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The Force Is Pretty Restrained, Actually
Video games frequently promise more than they deliver, but rarely do they fail to live up to their very titles. Its really a shame, because, in this case, there was so much potential for greatness that gets bogged down by a somewhat run of the mill action game with severely limited power.
The events of The Force Unleashed take place between Episodes III and IV of the Star Wars saga. You play as the mysterious Apprentice, who is trained from boyhood by Darth Vader to fullfill his destiny and join him in assasinating Emperor Palpatine and ruling the galaxy. Obviously, you do not succeed totally in your mission, but its still an interesting ride.
Don’t let this game’s title fool you; with the exception of the first level, The Force is never really “unleashed”. With the possible exception of the introductory mission, where you play as Darth Vader, your use of The Force is constantly restrained. By the halfway point of the game, well over a third of the enemies you encounter are totally immune to your Force powers, which forces you to melee them with your lightsaber. Of those that are vulnerable, Force powers do barely any damage, forcing those reliant on said powers to perform an endless hit and run strategy that the braindead enemy A.I. never quite seems to catch on to. The quicktime events involved in taking down the game’s bosses and larger creatures quickly become tiresome when you are forced to repeat them over and over again and watch the same animation. By the end of the game I found myself killing AT-STs and Rancors with my LightSaber rather than sitting through the same quicktime event for the 20th time. The game’s poor use of quicktime events culminates in a scene where the player must take on a Star Destroyer with Force Grip, only to have the entire process break down into a lame quicktime event with misleading button cues. The game’s difficulty also fluctuates quite a bit; some levels are very difficult, while others are a cakewalk in which I barely took damage.
There is some good to be had in this game though. The story, while being somewhat stilted and predictable, still had plenty of shocking twists and turns, and it was quite interesting to see how it managed to work itself into the canon of the Star Wars universe without being hokey. The control scheme also worked pretty well, and the game does do a good job of making you feel ridiculously awesome in those rare moments in which it allows you to use your powers.
I can’t recommend purchasing this game. I really want to, but its flaws are just to numerous. If you are a huge fan of the Star Wars universe, the contributions the game makes to the Canon makes it worth playing through once. Otherwise, I ‘d just rent it.
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System: |
Xbox 360
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| Genre: |
3rd-Person Action
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| Experience: |
Finished the game on normal difficulty
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