The Force is not all that strong with this one 🙁
Ah Star Wars. One of my big vices – the films, the toys, the books and of course the Video Games!
And what a lot there have been some good but more than a few bad! On the release of the Wii I, like most Star Wars fans, was practically wetting myself at the prospect of a Star Wars game that would make use of the WiiMote. The thought of wielding the WiiMote like a Lightsaber, thrusting your hands out to Force Push your foes… oh the possibilities.
Enter The Force Unleashed, a game that promised a control system redesigned to make the most of the Wiis unique controllers. Swing the WiiMote to launch Lightsaber combos upon your victims, use the Nunchuck to release Force Lightening on the poor fools who stand against you and more.
Well, sadly this is not really what you get, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.
It is fun in parts
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed follows the tale of Galen Marek, Starkiller to his friends (in a nice nod to Luke Skywalkers originally intended name). After the events of Episode III Darth Vader takes Galen, the son of a Jedi, as his secret apprentice after killing said Jedi. Over the course of the following years he teaches the boy the ways of the Dark Side and uses him to hunt down the remaining Jedi.
The game starts with you taking the role of Darth Vader. Instantly the games flaws and good points become evident. As Vader you are practically invincible as you block Wookie blaster fire, Force Choking and slash your way through waves of the poor fur balls. Once you get used to the controls (more on that in a bit) the process is simple but quite fun, in a kind of power trip way!
This takes you to your first Boss Battle against the Rogue Jedi whose son will soon become your apprentice. Here the game play takes a sharp turn for the worse, in my opinion. Sure the fight is quite fun, but for some reason the decision was made to make Boss Battles end with the Wii Equivalent of the God of War set pieces. You must flick the remote or the Nunchuck when prompted to perform some admittedly nice set finishers, but it really detracts from the action.
After this you take on the role of Galen and must guide him through various missions of Vader’s choosing. As you play you will gain force points that will let you upgrade and add to your force abilities. This is a nice touch as it keeps you thinking about killing everything that moves so that you can upgrade your force lightening or choke! As with most Star Wars games, the story is well thought out, bridging the gap between Episode III and Episode IV nicely, and even throwing in some very good twists to the story!
The Force Unleashed is not the best looking game ever made, looking very similar to Knights of the Old Republic. It would seem this was done to achieve something a bit more important, lots of people on screen at once! You can be fighting 10 storm troopers at once with no drop in frame rates, which is nice. There was some slow down on larger environments, especially the Jedi Temple.
Sonically you can’t fault it. The Lightsaber effects are perfect, with the speaker in the Wii Mote being used to great effect. The music is atmospheric and in keeping and even the voice acting (for the most part) is not hideous!!
Which brings us to the controls and sadly this is where it all goes a little wrong. As I mentioned, your dreams of swinging the WiiMote about like a Lightsaber will be shattered. Instead you are left to flick the remote in the direction you want to strike. Up, down, left, right and stab are all there. Combinations can in theory be strung together also. The trouble is it does not work well in practice. You actually just end up waggling the remote in the vague hope that you hit something.
All is not lost though. What this makes you do is rely more on your force powers than on your Lightsaber and there is some fun to be had here!!
With Force Lightening just being a press of the C button away and force chokes being a matter of pressing Z and turning the remote upside down, you will be throwing storm troopers left, right and center in no time and it is most enjoyable! The physics engine allows you to throw pretty much anything you see lying around you, including the enemy. There is much fun to be had throwing a storm trooper into a group of his mates then raining down lightening on them all.
Multiplayer is catered for with a one on one duel mode that lets you and a friend battle as your favourite characters from the Star Wars universe, from Luke Skywalker to Darth Maul.
Ultimately though this is a game that fails to deliver on expectations. It is fun in parts and for a Star Wars fan such as me it is a blast for the story if nothing else, but for the casual gamer there is not a great deal here to get all that excited about. In a market place where the likes of God of War and Devil May Cry rule, this just is not good enough.
On the other hand, it is Star Wars so if you are a Star Wars fan add 1 to the total score!
The Bad: Controls just don’t feel right; Not all that long
