After reading several multi-format reviews (and posting a short rant following some of their disclosures, here) I opted to purchase The Force Unleashed for my X-Box 360 rather than my Nintendo Wii. So on Friday the 19th September (UK release date) I headed to my local Gamestation to collect my pre-ordered copy and by Tuesday night I had finished the game after only about 8-10 hours playing time. I now present my personal review and opinion of LucasArts’ latest offering from that galaxy far, far away.

First of all, let us not forget that we have been waiting for what appears to be an inordinately long time for this game (we were promised its release last year) and because of this trepidation I only purchased my X-Box 360 about two months ago - the excuse to myself was that I wanted to play The Force Unleashed on a next-gen console rather than my Wii or PS2, but I couldn’t afford the PS3 and so convinced myself (and wife) to purchase the 360. After completing The Force Unleashed in around 8-10 hours, am I now beginning to regret in some way the purchase of The Force Unleashed and even the X-Box 360 ?

The game’s storyline or premise is well told and in most parts well founded but, without revealing plot points, the game’s story ending has a lot to be answered for. However, this games actually “feels” like a Star Wars game rather than a parody of one of the films. As a Sith apprentice who obviously uses a lightsaber rather than a blaster, slaying your opponents with it feels good. However what is even better is your Force powers - for once Force push, grip, repulse and lightning all look, feel and react if such Force powers really exist. You can Force grip an opponent, lift them up and throw them against a wall, or drop them over a precipe (to their death), or you can Force push them as you turn them into a cannonball that hurtles its way slaying more of your enemies.

Use of the Force powers was enjoyable to the point that it offers a certain amount of strategic play within the game. At the start of each level I enjoyed just using my Force powers to kill or destroy as many enemies without actually moving far from the starting point - lifting crates and barrells and directing them towards barely visible enemies rather than jumping straight in to lightsaber action. Also I could use the same tactic as I progressed through each level, bumping off my opponents before they could even get off a blaster shot - apparently you are rewarded for this kind of action, but personally I could not see much difference in rewards between such stealthful strategy and just running in waving your lightsaber about. (Just for fun, replay the Vader opening level using ONLY Force push or grip powers on the Wookies - try not to use the lightsaber until the level’s “boss”!!)

The game’s controls were straightforward, the controller’s layout optimised with good use of both triggers and shoulder buttons (although didn’t make much use of RB - auto-target as it didn’t often work) acting as block, Force grip and dash. The X-Box’s four buttons were also well used and worked rather instinctively by the end of the first level (or even after playing the downloadable demo). Due to the complexities of lightsaber fighting, button combos were inevitable (well no fighting game worth its salt is without a list of combos longer than an Andrex roll!) and after a short time I fell into using just a few from the list available (by the way, further combos are unlockable as the game progresses and you gain rewards to unlock them). Rewards are also required to purchase the necessary extra Force power strengths and stamina levels, and these are gained in a variety of ways - from simply finding them to earning them by defeating a certain number of enemies per level.

What I felt the game lacked was a sufficient number of levels and locations, in all there only are about ten playable locations from the Star Wars galaxy (including Vader’s opening level) and at least three of those are repeated locations/planets: Kashyyyk, Felucia and Raxus Prime. Each location was itself split into a number of sub-levels, but many of these sub-levels varied wildly in difficulty with some having literally no enemies to others that were simply swarming with them. Speaking of levels, I must comment on the boss levels (and especially the Star Destroyer end-level of the second visit to Raxus Prime - whoever thought that 2D control within a 3D environment was clever in this day and age should be impaled by their own lightsaber!) I mean the boss levels had this really annoying camera habit of zooming outwards, to give a wide arena shot and then, in most cases unexpectably, inwards back to the camera’s usual position. If it had a usual one that is.

And that’s another extremely sore point with this game - the camera was all over the place! I mean, I’ve got one thumb on the left stick moving my character around and the other constantly switching from the buttons controlling my Force powers and lightsaber to the right hand stick so that I can bring the camera into the correct position so I can see where my opponent is. On too many occasions, the camera would end up behind a wall or other obstacle so that I could not see who I was fighting - often to my detriment! On some levels, the second visit to Kashyyyk for example, the camera was so far out of place I kept walking off platforms to my death as I tried to defend myself against an onslaught of stormtrooper fire. There was one particular occassion, on the second visit to Felucia level in the Sarlacc’s stomach, where the camera caused such serious “clipping” that I had to reset the X-Box.

Lastly I want to comment on the game’s playing time, in my previous rant I bemoaned that in one review the game had only six hours playing time and they were right (okay I made the game last slightly longer than six hours but that’s pulling at straws!). Certainly the playing time on this game is way to short, and what makes it more annoying is that the single DVD the game comes on has a 20 minute trailer/advert for LucasArts’ next “big” game: “Fracture”. That’s easily enough data space for a couple or more levels for this game. Then there’s the space occuppied by the game’s tutorial levels (honestly, these are really not necessary as the game itself had subtitled prompts whenever faced by a new obstacle), the game’s Databank entries (couldn’t these be included in the manual) and the obligatory rewards - concept art! Seriously, cut out all of these out and The Force Unleashed could have had nearly double the levels and playing time - I mean, the Wii version gets a two-player duel mode squeezed onto their disc!

Well, there you have it, what I feel are: the good (plot, controls, Force powers); the bad (repitition of level locations, not enough levels); the ugly (the camera, playing time).

Have I regretted buying the X-Box 360 and The Force Unleashed ? Well certainly I feel let down by the game in many ways, especially the price when compared to the playing time - 40 quid for only 10 hours playing time (maybe my previous rant was justified) - but I’m going to replay it on the hardest level to see if I can get any more satisfaction from it.

In the end though it looks like I’m going to keep the 360 (the wife enjoys Viva Pinata and is looking forward to Banjo Kazooie 3) but I’ll certainly be trading-in The Force Unleashed the moment Fable II reaches the UK!

This is a quick rant that I had to get off my chest:

I have just finished reading a six-page review of The Force Unleashed (Wii version) in the latest issue of The Official Nintendo Magazine (UK edition, issue 34, October 2008) and I’m now feeling rather dejected about this game.

ONM has given The Force Unleashed 82%, in itself not a bad score, and although they say “this game gives you lots of power“, their last word on this game is “ultimately it’s heartbreakingly short“. You see, apparently this game only has about six hours of game-play in it! I mean, if I’m going to spend thirty quid (50USD) on a video game I expect to get more than six hours of game-play out of it. Okay, controlling a lightsaber using the Wii remote is going to be the closest thing to actually using a lightsaber, but as a gamer I expect more than six hours worth of playing time. Even if I was to try to extend the playing time by collecting the 200 hidden hologram cubes within the game, my only reward is concept art! That is no reward as a lot of The Force Unleashed’s concept art is available freely on the internet!

The question is, will the version for my Xbox 360 offer better game-play time (I know it will have better graphics, but it’s game-play that’s important to me) and if so, should I forego the exclusive lightsaber control on my Wii and pay an extra tenner for longer playing time?

Maybe, just maybe I should learn to realise that in the end, almost all Star Wars games fail to deliver what they initially promise. I suppose it’s back to Knights of the Old Republic, at least that game had proper game-play!