Lack of new Star Wars games sends us back to 2008

While looking ahead, the only Star Wars video game on the horizon in the near future is Star Wars: The Old Republic MMPORPG. So looking for a Star Wars fix, we take a second look at 2008′s mediocre Star Wars Force Unleashed.

I remember this time a year ago, I was watching the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and remember thinking “ZOMG! this is going to be a cool game!” and I eagerly anticipated its release. The months went on, new trailers came out and new screenshots were obvious evidence that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was going to be 2008′s game of the year, even while up against Grand Theft Auto, Fallout 3 and other blockbusters for the year.

Then, the demo came out and while it was a beautiful looking game and had some really neat features and eye candy, it was about as much of a letdown as if Lucasarts had cancelled the whole project. To me, the game was dead. I eventually got bored after finishing a handful of other games, but like this reviewer, the whole experience was somewhat uneventful.

Since there’s really nothing Star Wars to look forward to in the near future, we decided to poke around for some Force Unleashed player reviews and here’s what we came up with:

I first played Star Wars: The Force Unleashed as a demo on the Playstation Network Store and I thought it was pretty good. Albeit, the controls were a bit strange & cumbersome but overall not too bad. Plus I figured with a few more months until launch the issues would likely be ironed out. Well, I was wrong. But more on that in a bit.

First I’ll touch on what I actually like about the game. Being a moderate fan of the original Star Wars Trilogy it’s simply fantastic to get a bit more of the story of the events that transpired prior to the setting of Episode 4. To my understanding this is the first ever video game where the story is adopted as part of the official Star Wars Canon.

The game places you as Darth Vader’s apprentice known as by the code name ‘Starkiller’. Initially, you’ll begin by proving yourself capable by hunting down various Jedi throughout the Galaxy. Vader’s intention is to overthrow the Emperor with Starkiller’s help. Or so it seems. The story is definitely a highlight that I won’t spoil here.

Graphically the game is quite visually appealing. Character models are well done and the environments are significantly varied from planet to planet and even on starship’s and eventually the Death Star. By in large some of the best graphics are on Starkiller’s Force powers such as Force Lightning.

The major problem that this game – and to a larger extent Action/Adventure games in general – is the camera and controls. The player is given very little input into the camera itself so you’ll be relying mostly on the game. Too often the camera is at the wrong angle for a particular jump or completely ignoring a group of enemies pouring murderous fire just off screen. It’s extremely frustrating to constantly have to run from a group of unseen enemies because the camera won’t focus accurately. Or miss a jump over and over because of poor camera placement.

Controls are similarly flawed. Even simple Force moves like picking something up and hitting an enemy require the use of multiple buttons. Even when you remember the right sequence the results are often mixed. How many times I tried to hurl an object at an enemy only to watch it go the opposite direction and miss entirely are too numerous to count. Force Unleashed also uses liberal amounts of scripted button sequences particularly for larger enemies and for boss fights. These sequences usually require an insane amount of dexterity or just sheer hit and miss tactics. I found myself often having to repeat a sequence because buttons require almost millisecond timing.

The Force Unleashed also uses a paper thin leveling system that rewards the player abilities in 3 areas – Talents, Powers & Combos. Earn a level or find an upgrade sphere and you can use those to upgrade an ability of choice in each respective area. The main issue I have with the system is that it’s far too simplistic and not varied enough to maintain the game through repeated plays. Even playing the game casually I was able to max out almost all of my abilities.