There's definitely something to be said for a franchise that's been alive for over thirty years. In 1977, Star Wars was born, a movie that would define the path of many film directors and fans alike. Even though the series' biggest fan base consists of thirty and forty-somethings, the younglings of the generations that followed were introduced to the popular films and followed suit. Today, with no more Star Wars movies to be made, their fandom continues to thrive with special edition film releases, memorabilia, toys, and of course, video games.

The Force Unleashed is the latest offering in the multitude of games sporting the Star Wars trademark. While gameplay is definitely among the utmost concerns in video games, Star Wars fans are equally concerned with storylines and how they tie into the movies. Players can surely expect such a tie-in with familiar faces along the way in a journey that took place a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.


The game's story takes place during the undiscovered time between episodes 3 and 4 of the film series. Those who sat through episode 3, the latest of the six films, know that Palpatine, portrayed as the Emperor in the original trilogy, had devised a plan to destroy the remainder of the Jedi order in an attempt to take over the galaxy. In The Force Unleashed, we see the execution of this plan by none other than Palpatine's own apprentice Anakin Skywalker, otherwise known as Darth Vader. [Cue deep breathing sounds….]

Storyline
Comments Locked

23 Comments

View All Comments

  • EddieTurner - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link

    No! IT'S NOT TRUE!!!!!! . . . : )
  • Visual - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link

    no force pull... it was so much fun to pull enemies directly onto your saber in the previous jedi knights games... impale them without even swinging! well ok, no, it didnt work too much as the damage was minimal. but this game could've fixed this, instead of breaking in completely :(
    no force deflect! now that's an incompetent lightsaber user if i ever saw one!
    how about force speed, sense, speed, absorb, speed, drain, speed, heal, speed, defense, speed, mind trick and speed? i hope they have them... if not, at least force speed should be there.

    the game really doesn't sound good to me now... maybe if the wii version does a good job with the wiimote lightsaber control... but even then, it better have multiplayer duels or it is just wasting its fun potential.

    (oh and, anandtech, your post comment has a broken stylesheet and the formatting buttons don't work)
  • Aquila76 - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    They replaced that 'pull onto Saber' move with Saber Impale (Grip and Saber Toss).

    The powers are Push, Grip/Throw, Choke, Lightning, Deflect (this is always on to a minimal extent, but you can also go into Deflect mode and block / return nearly all the blaster shots; it also increases in skill as you progress through the game), Saber Throw, Double Jump, Dash (a short-burst form of Speed), Repulse (knocks down people & objects around you), and Maelstrom (high power Force tornado that does huge damage; a bit hard to pull off if your in heavy combat, though). Most of these can be combined (Jump & Lightning or Push, Lightning & Push makes your foe slide away from you crackling and then and Detonate upon contact with object or other foes, Push & Lightning knocks enemies down and fires an electric ball to Scorch them, etc.). There are also Lightsaber chain moves (swing L, R, then Up, etc.) and Lightsaber & Force combos (2 or 3 swings and Push or Lightning, Jump and swing, Jump then Dash then swing, etc.).

    Wii version has dueling mode for the multi-player. The Wii-remote is quite possibly the best Lightsaber controller, ever. I'm surprised they didn't review the Wii version. Maybe they're gonna do it separately?

    I actually rented and played the whole game straight through on Saturday. The wife was out of town, so I didn't have the nagging 'empty the trash' or 'take out the dog' or 'pay me attention' and whatever other asinine things wives normally clamor on about when we're trying to have fun. So far, this was the best 11 hours of my year! I'm going to buy this with the next Best Buy 10% off coupon I get.
  • fepple - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link

    In some of the previous games force jumping over people then a force pull would dispatch whole groups :D
  • EddieTurner - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link

    If it's any consolation, I did detect the force head scratch, the force lean, and the force blink in the game. And I swear I saw the force nod, but I can't be sure of that one. It was late.
  • SlyNine - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    Is the force tea bagg in there ? That would be sweet.
  • KnIgHtCoM - Monday, October 6, 2008 - link

    No PC Version + No Multiplayer = FAIL
  • 9nails - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link

    I was at Target last night, saw the display on the end cap... The Xbox 360 section was nearly sold out. Wii was second. PS3 and DS were mostly full. My purchase would have been an impulse buy, but I wanted a PC version. I checked the PC shelves, but couldn't find it.

    So there's no PC version 'eh?

    Epic Fail, indeed.
  • ComatoseDelirium - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    Great looking game, no pc version makes it a fail in my opinion.

  • ComatoseDelirium - Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - link

    Great looking game, no pc version makes it a fail in my opinion.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now