Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Demo
August 22nd, 2008
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has the heavy burden of expectation laying heavily on its shoulders. It has been a few years since the acclaimed Knights of the Old Republic series from Bioware and the franchise demands another success.
In terms of the time-line the game takes place after Episode III: Return of the Sith but before Episode IV: A New Hope as the new Empire is mopping up what’s left of the Jedi order. The game tells the story of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice named Starkiller, the name of whom is in itself a nice homage to the original draft of Star Wars where the character we now know and love as Luke Skywalker was originally going to be called Luke Starkiller.
Starting out with a cut-scene between master and apprentice Starkiller is sent to an Imperial Shipyard which is under attack by the Jedi Master Rahm Kota. You’re mission is simple; destroy the Jedi and return his Lightsaber to Lord Vader.
I’m sure the question on most readers lips is: what force powers are at your disposal? You may well be expecting to be able to pick up and throw objects, push opponents out of the way, and as you’re a Sith maybe the ability to send out bolts of lightning from your evil fingertips? Well, Check, Check, and Check, they’re all here ready and waiting to be unleashed.
The force powers are all very effective and compliment the use of the lightsaber well and, after a little practice, it’s quite easy to perform the action you want stringing together combos to dispose of the Republic and Empire forces alike. Lifting up containers and throwing them into masses of troops, sending Storm Troopers flying across the room, hurling your saber into a suspended opponent, or even just dashing in and taking care of business the old fashioned way with the Lightsaber, it’s all great fun and reflects what we’ve come to expect of a Jedi Sith.
The game is very much an action orientated affair, moving from one area to the next, collecting power-ups that will temporarily boost your capabilities, and dispatching anyone in your way in order to advance to the next location. There’s even a quick time event thrown in for good measure a la God of War when you come face-to-face with an AT-ST to add to the cinematic feel of the game.
The Empire and Republic troops standing around aren’t exactly the smartest sparks in the universe - but they never were in the movies so I’ll forgive them - the camera sometimes requires attention from the player to point it in the right direction, and in some respects this just feels like a by-the-numbers action game. However, the good far outweighs the bad and I thoroughly enjoyed playing through the demo a few times messing around with the different powers and it leaves me pondering what the full game will deliver when it’s finally released in September.
Version played: Xbox 360 (905MB)
