Star Wars–The Force Unleashed: Why Does George Lucas Hate Us? (X-Box 360)

Star Wars fans have a bit of a masochistic streak.  No matter how many crappy movies, derivative and tired novels, and re-packaged action figures George Lucas throws our way, we grab them up.  We whine and bitch and moan about “yet another special edition” or about how the prequel trilogy has been way too deeply explored (what with four films, three animated series’, and a bajillion video games set during that time period) and how we all just kind of want to forget that everything up until the Battle of Geonosis in Episdoe II happened, but it doesn’t matter to us.  We may hate George Lucas for being the One Man Money-Printing Press that he is, but we love the Star Wars characters and settings and mythologies, even if we hate the man who created them.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was supposed to be the “thank you” that those most loyal of all fans would get, the return to the classic feel of the original trilogy.  No battle droids or clone troopers or Gungans, but a dirty and lived-in galaxy populated by rogues and scoundrels and farmers; you know, not that much different from reality.  It was supposed to be dark and gritty, more mature, with a story that focuses on redemption and morality, the over-arching theme of the six films.

That what this was supposed to be, but unfortunately, it’s the biggest disappointment in video games this year.  Like the worst of movie trailers, the demo packed in everything that was fun about this game into a short, adrenaline-fueled package; with the full build of the game at hand, it’s easy to see that, sadly enough, this is a really, really bad game.

Yes, the cinematics and story are excellent, with perhaps the most startling revelation about the Star Wars universe yet (I won’t spoil it for you, oh no, just know that it is pretty awesome).  The cast of characters–both familiar and new–are voice-acted superbly.  The dialogue brings to mind the narrative clarity and the rib-elbowing humor of the classic trilogy.  The visual and audio presentation will blow you away: rich, detailed levels bursting with color rival any of the sets seen in any of the movies, and the music and sound effects are vintage Star Wars.

However, story and presentation should not be the saving graces of a game.  Games are meant to be played, not watched or read.  While story-driven games are great, I shouldn’t feel as if I’m suffering through the game play just to get to the next plot point.  If one desires story, and story alone, there are these things called books and movies, which are great sources for all the stories you would want; indeed, I highly encourage all gamers to be avid readers and film watchers, because games owe their very existence on these mediums more than you would know.

When it comes to games, though, I want to play; story is secondary.  I would rather have a great game with a standard damsel-in-distress story and flat characters with no personality than…well, The Force Unleashed, which is a broken, sloppy mess in the game play department.

I don’t even know where to begin: the clumsy and imprecise controls with the there-but-not-really-there targeting system that seems to have a mind of it’s own; the absolutely horrid camera that always manages to distract you and choke off your view of the action; the infuriating difficulty balance that has you tearing through stormtroopers with a combination of Force powers and lightsaber strikes one minute only to get cheap-shotted to death the next (my personal favorite: sent flying back ninety-seven feet off of the edge of a platform by a single melee attack); the punishing checkpoint system that has you replaying sometimes almost a full half-hour of game play just because the AI decided to throw a series of unblockable attacks your way within a succession of a few seconds without even giving you time to breathe, which you might have should Vader’s Apprentice been taught a simple shoulder roll during his Force training.

The Force Unleashed is not a mediocre game, it’s not a good game with a few flaws.  The Force Unleashed is a bad game, through and through.  It’s not the best Star Wars game to come a long in a while (like we were told it would be) nor is it a fun weekend diversion for both casual Star Wars fans and casual gamers alike.  This is a game that can only be enjoyed by the most dedicated Star Wars fans, and only then because the story is so very well done and the characters are so intriguing (my favorite is the Goth chick Jedi Apprentice Maris Brood; I would seriously love to date a girl willing to cosplay as her).

The Force Unleashed does get some things right.  The quick-time events that come at the end of larger enemies and bosses are just as thrilling as the ones from any God of War game, and those few rare moments where the gamer achieves a sense of flow and you are dealing death from one side of the room to the other, no word but “awesome” can describe how you feel.  Unfortunately, those qualities are not enough to save this game from being bargain bin fodder.  They rarely happen and when they do, the next buzzkill is right around the corner.

If you love Star Wars (and I’m talking you own a Force FX Lightsaber and aren’t ashamed to say you went to see Episode II more than once), then I strongly encourage you to pick up The Force Unleashed and ugly through one playthrough of it; it’s the most significant contribution to the Star Wars canon since since Timothy Zahn’s trilogy of novels featuring Grand Admiral Thrawn.  If you don’t know what the Hell a Jawa is and couldn’t possibly understand why playing football with one would be all kinds of fun, then stay away because this game is broken.

UPDATE 09/19/2008 1:30 A.M. : I had not finished the game when I wrote this review.  I have finished it now, and I have to say that while I stand by my original review, it is not as bad I said it was.  Yes, the difficulty is unbalanced, the camera is delirious, and the control are as clumsy as an AT-ST trying to step over a low-hanging vine, but the game is closer to “below average” than it is to “total and complete failure on all levels.”  The last two stages are full of “WTF?” moments, times that you die not because you are not skilled but because the game is what is, and those quick-time events are epic but they are poorly implemented; it’s possible to start one off mid-comob and totally screw it up altogether.  Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but smile at the end, and I’m sure I’ll go back to it from time to time because it is such an engrossing Star Wars experience (when you strip away the actual game play flaws).  The strongest suit of this game is still the story (though that revelation I spoke of loses some of its punch in the very end) and the audio/visual presentation (which is, quite frankly, unrivaled).  Unfortunately, that is still not enough to save the game from all of its faults: most notably a boss fight against a Star Destroyer that is the single most unfair boss fight ever in a game.  If you are a Star Wars geek and are willing to persevere though, it’s a truly memorable experience, because the greatest moments really do shine–just not brightly enough to illuminate the whole package.

Early Thoughts on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (X-Box 360)

Lucasarts released the demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed last week.  Considering that this is one of fall’s most anticipated releases, I’m sure that it will see a good deal of traffic; I wouldn’t be surprised if pulled a Too Human and made the X-Box Live top ten.

For those not in the know, The Force Unleashed is set in between the last film of the prequel trilogy and the first Star Wars movie (does anybody even care about where things fit in the Star Wars canon anymore?) and features, as the player-character, an apprentice that Darth Vader kept secret from the Emperor; this apprentice handled Vader’s dirty work, eliminating the last few Jedi that escaped Order 66 in Revenge of the Sith.

The focus of the game is on using the Force as a weapon.  This is a departure from past Star Wars games wherein the Force was a supplemental weapon (and sometimes, not a weapon at all, but more of a defensive tool).  Vader’s apprentice can send out a concentrated blast of energy, lift objects and enemies and throw them through the air, gain a burst of speed, hurl his saber at distant foes, and create lightning.  All of the awesome things the Jedi and Sith did in the movie are now at your command.  Plus, if I’m reading the subtitles correct, he has the most awesome codename ever: Starkiller.

I played the demo, and as excited about the game to begin with I’m even more excited now.  The game uses the Havok physics engine, and it makes for some beautiful game play.  Watching bodies rag-doll through the air and slam into heavy structures or go flying off into the void is supremely satisfying, and as you experiment with the various Force powers it only gets sweeter.  Starkiller is not limited to what he can lift, as I found out when I sent a TIE fighter zipping towards a squad of stormtroopers; that made for a glorious, screen-filling explosion.

Combat is kept fresh by not only what Starkiller can send flying at his enemies (indeed, where he can send hs enemies flying), but his melee options as well.  While the Force powers are the star of the show, your character still has plenty of lightsaber combos that are silky-smooth in their responsiveness and empowering in their display.  Whether charging his lightsaber with lightning, impaling an airborne enemy on his blade, or–my personal favorite–severing a stormtrooper’s spine with a cruel, hard-hitting finishing move, Starkiller fights like the force of evil he is supposed to be.

The only problem I ran into was the game’s targeting system.  It’s sometimes hard to pinpoint exactly what you want to use your Force powers on.  However, there is a target lock button one can make use of; it’s just getting your target lined up that can cause some stress.

The graphics look great and–as always with the Star Wars games–the music and sound are superb.  Everything has a watery flow to it.  It’s just too bad that the demo was so short (in fact, it has taken me longer to write this than it did to play through the demo).  It definitely left me wanting more.  I can’t wait to get my hands on it when it’s released in just over two weeks.