'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed' demonstrates uneven nature of action games
Like everything else, the latest Star Wars game struggles to live up to the original films.
Sept. 22, 2008
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Admit it, I will: I am a hardcore Star Wars fan. I'm also a hardcore gamer. According to the transitive property, I should be a hardcore Star Wars video game fan, but that's not always the case. For every "Knights of the Old Republic," there's going to be a ton of crap like "Star Wars: Bounty Hunter." "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" is thankfully in the aforementioned category, but, like Harrison Ford's acting career, is not without its flaws.
"The Force Unleashed" is a solid action game, harkening back to some of the great one-player action games like "Ninja Gaiden" and "Devil May Cry," with crazy combos, an array of powers, and exhilarating gameplay that will knock the wind out of you. Unfortunately, it also falls into the same pitfalls one-player action games have for years. Terribly linear levels, mindless button mashing, disappointing camera: "Unleashed" suffers from all these things.
There are other aspects that keep it from reaching the level of "Gaiden" and "DMC." Your character moves as if he's encased in carbonite - not something you want from an action game, where pace of combat is essential. Once your character is in motion, though, he must complete his animation before executing the next move, so if you miss, prepare to get hit a few times as you continue to swing at air. And when you are hit and get thrown to the ground, the enemies will continue to punish you, unfairly depleting your health bar while you struggle to get back up.
Fortunately, you aren't unarmed against these cheating foes. As advertised, the force really is unleashed here. From force lightning to picking up and tossing storm troopers with your force grip, your powers are amazing to watch and perform. When you take on larger enemies, you must finish them off with simple button pressing mini-games. These fights are extremely satisfying as you see the full power of your character.
Where the force succeeds, the plot fails. You play as Darth Vader's secret apprentice, learning the ways of the force until you are able to overthrow the Emperor. The story twists, and I won't ruin it for you, but it's not anything as epic as the movies. This is a real downer because the game got the OK from George Lucas himself to be a part of the Star Wars canon.
But the award for the worst part of "The Force Unleashed" has to go to the clunkiest menu I have ever used. It's Jar Jar bad. You'll dread every time the apprentice levels up, for you will have to go to the awful menu screen and try to upgrade your character. You could watch the entire original trilogy and still be waiting for the menu to load. It alone drops the score of this game down a whole point, that's how bad it truly is.
In spite of the menu, "The Force Unleashed" still offers a great action experience. If you are a Star Wars fan, you'll enjoy the little touches that only a fan could appreciate. The graphics are clean and have a healthy dose of polish applied to them. It offers a good challenge and is by no means easy, even when it isn't cheating you.
With games like "Too Human" screwing up combat by utilizing the right analog stick, it's nice to see a game make good use of button combos. And did I mention it has Jawas? How can you say no to Jawas? Like Vitamin Water, try it.
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