The Force Unleashed is a game that I wish was more of an evolution of the Jedi Outcast/Jedi Academy games. While it was fun to lift up Stormtroopers to torment them, using the Force as a weapon was more difficult than it should have been. No matter how far I played through the game, I always seemed to struggle to get thrown objects to hit the targets I am aiming for. Sometimes my Force lightning will arc out and hit multiple foes, other times will just target a single enemy despite being part of a group.
The story feels like it was written by a horny 14-year-old going through an edgy phase. Many of the worlds that you visit are grim and dark. Juno Eclipse wears her uniform in such a way to show off flesh to (bonk!) send our protagonist to horny jail when first laying eyes on her, and she gets no further development after that. Even the name “Starkiller” makes me roll my eyes roll. I don’t care much about the Star Wars canon these days but the sheer power the Starkiller is able to demonstrate gets the point of ridiculousness. Pulling a Star Destroyer from the sky and crashing it to the ground looks cool in cutscenes but then it makes me wonder why Starkiller can’t use that level of power while playing the actual game.
Despite my issues with the game, I did have a fun time replaying it. There’s something satisfying about blasting open a door with Force push and shocking everyone to death. Despite the grim look of the environments, the levels are varied enough to keep things fresh and interesting. Some levels incorporate the use of Force powers to create openings or platforms to progress. While almost every boss is some type of lightsaber wielder, each one requires different tactics to bring them down.
While The Force Unleashed won’t be in my personal top 10 list of favourite Star Wars games, the way the Force has been given life in the form of a physics engine, as well as being easily accessible on PC and Xbox, makes it worth checking out by those who might be curious.
The story feels like it was written by a horny 14-year-old going through an edgy phase. Many of the worlds that you visit are grim and dark. Juno Eclipse wears her uniform in such a way to show off flesh to (bonk!) send our protagonist to horny jail when first laying eyes on her, and she gets no further development after that. Even the name “Starkiller” makes me roll my eyes roll. I don’t care much about the Star Wars canon these days but the sheer power the Starkiller is able to demonstrate gets the point of ridiculousness. Pulling a Star Destroyer from the sky and crashing it to the ground looks cool in cutscenes but then it makes me wonder why Starkiller can’t use that level of power while playing the actual game.
Despite my issues with the game, I did have a fun time replaying it. There’s something satisfying about blasting open a door with Force push and shocking everyone to death. Despite the grim look of the environments, the levels are varied enough to keep things fresh and interesting. Some levels incorporate the use of Force powers to create openings or platforms to progress. While almost every boss is some type of lightsaber wielder, each one requires different tactics to bring them down.
While The Force Unleashed won’t be in my personal top 10 list of favourite Star Wars games, the way the Force has been given life in the form of a physics engine, as well as being easily accessible on PC and Xbox, makes it worth checking out by those who might be curious.