Kombo’s Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don’t waste your time. This is why we’ve split our reviews into four sections: What the Game’s About, What’s Hot, What’s Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
Editor’s Note: Yeah, I realize I’m a liiiiiiiiiiiiittle late with this review. You can thank my sadistic professors for the delay, as I basically haven’t slept in the last two weeks. Common sense and the first week sales figures both lend me to believe that most of you already knew whether or not you were going to buy the game from the moment the “Star Wars” in the title registered in your brains. As for the rest of you, one more opinion can’t hurt and hopefully it will at least be an enjoyable read. If I manage to sway you one way or the other about a purchase, all the better. I’ll do my damnedest to ensure no other reviews for major releases are delayed this year.
What’s the Game About
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the first example of what Lucas Arts swears is a new era for their Star Wars video games, one devoid of cheap cash-ins and half-assed efforts. With over two years of development and several cutting edge technologies to its name, The Force Unleashed definitely isn’t the kind of quick n’ dirty money grab gamers are used to seeing from licensed titles. Evidence of the effort put into the project can be found in almost every facet of its design, from the storyline that’s incredibly respectful of the series’ cannon, to the physics-bending force powers and insanely stylish combat. It’s clear that the developers tried their damnedest to make Star Wars cool and fun again, and it’s unfortunate that all that energy didn’t pay off with a better game.
What’s Hot
I’m not much of a Star Wars nut. Depending on your point of view, that makes me either the best or worst person for this review; I’m either objective enough to evaluate the game based on its merits or incapable of appreciating the element that really makes it special. Star Wars fan or not, I can and do appreciate quality narrative. The Force Unleashed may be a touch melodramatic and cheesy at times, but for the most part it weaves an interesting and exciting yarn to connect Episodes III and IV. It’s also a lot darker than most Star Wars fare, as the main character and his band of cohorts explore far greater depths of moral ambiguity and psychological complexity than any of the movies. The Apprentice may be a bad guy, but he reacts and develops like a human being, and that makes him a pretty easy to root for. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also probably the single most badass character born out of the Star Wars lore to date. He drips cool with every motion, right down to the defiant way he wields his lightsaber.
Force Unleashed is pretty much 8 hours of straight combat, so the combat had better be cool enough to hold your attention. Thankfully it is, for the most part. Obviously force-powers play a huge role in the game, and you’ll be able to wreak wonderful carnage by pushing, throwing and electrocuting enemies, vehicles and pieces of the environment. The physics and animation engines at work really help add a visceral edge to attacks that we’ve all seen before –- throwing a stormtrooper feels a whole lot more badass when you see the hapless sap grabbing at railings as he flies through the air and watch debris scatter when he finally lands. The force powers are complemented nicely by some of the sickest-looking swordplay you’ve ever seen. Seriously, just try watching the rigid, boring saber duels from the original trilogy after watching the Apprentice flip and spin as he slices and dices with his lightsaber. It’s painful. He’ll only get better as the game goes on thanks to a simple upgrade system that rewards kills with experience points that can be distributed between three skill trees. The trees aren’t all that different, so it’s not like the game changes dramatically based on which path you take, but leveling up your character and unleashing new attacks is satisfying.
The art direction and presentation values throughout The Force Unleashed are amazing. The level designs are all pretty linear and simplistic, but that’s easy to forget when you’re surrounded by layers of digital art. Like the first Star Wars movies, The Force Unleashed does a good job of making the future feel like it has a past, like it’s been lived in and fought through, with layers of grit and wear-and-tear that are sorely missing from other sterile futuristic worlds (cough*MassEffect*cough). Raxus Prime, a junkyard planet, is one of the visual highlights of the game, but every world has its own distinct aesthetic theme and features textures and lighting worth admiring. The sound design is even better than the visuals. The trademark, hums, slashes and crackling ions of the lighsabers are sure to make Star Wars fans giddy, while the suitably epic musical score is equal parts nostalgic for the original films and evocative of the game’s darker take on the universe. Star Wars hasn’t looked this good since green-screens were cutting edge.
What’s Not
The combat is exhilarating when it hits its stride, but all too often the game limits you from using the tools at your disposal. Many of the standard enemies are immune to and therefore negate the Apprentice’s force powers or have some elite units that protect them, leaving him to rely solely on his lightsaber. Obviously the game can’t allow the player to steamroll over everyone without a challenge, but there are better ways to make a game challenging than to negate the game’s biggest draw. Furthermore, if the developers want to make me feel vulnerable, why not make those immune enemy types Jedi or otherwise imposing opponents. Struggling against tweaked stormtroopers just makes this Sith lord feel weak, and when you finally do face off against a Jedi, they don’t feel special or dangerous. “What’s that, you can negate my powers? Big deal, so can every other guy on this damn planet.” Battles in early levels that allow you to mix-and-match force powers and lightsaber ballet into elaborate combos are incredibly fun, while later levels get repetitive and boring since you’re reduced to slashing your way through enemies, just like any old action game. Going back to the early levels after leveling up your character is secretly the most enjoyable thing to do in the game.
Repetitive and boring is still better than frustrating though, and that’s what Force Unleashed becomes when you hit some of the grander set pieces. The biggest disappointment is the Star Destroyer scene, which is absolutely abysmal. During this set-piece, you have to drag a Star Destroyer out of low orbit while taking care to deal with the squadron of TIE fighters taking pot-shots at you. It’s basically a giant quick-time event, with prompts showing you how to move the analog sticks to maneuver the Star Destroyer, but there’s one major problem: the game flat out lies to you. If you attempt to follow the prompts on-screen you will fail at this set-piece over and over. Only by ignoring the prompts and figuring things out through trial-and-infuriating-error will you succeed and move past this god-forsaken section of the game. Note to developers: I’d rather be left in the dark than led astray. What should have been one of the ultimate Star Wars moments is a complete ****ing nightmare. Other set-pieces, including one where you have to use force powers to maneuver floating rings into place and sprint through a hazardous environment under the constant burden of a time limit, are similarly frustrating. Please, just let me get back to throwing TIE fighters at stormtroopers!
Horrifically bad as they are, the set-pieces are few and far enough between that they don’t single-handedly ruin the game. Ultimately, the game fails because of a lot of niggling technical and mechanical issues, many of them inexcusable for a game with such a large budget and such a long development cycle. The camera is a pain in the ass, which is quite an accomplishment given that the levels are typically large and open. The developer tried to be fancy, adding unnecessary sweeping camera pans and zooms to make the already cinematic combat look even cooler. Had they just left well enough alone, many of the boss fights in the game would have been far more satisfying and much less irritating. The touchy targeting is an even bigger problem, as the game will occasionally cause you to lock onto items or enemies that are nowhere near your intended target, and it will result in taking damage or having to retry one of the aforementioned horrible set-pieces. These little problems chip away at the experience over and over until you’re so fed up that finishing up the last few levels feels like a chore. Finally, visual glitches abound. You’ll clip through walls, experience frequent bouts of slowdown, watch textures pop in and out, the list goes on. It doesn’t kill the experience, but the technical hiccups definitely sake some of the power out of the presentation.
Final Word
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a good game that could have been great. You can really feel the effort the developers put into the game at some points, but there will be other times where you’ll openly wish horrible fates on everyone involved with the project. The combat engine is solid and the Apprentice is a badass character worth exploring, so a sequel might be a worthy pursuit. Fans of the universe and the action genre should give the game a look, but there are better action games available on just about every platform.
