balls-to-the-wall excitement it was promised. Or maybe I’m just callous. Yeah. That’s it.
On a last note: The folks at LucasArts are really helpful, and no doubt knowledgeable in games. I mean, just take a look at this actual tip taken from the manual:
Yep. Glad they told me this.
Tags: die Wookie die, piece of sith, star MOARS
