Every Star Wars game aims to make you feel like a Jedi, or at the very least make you feel like you are a part of that universe. Most of them fall drastically short of this mark. We are all holding out hope that The Old Republic MMORPG will be the Star Wars game to end all Star Wars game but until that comes out we still have to make due with the Star Wars Games that are already out there. If you want the best Star Wars strategy game, you should see about getting a copy of Star Wars Rebellion, it probably won’t work for your computer anymore but that was one hell of game. If you want the best Star Wars flight-based shooter, you should probably break out the old Rogue Squadron games for the 64 and GameCube. But if you want to be a Jedi you should probably choose between Knights of the
The Knights of the Old Republic takes place more or less in Star Wars pre-history when Sith and Jedi fought constantly over who would get to date Natalie Portman in the movies. The Jedi won, but the Sith, being the sore losers that they are, cheated and convinced Anakin to become one of them so that they would win anyways. The jokes on them though because Padme died giving birth anyways. Suck it Sith. Of course I just made all that up about KOTOR, the story is about the pre-history of Star Wars, but about a much cooler story, probably because George Lucas had very very little to do with it. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (or as I am going to call it, STFU…sorry, I meant SWTFU, which can only be a combination of STFU and WTF) takes place at an even more important time. SWTFU takes place between Episode 3 and Episode 4. This is a much more pertinent time to the real Star Wars story which is why I have chosen to review SWTFU as the more important Star Wars Jedi game.
I probably just lost half of the readers by saying that SWTFU is more important than KOTOR, but hear me out. Everyone can agree that the most important part of the Star Wars universe is the part displayed in the movies and since the events of SWTFU are more important to the storyline of the movies, it therefore must be the more important. So if you still disagree with me on SWTFU then to you I say STFU, WTF makes you the authority. I’m the one with a blog after all.
So now, we move onto the review. The Force Unleashed was received by mixed reviews in the gaming and Star Wars community. Many people criticized its gameplay for being too linear, and others criticized its lack of multiplayer. Some even criticized its cinematic features for being to abrupt as they often appeared rather suddenly in the middle of a fight. And by far the most prominent complaint I have heard is that while you level up your character the bad guys also get tougher. This last complaint is particularly funny to me because if you were playing a game about, lets say, a Knight in Medieval England and as your character got significantly stronger your enemies remained exactly the same, thus making your character roughly invincible later in the game, then these same people would complain that the game got too easy as the game went on.
And there is some truth to the complaints. The game is linear, there is no multiplayer, and the in-game movies do come out of nowhere sometimes. But all of these do not warrant the low ratings the game was given. This problem occurs all too often with games that take place in worlds that game reviewers are extremely familiar with, especially with Star Wars games. The reviewers expect each new Star Wars game to feature everything that the last one did and more. This is just a silly request to begin with. Its like going to a restaurant and saying “Hey, the last time I was here I had a Turkey Sandwich, a bowl of clam chowder and a piece of key lime pie, but this time I think I want a steak with mashed potatoes and a Caesar salad. You know what, why don’t you just put all those together in one sandwich and I’ll have that, for the same price as just the original sandwich.” If every game in a genre included every good thing from every other game in the genre then they would really all just be the same game. No one was happy when Avatar was the exact same story as Dances With Wolves and Pocahontas. Even with all the good things it did graphically it was still the same story and that gets boring, really quickly. So why would you want every Star Wars game to be just like every Star Wars game? And if you just want it to be just like KOTOR, then just buy KOTOR.
However, throughout all of these complaints, one compliment has always remained. The story and characters of SWTFU are just incredible. There is not one weak spot in the voice acting or with the storyline. The story follows the life of the secret apprentice of Darth Vader known as Starkiller. At the end of Episode 3 Anakin killed all of the Jedi in the temple, but several Jedi were not in the temple at the time. This is where the story of SWTFU begins. Darth Vader has gone to the Wookie world of Kashyyyk, a world known for lush jungles, hairy citizens, and an abundance of letters that are sometimes vowels, in search of a Jedi that had been banished from the temple. While playing as Darth Vader you begin to get a feel for the controls of the game. While following the path that leads to the Jedi you have the opportunity to hurl Wookies off cliffs, blast them with force blasts, and even use your light saber as a boomerang. When you finally find the Jedi and defeat him in epic combat you discover he has been hiding a son. Vader then takes the boy and trains him in secret as his apprentice, our protagonist Starkiller. I won’t go into the rest of the story but just so you have an idea, the game deals with Darth Vader’s subservience to the Emperor and the formation of the Rebellion, two ideas that are at the very heart of the Star Wars story.
I will however respond to some criticisms which are likely to come up eventually. The gameplay can be a little frustrating at times as you may have difficulty with defeating some of the baddies the first time you play through, and some of the powers have to be used in exactly the right place or in exactly the right way in order to progress through the game. But on the whole, these are very small problems and rarely actually get you killed, and when they do it is probably your fault in the first place.
And if your big complaint is that the game doesn’t have a really wide world for you to explore at your will, then I am sorry, I can’t help you much there. But the game does encourage you to explore the entire world that it does have. In order to change your costume, upgrade your character or upgrade your light saber you have to collect glowing boxes called holocrons which contain the various upgrades. These holocrons are located all over each level and sometimes in very hard to reach places that require you to use all of your various powers to their fullest extent. So while you not have hundreds of dime-a-dozen side quests, you do still have a highly immersive world to explore. Personally the lack of the side quests make this game more like the movies (the good ones that is). Luke only went on a side quest once to go fight Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and that ended with him getting his arm chopped off. Stick to what you are supposed to do and you will always have two arms, that's always been my motto.
You may dislike that the in-game movies come out of nowhere and seem to interrupt the gameplay, and again I can’t help you too much. Maybe, you should just stop complaining all the time. All I can say is that the scenes are really beautiful and even though the programmers could have probably made the transitions a little smoother, they are still really engrossing and you will appreciate the way they tell the story.
The only part of the game that I think is just plain bad takes place towards the end of the game. You have to defeat wave after wave of troops, each being more ridiculous than the previous, and if you don't kill things in the right order the next wave will come before you have finished the previous one. The guys you have to fight are just WAY TOO POWERFUL. Even the third time through the game with all my stats maxed out I managed to die several times at this part. That is until I figured out the easiest way to get passed this part. If you play it and want to know my secret, shoot me an email.
So that’s it. It’s not perfect but it is damn good. I give it 8 eviscerated jawas out of 10. It loses 2 points for the problems mentioned above, but they aren’t big enough to really hurt my enjoyment of the game and the story is a far better written Star Wars story than any of Episodes 1-3. Of course they are making a sequel, which I fear will not fit the real storyline as well as this one did, but it is sure to be a fun play. So if you are going to play the new one or just consider yourself a Star Wars fan you need to play Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. And if you are still concerned about the lack of multiplayer and remain unsatisfied with every other Star Wars game, then I again say “STFU, just wait for The Old Republic MMO to be released next year.”
And just to get your hopes up here are trailers for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and The Old Republic. Enjoy these videos courtesy of Gamespy.com!
Grizzalicious-
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you just posted this. While not a huge gamer myself, I did recently purchase SWTFU. I'm not super far, only a few levels in (I'm on Kashyyyk, I think), but so far I'm enjoying it. I agree with most of your assessment, and I would only add one criticism of my own. I feel like the camera is a little too close to Starkiller. Sometimes I feel like I can't see things around me that I should be able to see, or just get disoriented and what not. This is probably just a personal preference, but I would like it if it was a little more like, say, God of War in the way the camera focused on the character. That's my two cents.
Oh and props on the blog, I'm enjoying it thus far.
-Joe Gandolfi
i see wut u did there
ReplyDeleteinb4 lucasarts fucks up The Old Republic.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, I have high hopes for that game.