Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Summary: A good Star Wars story and some interesting design ideas encompassed in a mess of execution and repetitive, linear gameplay. Worth renting for Star Wars fans only.
Read on for the full take.
When I received this game from Gamefly, I had already heard a great deal about the downsides of the game, and I had experienced disappointment with the demo. So my expectations were much lower than where they had started when I heard about this game initially… and this undoubtedly helped me find some good things in the game.
Make no mistake. This is a linear Star Wars fighting game. You get to blow stuff up and break things, but the game doesn’t always make that easy, which is borderline unforgivable in a game of this type.
Let’s get the bad out of the way. The camera angles and targeting are absolutely horrible at times. There is a lag in the controls that will sometimes make you feel less like a Jedi and more like the Jedi’s special needs brother, on loan from the Dantooine asylum. The level design feels sort of random - sometimes you’ll take a side track through an area, like the stomach of a Sarlacc as a ferinstance, for apparently no reason, other than perhaps the game designer thought it might be cool and there were art assets for it. In fact, on that point, it very much has the feel of a game designed ‘by committee’. Elements are here because it seems like someone said… “Hey wouldn’t that be cool?” Well, no, not if you don’t do it well.
Yet, I had a good time with it.
Understand, I knew many things going in. I had heard that the infamous Crash A Star Destroyer With The Force scene (speaking of designed by committee) was tragically broken, so I did it equipped with a walkthrough and on my second try, only because I got impatient on my first try. I tried to minimize the pain as much as possible. And if you take that approach, and you want to see a better Star Wars story than the one we have gotten in the movies lately, the game is worth it.
I also experienced very little in the way of technical glitches, though I know others have had their troubles. What can I say? With this game, you are taking a chance… on whether it will work right, on whether you will like it enough to finish it. This is an iffy game.
This doesn’t exactly sound like a ringing endorsement, does it? It’s not. Expect very little… and the game surprises with good moments. If I didn’t have a gamefly account I probably wouldn’t have even tried it, but if you do, or if you want a weekend renter (and you can definitely beat this game in a weekend… maybe even a solid full day if you want to go crazy and you can avoid the dreaded Wife Aggro)… pick it up. Give it a shot.
But don’t go out of your way to do so.
2 Responses to “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed”
Alison - December 18, 2008
“…if you want to go crazy and you can avoid the dreaded Wife Aggro…”
You know I read this thing, right? :*)
drw - December 18, 2008
Haha. That was put in entirely to see if you were paying attention.
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