Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Lack there of

Wow, in need of improvement. The force push?! Can I please push an object on a Storm Trooper or Jawa?! Not unless I actually had mediclorians! Some other errors here in there, but it's still great to slaughter enemies with the Light Saber, and hurl enemies hundreds of feet!

Obviously I'm Playing a Different Game than Everyone Else

Greatings all, The B here to bring you a long over due review for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Sorry for the delay, this is actually my first review for this site, so be gentle.
Forced Unleashed has been bashed over and over again for one reason or another, and while the game isn't the by any means perfect, it does deserve much more create than the Big Boys of the VG critic world is giving it.
For starters, the story fantastic. In a time when the storyline in video games tend to drop you into nonsensical plots just to give a basis for some niche gameplay (Fracture, I'm looking at you) its wonderful to see a game that has a story value this high. The game bridges the two trilogies nicely and gives several astonishing story moments which would make any true Fan Boy tear up with glee!
The action in this game is non stop. Having the force opened up to you in an over this over the top manner is something that I for one have been anticipating for a long time. Nothing is more satisfying than holding a Stormtrooper off the ground a few feet with force grip, impale them with your lightsaber, energize him with an explosive amount of force lightning and then hurl him into a group of his comrades to see the ensuing explosion fling them in all directions. On top of this, all the levels are ripe with all manners of debris and manipulatives that you can easily force grip and throw at enemies with impressive results. Stormtrooper bowling anyone?
Besides the satisfying menu of force powers, the lightsaber combat also there to supplement the game play. There are several combos that are unlockable through the leveling system seen in several games of a similar hack and slash action genre. But the true beauty of the lightsaber is when you combine it with force powers such as push, and send your victims flying through the air at the end of a onslaught of saber slashes.
Now for some down sides. One thing that I found lacking was that at the end of the game, you wanted more! But besides achievement whoring for some extra holocrons there's nothing much that the game offers after completion. The DLC packs that are coming soon should alleviate that, so I won't dwell much on that topic. However one thing that hurt me was the lack of an online multiplayer mode similar to that in the Jedi Knight games. I believe that I speak for more than myself when I say that this mode should seriously be considered by Lucas Arts in future installments of the Unleashed franchise. Even a dualing mode similar to that of the Wii version would have been satisfying.
Something that has coming up in several other reviews that I've read has been the presence of some camera problems. I've played through the game twice and did not experience anything myself. However I did with a camera glitch or two when watching my buddy playing through a level or two, and can admit that there are some minor camera angle problems, just not enough to hurt the game to much.
The last thing to compain about would be the DMM (Digital Molecular Matter) system that they integrated in to the game. For over a year now we've been promised unscripted destruction of our game world. Force Unleashed both delivered and failed at the same time at this goal. The interior of buildings and Star Destroyers and doorways are very reactive to being slammed by baddies and debris, denting and bending in unique ways every time. The only problem is that not all things are blessed with a DMM make over. Somethings that you would expect to shatter to pieces simple repel a giant boulder with Superman like resistance.
The studios have promised DLC packs in the next few months to keep us happy, and have hinted at future full production games to continue the franchise. There is much to look forward to in the world of Star Wars, and the Force Unleashed is very much welcome to sit on my mantle of favorite video games.

Unleash yourself

Since I have to keep a character limit on this, I'll make this nice and quick.

Like: Who doesn't love just going around shocking, force pushing, and otherwise smacking around stormtroopers and other dumb guys who get in your way? Some days, I'd prefer to pick up my Xbox controller and just play a hack-and-slash, almost arcade(?) game to strategically yelling at glitches and hackers in Halo 3 (though I love a good shoot out there too). The controls are very easy to get, nothing terribly fancy. There is an aiming ridicule, used for force grab and general targeting, is very spot on, I have a hard time not picking out my targets. I also liked the major boss battles (like against Shaak Ti) for unlike the minor ones, you can mix up your fighting with them a lot better than the latter.

Dislike: The mini bosses (like AT-ST's) get a little boring after a time of killing them the same way, also, I hate the Imperial Purge Troopers with a passion.

Bottom line, definitely worth a rent, and if you like it, pick it up. You will get some replay value out of it by going through it again with your powers, but after you get all the achievements, it's probably not worth much thought afterwards.

The power of the Dark side.

You start out as the baddest Sith lord this side of Tatooine... Vader, Darth Vader, in search of Jedi outcast to destroy. In comes Master Kento (Starkiller's ole man), if you have troube kicking this guy's ass then you might as well just put the game down right then and there and give this game a bad review.

Let's face it, we've all pondered the question of what we would do had we the powers of the Force. This game comes pretty damn close to my expectations. I had some gripes in terms of targeting and the camera could get pretty annoying at times but not enough for me to not love this game. The controls themselves are pretty responsive, being able to chain combos together was my favorite part and made excellent use of the force powers (example: X,X,Y,B~enemy tossed in the air~ Force Grip, Impale, Lightning, throw). I don't understand why some people had so much trouble bringing down the Star Destroyer, it was actually quite simple for me. I expected more of a challenge but was pleased with the overall display.

(SPOILER ALERT)

The story bridges the gap between Episode III and IV and gives more reasons as to why Vader is feared through out the galaxy. You are Vader's secret apprentice on a mission to find and destroy the last remaining Jedi but end up helping the creation of the Rebel Alliance. I enjoyed the depth of the story and the fact that there's a love interest adds to Starkiller's character who ultimately becomes a Jedi and who's death inspires the Alliance. After beating the story I went into the database to find more info on the characters such as Kasdan Paratas who was a Jedi that went crazy because he was a coward that ran away when Vader attacked the Jedi temple. General Kota who never trusted the clone soldiers and instead recruits his own men into his squad, Shaak Ti who flees to the planet of Felucia and is one of the last survivors of the Jedi council. Maras Brood who is Shaak Ti's apprentice and embraces the Dark Side once her master has been destroyed.

All in all, it was an enjoyable game to play through and though more was expected of the game I'm satisfied overall with the final product. I recommend this game to any Star Wars fanatic or anyone that's into hack and slash type of games. The sounds were awesome, the score was great, the story fit well and the gameplay left little to be desired (targeting, camera).

The Force Unleashed

My friend bought the game and wasn't satisfied with it so i borrowed from him to see if it was true. It wasn't completely true but the game does have its flaws. I guess i enjoyed because I'm a die hard Star Wars fan. I really enjoyed the cut scenes and the boss fights, although the buttons it shows to press when defeating a boss or strong opponent are really distracting when i just wanted to see the Apprentice beat the crap outta the bad guy. But I liked the Light side ending since it makes sense explains how it all leads to Episode IV: A New Hope but i wasn't satisfied with the Dark side ending since its completely different and doesn't go with Episode IV. Plus it was bit shocking and disturbing (you'll know why if you've seen it). In the end, once you're done with the game (which you can beat in about five or six hours) and seen both endings, there's not much left to do. I'd recommend renting it.