So earlier this week I went off to buy The Force Unleashed. Not expecting much but an above average action game. But none the less, I still wanted to play as The Apprentice. I'm also a huge Star Wars fan so I wouldn't have passed this game up unless it's average score was under 4/10. Did I enjoy my time with The Force Unleashed? Well, read the review to find out!
Gameplay - The game starts you off with the usual flying text in space. This time, the flying text tells you that Vader has been sent to the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk to find a Jedi that was recently discovered. The prolouge level lets you play as Vader himself. This in itself is just awesome, but this level is basically the tutorial. However, you would probably not notice since it feels like a regular level. Vader is invinceable and lets you play with a few of the powers like Force Repulse and Force Push to start off. After hacking your way through roughly 70 wookies, you'll find the Jedi and will initiate your first boss battle. This boss battle is nothing special. Just an intro to the boss battle mechanics. After defeating this Jedi you learn that The Apprentice is this Jedi's son. After killing your father, Vader takes you with him and the game forwards around 15 or so years. Vader has assigned you to go to a Tie-Fighter factory where another Jedi, General Koda, has plotted an attack on. This is where you start your journey.
Once here you hack your way through Storm Troopers and Koda's militia until you reach Koda. And this is your true boss battle. The boss battles in this game are simply amazing. There are intense and when it comes down to the light saber clashing you feel like you're watching a Star Wars movie. also, the combat itself is simplistic and intuitive. Abilities like Force Lighting, Impale, and my personal favorite, Lightning Shield are just so easy to execute. This causes some amazingly awesome action to insue. Another good aspect to the game is the RPG trait. Level up and spend force points to buy new combos and level up stats and force powers. I really enjoyed this game. However, I am still with my gripes. When you are knocked down, blocked, or hit with any hard attack, you are left open for 1-2 seconds for attack. And in a game where you need to keep moving to survive, this can get realy rediculous and frustrating. I also felt that the game was a little too short. I beat it in about 7 hours. But the replay value, and unlocking the black lightsaber did warrant it 20 more hours of playtime. The story is amazing. I feel as if they could have made this a movie and it would have been succesful. I loved the twist and how The Apprentice actually played a vital role in the Star Wars universe.
Graphics - The graphics ooze with polish. The enviornments and their backgrounds are very well done. The animations for The Apprentice and other characters are top notch. However, the facial textures can sometimes be a little on the ugly side.
Soundtrack - Simply pleasing to the ear. The score ranges from the Empire's March, to completely new sounds that strangely go so well with all the *** kicking going onscreen.
Replayability - As I said earlier, the RPG elements, light saber colors, costumes, and much more make this game worth playing through a few times. Also, it's just a damn fun game. No matter how many times you play it.
Final Word - I really love this game. It goes up there with KOTOR as one of the best Star Wars games of all time in my opinion. I went into this game expecting mediocitry because of the crap Lucas Arts has been putting out over the past few years. What I left with was one of the best gaming expieriences on Xbox 360, and one of my favorite games of all time.
- 9.6/10
