Force Unleashed Wii Developer Walkthrough + The Force Unleashed Launch Party

Gamespot has posted the Wii version of the developer walkthrough for The Force Unleashed. The Wii version looks pretty cool to and I am rather excited to test out the multiplayer mode.

LucasArts will be kicking of The Force Unleashed release with a party. Sounds like it should be a pretty cool time. Too bad they wouldn’t give out some free copies, but it’s not a total let down, you’ll be able to score some time playing the full version before it’s release.

“SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Sept. 5, 2008 — LucasArts, Sony Computer Entertainment America and Best Buy will commemorate the release of the upcoming videogame Star Wars: The Force Unleashed with an exclusive launch party, offering eager gamers a chance to celebrate the Saga and get their hands on the first copies of the game. The party, which will be held at the Best Buy store at 1717 Harrison St. in San Francisco on Monday, Sept. 15, will run from 7pm until midnight and will feature appearances by several very special guests, including:

Sam Witwer, who plays Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice in the game and who also joined the cast of The CW’s “Smallville” this season; Adrienne Wilkinson, who plays Maris Brood, a dark and mysterious Jed; and Cully Fredrickson, who plays Jedi Master Rahm Kota, a militant General who is the target of one of the Secret Apprentice’s early missions
Executive Producer Haden Blackman, Art Director Matt Omernick, Lead Engineer Cedrick Collomb, Lead Content Designer John Stafford, Lead Systems Designer Rich Davis, and dozens of other members of The Force Unleashed development team at LucasArts

In addition, attendees will get a chance to play the full version of the game in advance and be able to get their photo taken with some of their favorite Star Wars characters.

An entirely new chapter in the Star Wars Saga, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed casts players as Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice” and promises to unveil new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy. The game’s expansive story is set during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. In it, players will assist Vader in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi — and face decisions that could change the course of their destiny.”

IGN Unleashed… Nintendo Wii Hands On Exclusive!…

Over the last week, IGN.com have been posting awesome articles with their hands on experience at the Lucas Arts developement studio. Over the week they have had hands on play experience with The Force Unleashed for all the consoles it will be released for.

Today we will review the article they have posted for the Nintendo Wii. In my last post I mentioned that i’ll have to get a Playstation 3 to experience The Force Unleashed. Now I am torn between the Wii version and the PS3.

The multiplay in the Wii version is what’s getting to me, it looks, with a simple lack of words, amazing! I may just have to get both. Also be sure to grab your free Force Unleashed mousepad that we’re currently offering! Get it while the grabbing is good! Check out more details Here and Here

“Last time we went hands-on with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, we were cautiously optimistic despite the game needing some serious improvements. The combat wasn’t really there yet, the visuals were pretty basic, and Wii’s “exclusive” duel mode looked to be just a snippet of what the PSP crowd was getting with their pocket offering this year. The game was fun, but it was also a bit too weak in its preliminary state.

What we played this time around in the comfort of the LucasArts development studio, however, was a much more encouraging package all around. As part of our exclusive “Force Unleashed Week” here at IGN, we had a chance to go a bit more in-depth with the updated E3 builds of Star Wars, and displayed proudly next to the 360 and PS3 versions of the game was an updated, far more polished Wii build.

“As maybe the most important aspect of our hands-on time with the game, we’re happy to report that the motion control in The Force Unleashed is extremely tight and reliable, and actually some of the best we’ve seen for any Wii action game. Swipes from left to right, right to left, vertical upper-cuts and slams, and even stab motions worked extremely well – nearly 100% of the time – and even dual-handed motion such as the huge force maelstrom or complicated push + lighting variations worked almost flawlessly. Force Unleashed was fun last time around, but it was a total waggle-fest. This time, we were able to actually decide exactly how to dispose of enemies, and it was extremely rewarding. It was easy to throw characters into one another, lift a baddy up into the air and then saber throw, the lock-on camera worked great for bosses, and even the “tilt to the side” block with the Wii-mote worked every time we wanted it to. Force Unleashed had potential before, but it’s a blast to play now”

“At specific times our blades would lock, and the motion-based face-off would occur, requiring either push motions with the nunchuk or Wii-mote, or rotation-based actions. As always, the Wii-mote worked far better than the nunchuk, but we got by just fine with a bit of trial and error. Our only real gripe with the fight (which is also an issue in duel mode as well) is the nunchuk motion, as push works, but rotating the attachment is never accurate enough. LucasArts might as well scrap that, and focus on push for both hands, and rotation with the Wii-mote only. The nunchuk is dragging the experience down a bit”

Check out the full 3 page article here!