Sometime during this week I found something quite unexpected: Free time. Of course most of the free time was spent unpacking boxes and cleaning the apartment but in the end I was left with a little bit of free free time. I used this to my nerdy advantage, sat down, and finally finished the Force Unleashed. So as a break from all the heavy articles I've been throwing down (get ready for one about Used Games and Market Saturation!) here comes another Mediocre Game review.
The Force Unleashed was released in 2008 to dwindling fan-fare and many average reviews. The game takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope in the grand scheme of things. The story revolves around Darth Vader's secret apprentice, Galen Mareck, but known as Starkiller (Don't make fun of the nickname, its a reference that you should have gotten) and his quest to wipe out the remaining Jedi and be Vader's best buddy. Just a heads up, I'll be talking a bit about the story and I will, at a point, spoil the heck out of it. I will warn you, but this is a warning… for the warning.
The gameplay is action with a bit of RPG-Lite thrown in. Basically you run around hacking at countless hordes and blasting them with your force skills. This in turn gives you experience to level up, at which point you get to round out your character. Combat boils down to button mashing and some Quick Time Events. For me this was fun, but I'm sure there are those of you who's eyes might start to glaze over, Devil May Cry this is not. So all in all the combat works well enough, though the controls seem a bit slippery at times. It's the type of game where if you fall it seems like you are almost instantly on the ground, as though you were being pushed down. This can make for some slightly frustrating platforming sections, but they are few and far between.
Graphically the game gets the job done. I was playing this on the PS3 so I didn't have to deal with the smudgy textures of the Wii/PS2 versions (though they have extra levels apparently). The different worlds look unique, and there is the occasional (though rare) sweeping vista. In the end it looks and feels like the Star Wars universe, so that's good enough for me. I'm certainly not one to harp on graphics.
The real gem of this game is the story. No, it's not going to win any awards (though ironically it did, WGA for Best Writing), but it's pretty darn good (if a bit predictable). There are so many terrific Expanded Universe tales, I hope more can eventually make it to movie or game form. Starkiller's saga starts with him being taken as a child after Vader ices his old man. This is where you mentally insert a sweet Sith training montage because in the next scene he's all grown up and ready to kick butt. In the next paragraph I'm going to touch on some spoilers.
Warning, brace for spoiler. The thing I really liked about the story, as cheesy as this will sound, was its stance on love. In Attack of the Clones (and basically the entire prequel trilogy) we have it shoved down our throats that Jedi cannot fall in love. Then we are given an example of what happens when they do with Anikan. Basically all hell breaks loose because he fell in love and the moral of Revenge of the Sith was Love = Bad. Well I like Jedi's, I think they're righteous dudes, but I also like love. In Force Unleashed at the end we find out that it was actually Starkillers love for his pilot, Juno Eclipse, that redeemed him. He then goes on to start, then kind of betray, then save the Alliance, this was awesome. I just liked the contrast of the two stories. In Revenge of the Sith Annie violently lashes out because of love. In Force Unleashed, Starkiller is redeemed because of love.
/spoilers
So there you have it. Force Unleashed was delayed during development and you can feel it with its technical issues and wonky camera, but it is no where near unplayable. The story makes up for its short comings and is one of my personal favorites in the Expanded Universe. For only $10 - $15 it's not to much of a stretch to pick this one up. The sequel was announced a while back and looks like a good time. Plus they just announced that you can unlock a Guybrush Threepwood costume! I am so in. Just imagine if they re-recorded the voice track too! You fight like a scruffy looking nerve herder, you cad!
This is not fake or Shopped! I cannot wait!
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