Star Wars: The Force UnleashedPublisher: LucasArts
Developer: LucasArts
System: Wii (Also on PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, DS, iPhone, N-Gage, and PC)
Release: September 16th 2008, US
Ever since the Wii Remote was shown to the masses, we've dreamed of the ultimate Star Wars lightsaber dueling experience. We now have LucasArts' latest tale in the Star Wars saga: The Force Unleashed. Does the game truly immerse players in the role of a lightsaber weilding warrior?The Force Unleashed pits players as Vader's secret apprentice, known as Starkiller in the novelization. After Darth Vader killed his Jedi parents, Starkiller was taken in by Vader without the Emperor's knowledge. The tale starts off with Starkiller beginning his quest for Darth Vader: killing the remaining Jedi, and eventually the Emperor.
The story is told quite well in the game, and is everything you'd expect from a new entry in the Star Wars epic. The voice acting can be rather cheesy at times and great at others. The game features two different endings; one canon and the other non canon.
While the story may be good, the game's progression through the story is not. Players progress through levels in a completely linear fashon, point A to point B sort of way. Along with that, the levels are basically corridors with some open rooms here and there, with no branching pathways or alternate routes to the end destination. Levels have some great variation however, spanning across many locations in the Star Wars universe, from the forests of Kashyyyk to the Jedi Temple of Corosaunt. Enemies have quite a bit of variation as well, with tons of enemy and boss types. Throughout levels players have to kill every moving thing in sight, including ally Storm Troopers to avoid detection from the Emperor. This aspect adds something a little different to the game, but ultimately doesn't change much of anything at all.
With all the enemies in levels comes one of the biggest flaws of The Force Unleashed: the lightsaber combat. Yes, we've all been wishing and hoping for the most immersive lightsaber game ever, but this is not that game. Not even close. In order to attack with Starkiller's lightsaber, players must shake the Wii Remote like they're playing Wii Sports baseball. It's hardly a gesture system at all; it's just mindless waggle and shaking. Sometimes players will get some lucky combos off, but that's just because they're shaking their arms like mad men. To not help anything at all, the camera system is also terrible. If players have to combat several enemies at one time in a small area, like in the droid planet; the camera often gets stuck behind a wall and players can't see where they should direct their mindless shaking at next. The camera is able to rotate around Starkiller via left and right on the D-Pad, but it moves far too slow and the camera's height cannot be adjusted.
The only bit of good out of the gameplay are the Force powers, but they're still strangely limited. Players start off with the basics: Force Push, Lightning, and Saber Throw, among a few others. A good amount of the environment can be picked up and thrown at enemies via Force Push, and even enemies can be thrown at enemies. However, the sheer number of moveable objects pales in comparison to that of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. By killing enemies players will get Force points, which allow them to upgrade existing Force powers and unlock additional ones. The best thing about the Force powers is that you can run around a level just Force Lightning and Pushing all the enemies -- which we have the game's incredebly easy difficulty level to thank for that.
With all these horrid gameplay mechanics, you have to wonder if there's at least one area of the game that clearly stands out above all the others.
In The Force Unleashed, that area would be the graphics. But not in a good way. We've seen some really great realistic looking Wii games, from the likes of Metroid Prime 3 to more recently The Conduit. Sadly, we don't get anything close to that here, even with the good art direction of the Star Wars series. The Force Unleashed looks like a decent PS2 game on its best day. Textures aren't detailed at all when zoomed up close, cutscene animation is choppy, lip synch is terrible, and the game's frame rate even chugs every now and then. The only good thing from the graphics are the visual effects from using Force powers, which tend to look pretty neat.
In an attempt to keep players coming back to the game, there's a multiplayer only duel mode that allows one other friend to battle in the waggle fest. There are a ton of characters to chose from though, just about every character in the Star Wars universe that has a lightsaber. Initially only a few characters are unlocked, but more are unlocked as players progress through the game. Unfortunately there is no online mode to this, so players can't waggle their arms away on Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
If you're into unlockables and customization, different colored lightsabers and outfits can be unlocked in the single player game for Starkiller.
The VerdictSound8/15- Star Wars music will always be epic, but we've heard these same tracks over and over. Voice acting is good at some parts and horrid at others. Starkiller often sounds emotionless.
Graphics6/20- Terrible graphics, to put it simply. Textures are bland and animations are choppy. The Wii isn't as powerful as the Xbox 360 or PS3, but it can do a lot more than what looks like a decent PS2 game. To top it all off, the frame rate chugs every now and then, even though the hardware isn't being pushed at all.
Appeal12/25- The main adventure is decent in length, and if you're into the Star Wars saga the story may compel you to play it even though the controls are awful. There are some nice little unlockables like lightsaber colors, outfits, and characters in the duel mode. Duel mode isn't all it could be, and coupled with the terrible lightsaber controls, you have to wonder why it should be played anyway.
Gameplay13/40- Completely linear story and level progression, with the one exception of two different game endings. The game could be enjoyable if not for the terrible lightsaber controls and low difficulty level. At least using the Force is cool.
Overall39/100- The Force Unleashed had a lot of potential to be a great Star Wars game, but many things prevented it from being that. If you're looking for the ultimate lightsaber experience, or even an enjoyable and playable one; this is not the place to look.
