Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Sony Playstation 3, 2008)

This game was a well made game.

The linear story was fine. It used the George Lucas method of writing, that starts with an existing outline, that the writers have to fill. So we have the comedy relief robot. The just met love interest. We have all of the talking points that are the same in every one of the movies. It disappoints me that creative freedom is so controlled. It is also a disappointment that the developers only explored a small amount of locations in the Star Wars universe.

The controls are pretty good. There are some issues with trying to lock onto a particular object, but it doesn't detract from the game play much.

The visuals are outstanding. The creators really did a good job of recreating some new Star Wars locations.

One of my biggest problems that I had with the game, was the poor use of technology. Pixelux Entertainment created a program called; DMM (Digital Molecular Matter). Basically, it helps objects and materials react as they would in real life. It is an amazing technology, but is rarely used well in the game.

Overall I think the game is good. It is fun to play. I just think that with a little more development, it could have been an awesome game.

The sound and graphics are very well developed. The story's pretty decent too. In my opinion, the last time a game played out like this was God of War. But the difference is its hard to compare this to God of War. Almost impossible. The flaws of the game are that when you get going with the game, certain enemies require more strategy based on your terrain and what powers you can use. And then the bosses you fight are practically Force-immune right off the bat, so you have to rely on using your environment and waiting it out for the time to strike. But these are minor issues, really. The reason why many people knocked this game as being average is because they released reviews for it preemptively based on what the demos offered. But its the same thing all over again. It's a demo, NOT THE FINAL PRODUCT. I heard the demo was okay. But I still bought this game. And honestly? For being my first Star Wars game, it was pretty enjoyable. But if you're skeptical, better to rent it or borrow it. Play it a bit. If you like it, buy your own. The game has two alternate endings, the option to replay earlier levels with unlocked force powers and increased stats, and even costumes and customizable lightsabers. So there is some decent replayability, but the drawback is, you can only really play it through twice. The story's the same for the most part, but the endings are worth seeing.

Graphics: 4.5/5
Sound: 5/5
Story: 4/5 (considering its Star Wars, maybe a 3.75/5 for non-fanatics)
Gameplay: 3.5/5 (Simply: the Physics in the game are great. But the drawback is, you're still pretty confined to indestructible environments with destructible/manipulative objects. Nevertheless, its always fun to throw a bad guy into a group of his friends. Or supercharge him with force lightning and launch him...so on...)
Replayability: 3/5 (Aside from playing it once and playing it again if you want the alternate ending, there isn't much to it aside unlocking everything.)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, also known as The Force Unleashed, is a LucasArts video game and part of the The Force Unleashed project; other The Force Unleashed project developers and publishers include Dark Horse Comics, Lego, Hasbro, and Del Rey Books The Force Unleashed was initially developed for the PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 Wii and Xbox 360 consoles and on the iOS second-generation N-Gage, Nintendo DS PlayStation Portable and Java-equipped mobile phone[9] handhelds. The sequel, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, was announced at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards
The game was released in North America on September 16, 2008, in Australia and Southeast Asia on September 17, and in Europe on September 19 LucasArts has released downloadable content for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.An Ultimate Sith Edition of the game, containing new and all previously released expanded content, was released in November 2009 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition also expanded the game's presence to the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS platforms
The project bridges the two Star Wars trilogies and introduces a new protagonist, code named "Starkiller", as Darth Vader's secret apprentice. Reviews offered mixed response, praising The Force Unleashed for its compelling story, robust physics, impressive art and soundtrack, but also citing frustrating gameplay. Despite these mixed reviews, the game was a bestseller in the United States and Australia, with over one million copies sold its debut month. The game has sold over seven million copies,[18] and it is the fastest-selling Star Wars video game.

I could hardly concentrate at work today because I knew once I got off work, I would be driving to EBGames close to my home for a copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Ever since I tried out the demo. I could not get it off my mind. One reason because I have hardly played any Star Wars related games prior to the release of this game. Although I was really close to getting Lego Star Wars but I didn’t in the end. That’s why I love downloadable content so much because you can actually try out the games before you buy. And a lot of the games that I like happen to offer demos.

But did the game live up to my expectation?

Graphics & Audio
The graphics are amazing and I have mentioned that in my demo review already. But with the demo you could only see so much since it was only part of a level. The voice over and lip synching is much more life like compare to other games with dialogues. One thing I forgot to mention from my demo review is that, the environments really give you the impression that you are within something massive like when you are inside the hangar or deep inside the ship’s core. And since so many people asked, no this game does NOT support 1080p full HD output unfortunately. It would be nice if it was though obviously.

And as for audio, I’m no expert but I like the sound effects, specially the lasers and when you are killing enemies with your beam sabre. The sound effects are really movie-like. I have not encountered any missing audio yet as reported by Gametrailers.com. It did mention about missing audio in the ending though. That would be such a turn off!


Game play & Controls
With the EMM engine controlling what materials to use for creating each object, the Havok controlling the objects’ movements and finally the last engine, the Euphoria engine determining how enemies react to their environments. The combined affect of the three physics engines really created a realistic experience. For example, watch closely when you Force Grip an enemy, if he is close to some crates, he will actually try and hold on to it. I think little details like this really add to over gaming experience. I have not encountered any clipping problems so far reported by Gametrailers and I hope I do not. The game is also somewhat on the short side as well with only 9 missions.

Controls are pretty straight forward, if you have played other action games before it will take you no time to get used to the figure out which button is for what purpose. When fighting bosses, you will finish them by following a set of buttons much like in Heavenly Sword. Overall you will go through each level killing enemies with a few different combo moves, and the hack and slash may bored some players after a while. It quickly turns into a level grinding fest like an RPG game when trying to level (power) up your three forces - Force Lightning, Force Grip and Force Push. The forces do provide hours of excitement but after that, they become just a bunch of weapons. And did I mention there’s no online game play?

Final verdict
After all the hype generated over the past few months, I can assume this game will be a must for hardcore Star Wars fans. Those that are into third person action like Devil May cry may also find this game entertaining. But for how long? That really depends on how fast you get bored of repetitive game play with no online component. In my opinion, its another game that didn’t quite live up to the hype generated unfortunately. 7.5/10

I have this game on PSP and on PS2 (same gameplay) and now I have a PS3 version, the PS3 version is of course much different, altho the story line stays the same the screens and controls aren't the same as the PSP and PS2 versions.

I like the improved textures of course but some aspects seem less in this version.

Like the force repulse, somehow it seems less powerfull as it does in PS2.

but again it's a trade off, the force grab is much more fun, I grip someone and hold them in air and spin them around like a puppet, lots of fun.

As for the unlocking costumes, well the choice of clothes or characters isn't great, that's because your expected to go to the Playstation Store and purchase add-ons that will give you these things for a price.

Outfits and characters that you have for free when you unlock them on the PSP and PS2 versions now cost you $4.99 plus tax $5.39,
Map packs cost $9.99 before tax (I haven't bought any).

Now I can understand the need for a upgrade map pack, but making us pay for some characters is just getting greedy.

But besides that I don't have an major complaints about the gameplay, it's pretty fluid.

The deathstar level was a nice suprise after playing the PS2 version, I won't spoil it for you if you haven't played this one yet, but it is a vast improvement over the PS2 version.

I say get it, and if you choose, get the add-ons, this game is mentioned to now be on the list for a PC release later with new levels etc.

Which to me means that there will be a MOD community waiting to create skins and other mods for it, yippie! <--- um, heh, I hope it does.

It isn't over when you think it's over!