Hello Enthusiasts,
Star Wars games don't have the best history. Most of these games are either debatably good or downright terrible. There are a few exceptions to this, and today I look at one that is often put into this category, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. As always, there may be some Spoilers Below.
The game starts off strong, as the prologue has the player learn basic controls by playing as Darth Vader. After slaughtering endless waves of Wookiees, Vader finds the Jedi he was looking for (to murder), as well as a force-sensitive child. Vader takes on this child as his apprentice, and he becomes our protagonist for the duration of the game. Known only as Starkiller, Vader's apprentice trains to the point of being able to hunt down the few Jedi left in the galaxy since the Clone Wars. We find out that Vader's ultimate goal is to use Starkiller to kill Emperor Palpatine. Is that all there is to it though? The game throws some low-levels twists into the story that, while apparent from a mile away, do add enough variety to justify the story's end.
More than any other Star Wars game I've played, this game uses force powers very well. As the story progresses Starkiller gains access to more and more powers. He can use a force push, a force grip, force lighting, create a lighting shield, a shockwave called force repulse, and throw his lightsaber using the force. All of these attacks would drain Starkiller's force energy, though it refills relatively quickly. Having multiple ways to defeat enemies without ever engaging them in combat grants a feeling of real force mastery. The block button also allows Starkiller to deflect most laser fire, and after upgrading the ability he can block one or two blasts at a time without even having to press block. The levels take place on a variety of different worlds, which are all pretty well built out, and the game is rich with Star Wars lore. I also enjoyed some of the different collectable pieces in the game. There are a variety of different colors for the lightsaber, as well as compressed and unstable versions of each color. On top of that, there are different power crystals for the lightsaber as well, which allow the saber some different abilities (added damage, electrical damage, force powers costing less force energy, etc). Having such variety for the lightsaber and having to only pick one made for some difficult decisions on what to sacrifice, though the game allows the player to change them freely. Each level also has Starkiller in a different costume, which can be changed to any of the ones that he had worn previously (though changing the costume causes the player to start the entire level over, so it's better to make that decision earlier on on).
Not everything for this game is fantastic though. The graphics are certainly dated, especially in the cutscenes. The melee combat is also frustrating, as a number of the enemies won't have any slowdown when hit with the lightsaber and can just hit you as you're slashing them. This is especially frustrating when you're trying to fight three or four of these enemies simultaneously. Some of the platforming in the game is also irritating, as the movement controls aren't perfectly designed and some of the sections require precision. There are some other small issues, such as a few bugs with the enemies and some lag, but my biggest complaint lies with the loading times. Levels will take a while to load, and levels are broken up into two or three sections. I had to wait for over a minute for some of levels to load just their second section, and it gets annoying after a while. This could be overlooked, but even the pause screen and the upgrade screen have extended wait times. It could take fifteen or twenty seconds just to get to the upgrade screen, which is only two button clicks away from playing the game. It's bad enough that I was completely aware of the wait times throughout the duration of the game, I never got used to it. Little things like that, just a few added seconds for everything, can take away a great deal of the immersion that the game often does so well.
Despite any of my complaints, this is a good Star Wars game at the end of the day. There was certainly room for improvement, but it's not hard to see why this game is remembered so fondly. If you're a fan of the series and have a compatible system to play on, this game is certainly a good buy. You may get frustrated with some things, but you'll likely enjoy the experience overall.
I give Star Wars: The Force Unleashed a 7.5 out of 10.
Sincerely,
The Bored Enthusiast
No comments:
Post a Comment