December 28, 2009

Star Wars Unleashed: (PS3) Review


Introduction
I played the game for the Wii and I gave that version a 75%. How does the PS3 version stack up? In my opinion, gameplay wise, terribly. Lucasarts had been making this game for a while, boasting the new havoc physics engine in the game. Lucasarts attempted a very good game with innocent intentions, but failed to execute to today's standards on level design and cleaning up things.


Entertainment
This is Lucasarts- founded by George Lucas who created the Star Wars movies, the entire plot and story progression is his brainchild and he supervises. The game has some nice cutscenes and the graphics look great on this game. Since I played the Wii version, I found the PS3 twist odd- for the Wii version they had to completely build a new game from the ground up to take advantage of the Wii motion controls, which I feel they did a fantastic job of. Scenes were similar in audio, but were done on a completely different perspective. Juno... looked different. I find it amuzing to chuck Jawas at 40mph in front of me and it is always fun to do jedi things like block bullets/lasers.


Design
Good with their intentions, bad on execution. I managed to find (and not on purpose) many bugs which put me into the wall with no escape. Often, the player is confused on what to do when they reach an area. In the beginning of the game, the tutorial is not stressed or completed, leaving the player questioning why their basic moves later on are not cutting it against tougher enemies. Some of the levels, especially the junkyard were a disaster. I kept getting shot in midair and fell into the acid. There is no way for Starkiller to grab onto anything either, so down you go. If you died, you were greeted with a loading screen. This is extremely annoying.This game is an action RPG- as you kill things you level up, when you level up you can spend points in certain areas, such as combos or increasing your stats. This part of the game works well, and the depth into modifying your weapon is great.


Gameplay
This game definitely needs to stress how to control the game early on instead of plopping players with Darth Vader on Kashyyyk. I understand if they want the player to "feel" out the controls, but at least have some text scrolling at the bottom of the screen so players get that "aha" moment. I felt frustrated with the layout of the controls, and there was a slight delay after completing a combo, and sometimes when I swung my saber and wished to use force grab, there was another delay because of targeting, or the force grab did not click at all.


Replay Value
This game has some replay value if you are a star wars junkie. You can collect holocrons through multiple playthroughs, unlock art, costumes, crystals for your saber, and more. I felt that fighting similar enemies, whether the rebel opposition or imperial stormtroopers, got repetitive, especially any repeater troopers. Boss and mini boss fights got frustrating, but very interesting as they blended with a touch of Lucas.


Final Thoughts
For the PS3, I am disappointed with this game. They could have done so much better. 66%- an average to subpar game. With the used cost of this game right now $19.99 on all systems I recommend picking up the Wii version. New it is not worth it. Used, and as it gets older, and cheaper than $20, it is worth picking up.

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