Star Wars The Force Unleashed–Great Fun For A Few Minutes
There are games that visibly, awesomely, catch your imagination and pull you into the experience with a force and grandeur all their own. I admit that this was the case with me playing the first stage of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Sadly, this wonderful beginning couldn’t last, and from there, the game throttled back its spectacular fun factor. The upshot is that the collapse was not complete. Let’s go ahead and take a look at this game that could so deeply hook me at first, but lose most of that hook after only minutes in.
You play as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, somewhere between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope in the chronology, that vast chunk of time where Vader was just getting started. Longtime fans of the series will be interested to note your character is named Starkiller, or the original name of Luke Skywalker. But anyway—Starkiller is dispatched by Vader to complete the work he began, the destruction of the Jedi throughout the universe. As you progress, you’ll have the opportunity to follow your master into the Dark Side, or separate into the Light Side, and thus have access to two different endings based on your choices.
Now, like I said earlier, the first few minutes were what had me so very hooked. This was because, for the first few minutes, you don’t play as Starkiller at all.
You play as Darth Vader.
Playing quite possibly the greatest Sith who ever lived—let’s remember that the guy’s going to hand it to Palpatine down the line—is like controlling a black-cloaked tornado. You’re dropped onto Kashyyyk, otherwise known as Wookiee Planet, and sent to take down a legion of walking furballs with blasters. This should make just about anyone’s blood run cold–Wookiees are badasses of the first order when sufficiently provoked—but not you. You are Darth-and-don’t-you-forget-it-Vader. You don’t run. You just stride in this coolly controlled fashion, striking down whatever walks in front of you with a flurry of lightsaber swings or various Force powers. It’s like controlling Jason Voorhees; a towering, hulking juggernaut that seemingly can’t be brought down no matter how many Wookiees take potshots at him. It’s a real jaw-dropper of a sequence.
It’s only too bad that the rest of the game can’t live up to this amazing opening, or to the hype it generated. Oh, sure, it’s FUN enough—Starkiller is a pretty entertaining sort and there are legions of enemies to strike down. But compared to that sweet taste I got in the beginning, the whole rest of the game just feels like a letdown.
The interesting part is, the PS3, Wii, PS2, Nintendo DS, N-Gage and PSP versions of the game are all different from the Xbox 360 version. Some have small differences, others have massive differences. For those who wonder, I’m handling the 360 version, so I’ll caution you all that your mileage may vary.
In summary, the plot is solid, and the first five minutes will grab your attention in a pure-on Force grip, but the rest of the game will not be so compelling. If you’re okay with a small disappointment in an otherwise fair-quality game, then your time spent playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will not be ill-spent.