Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Hands-on
- Posted July 24th, 2008 at 02:38 EDT by
- 10,742 views
- 20 Comments
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has had fake lightsaber fights with a flashlight or some other ridiculously inanimate object, right? Regardless of that, I can’t be the only one looking forward to LucasArts' upcoming title, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. I had the chance to sit down with the lead designers of the game in order to get a detailed walkthrough of certain levels. In addition, I sat down and played the game for myself, which was one of my brighter moments at E3.
I’m not going to give out any spoilers through this preview, but I will discuss a couple of cutscenes just so you guys have a gist of what to expect. I’ll be discussing these cutscenes within the next paragraph only, so if you guys want to skip over that, feel free to.
The game’s opening scene has Darth Vader landing on the planet of Kashyyyk, home of the Wookiees. He’s been sent here to execute a Jedi Knight and must walk through some lush forests to reach his victim's home. Once on location, another cutscene takes over and Vader questions the Jedi about the whereabouts of his master since he feels a strong presence of the force. The Jedi lets Vader know that he had killed his master a long time ago and that there is no one else in the home. As Vader goes to execute the Jedi, his lightsaber flies out of his hands and into the hands of a young boy with incredible power. Vader acknowledges the boy's power and, after killing the father, saves the child from the storm troopers preparing to fire him into oblivion. This is clearly the beginning of his apprenticeship and the game moves forward from this point.
In between the opening and second cutscene mentioned above, a decent amount of gameplay takes place on the fictional world of the Wookiee. This lush environment is filled with trees which makes this roaming through this area into the perfect opportunity to demonstrate one of the coolest aspects of the title. Their Digital Molecular Matter system allows the game to simulate material and the way it would react in the real world. What makes this so amazing is the fact that it creates unique situations from ordinary actions. Every time you break down a tree trunk, the wood will splinter and break differently every single time. This makes every playthrough provide a different gameplay experience.
On top of this, the AI is somewhat self-aware. They’re noticable of their surroundings and adaptive to the world around them. As I watched Vader use the force to whip a Wookiee across the screen, you’d see him trying to grab onto other Wookiees for support or trying to latch onto trees to prevent from being tossed about. This action of reflex from the AI adds an entirely new element to enjoy throughout the game and truly adds to the experience on an overall level.
Once I was done checking out Vader (who looks incredibly sleek in the game), I had the chance to check out the apprentice. Now, perhaps the neatest part about Darth Vader's secret apprentice is the fact that he has a mind of his own. It is because of this that you’ll have the opportunity to fight not only for the dark side, but for the other side as well. This obviously allows them to add a nice depth to the story that revolves around revenge and deceit, much like the movies.
As for the apprentice's overall skill level, well, that’s another story. Let's just say that the apprentice can kick some major ass. His unique skills will develop as the game moves forward, much like you’d expect from a title with minor RPG elements. One thing that had me laughing was the ability to “mop the floor” with the bad guys. By this, I mean you could literally take control of someone with the force and utilize the euphoria engine to swing him around mindlessly on the floor like a mop. If there happened to be a crate or one of his buddies nearby, he’d grab onto either and hold on for dear life. It definitely added a touch of humor to the title among other things.
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Comments
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Battlecraft
- 2:49am BST - July 24th, 2008
- 1
This game is gonna be amazing.
i cant wait.
But i hope that releasing the game for EVERY platform other than PC hasn't watered down aspects of the game. I'll still buy it for PS3 and maybe rent it for PSP.
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edward_moffet |
edd- 3:51am BST - July 24th, 2008
- 2
i was already looking forward to this game it will surely be a day one purchase for me
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Chrisandmyps3 |
chrisandsoccer- 4:57am BST - July 24th, 2008
- 5
the game is promising to be good!
i guess ill buy it even though there is still a while to go.
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Odium_Generis_Humani
- 6:40am BST - July 24th, 2008
- 8
Star Wars is dead. The whole story is simply stupid. The prequels actually managed to take the original trilogy down a peg. And speaking of the "OT", Return of the Jedi wasn't all that great anyway. In all honesty, RotJ is more like one of the prequel fims than Episodes 4 and 5. In hindsight, it signaled the beginning of the end all the way back in 1983.
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swanky2167 |
Sanguinary- 9:18am BST - July 24th, 2008
- 9
@8 Yeah, the prequels were never like the OT, but the series still isn't bad. And besides, there's A LOT more to Star Wars than the movies. You say the story sucks (I disagree, but that's not the point), then go read some of the hundreds of Expanded Universe books around that fill in all the grey areas. Especially the Thrawn Trilogy, those books are amazing.
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XvX-EMP420-XvX |
XvX-EMP420-XvX- 10:37am BST - July 24th, 2008
- 11
I Might Have 2 Get This Puppey, "Action I Shaw See And Wait I Cant 4 Games This Like" Thats Some Yoda 4 U Niggs LOL
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BlueRevolvuR |
BlueRevolvuR- 12:24pm BST - July 24th, 2008
- 12
i lov star wars but it seems that every star wars game i've playd, it's fun at first then gets super boring.
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swanky2167 |
Sanguinary- 12:44pm BST - July 24th, 2008
- 13
@XvX-EMP420-XvX Yoda speaks English. Plus, I'm white. And if I were black, I wouldn't want to be called a "Nigg".
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yoboyrob9041226 |
BIGROB904- 6:22pm BST - July 24th, 2008
- 14
im getting this game, and i dont uderstand wat a couple of you guys said about the prequals cuz i liked them better they had better effects and everything.
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Gameware336 |
Tyrial- 9:37pm BST - July 24th, 2008
- 15
@swanky, the word nigg and ni*ga arent exactly racial slurrs, it means more or less close friend, brother, (please dont take offensively by sayin the following term, its just for explanation purposes) The word (hate it) ni*ger is a racial slur and is a bad one at that, listen to the music they dont say the n-r word just n-a, i myself dont realy have a right to say it although some of the friends i have that are african american wouldnt care if i did because of the meaning. please know what you say before you say it....i hate people like that PS(cant say full words due to blocking)
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The Mask |
JSack20- 12:36pm BST - July 25th, 2008
- 16
why does vaders apprentice seem more powful than him? unless vader can use electricity then he can't be the most powerful person in the force. Also in episode 6 I don't get why darth sidius doesn't just get Luke to join him rather than overthrow vader although that would defeat the whole purpose of Anakin having to defeat sidius. And you have to appreciate the story of the movies in order to enjoy them equally
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SomaXD |
SomaXD- 2:14am BST - September 16th, 2008
- 20
with so many mediocre reviews of this glad to know you liked it... personallyi thought the demo was amazing fun... although the graphics had me severely dissapointed.
Hopefully this is one game where gameplay and awesomeness outweighs the dissapointment in the graphics department.
cant wait to play tomorrow.
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