Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS3)
by Eddie Turner on October 6, 2008 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Conclusion
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The Force Unleashed, though not without its issues, is a fun game to play. I can't really say that it lived up to the hype surrounding its release, but it does include a very interesting story that Star Wars fans will eat up. In a sea of games with lackluster stories to drive them, Unleashed stands out among the crowd with likable characters and great voice acting. The gameplay, however, is not nearly as enthralling.
Using the various force powers is enjoyable, but the experience becomes stale all too soon as combat grows more and more repetitive. While most players will complete the game in a mere 7 or 8 hours, the thought of playing it for much longer is utterly yawn inducing. Even so, the game is not void of fun by any means. If nothing else, the game's popcorn movie quality will entertain but may only serve as a stepping-stone to a more enjoyable gaming experience elsewhere.
- Beautiful environments
- Great story and voice acting
- Unmatched musical score
- Enjoyable force powers
- Playing as Darth Vader
- Repetitive missions
- Frustrating auto-targeting system
- Tiresome mini-games
- Unvaried AI
- No co-op or multiplayer
Lucas Arts' quest for greatness with The Force Unleashed only makes it halfway there with an intriguing story hindered by repetitive gameplay. While Star Wars fans will relish its tie-in to the movie series, others will regard it as just another solid action game with pretty cutscenes.
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EddieTurner - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link
No! IT'S NOT TRUE!!!!!! . . . : )Visual - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link
no force pull... it was so much fun to pull enemies directly onto your saber in the previous jedi knights games... impale them without even swinging! well ok, no, it didnt work too much as the damage was minimal. but this game could've fixed this, instead of breaking in completely :(no force deflect! now that's an incompetent lightsaber user if i ever saw one!
how about force speed, sense, speed, absorb, speed, drain, speed, heal, speed, defense, speed, mind trick and speed? i hope they have them... if not, at least force speed should be there.
the game really doesn't sound good to me now... maybe if the wii version does a good job with the wiimote lightsaber control... but even then, it better have multiplayer duels or it is just wasting its fun potential.
(oh and, anandtech, your post comment has a broken stylesheet and the formatting buttons don't work)
Aquila76 - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link
They replaced that 'pull onto Saber' move with Saber Impale (Grip and Saber Toss).The powers are Push, Grip/Throw, Choke, Lightning, Deflect (this is always on to a minimal extent, but you can also go into Deflect mode and block / return nearly all the blaster shots; it also increases in skill as you progress through the game), Saber Throw, Double Jump, Dash (a short-burst form of Speed), Repulse (knocks down people & objects around you), and Maelstrom (high power Force tornado that does huge damage; a bit hard to pull off if your in heavy combat, though). Most of these can be combined (Jump & Lightning or Push, Lightning & Push makes your foe slide away from you crackling and then and Detonate upon contact with object or other foes, Push & Lightning knocks enemies down and fires an electric ball to Scorch them, etc.). There are also Lightsaber chain moves (swing L, R, then Up, etc.) and Lightsaber & Force combos (2 or 3 swings and Push or Lightning, Jump and swing, Jump then Dash then swing, etc.).
Wii version has dueling mode for the multi-player. The Wii-remote is quite possibly the best Lightsaber controller, ever. I'm surprised they didn't review the Wii version. Maybe they're gonna do it separately?
I actually rented and played the whole game straight through on Saturday. The wife was out of town, so I didn't have the nagging 'empty the trash' or 'take out the dog' or 'pay me attention' and whatever other asinine things wives normally clamor on about when we're trying to have fun. So far, this was the best 11 hours of my year! I'm going to buy this with the next Best Buy 10% off coupon I get.
fepple - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link
In some of the previous games force jumping over people then a force pull would dispatch whole groups :DEddieTurner - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link
If it's any consolation, I did detect the force head scratch, the force lean, and the force blink in the game. And I swear I saw the force nod, but I can't be sure of that one. It was late.SlyNine - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link
Is the force tea bagg in there ? That would be sweet.KnIgHtCoM - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link
No PC Version + No Multiplayer = FAIL9nails - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link
I was at Target last night, saw the display on the end cap... The Xbox 360 section was nearly sold out. Wii was second. PS3 and DS were mostly full. My purchase would have been an impulse buy, but I wanted a PC version. I checked the PC shelves, but couldn't find it.So there's no PC version 'eh?
Epic Fail, indeed.
ComatoseDelirium - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link
Great looking game, no pc version makes it a fail in my opinion.ComatoseDelirium - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link
Great looking game, no pc version makes it a fail in my opinion.