Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Force Unleashed on the Xbox360- looks nice doesn't it?

So I have finished the Force Unleashed and I have to say that the game was a lot of fun. Without spoiling the storyline, I would like to give a constructive review on the Nintendo Wii Version. I will not spoil the end plot or any "major" details.

The Force Unleashed, a year before its release had a lot of hype- but not at the level Halo was. The developers boasted a brand new physics engine that realistically mimmicked Newtonian Physics. I will admit, picking up stormies (storm troopers) and choking them or throwing them is amusing and a lot of fun, initially. The storyline was put together very well and LucasArts did a great job along with the entire Lucas camp. Starkiller is a pretty likeable guy ("The Apprentice") and he does not disappoint.





The game is somewhat RPG in its structure: You gain experience points as you defeat enemies, whoever they might be. As you gain experience you can spend xp to upgrade your skills. Early on I would recommend upgrading lightning, sith scorcher and force repulse- they will come in handy later on. As you move through the levels you will discover objects like holocrons, saber crystals and powerups. Holocrons unlock bonus art in the Extras menu. Saber crystals can be split into two types: Combat and Color. Color crystals change the color of your saber while combat crystals enhance an ability like choke or "amplified lightsaber damage". Powerups increase your overall force bar or health bar.


I highly recommend playing the tutorials to learn the many moves you can perform in the game. I did not learn the moves well enough and I first ran into trouble against Darth Phobus. I will not go any further on story details, but the end boss can be very difficult on the Wii version because the end boss likes to SPAM, SPAM and SPAM. The moves are fun and very gratifying. Mini-boss battles can be against the likes of AT-STs. The game uses too many at-sts as mini-bosses and it gets very repetitive killing them. There is a lot of interaction with the environment; and I also don't need to go into the quality of the cutscenes- this is Lucasfilm, afterall (great stuff).





The game suffered from a few problems. First off, there would be random times near the middle of the game where the game would freeze and I would get a "Loading..." icon in the corner of the screen. This was very annoying to say the least. Like I said above, many mini-bosses got tiring and repetitive. Some missions were too long: but the game was too short. The duel mode contained a nice list of characters, but not enough options to make the duel mode enjoyable. Powerups cannot be turned off (in the duel mode's case, infinite life or force power) and you cannot control stock (lives) above 5.





The game also suffers in the graphics department on the Wii: this game looks so much better on the Xbox360, and I recommend buying that version of the game. If you are stuck with the Wii this game will still provide a lot of enjoyment, but not enough if you want to beat the game and fiddle with it. I completed the game in about 7.5 to 8 hours- for completists (getting everything) it may take longer. I give the Wii version a humble 3 out of 5, a mediocre game that offers some solid fun- for a little while.