Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Thoughts [video games]
Full disclosure: I am a Star Wars freak (I know, completely shocking, right?).
My first memory of watching a movie in the theater was seeing Return of the Jedi with my parents when I was four (or maybe five. I was four when it came out, but I’m not sure exactly how long it had been in theaters when I saw it).
Being a four/five year old, I was somewhat scared of the whole process (before this, my experience with Star Wars was watching the first movie on VHS in my parents’ house). So being scared, I couldn’t stay in my seat in the theater that long, and I ended up watching the movie from outside the theater. How did I do this? Well, the movie theater was one of those old theaters you don’t see anymore, and it had just one screen, none of this multi-plex bullshit. The doors from the lobby into the theater had a crack between them so that I could see the screen.
So my mom, bless her heart, sat outside in the lobby on a bench next to me while I watched the movie from between the doors. My dad sat inside the theater right next to the door so that if anyone went to leave the theater, he got up and opened the door to the inside instead of letting it swing to the outside. (Damn, I should have told this story at my wedding).
Anyway, let’s just say I love Star Wars. And that love has continued full bore (with brief hiatus during the prequels) until today. So I should be really excited about the premise of this game: you play the role of Darth Vader’s apprentice using the force to hunt down the remaining Jedi, and generally be a bad-ass.
And I am on board with this game. I was very entertained. This movie has gotten some bad reviews from around the ‘net, (IGN gave it a 7.3 - “decent”), and I can see some flaws in it, mostly with the game play. But I really had fun playing it, being able to shoot lightning out of my hands, or hurl a lightsaber, or grab an enemy with the ‘force’ and throw them into a sarlacc, or even deflect blaster bolts back at storm troopers.
While that stuff was enjoyable, towards the end it does get a little repetitive when you have figured out what enemies’ weaknesses are and you just exploit them. But what makes up for this is the plot.
I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone (namely E, who will be playing it soon), so just suffice to say that the story in this game is better than any of the plots of the prequels, which I know is not saying much, but still, the story is great. If you’re a Star Wars freak but have no interest in video games, I strongly recommend that you watch the cinematics from the game(this will take some time):
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6: Dark Side Ending
Part 6: Light Side Ending
So for those of you that don’t know of a world that exists without Star Wars (and don’t want to), and you want to have some idea of what it’s like to use the ‘force’ (aka the right trigger on the controller) to lift up a storm trooper and casually throw them off a cliff, this game is for you.
Oh, and Tatooine isn’t in the game at all. About fucking time.
I played the demo and was slightly entertained….but it was no Jedi Academy II. I recently reinstalled that and played through it again….that shit is some serious fun.
I loved the ability to choose which powers you wanted to develop, either good or bad. Then the final decision near the end to be a force for good or for evil. So much fun! Plus being able to customize your fighting style for one blade, 2 blades, or staff. Hands down the best Star Wars game ever, if you ask me (tho Tie Fighter was pretty sweet back in the day)
So, I’m sure you’re played JA2, how do they compare?
Have you played the Knights of the Old Republic games for XBox? Now those were sweet.
I used to bullseye womp rats in my T16 on Tattoine.
In some ways it’s better than the Jedi Knight games, other ways it’s worse.
Obviously the graphics are better.
I think I was more interested in the story of Force Unleashed b/c I know it’s been dubbed ‘canon’ by Lucas, and I was curious to see how they would bridge the gap between the prequels and the originals.
Gameplay wise, I think (at the time they were made) the Jedi Knight games were better. But they are two different animals. The Knight games were pretty much shooters, whereas Unleashed is more of a third person action-adventure. There are no guns in Unleashed (and no vehicles), just your force powers and lightsaber.
But even then, you only have a lightsaber, but the lightsaber fighting isn’t as cool as in the Jedi Knight games, because there aren’t the stances and such. It’s actually more like a fighting game, because there are combos.
As for the Knights of the Old Republic games, I thought those were freaking awesome. It would have been nice to have a little more action, but as RPG’s and story-wise, they are great. HK-47 is quite possibly the greatest character in a video game of all time.
Also, I’d like to give a shoutout to Dark Forces, the first non-arcade star wars game I ever played.
I just had to chime in and tell you that your story about seeing JEDI sounds exactly like what happened when I went to see GREMLINS in the theater. Oh sure, cute little Mogwai, hahaha, oh, listen to the cute sounds he makes! Aw, he’s trying to drive a car! Wait, is that water? OH SWEET JEMIMA CHRIST WHAT’S COMING OUT OF HIM!?! Oh, ok, just more Mogwais, those are kinda cute. I can deal with that. Wait, what’s this darker music all about? That chicken can’t be a good idea. OH FUCK FUCK FUCK, FUCK THIS I’M OUTTA HERE. And I spent the rest of the movie in the lobby with my mom, daring myself to look through the tiny windows in the theater doors. Thought the Barbie car was cute. That’s about it.