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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

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Lame     On: 2008-11-30

Lame. The word to describe this waste of your time and money. The story is lame, and at times will make you cringe. The game play is lame as you seem to do the same thing over and over and over again. There are far better Star Wars video games. There is no creative aspect to this game. Yes, there are some cool force powers, but KOTOR had that. The story confuses several pre-New Hope story lines, and has nothing to offer other than another example of how Lucasarts cares only for sales.
Star Wars Money Well Spent!     On: 2008-11-28

While some people may say that this game is glitchy, I dont know what they are talking about. This game works perfectly. The levels never get old and it is always fun to push the stormtroopers around. The only thing I will criticize is the difficulty level you chose. I always pick the lowest one because if you try higher difficulty then the people your fighting dont get harder, your health just goes down faster than with the lower difficulty. But still this the most fun of the Star Wars games. I cant wait to throw the stormtroopers around more so Im cutting this short. I highly recommend this game. You will not be sorry if you buy this.
Lucas get it right!     On: 2008-11-28

People have been playing at jedi knight ever since Luke Skywalker turned on his fathers light-saber. Unfortunately though, making the experience as fluid and seamless (and fun) as the movies has been a long, frustrating, uphill climb. Weve had the arrow-guided light-saber blocking of Star Wars Arcade, simplistic slashing and complex force-power selection of Dark Forces: Jedi Knight and its sequels. Weve had the arcade side-scrolling insane difficulty of Jedi Power Battles and the platforming, boss-battling battling of Revenge of the Sith (which was actually pretty good). But not until now have we finally gotten the kind of seamless control of the force that we always knew was possible, the effortless execution of insane tricks that make you feel like youre right in the middle of an awesome Star Wars movie.

The story of the game picks up where Revenge of the Sith left off, with Vader going about the galaxy hunting down the last of the Jedi for the Emperor, when he happens upon a child with great force ability, and decides to make him into his secret apprentice. From there the game a game of chase-the-jedi (and mow-down anyone who gets in your way), and second-guess Vader as he repeated tries to kill you while you carry out your mission to infiltrate (and destroy?) the rebel leaders, to distract the Emperor and give you a chance to attack him with Vader. Since there isnt supposed to be anyone with force powers roaming the galaxy other than Vader and the Emperor (as far as the Empire is concerned), you cant let any Imperial see you alive. What all that means is, basically just about EVERYONE in this game is your enemy at some point, except for the hot pilot Juno and your trusty droid pal Proxy (and while hes your pal, he still tries to kill you every chance he gets).

The real meat of the game of course, is not the story. A lot of emphasis has justly been placed on the physics in this game, as it is an attempt to shake up the boring action genre by having enemies that behave realistically (within the dictates of fictional physics). So yes, the storm-troopers fly and smack into things when you force-push them, twitch when you zap them with force-lightning, and in general behave fairly intelligently. Of course, ultimately, everything in this game is fodder for your light-saber, so all that is just a little extra immersion factor, complemented by enemies who in later levels attack you relentlessly and cant be pushed around with the force (they have energy shields, ect).

In an action game what matters is quite simple. Beautiful graphics, music that doesnt get irritating (because youre going to play the same levels over and over), awesome bosses, non-stop action, and fun gameplay (with some cool extras thrown in for good measure). For the most part, this game delivers in every way. Presentation is top-notch, with slick menus, intuitive controls, neat cut-scenes, and graphics that push the system about as far as it will go. The light-saber effects, explosions, laser-fire, and throwing things around with the force all work splendidly. There is some frame-rate drop here and there, but most action fans are used to that. Load times are minimal, people look great from a distance. Im thinking that the 360 at this point has just about reached the edge of the uncanny valley, to the point where people ALMOST look like the jaw-dropping Squaresoft pre-renders that is the ultimate goal, but are still a little freaky-eyed zombie-looking if you zoom in too close. Darn good on-the-fly rendered of people in the cut-scenes, but not quite Advent Children. Yet.

The original music for this game is so good I got a little irritated when I heard old Star Wars music from the movies later in the game. Im actually thinking about a soundtrack purchase. Maybe. Also, like any good action game the extras keep you coming back as you unlock light-sabers, costumes, and awesome concept art. Multiple difficulty levels and power-unlocks as you go as encourage multiple play-throughs as you chase after that maximum difficulty play-through looking as awesome as you possibly can (thats what I go for anyway).

The actual gameplay is very close to as good as an action game can get. It looks like Lucas learned a great deal from a few play-throughs of my favorite action games, Advent Rising and Tomb Raider Legend. You have only one button for melee attacks, camera and object control mapped to sticks, and lift controlled with the right trigger. Force push and lightning are mapped to B and Y respectively, the left bumper is dash (you cannot change the control setup). You also get to combine your powers (infuse your light-saber with lightning), and thank the maker, automatic autosave. The biggest difference between this and other action games (and the Jedi Knight games) is that the developer seemed to be scared of any kind of weapon select menu, instead giving you the left-trigger combined with button presses for ultimate attacks (lightning shield, force repulse, and throw light-saber, and both triggers for a massive force grip on multiple objects), and lots and lots of combos to memorize or accidentally hit.

For the most part, this system of control works great with the heavily-action-oriented gameplay. Youll be flinging storm-troopers with the force, blasting them through walls, and slicing them with your light-saber like dearth-maul on cola-jolt in no time. There is a slight-frustration curve, as your powers are pretty weak to start with, and take too long to charge, and (worst of all) dont do all that much damage. The first thing you should level up (in my opinion) is your light-saber, as using it normally takes no force points at all, and your force points recharge with time. You are almost penalized in this game for standing still, as your health-bar is recharged by destroying enemies (weve seen this action game gimmick before but it works well here). The level design is also carefully tailored most of the time to keep you moving forward. Theres even an arrow on the mini-map display which points you in the right direction 90% of the time. The only thing that really detracts from all this is a few poorly done puzzles and action elements (and upgrade choices).

One thing that Advent Rising really had down was the level design that kept you moving FORWARD and never let you get stuck wondering where the heck to go to next. A few sections of the Force Unleashed do exactly that, letting you wander in circles until you realize you need to force-lift something BEHIND the shield wall to bring it down, and after getting knocked down three floors you need to go up those flights of stairs AGAIN. These moments are infrequent, but they do intrude upon the flow. Large enemies are taken down with those famous GOW-Tomb Raider Legend button pressing cut-scenes. The take-downs of the bosses are awesome, but they do take you out of the game momentarily, and far more than momentarily if you have to keep doing them over and over to get past a segment you keep barely missing. Personally, I liked them as an end to a defeated boss at the end of each level, but would have rather cut the AT-STs in half myself rather than pushing buttons in time to watch a cut-scene (I dont mind hitting X a thousand times to break a saber lock either). Only you can say whether you love or hate the button pressing cut-scenes.

Its also worth mentioning that that totally awesome bring-the-Star-Destroyer-down-with-the-force scene actually happens in the game, but the execution stumbles like a drunk monkey. A bunch of tie fighters come out of the thing and you have to destroy them, with no idea how youre supposed to proceed. You can force grab them, but only for a split-second before they are out of range. You can force throw floating debris at them, but it only comes by once every 30 seconds. You you can do what I did and just stand in one spot and wait for them to be in range for that split second, at which point you throw lightning at them, and having missed, wait 30 seconds for them to come around again, at which point you throw lightning again. Yuck. Pretty much every enemy in this game goes wherever it wants whenever it wants. Why in the name of all that is Star Wars do those tie-fighters just fly around in a loop?! Thats bad enough, but after that, when you grab the Star Destroyer and drag it down, the tie fighters attack again, forcing you to let go. You now have about one minute to destroy them all before the Star Destroyer moves back to exactly where it was before you grabbed it. Wonderful. You managed to make one of the coolest parts of the game frustrating and REPETITIVE! The same thing goes for the final level in the laser system of the Death Star. In a game with this much action, putting a timed puzzle in the way is not a good thing (move the focusing lenses one at a time with the force, then run and jump through before the next laser blast. ARGH!)

For the most part I love this game. It was never so easy to look so cool. From the Apprentices reverse light-saber hold (he holds it upside down so its behind his back when he doesnt use it), to the awesome auto-deflection of blaser-bolts when you level it up, and the effortless pulling off of combo after combo between swings of your trusty saber, ending in a flourish of light or a battle-camera cinematic, this game is fun, fun fun. All of the duels with jedi are outstanding (with the battle with Proxy as every jedi youve fought so far being my favorite). With a little more polish in the design department (powers should auto-level up according to usage, you should not have to choose them right in the middle of the action of a level without the option to do so between levels, the aforementioned issues) this game could have been flawless in execution. It also could have been a little longer in length, but short and sweet is fine by me. If you like Star Wars, rent this game. If you love action games, buy it.Now if they would just make more games like this based on the expanded Star Wars universe of the books Id be all set.
good story, flawed game play     On: 2008-11-23

the story of the game is sound. There are a few things that sorta clash with the movies, but for the most part, it works.
The game play is horrible. This game was rushed. The AI is borderline too good - on the normal setting. There are levels where you cant ever get up because the AI shoot you, and you fall down, and by the time you recover, they shoot you again. The whole Force Powers are great, except as soon as you get one set of force powers, theres a bad guy that cancels them out - and oh yea, they are the only type of bad guy on that level.
I understand the point of having bad guy types that can resist your Force Powers, but there, not as bad as the game is.
The Star Destroyer level is perhaps the single most frustrating part of video gaming I have ever played. This part is the reason why I give the game 2 stars instead of 4.
I got the game for two reasons, 1.I thought it would be fun to run around and use Force Powers on storm troopers - it is, for the first half of the game anyway. 2. I wanted to know more of the story of what happened between Episodes III, and IV. It fills that part in well I think.
Star Wars: Money Unleashed!     On: 2008-11-20

Besides the few glitches this game is solid, solid waste of money! While the gameplay is easy enough and the graphics were above average, what kills Star Wars: Unleashed is value for your dollar! Seriously, what you are paying for is the graphics and the easier playing action system, if you were paying for the playing value it would be less then a $20.00 game. The story was good, but short and the re-play ability is less then most. I have played KOTOR, KOTOR II and other Lucas Arts games over and over, this really does not have that re-play value, maybe you might play it again in a year. Their is not really too many choices for gamers, making this more of a button smash action game and a short one at that.

I saw someone beat the game in 10 hours, I beat it on difficult in less then eight and I am truly dissapointed. This is a renter game, not worth the $60.00 price tag...I would rather re-play KOTOR or KOTOR II!
Could've been great, but missed the mark     On: 2008-11-20

Unfortunately, incredible graphics, awesome powers, and an innovative approach to combat cant ultimately save this game, as glaring shortcomings in gameplay and concept make themselves obvious too often. Whether the good outweighs the bad depends on your tolerance level, I suppose. I find myself tossing down my controller and turning off my console in frustration far too often.

Your super powers are indeed awesome (when they work), and youd be hard pressed to find a game that offers more fighting combinations, powers, and ways of dispatching your enemies. But theres an inconsistency to every aspect of the fighting. For instance, you can lift huge nearby objects with your force power and hurl them at opponents, but because of difficulty with targeting and controlling the trajectory of the objects, this becomes an exercise in frustration. Also, the effectiveness of your lightsaber attacks against all too many enemies is nearly nill. This forces you to rely on the same kinds of cheap tactics that actually do work, which of course drains the fun out of the game, and removes the element of creativity and variety.

I wish the developers had gone the extra mile and fixed those aspects the game needed to be absolutely legendary and out of this world fun.

Final analysis, rent, dont buy this game.
Additional Thoughts (aka Let Me Watch the Video..Not Punch Buttons)     On: 2008-11-19

One additional point I wanted to add to the reviews here that I havent seen addressed is the poor handling of the controls for the sub-boss and boss battles. Specifically what I am referring to is the "Quick Time Event" as I have seen it titled in some walkthroughs. Basically after you have reduced the boss health to a certain level the game switches to a series of video sequences of our hero fighting the boss and as the player you have to hit the appropriate button when it flashes on the screen. I found this part of the game to be frustrating because most of the time I wanted to sit back and watch the battle unfold instead of concentrating completely on the button prompt.
worth a look, but enjoy the whole unleashed experience     On: 2008-11-18

star wars: the force unleashed is another attempt at a multi-media event by lucas arts like their mediocre attempt with shadows of the empire in the 90s. dont get me wrong, the effort they put into the event was mediocre, i actually enjoyed shadows; but this isnt a shadows review...

this time around weve got a video game/book/graphic novel combo, with one lego spaceship and one action figure (that i know of) thrown in, almost as an insulting after-thought.

but let me just talk about the main offerings. they all complement each other, but are lacking in their own merits, so i will simply review them all.

GAME: i wanted to give this game more than a 3, i really did. but with amazing games like dark forces and jedi knight coming from lucas arts more than 10 years ago, there was really no excuse for this game not being better than it was. the gameplay was fun for the most part, with the exception of the boss-battles. theres nothing i hate worse than interactive cut-scene boss battles. if youre going to have a cut-scene, let me WATCH the cut-scene. the gameplay is completely linear, which granted is to be expected since this game above all else is an interactive story. you do have one mission as darth vader, but you spend the entire rest of the game playing as the apprentice. this is entirely a melee combat game, with the addition of force powers. if you enjoy star wars for its shoot-outs and space combat, this isnt the game for you. they could have thrown in some space combat with juno eclipses back-story, but alas it didnt happen. this game is definitely worth playing if youre a star wars fan, but i cant recommend it at the $60 release price; rent it or wait for the price to drop. while youre waiting, give the book a read.

BOOK: sean williams is no stranger to scifi, and he has prior credits in the star wars universe. this was some pretty solid writing, considering the storyline was already predetermined. he complemented the unleashed story and still managed to add to the mythos with a back-story for juno eclipse that i would like to see williams revisit in a novel of her own. a back-story, and explore what-happened to her after unleashed, since we obviously have no mention of her in the original trilogy, despite her obvious importance [sorry, being very vague here to keep it spoiler-free]. worth a read.

GRAPHIC NOVEL: for a special event like unleashed, i expected the comic to be a little better than this. it just seemed a little rushed. i havent taken a look at any of brian chings other star wars work yet, so i dont know if this is his best art. there were a lot of proportion and perspective problems that made it hard for me to enjoy for the artwork alone. and some of the most incredible events in the story, such as the scuttling of the star destroyer, were reduced to a panel on a page. that awesome destruction was worthy of nothing less than a splash-page. in some ways, chings out-of-proportion heads reminded me of carmine infantinos work on marvels star wars in the 70s. im a big fan of infantinos art now, but it wasnt until some years later with his work on the flash that i could really get into it. only time will tell if i feel the same way about ching after seeing more of his work. the graphic novel is worth a look, but overall, it adds nothing to the story. if youre already getting the video game and/or the book, you might want to skip this one and spend your money on the the art and making of star wars: the force unleashed.
Star Wars The Force     On: 2008-11-13

I purchased this game for my grandson and he just loves it. He cannot wait to get home from school to play. There are so many missions and different things that you can do while playing this game that this should keep him entertained for quite some time. Great game!
Not a bad adventure game     On: 2008-11-12

The game was a decent amount of fun, but I wish it was a tad longer. Standard achievements, killing x amount with y ability and complete z level on medium/hard/superhard. The gameplay got a little repetitive but it was fun using the force powers to kill tons of enemies at once. The boss fights are probably the best part of the game since they are all unique and can become quite challenging. After I beat it, I immediately put it on Goozex for its trade value since I know that I will never play it again. It only has replay value if you want to get all of the achievements. I really would have liked to see some sort of multiplayer, either co-op missions or even deathmatch/ctf.

If you are a star wars fan, then it is well worth playing, but after youve gotten the story from it, its not worth keeping around. My opinion is to rent it instead of buy.
Lots of action, good story, but wish there was more     On: 2008-11-10

Im a huge Star Wars fan since it came out in Summer of 1977 and have followed the mytho ever since. Ive now been playing the game for for the last month when ever I have a spare moment and Im enjoying the game thoroughly. Visually, the game is stunning. The sound effects and game play work well together. Its great to be able to Force Push or Force Lightning a bunch of stormtroopers and aliens alike. The Force Grip like Vader used is really cool, too. A lot of the little side, bonus objectives are fun, too. Definitely makes you want to do more or at least go back an replay the mission.

Why a 3-star? Something of this caliber, I find myself getting frustrated because of the AI work done for the camera angles. Sometimes, the AI puts you right on top of the action and you cant see what your fighting, just ghost images of you and your opponents. Also, I expect a game like this to have a lot of character moves (X-X-Y-Y, LT-B, etc.), but when Ive tried to execute them, I dont see that much of a difference in play so I pretty much stick to some basic combo moves. Im sure Im expecting too much because I know other games only take a few dedicated nights complete if you invest the time. I was hoping this would go a bit longer to complete with more worlds to explore or Star Destroyers to bring crashing down.
Great technical Jedi game with awesome graphical effects!     On: 2008-11-09

When I started playing this game about a month and a half ago I felt like it had a great beginning. Being a full time worker and a full time parent I rarely have time to play. But whenever I get my hands on this game I just cant wait to play it.

First, the graphics in this game are up to date with the current technology. The controls are very easy to handle and the menus and submenus are very easy to get to.

Second, the playability and story line have a sense in the Star Wars legacy, the voices are just the same and this is NOT just another stupid Star Wars game.

Third, it is a fun game to play for all ages, no matter if you are a 35 year old man like me or if you are a 12 year old kid. You are going to love this game. Yes, it is not a very long game: 10 to 12 hours of full play time... depending on how good you are.

The only thing I am not that happy with is that you cant see all the way up, pretty much you can see so much of the picture and yes... there is no need to see all the way up but being a star wars jedi or sith you want to see all your surrounding because you never know when something might creep up from you.

Overall, I love this game and I would recommend it to anyone!!! But it if you get a chance!!!
Great game     On: 2008-11-09

This is only the second Star Wars game Ive played (besides Tie Fighter and X-Wing). The other one I played was KOTR 2, and Unleashed is a thousand times better. Definitely a recommended game to buy or at least play.
RPG Star Wars     On: 2008-11-04

I was very pleased with this game. I had waited for this game for quite some time. It was a break from the typical "choose your destiny" path that most of the other Star Wars games had been following. It was nice to be able to follow the path of the Jedi without have to be "quizzed" as to what action you would take.
Brings you back     On: 2008-11-02

No one will ever have the "come-back-and-replay-over-and-over-again" like COD4 but I find myself trying to unlock it all for this game, which is a great feature for me.

It is short, played it for about 6-8 hours and finished the story in sith warrior, but I am playing it again in the higher ranks and trying to gather all the unlocks in the game.

Overall it is fun, though the hype had it be closer related to the KOTOR game.

Worth it though!
Amazing at first...then good...then boring?     On: 2008-11-02

This was an exceptional game...for the first 3 levels. Then those three levels continually repeat themselves with the only difference being the skinning on the characters you fight and how powerful you are.

The levels are SO scripted that a second and third play around becomes tedious.

This game could have been amazing, and it was for a short period of time (it truly was unleashed), but now its only average.
Great Game with limited replay value     On: 2008-10-29

The story and graphics are amazing. I noticed a few minor glitches in the game but not enough to make me mad. The only downfall is that once you beat the game, there is really no point in playing it again. I wish it was a bit longer so I feel like I got my moneys worth. Would have gotten 5 stars if it had replay value.
Horribly glitchy game     On: 2008-10-27

I really cant believe some of the high marks some people have given this game. It glitches out so many times; at least two or three times I had to manually turn off my x-box and restart because of a glitch. Many other times I got stuck on some invisible wall. The AI is horrible and does not live up to the hype.

Its not all bad - its always fun to kill storm troopers with a lightsaber. The cutscenes look pretty, and the voice acting and music are good.

This game tries to follow the God of War formula and apply it to Star Wars: slash and hack and level up with new combos. Its not a bad idea, but its so poorly executed, youll wish you were playing the old wire-frame x-wing game.
Buggy, but great story     On: 2008-10-27

it is a great story, with fun (though extremely simple) gameplay. The disk I had froze 2/3rd of the play through. I have spoken to a few people and a lot of them had several bugs directly tied to their disks. Having said that, if you do find a "working" disk you will enjoy the story.
Ultimately a Disapointment     On: 2008-10-24

I was really looking forward to this game. My hopes were still high as I played through the first hour or so, but ultimately as the game progressed I felt let down. The graphics and overall design are superb, as is the music. The story line seemed interesting but ultimately wasnt enough to compel me to actually finish the game.

I disliked the lack of choice the player has in terms of game play. Personally, was hoping for a little more role play and character customization (something maybe similar to what Mass Effect had). Each level, while in different in appearance, is essentially the same. The player is run through a gauntlet with the requisite boss at the end of each level. The camera and targeting systems still need of serious work and frequently frustrated me. Im surprised that the developers didnt wait to make this a Holiday release to allow time to fix these issues.

Im also not a fan of checkpoints. I hate having to redo parts of the game over and over just to reach the next checkpoint. Worse yet, is getting through a difficult section of the game and falling off of a cliff due to poor camera work. I dont have tons of leisure time so when I spend a decent portion of it replaying levels, it gets mighty tedious mighty fast.

Overall, if youre a fan of the Star Wars universe with time to kill, youll probably not hate this game. My advice is to rent it or wait to buy it used.
Force Okay     On: 2008-10-23

I recently purchased this video game. Being a college freshman, I get in a lot of playing time in at nights, and so I have beaten it numerous times. While I personally am debating whether it was worth my limited money, I highly recommend it to any serious Star Wars fan.
This game is an excellent continuation of the Star Wars saga. It fills in the gap between episodes 3 and 4. The plot is creative and yet blends perfectly with the movies, creating a seamless storyline for the series. The game has well-developed characters, and even the quirky Star Wars humor that the world has come to love. Each cut scene answers questions raised from where episode 3 left off, such as who starts the rebel alliance and what happened to the other Jedi still out in the galaxy.
Not only is the plot line excellent, but the graphics are phenomenal. This game utilizes three different physics engines. This allows for highly detailed backgrounds and characters that behave how they would in reality. Glass shatters, trees splinter and people can be sucked out into the vacuum of space. One of the engines greatly increases the AIs capabilities. Computer controlled units regroup, hide, flank and interact with their environment. If you pick up a unit, they will grab onto anything in their reach, whether it be a pipe or a fellow unit. These engines allow for multiple replays that are never the same.
While the game is especially captivating the first time through, it gets a little monotonous after a while. The player eventually becomes so powerful that even on the most advanced difficulty; the only challenging level is the very last one. Many of the puzzles in the game are similar and utilize the same tools to complete them. After a few play-throughs, the levels become very similar. You walk or run through a level, hunting for the door to the next area while being besieged by unbelievably large numbers of foes only to destroy them like they were gnats fighting a panzer tank. At the end of every mission is a boss unit, who is extraordinarily better than a regular unit but fought in the exact same manner. Defeating them gives little satisfaction. Also, hidden throughout all the missions are items called holocrons. These hide fun items but are a pain to hunt down. While some are nearly unavoidable, others are so difficult to track down; one may have to resort to online walkthroughs.
While this game may have little appeal to a hardcore gamer, true Star Wars fans will love it. So I highly recommend it to anyone who is willing to wear stormtrooper armor or who knows how many forms of communication C3PO is fluent in.
It could have been so much more     On: 2008-10-22

This is the game that has bee promised to those who have spend hours day dreaming about how awesome it would be to be a truly powerful Jedi. It was supposed to allow you to experience the role of an utterly powerful Jedi/Sith like no other game. And it does, sort of. Overall the game does a pretty good job of maintaining the illusion of being a super powered bad dude. But its the minor imperfections, and there are a lot, that drag it back down towards mediocrity.

As an adventuring game with a large amount of platforming the camera gives me a large amount of trouble. There are situations where it will fix in place and make maneuvering very difficult. It will also occasionally cause you to miss landings and fall to your death. There are also a large amount of spaces that you would think you are able to maneuver your character to, only to learn they arent part of the stage as you fall to your death. Without good cameria control you arent able to ever get a good look at these areas before you commit.

The combat can be fun, but suffers from very poor targeting. There are so many times you try to scoop up an enemy only to have your target change. So you lift a rock as a droid pummels you. And for being a guy with a light saber there are a huge amount of enemies equiped to fight against you. You would think that after watching the movies you should be able to cut a bloody swath through most of your enemies. But not so. It turns out a large amount of thing you face in combat just happen to be lightsaber resistant. Which manages to kill the fantasy a bit. There is nothing like being unable to get past the guard of a bug creature because he claw cant be cut. You would think everyone in the Empire fights lightsaber weilding Jedi everyday. For finishing the tougher enemies there is also a buttom sequence you will have to go through. I often find myself hoses as I go from madly attacking directly into the sequence with no warning. Which causes my poor guy a world of pain until I get on the right page.

I experience a number of glitches during my playthroughs as well. I managed to get stuck in walls several times. And there were a few stages I wasnt able to force manipulate items needed to complete the stage. For the latter issues I was forced to quit me game and load it again to resort. Not too bad but with the poor save system it could mean playing through the entire stage again.

Overall I did enjoy my time with Force Unleashed and will probably take a couple more play throughs. But being this game is already short I would recommend it as a rental most people. On the plus side once you do max out your character you can play through on easy and truly feel like all powerful force user you are supposed to be.
Great game that misses excellence     On: 2008-10-22

If youre a Star Wars fan, this is a no-brainer. This is a great game. On the 360, theres a lot of replay potential with the achievements, lightsaber unlocks, and new costumes. Controlling the force has never been more fun.

That said, there are problems. Targeting sometimes does exactly opposite of what you want it to do. My biggest beef with the targeting is that it has a very strong preference for objects rather than people. If a storm trooper is standing right in front of you shooting at you, the game will assume you want to pick up the nearby box to throw at him, rather than just picking up the trooper himself. Plus there are bugs. A rancor hit me so hard once that I fell through the world. Theres a boss fight on stage 3 or 4 in which I got stuck in the ground every time. It doesnt mean you lose, but it definitely dont work as intended. Its these bugs and the targeting system that keep this game from reaching greatness.

If youre a fan of Star Wars or 3rd-person action/adventure games, this is still worth the money, even with the problems.
Great game!     On: 2008-10-21

I liked the demo version, but after reading some reviews I had my thoughts regarding buying this game, but as a star wars fan, I did it anyway! GREAT GAME!!!!! lots of fun. If you like the demo version, youll have a blast with this game.
Fun.....but not a 60 dollar game     On: 2008-10-20

Well, this game is fun for me cuz I got it from a friend for [ ] bucks. He obviously hated it but thats all good. its fun in a sense that you can use force and all taht but it is repetive. I got bored of this game in an hour but ya good if you get it use.
Very buggy but ultmately very fun.     On: 2008-10-19

I was very excited for its release and was very disappointed with the quality of workmanship when I first turned it on. This game had so much potential for greatness, but sadly it fell far short of its potential. After having spent quite a bit of time playing it, I have to say that it is a very fun game. Once your character becomes sufficiently powerful, its more fun and less frustrating.

I could go on and on about this games many flaws, but let me break it down this way instead. The combat, combos and force powers, are designed for one on one type of action against enemies, but in 99% of the scenarios you encounter in the game, you face off against large groups of adversaries and the moves you have just arent sufficient to take them on in an elegant way. The combat is extremely unpolished to say the least.

That being said, there are a ton of combos and the combo system itself is pretty nice. Its just not applicable as much as youd want it to be. The force powers are very fun.

The level design is sloppy. You find yourself getting stuck in certain areas for unknown reasons. You also slip and fall a lot off of things that youd think youd be able to stand on. The character basically has a very poor relationship to his environment. You cant grab on ledges or anything like that. The attention to detail with regard to your characters movement through the environment is extremely sloppy.

All that being said, the story is nice and the DMM technology is fantastic. What works in the game works very well but sadly only 30% of the game is polished at all and it really destroys the overall experience.

I hope they keep going with this technology though and create other jedi games. I just hope they polish them more.
Repetitive, but Fun     On: 2008-10-18

When it comes to Star Wars, you could say it has its own genre in the video game market. There are some games that are good such as Lego Star Wars or Star Wars Battlefront. There are also some questionable ones like Master of Teras Kasi or the adaptation of The Phantom Menace. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed falls in between. It is by no means a bad game, but it hardly lives up to the expectations it has set for itself.

The Force Unleashed focuses on Vaders apprentice. On the surface, The Force Unleashed has a good story, complete with production values. The story itself it well done and well presented with some well done cinematics that, for the most part, have some pretty good voice acting. It doesnt always sore, it falls flat in some scenes, but its by no means horrible. Along those lines, the story is just all around absorbing. If youre a huge Star Wars fan, youll more than likely love the storyline here.

Once we get to the gameplay, thats where the game begins to hit a low point. There are many things you can do in The Force Unleashed. You can grab objects with the force and thrusts them at your enemies (or lift your enemies and throw them at other enemies). Youve also got a force push and force lightning as well. For the most part, though, youll more than likely be running around swinging your lightsaber. Unfortunately, this is where the game gets a little boring. While you can string together lots of combos and you can go crazy on hordes of enemies at one time, it gets repetitive really fast, and force powers are exciting for only so long.

If the game were harder it would probably be easy to overlook the repetitive nature. You wont find much of a challenge in the game. Not even from the bosses. On the other hand, the bosses are some of the most exciting moments in the game. Fighting some of the games bosses provides a lot of depth that you dont get from fighting normal enemies. While youll be able to take them out in virtually the same fashion, theres actually a little bit of strategy involved to defeating them. Outside of that, however, the game feels like a button mashing affair in many respects. The game also isnt that long. At most you can probably knock it out in a day or two.

Graphically, The Force Unleashed is a good looking game. The environments and textures are good looking, as are the cutscenes. Despite that, some environments are still pretty basic looking. Smooth textures dont keep some of the areas from being repetitive in design. There are also a couple of graphical hitches, however. When you may find environments clipping or you may find that not everything runs that smoothly. Its a good looking game, but some of those hitches might be bothersome. Musically, it is no surprise that it sounds phenomenal. The music score is pulled directly from the movies with a few new tunes added in that sound absolutely brilliant. Its good stuff.

The Force Unleashed is not the best of the Star Wars games, but its still fairly entertaining and fun. There are times when you may wish for a bit more variety in the game and for it to be a bit broader, but the storyline is rewarding enough to warrant a play through for die-hard Star Wars fan.
Merely ok     On: 2008-10-17

This is basically a good game just not a great game. Sadly, the expectation for this game was incredible high and he fell far short of what it was aiming for. If you are looking for just a run-of-the-mill hack and slash with force powers then this game is for you. Using the force powers can be a blast but with the lack of anything beyond a storyline on the 360 once you are finished with the campaign the only real thing you can do is play it through again on a different difficulty.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed     On: 2008-10-16

This game was fun and had great action and cool powers, but was too short.
Star Wars fans = buy | Others = rent     On: 2008-10-16

Ill just do a short paragraph this time since theres really not enough to say about the game to warrant a pro/con list.


-I love star wars. Always have always will. So this game was a "must buy" for me. Would i go back in time and rent it instead? No cause you never know when we (star wars fans) will get a hankering to throw some stuff around with the Force. The game is pretty good overall. Short, like 6 hours of playtime short. The plot is ... star wars-ish. They make some good tie-ins to the existing universe. Its a little buggy in spots and one of the coolest things you do in the game (wreck an entire star destroyer) is also the biggest pain in the arse, thus taking the fun out of it :P. There are some God of War style button sequences. They vary a little, but i frankly will never get tired of watching AT-STs get sliced in half and rancors torched by force lightning. The game is fun but a little annoying when you are forced to revert to force lightning most of the time and if the enemy happens to be "immune" to it somehow you are forced to use your lightsaber (which is poorly underdeveloped) to take them out. Sadly, while the force powers are cool and all, they are really limited by the enemy designs most of the time. Frankly instead of making the enemies impossible to kill with the very force powers the game is supposed to be centered around, they should have just made them ALL suceptible to the powers but increased the number of enemies. That way you still get a challenge cause youre mainly just trying not to get overrun by them. (which is more realistic than storm troopers that have shielding that absorbs force powers ?!?!?).

So overall i like it. It was quick and simple and had force lightning in it. So to me it was incredibly fun, but to others that might not be so enthralled with the star wars universe as i am, youve been warned :P.
Great Game!!     On: 2008-10-16

The story line is interesting and the action is ridiculous. Im glad I got it and I really enjoy playing it. I look forward to playing more games like this one.
Good game - for all ages and abilities     On: 2008-10-16

This game is really fun, and has a deep storyline too. A good game for someone of any age and ability.
The Force On Low Batteries     On: 2008-10-15

Purchased this game last week. This game, like most games to be fair was overhyped, but Force Unleashed was overhyped to an obscene degree. The game didnt live up to it unfortunately but this is not a bad game, a good weekend rental instead of purchase may be a better option. Its not what I would expect from a supposedly next-gen SW game. This game was more like a dark jedis bad day at the office. The targeting system, well there may as well not be one, you have to get close enough to an enemy or an object. Most deaths result from not making jumps and falling into pits of stock planet footage. The story was okay though nothing approaching an epic. You dont really get the moral choices of being dark or light save for the end when its really just a matter who you want to beat up the most: the Emperor or Vader. The Emperor of course isnt a weak senior citizen as he appears to be and Vader isnt some slow heavily armored guy just waving around his light sword. And the protagonist seems like a angst ridden teenager with a Romulan-like forehead. If you are a SW fan, then this game can be absolutely awful and youll still enjoy, but really if you are a luke warm fan like myself who has marveled at the terrible things being chucked out from this franchise of late, then you may want to save your dough and rent it.
Lots of Hype, Some Fun, and Some Dissapointment     On: 2008-10-15

Game was way over hyped but isnt every semi-major title these days? I had a lot of fun with the game but once I finished the SHORT story mode I was left with a feeling that I should have waited to rent the game from Hollywood Video. Granted there are things to find, achievments to get all that good stuff on mutiple play throughs, but I could not bring myself to play through more than once. I will be selling the game once I find the time. PLEASE RENT, you wont be dissapointed. Its a fun game but with no multiplayer there is little left after you complete the game.
Great Action Oriented Star Wars Title     On: 2008-10-15

I dont know whats with some of the poor to average reviews, because this game is best action game Ive played since God of War.

Heres all you need to know. The action is virtually non-stop, in a Devil May Cry/God Of War esque kind of way of approaching things. It works great I think. The cut scenes are short and to the point, while still adding abundant, quality story line to the Star Wars time line. The gameplay is terrific, and with no hic-up in trying to pull off Force moves and various lightsaber combos. My only complaint is that the action can feel redundant at times.

If you love action games and you at least like the Star Wars Universe, then pick this game up.
Worst. Camera. Ever.     On: 2008-10-14

Playing The Force Unleashed was an exercise in frustration. The game has beautiful visuals. Cool Force powers. The ability to pick up and throw just about anything. However, it has horrible controls and camera control. As a result, I felt like I was fighting the game controls and not the enemies.

One example - its far too easy to randomly get turned around. You are fighting some rebel scum, and next thing you know, your force lightning is going off 180 degrees from where you thought you were pointing.

During boss fights, the camera is fixed - well, not so much fixed as outside of your control. Im sure this was meant to give the fights a cinematic feel, but instead you just get annoyed.

And I dont see why they implemented a Save and Load feature. It doesnt seem to work anything like how I would expect it to work. After trying to beat a miniboss several times, I finally succeeded. So I saved. When I went to reload, it took me back to the previous checkpoint, not the point I saved at. Ok, not good - I saved at that point specifically so that I wouldnt have to re-fight the miniboss if the stupid camera caused me to accidently fall to my death. Fine. I can (barely) live with that. After proceeding to play a bit more, some friends came over and one of them ended up being the end boss of the level and proceed to the next level. Well, I have a save, right? So I can go back and redo the last half of that level and fight the boss myself. Nope, the save someone was for the last checkpoint on the current level. Huh? How is that even close to what I as a player would want Save to do?

Ive given up on this game and am feeling like I wasted my money - having to battle the camera, controls, and save feature took all the fun out of the game.
The Force is strong...but might not be strong enough     On: 2008-10-14

I rented the newly released Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the Xbox 360 this weekend.

This was a game that I had anticipated buying...but then the mixed reviews that surrounded it upon release gave me pause.

Ultimately, I am better off for having played it...so it was well worth the rental and an eventual purchase when I find it with a red clearance tag at Target someday.

The Pros:

* The best Star Wars (non-RPG) game to date.
* Its fun. (Except for a few particular instances...which will be described below.)
* Awesome CGI cut scenes. This game serves as an interesting addition to the Star Wars canon...and does a good job setting up some of the events we see in Episode IV.
* The game features the delicious Battlestar Galactica alum Sam Witwer (Crashdown) as Darth Vaders apprentice. He looks as good in the game as he ever looked on television. The Force is with him...indeed.
* Great acting. This game featured some of the best animated acting Ive seen. Anywhere.
* An awesome array of Force powers are available to you from the beginning of the game and most of them are fun to use.
* Watch for a great appearance of a classic villain...well worth the price of a rental.
* Great use of the classic Star Wars music by John Williams. The music makes the mood...and this game nails it.


The Cons:

* This game has a few moments that will drive you absolutely nuts. Without going into any spoilerific details...Ill just say that the game very often gives you too little information and/or verbal/visual clues as to what you need to do to solve a challenge.
* Some infrequent yet horrifying bugs. When I fight my way through Darth Vader and make it to my show down with the Emprorer...I expect the game to keep running. Instead...my game froze up just as I was about the "defeat" the Emporer. Thanks, Lucas Arts. I restarted my console and made it through a second time without any difficulties...so who knows. All Im saying is that Bioshock never froze up on me...and there was just as much carnage going on on-screen.
* The game is a quick play...especially if youve got it set on the Apprentice level of difficulty. The only real times that I died where when the sometimes wonky camera angles and sometimes difficult controls caused me to fall down deep chasms and lava pits.
* They managed to snag Jimmy Smits as Senator Bail Organa (a role he originated in Episode III,) yet they couldnt get Carrie Fisher, Ian McDermond, or James Earl Jones? Seriously? What is Carrie Fisher doing these days? She couldnt stop by the studio and lay down some audio for Princess Lea?
* No Yoda. :(
* There seems to be absolutely NO personal consequence for your character using a variety of Force powers throughout the game that would be considered Dark Side powers. You can kill as many people as you like...and you still seem to turn out ok in the end.

Anyhow...its worth a rental or a purchase if you are so inclined. Avoid the Nintendo Wii version if youve got a PS3 or Xbox 360...

May the Force be with you!
Bleh! Fix the targeting system.     On: 2008-10-14

This game is playable, especially on the medium level. Great story. Definitely fun at times.

Try anything harder than that and it becomes an exercise in frustration. The targeting system is fatally flawed. It doesnt give appropriate weight to proximity and often results in your force attacks being wasted upon objects on the other side of the room instead of, say, that 30 foot AT-ST standing right in front of you. You can work around this on the lower difficulty levels...but on more advanced levels when one misstep results in your death...get ready to swear a lot. The save checkpoints are at times distant from each other...adding icing to the cake.

No multiplayer. Let me state that again for the back row...its a FPS without multiplayer.

It takes 2-3 hits with your lightsaber to kill things like storm troopers. Are you kidding me?

Admittedly, I had high expectations. Ive played the Jedi Knight series on the PC. Though the graphics are undeniably better in Force Unleashed, the gameplay is actually worse than those decade old PC games.

Bleh!
BEST STAR WARS GAME EVER!!!!     On: 2008-10-14

For starters, I dont agree with the reviews that say this game is repetetive. You are constantly unlocking and upgrading new force powers that never get old or boring. If youre a star wars fan, youll be in Jedi/Sith heaven. If youre not, youll still be in action video game heaven. I too beat this game in one sitting but Im not complaining. It was about a ten hour game but with action games, I think that is perfect. Im so busy with work and school, both full time, on top of a family, that my only real time to game is on the weekends. So a game that I can complete in a day or two is perfect. There has never been a more fun and bad a** star wars game than this one. You feel more powerful in this game than you ever did in the Jedi Knight games. (Which I also Loved)The voice acting and facial expressions in the animation felt a lot more cinematic than the usual bla performances in other video games. Though not the deepest story Ive ever seen, you dont really need it for action games like this. This game is extremely fun and I recommend it for anyone who likes action games. My only slight problem with it is that there is no multiplayer. If you could take everything about this game and throw it into the multiplayer modes of Jedi Knight for some online battles, itd be the perfect Star Wars game.
Not Quite as Unleashed, but pretty close     On: 2008-10-13

The long anticipated game from LucasArts has finally arrived, and there is a lot to be said about this game, both good and mediocre.

Lets start with the story...its very short. Im a completionist, so I look for all the hidden objects etc in the levels, and it only took me around 15 hours to do EVERYTHING in the game. The story you follow as Darth Vaders secret apprentice is actually pretty cool, but we dont really get to dive into it nearly as much as any real Star Wars fan would hope. I finished the game with a "Oh, ok that makes sense", but I wished there was a lot more depth. If you have played games like KOTOR and KOTOR II, this game doesnt even COMPARE in terms of story.

Gameplay is pretty solid, and keeps you using the force in the way the game intended. From hurling random barrels pulling pieces of metal off the wall, throwing your lightsaber into the chest of a stormtrooper, and all the other plethera of attacks, lightsaber, and force combos alike; Force Unleashed delivers with the combat system. Its smooth, innovative, and players will find that they will need to purchase the more expensive combos to do real damage in the later levels of the game, as the difficulty spikes in significant directions once you reach about the 5th level. The leveling system that the game uses is very nice, although I was a little annoyed with the wait times you have to endure for each and every menu transition (going from force power customization...wait...lightsaber customization...wait...resume game, etc). The other problem I have with this game is that it is VERY repetitive. In order to progress in the game, you usually have to clear all the enemies out of an area to continue, and in some cases, this will mean you have to kill a ton of guys that are immune to 95% of your abilities, meanwhile youre being killed from range, or being stomped on by enemies impurvious to lightning and your push abilities. There were a number of times that I was frustrated having to redo a portion of the game when the last guy of 50 from a save point killed me. LucasArts definitely looks at your Jedi as a true one-man army, capable of withstanding any and all odds, no matter how ridiculous. The game does however let you decide how to play, with the customization of force powers, combos, and talents (such as life, force energy, defense, etc) If youre a completionist like me though, you will probably level up enough times to completely beef up your apprentice before reaching the final level.

One other annoyance I have, is if you decide to replay a level, you must rewatch the cutscenes at the beginning, which are sometimes up to 4-5 mins in length.

Overall though, LucasArts was definitely on the right track with the DMM, Havok and Euphoria technologies for next-gen consoles. Gamers will find this very fun and you will feel more like a Jedi than any other game has allowed, but some of the limitations of the gameplay, and the incomplete story will leave the hardcore gamers and fans thirsty for more. The sound quality is tremendous, and the graphics are just beautiful, especially on an HDTV.

Fun Factor: 5.0
Sound: 5.0
Gameplay: 4.0
Replay Value: 4.0
Story: 3.0

Overall: 4.0
Good, but rent it-- don't buy it     On: 2008-10-13

When I first started playing, I liked it. As I continued-- I loved it. The controls were easy to get used to and you got a real sense of power from killing people with force grip.

However, it gets boring within a few hours. Its very repetitive and, when it comes down to it, there really arent that many force powers to unleash. I found myself sticking to Lightening and force grip the entire game. Force push was just about useless and I rarely ever even used force repulse.

Its a good game to rent over a weekend, but I really wouldnt recommend it.
Fun game but very short     On: 2008-10-13

After my first day of playing the game when I realized I was on the final mission I started over and tried to get more items collected. Still only took another 2 days to finish the game. Replayed last mission to get alternate ending then went for another play through on a higher difficulty and found myself bored so sold the game. It was still a fun game but maybe just a rent vs buy.
Excellent Game     On: 2008-10-13

I really enjoy this game. The visuals are great and the gameplay is on point. A must own for any Star Wars Fan.
The force is NOT unleashed.     On: 2008-10-12

I really think that this game is still in its beta stage, as the quality is terrible to be a final product of a Star Wars game. Lucasarts did one of those mega-hype moves as Lucasfilm did with Episode 1. This game does not live up to Lucasarts standards. It would be best for them to actually finish this game, because there is stuff missing and bugs needed to be taken out. I believe that no one outside of Lucasarts had the chance to test this game.
THE GOOD: Using the force to throw your enemies against object to kill them. Using force lightning. Using the Force push to tear open doors. The cutscenes are fun to watch.

THE BAD: Ive had this game lock up on me twice.
The targeting system is absolutely terrible. If you are knocked down, you take about 5 seconds to get up, and you can be knocked back down again and get beaten again.
The save feature really does nothing for you. You have the ability to execute the save anywhere at anytime in the game, but if you turn the game off or die, you are brought to the save point that the game automatically doe for you. Therefore the save feature has no benefit for you.
The lightsabers are too weak. They are essentially the nightsticks the two cops from Futurama use to beat people with. In no way do you have the ability to cut a stormtrooper to pieces, of which I think would be cool. You get to cut an AT-ST and a R2 unit in half, but not humanoids. This game is sooo toned down with the violence that its boring. The typical thing you do is beat someone with a stick, like youre in martial arts.

The graphics on the game are neat, but the parts that you can walk up to have got to be improved. I have had cases where I will walk to a wall and the design, especially the junk heaps of Raxis Prime, will change to something a little different. It doesnt affect gameplay, but it makes the game not consistent.

The targeting system in this game is a piece of crap. You have to actually take time to focus on the right object you want, and that gets hard when youre under attack.

The camera angle is so bad as well. I am having a hard to time describe how bad without using profanity. Areas that have a fixed point are the worse, mainly with big boss fights. I was fighting Vader in the room before getting to the emperor and he used force push to break the platform I was on. The platform bent upwards and completely blocked my view of trying to fight Vader as well trying to keep off the forcefield on the floor that was killing me.
Some controls pretty wonky, still pretty fun game     On: 2008-10-12

Being a sucker for all these games since Dark Knight, I was really looking forward to this game. Id first like to point out that I did have a good time playing this game, but it was WAY to short for $60. there really isnt any replyability. You can start over on a harder setting keeping all your accomplishments and unlocked avilities/crystals, but unless youre an achievement junkie, its not really worth it.

The thing I was most looking forward to was the ability to grab and throw objects in the environment. While this was really effective in defeating foes, controlling this feature was frustrating most of the time. It was difficult to lock on the target you wanted, and once you did, it was really difficult to get off a throw quickly. Most of the time you were forced to guide the object around carefully and aim it just so...By that time you are being shot all to hell. What was most effective was the ability to pick up enemies and throw them quickly, this also increased your force points faster than using the saber.

Overall, i think this game was fun, but i would recommend renting first.
Cool game     On: 2008-10-12

game is a must have for any Star Wars fan. Amazing story. Camera angles can be a bit frustrating, but not that bad. Minor glitches, combat takes a little getting used to, but once you master it the game is great. Non die-hard fans might want to try before you buy
Below average rental, for sure.     On: 2008-10-11

I dont know how this game has garnered so many positive reviews. Its somewhat fun for an hour or two, but after that the glitches, repetitiveness, and mediocre level design grow too cumbersome for even the Force to save from the bargain bin. Great idea, great marketing, and great franchise, but in the end the game is but a polished turd.
Short but Extremely Satisfying     On: 2008-10-10

Ill agree with most of the other reviewers. The game is awsome but it is short. There are supposed to be at least one new level released for the xbox. I hope there are more. I could nitpick about this or that but my only real complaint is about the lenght of the game. I did enjoy every single minute of playing it which might have contributed to me going through it so quickly.
They did it...     On: 2008-10-09

The game was one of the better games for quality and shows the power of the counsels it is on. Its a bit linear for my tastes but all games have the must complete objectives, from start to finish on each level though what you can do to kill your opponents keeps it fun and playable for a long while. The NPC become a nuisance in large groups on the more difficultly settings as they work as a team and try to kill you, not once in my play through have I encounter and identical approach to stop me. One time I killed a boss easy and the next time one more attack would have had me.

My only wish is that they would have done a KOTOR style game.
The best SW game in years     On: 2008-10-08

Great story.

Visually impressive.

Some amazing moments.

Really fun.
It's craptastic!     On: 2008-10-08

I agree with many of the other lackluster reviews, in that this game feels very unpolished, and buggy. The graphics are nice (barring the occasional texture flickering) but thats about it. I highly reccomend borrowing this game or renting it before you buy. I havent played the demo, but Im guessing if youve played the demo, youve pretty much played the entire game. Total waste of money.
Alot of Fun, but not for Long.     On: 2008-10-08

I bought The Force Unleashed on the first day of its release and I was very impressed initially with the game. The first level was awesome to play with Vader, extremely easy but still very fun. But I beat the game in about 9 hours of gameplay over the course of 3 days (on normal). The levels really got repetitive and most of the enemies are too easy to kill once you figure out how to kill one, they all can pretty much be killed the same way.

The Force powers are very cool, but some are very difficult to perform when youre involved in an attack. Force Lighting is way too powerful and a couple doses pretty much kill everything except Vader and Palpatine. The mini-boss kills get too repetitve (in the level where you have to kill 4 rancors, they pretty much all get killed with the exact same cut sequence: cool the first time, annoying after time number 4)

There arent many challenging aspects of the game except enemies. There arent any situations where you have to use reason like in KOTOR or attempt to use stealth like in Assassins Creed. You pretty much just run through the map killing everyone that is in your path. The only exception to this is getting the force crystals as some of them are impossible to get unless you force grip some objects into different locations, etc.

The story is kind of stupid and the ending was tough for me to identify as the Good Side vs Bad Side choice. I wont wreck it for anybody, but I was slightly confused as to what I was supposed to do, mostly due to how terrible the camera positions itself for this event

Positives - Very fun to play initially, great graphics, pretty easy to execute the basic force moves but more difficult once you start getting more force combos. The environments were very cool and you could interact with alot of stuff even if it wasnt in your field of vision.

Negatives - the camera became very frustrating and it really makes some of the jumping sequences difficult. The enemies got pretty repetitive and were actually very easy until I got to the end sequence. I died twice trying to kill Vader in the bad ending(the only times I died from anything other than jumping), but defeated Palpatine on my first attempt. Not much depth or thinking required to play this game: target enemy, force lightning, hit with saber, move to next guy. A few differences in enemy tactics, but not much. There are a few glitches in the game, the most annoying one being on the SD level where if you get hit by a TIE fighter shot, you get stuck on a ledge where you cannot move back into the middle of it and eventually fall off. This happened to me several times and got me pretty mad at the SD level.

Overall, Id say youre better off renting this game or buying it used because the chance that youll get sick of it or beat it quickly certainly exist. The only thing that has kept me from selling it back is to attempt to obtain all the force crystals, some of which are very tough to get. I seem to have a thing about games about finding all those little trinkits in case I get something cool. I wish Lucas Arts would have put there effort into another KOTOR like game as this one was really great on the surface, but lacked the depth to keep me interested for longer than 10 hours.

Another could have been great if ....     On: 2008-10-07

This game was a great Star Wars experience with too many moments of excruciating game play frustration. If it wasnt for the story cliff hangers to keep me going, I would have walked away from this game several times. Too many times I wanted to throw my controller. I would only recommend this game to a Star Wars fan. Assassins Creed had the sword fighting mechanic down perfect for me.

The good: The art direction was great. The levels were dramatic and captured the Stars Wars atmosphere beautifully. The story was good and I enjoyed all the cut scenes. The QuickTime events were over-the-top once I could stop staring what button to press and actually watch it. Some the battles you get into are extremely fun when you can pull off some combos and use the light saber. The mini-boss fights were some of the favorite battles for me.

The bad: The game play was enjoyable only about 60% of the time. It seemed to me that the actual game play was an add-on to the story/movie portions. The 40% part was frequently a tedious exercise in frustration. Why?

1. Targeting, especially in a short range fight. It always picks some piece of junk instead of the enemy that your fighting or one that is about to attack you.
2. Most of the levels, while beautiful, are just boxes. When they have an unfair amount of enemies/snipers so you end up using "glitch" behavior to get through them. There is no strategy only your ability to quickly kill them off to build your health faster than they can wear it down. Too much luck involved for survival.
3. Once you get knocked down every enemy hits you just as you about to stand and you are soon dead. The sequence timing is terrible.
4. Many times you re-spawn in front of enemies without your light saber ready. They get a couple shots in at you before you can defend yourself.
5. The end-boss Jedi fights are in an exercise in tedium and frustration. I cruise along having a good time and then the end boss battle shows up and ruins everything. These should be the best and they are NOT. The fixed camera approach is terrible. The QuickTime events are the only good thing.
6. Too many combos to remember and there is a long learning curve for the appropriate situation for many of them because you just use the ones that work for you. Rinse repeat.
7. Looking for holicrons etc around the level is lame.
8. Not enough save points.

In summary this game is similar to Bioshock for me. Good story, beautiful design, and a variety of tools to fight with. It has many unique and enjoyable small events, but Jedi fails in the big picture - game play. I cant believe all these frustrations got by their game testers or they ignored them.

I did finish it and I am working on the second try at the highest difficulty to see how more effective I can be with my fighting style and to pick up things I missed first time through. The only reason I continue to play is that there are not any other game out that interest me.
Why Wasn't This Game Made Into A Star Wars Movie?     On: 2008-10-05

George Lucas had a chance to make more money out of "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" and he blew it. I know hes going to make millions of dollars off this game now, but I think he could of easily made millions more by making this game into a Star Wars movie. When I was playing this game, I kept asking myself why wasnt this game made into a movie? This game has I think one of the best story lines out of all of the Star Wars plots and it should of been made into a movie. What was George Lucas thinking?

The game itself is pretty awesome. The graphics are great. Using the Force and my light saber are a lot of fun. Actually I wasnt sure if I would like playing the game. Im used to playing FPS (First Person Shooters) and I like a weapon like a gun or a blaster in my hand. But it turns out once I got used to the controls this game turned out to be pretty fun.

It is so much fun to use the Force on different things especially Imperial Stormtroopers. I cant tell you how many times Ive used the Force to pick up a Stormtrooper and toss him up into the air and then watch him grab a nearby Stormtrooper and pull him up into the air too and then toss both of them across a room or across the sky. Sometimes I would pick up a Stormtrooper with the Force and toss him into a group of Stormtroopers who were standing behind him. It sort of reminds me of bowling. If I came to a door I couldnt open, I would use the Force to force it open then I would slide through the opening. I would also use the Force to toss objects at Stormtroopers or creatures that were in my way.

All the great stuff from Star Wars is in this game. There were so many parts of the game where I just had to just stop and look at the surrounding scenery with awe. The music is just great throughout the game. Its typical Star Wars music. There are so many cool creatures and so many different environments to look at throughout the game.

I can already tell that the two new technologies, Digital Molecular Matter and euphoria combined with Havoc physics will definitely be used by a lot of new games in the future.

I think this game is awesome. I would highly recommend to go out and buy this game. The Force is strong with this game.
The Forced Release     On: 2008-10-05

Im really sorry I decided to purchase this one. Right now, Im not even sure if Id recommend renting it. Its one of the worst Star Wars games ever. The Force Unleashed is defiantly not the game I thought it would be after playing through the demo.

The least LucasArts could have done was to play the game themselves before shipping it to the public. It should have been better tested and debugged. There are too many glitches to distract from the game. Ive been stuck and forced to restart the game numerous times so far. And when I say stuck, I mean really stuck. Like I couldnt make my character walk or move at all. Or Kazdan would just sit there and not attack while I could not damage him, despite my hitting him. Or the inconsistent HP system, where damage is assigned in a very unusual way. Sometimes a fierce light saber combo would do almost 0 damage to a boss, other times a single swash of the saber would do significant damage to the same boss in very similar circumstances. And Im not talking about him blocking my attack.

The levels are too easy to walk through, with unexciting and fairly boring boss battles. I did not find much cohesion to the game at all. It just felt like a bunch of Star Wars references thrown into a game with bits of a decent storyline to glue the whole thing together.

The game save system is not too good either. You are limited to check points instead of having the ability to strategically save anytime. There were some points in the game where my progress was saved right before a cut-scene that could not be skipped. Yup, I had to watch this scene every time I died on this difficult part of the last level.

I am very disappointed with the sad Star Wars games we have been given these last few years. After playing good games like KOTOR, Jedi Knight 2 or even Republic Commando, The Force Unleashed was a BIG disappointment. I know Im just dreaming now, but a full rebuild of the original X-Wing would be sweet and probably fun too.

To sum it all up, this game could have used an additional 3 to 6 months of development time before they shipped it out to the public. It could have been a great Christmas release instead of this terrible end of summer dud. Seems like Lucas Arts is suffering from the same sort of issues as EA. Previously, a great game company that doesnt seem to care much about the quality or fun factor of the games they release.
The Force Could Have Been Much Stronger...     On: 2008-10-04

Im one of those 30-somethings that loved the original Star Wars Trilogy and thought the last 3 movies + cartoon were turds. The Force Unleashed could have been great if there werent so many bugs and glitches.

STORY 9/10
The game takes place between the two trilogies. You are Starkiller and youre Darth Vaders apprentice. You begin the game hunting Jedi, trying to prove yourself to Lord Vader. Once you earn his trust, he sends you on an important mission for the Empire. At your disposal is a small crew. A sexy pilot named Juno Eclipse and a droid named PROXY, who uses holograms to transform himself into other characters when they contact you. Complete with twists and character development, this is the best Star Wars story since The Empire Strikes Back.

GAMEPLAY 6/10
Starkiller has some amazing force powers. Force Grab, Lightning, Lightning Shield, Lightsaber Throw, and lots of melee attacks. Defensively, he can dash, jump, block, and counter attack. The Powers are great!
However, the enemy AI is pretty bad. Lots of times, they just stand there. The control scheme is ok, but locking onto an object or enemy is broken. Many times, you grab the wrong enemy or object. MANY TIMES!!! This is frustrating.
The Bosses... if you dont play the way the designers want you to play, you die. This is frustrating and very unfortunate.
The Levels... Some of the levels are great, while others dont work with the camera at all. The camera in general is bad, but levels 3 and 9 really show how bad it is. You can expect to die a lot from enemies standing right next to you, that you never saw.
Sub-Bosses. You can finish them off with a press the right button when we tell you - mini-game. However, you dont know when the mini-game starts, so a good deal of the time, youre mid combo on an enemy and the game decides that you missed the first button press. In God of War, the Player initiates the mini-game. In this game... good luck!

ART 8/10
The level artwork, character art, and effects are all great! Some of the levels look better than anything seen in the movies.

SOUND 10/10
Complete with the Star Wars soundtrack and sound effects that all the fans love.

INTERFACE 1/10
Theyre awful, clunky, slow, they load in... they even manage to take the fun out of leveling up. Also, at no point is a complete list of moves available to the player. You have to click on each move and read the button presses one at a time. Then back out of that screen and go to the next move.

Overall, I gave the game 4 Stars. If youre a Star Wars fan, you should like this game. It could have been a 5 out of 5, if the game wasnt so buggy. The concept is awesome, the powers are great, the scenarios are great, and the story is great. However, the execution ranges from good to poor. Youll have fun about 70% of the time and be frustrated 30%. The game is about 10 hours long. 1 hour of great story, 6 hours of fun gameplay, 3 hours of turd-dom.

You can replay the game again on different difficulty levels and keep all of the powers that you earned in your first playthrough. Aside from collecting light saber crystals and xbox live achievements, theres no reason to replay it.

Its a good rental!
stars wars is god     On: 2008-10-04

I love the star wars series. Starting with the ones from super nes. Star wars unleashed is pretty cool because you star out as darth vader. Then you meet a child and then he grows up and train him to be like you. Not only that but turn him like darth vader. The action is great and the force ability is cool because you can use things to throw and even trow people against things. The light saber is always great to have. The story line is outstanding. please pick this great title up.
Lucas Arts Droped The Ball     On: 2008-10-04

I was pretty excited to get this game. I thought it would follow in the Lucas Arts standard in high quality Star Wars games. It has been in development for +4 years and there has been a lot of hype and excitement about the game. Loaded it up and wasnt captured by it immediately. The physics engine was neat (splintering trees) and force powers you would expect Vader to have. After playing a few levels I had a good feel for how the game was going however was disappointed in the story. So when I finished the game and replayed it second time for alternate ending I was very jaded with it.

Lucas Arts failed horribly to execute what could have been a promising game. The first disappointment (and biggest) was the story line. It was not very exciting or engaging and I was left feeling I accomplished nothing but watched a third rate rip off stars novel made into game. I also thought the game would be more dynamic, the only part of the story based on your actions was the final ending. Everything else was the same no matter how you played story line wise. I was expecting a lot more to be included about how you behaved and had the story evolve around your dark and light choices.

That aside the game was the most buggy console game I have every played. Both times I played through my objectives got bugged and from about half way through to the end the optional objectives would not track my accomplishments. The optional mission object would appear as Default* or Nil and the force cubes and points would not increment. The research I have done about this shows its fairly common on the X Box and Plantation version of the game. This strikes me as totally unacceptable in a console game where you can not blame a systems configuration.

The other large bug actually affects game play. The engine does a poor job letting players land where it will let them. For example if you land on a plant near a wall your character will appear to be floating unable to move and takes a few seconds of wiggling sticks to break free. This applies to just about any surface near a wall if the surface or wall are slanted. There are also areas where you can get stuck between plants or other objects unable to escape. I even had it have me side down a wall into a pit which was meant to be auto death but did not kill me. Some very interesting clipping errors down there and a game load later was able to move on.

This game is pretty and had promise however it was probably the most disappointing Star Wars game I have ever played. Maybe Lucas Arts has lost their touch?
Does what it does best, but tries to be more than it should be...     On: 2008-10-04

As a fan of the Star Wars series, and Star Wars Battlefront games, I was incredibly excited when I heard/saw things about this game.

When this game does what it does best, this game is incredibly fun. These things include:

-Insanely fun force powers...this part of the game peaks midway, when your force powers increase, but your enemies are still gaining strength.
-Jedi boss battles.
-Great storyline.

However, if it stuck to these things, Id give it a 5-star rating. However, it tried to vary the gameplay (and failed) in the following areas:

-Zelda-esque puzzles...accomplished in sub-Zelda style.
-Voice-acting...it didnt sound like Jimmy Smits, Carrie Fisher, or James Earl Jones.

Beyond that, a few thoughts:

-Great insight into the period between episode III and IV.
-A lot of fun playing as a Sith Apprentice.
-***You can punt Jawas!!!***

Unfortunately,

-You cant punt (or even kill) those irritating Ewoks
-Enemies become insanely strong as you gain force powers. I mean, REALLY, the empire as troops who are immune to your force attacks?!?! When Vader is "all thats left of their religion"?!?! They spend money to defend against the Jedi...who are apparently extinct intheir mind?
-Way too short.
-No online

In summation, they needed to make it longer, and focus on action.

However, I dont regret the purchase. My friends and I had 2 evenings of great fun playing this (along with a little frustration).

4 out of 5.
Not as forced as many will tell you     On: 2008-10-02

After hearing many negative views toward this game, I decided a rental was clearly due. Upon completing the game, I have to disagree with many of the critics.

Simple short review:

The games graphics are beautiful, the story is interesting, and the controls are fairly decent. Yes the camera can become troublesome occasionally, and the clunky AI probably dont help (standing not doing anything). Even with somewhat dull AI, its still fun to hack your way through them. The game is of decent length, but not a long time investment game. The game features a few action sequences and a cool new cast of characters, along with a personal favorite (Vader) A few collectibles scattered through the game may gimmick one to run through the campaign once more, but a rental will do.


Excellent     On: 2008-10-02

This is a great addition to the star wars universe. I just hope the next one is a little longer.
Epic. Thats all there is to it.     On: 2008-10-02

This has got to be one of, if not the best Star Wars games I have ever played. The graphics are amazing, and the ability to interact with your environment in unbelieveable. In the previous games, when you did force push, you pushed one stormtrooper back like 5 feet. Now, when the skill is maxed out, you can push half a dozen stormtroopers across a hanger bay of a cruiser, and sometimes farther. The plotline can be a little strange sometimes, but overall, since they basically had to mold the entire game to make it accurate compared to the third and fourth movies, they did a fantastic job. I have already beaten the game twice and it is still fun. I highly recommend this game, and am glad it came out before all the other shooters that are coming out in the next few months, because I am afraid it would lose some of its publicity.
Disappointing and frustrating     On: 2008-10-01

Pros - Graphics, Story

The game is visually great with beautiful environments and character models. They were able to capture the facial expressions of the actors nicely. The force powers are cool especially the destruction that you can cause with them. The story does a good job of filling some story between the two trilogies. You do get to visit some interesting places

Neutral - Gameplay

This is a hack and slash game so it does get repetitive. I found myself using the same skills to kill almost all enemies (mainly force grip and lightning). Unfortunately they ruined what should have been the best part of the game. And this is where you get to take down a star destroyer. They give you indicators on what you are supposed to do but they are broken and will mislead you. And in general this part just gets tedious and annoying

Cons - Controls and Camera

The controls for the game can be unresponsive and at times wont do anything the first time you press them, especially when your attacks get interrupted. The problem here is it causes you to take too much damage if you get blocked or stunned. It also makes it difficult to pull of some combos. The aiming is can be very frustrating because you tend to lock onto the wrong targets and attack the wrong things. The camera makes it hard to find enemies particularly ones that are high above

Overall - Disappointing with what it could have been

I really wanted to like this game i was ready to buy it immediately until I saw the reviews which caused me to rent it. Im glad I did this because this game has too many problems to be worth buying. You can see the rush job that went on in this game when parts of the game are broken. Which is disappointing with the potential that the game had and the effort that was put into certain parts.
Star Wars Review     On: 2008-09-30

This game is mandatory for any Star Wars fan. It is possible to have a lot of fun experiencing one more chapter of the Star Wars saga.
Fun, but short     On: 2008-09-30

I finished the game today. It took me about five days to complete, and I didnt play a load every day, just a couple of hours a day usually. So yeah, I really liked the game, but it felt short when it ended. Is it worth $60? The graphics are really awesome, the different force powers are really great, and even though the QTE(QuickTime Event) made you feel like you werent exactly controling the game completly, it still looked great when you killed a major boss. Quicktime events are those moments when you have to mash different buttons to defeat certain bosses throughout the game. (If you were still wondering what QTE was)


If youre a fan of the Star Wars series (Movies, Video Game, etc.) than this is a must have. Even though you will find yourself wishing that it was at least a few more hours longer.
Falling Short...     On: 2008-09-30

This Game was postponed so many times maybe i just expected more from it. This game boiled down to be a button masher.. Very disappointing. Unleashed has a set story line with no decision making ability, a key part of the Knights games that I liked so much... You have no choices to make, no planets to explore, not even real choices of gear.. The force powers are fun, but even they become dull after awhile..
If you are a fan of the Knights games, you may be disappointed too..
The Force Unleashed - It's just what Star Wars needed!     On: 2008-09-29

For a while, LucasArts has seemed incapable of truly capturing what its like to be a Jedi. Even games like Battlefront, which are great in other ways, reduce being a Jedi to mindless button-mashing.

The Force Unleashed changes all that - finally, a game was built from the ground-up with the sole focus being on "what itd be like to be a Jedi." No more of the silly button mashing, of the ineffective force abilities, and the limited, powerless feel that other Star Wars games offer... this is different.

The battle systems pretty fantastic. A great action game gives you a ton of options, and gives your enemies a plethora of methods to take you out. Thats exactly what TFU offers, utilizing a leveling system to help you along as far as upgrading your character. The force powers and lightsaber attacks that you get all have their specific uses, but the fun is in mixing and matching them in creative ways.

Theres not much more for me to say - the fighting and action in this game is great. From cannon-fodder storm troopers to opposing jedi/sith, all the enemies in this game are well done and fun to fight, offering a serious challenge on the harder difficulties.

There are a few issues I had, though.

Levels - I loved the levels, I really did... the first time around. I thought that Raxus Prime and Felucia were really interesting places. That doesnt mean I wanted to revisit them! Usually in situations like these, levels are regurgitated to ease up the design process. However, Felucia and Raxus Prime were completely different places the second time around, so Im not sure why they didnt just allow us to explore other interesting levels from the star wars universe, like Coruscant or Tatooine. (That was my main issue - the planets in star wars have so much to offer, why limit us?)

However, it did fit the story fairly well; to "right your wrongs" and whatnot. Still, I couldnt help but feel a little cheated.

Options - This isnt referring to customization. The ability to choose all those different light-sabers and costumes is pretty fantastic. However, this game is advertised (scroll up, youll see it right there!) as having multiple choices that let you alter the course of the game. The reality is, theres just one choice to make, and it manifests so late in the game that we dont even get to enjoy the ripple-effects that games like Mass Effect include in their options.

Jealousy - Unrelated to the quality of ~this~ game, but the fact that the Wii and PSP versions have multi-player makes me a little envious. : P A co-op/vs. mode with the X-boxs engine would be fantastic fun, so hopefully well see it added in some DLC.

While these issues are pretty important to me, none of them take away from the heart of the game - the combat. Ive been playing this game constantly since I got it, and its still as enjoyable and exciting as it was when I first downloaded the demo months ago. My one hope is that this game is an indication of what to expect from LucasArts in the future. This battle system, plus the open-ended story/exploration of KotoR? I can only hope. = D
short but SWEET     On: 2008-09-29

OK this game is not the end all of force powers, but it does offer you a ton of fun ways to obliterate everything in your path. I strongly feel that if the force powers were much stronger it would have made you impossibly more powerful than any jedi in any other Star Wars product. I enjoyed the variety of enemies and how each enemy type has different strengths and weaknesses. Some parts were pretty tough, but not impossibly so.
Fabulous!     On: 2008-09-29

Not sure I understand some of the tepid reviews - this game is bang-out fun and the best installment yet in the Star Wars saga since the original movies and the KOTOR games. Why cant the movies be more like this? Sure, its a bit short, but what a mind blow. Great acting, animation -- the works. Highly recommend it!
A better offering for Star Wars fans than the last 3 movies.     On: 2008-09-29

Alright I am just getting straight to the point. The graphics and detail are amazing. The presentation and sound are in the traditional flavor of the movies. The voice acting and dialogue are surprisingly good. On the downside, there are some really ugly camera glitches especially when you walk next to a wall. As a game, Id say it was slightly above average. As a Star Wars experience I would most definitely rank it far superior to the last 3 films.


60 bucks is a bit steep. When it comes down to 35 or so grab it immediately.
WORTH THE WAIT! (AND PUNTING JAWAS!!)     On: 2008-09-28

First of all, I will admit, I am a BIG Star Wars gamer fan. Anyway, this game has exceeded all of my expectations! Everything from the story, graphics, gameplay, voice work, game physics, and overall experience is top notch! If you are looking for an amazing gaming experience then this is for you! The new game physics is by far the most realistic I have ever played with. Bottom line....there is nothing better than: holding Stormtroopers in front of oncoming TIE fighters, having Stormtroopers play "barrel of monkeys" with each other, cutting into mouse and gonk droids, and PUNTING JAWAS! Just go and buy it already!
Major Letdown     On: 2008-09-28

Its amazing that a company like Lucas Arts, with all its money and resources, cant make a great game.
This game isnt horrible overall but it does have many horrible moments. The boss levels are just aweful for one thing. The fighting mechanic needs lots of work, namely in the targeting and deffence moves. Also, I never really felt I was in control of my character the way I should be, like the way you are in Ninja Gaiden for example.
The level design is something from 10 years ago and very arcade like. The levels are boring, repetitious and uncreative. You really dont feel like you are in a Star Wars experience. Just some lame game