Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Thought I should start a topic about this game and tell you what I know about, in case someone's interested.

First off: It's not nearly as good as it could have been. Like several games in the last few years, it got great hype and then didn't get finished or stuff was left out, like with the new Alone in the Dark or Stalker. It is quite fun hacking through Stormtroopers, but it doesn't play as fluid as a Devil May Cry or God of War. Granted, these two series are on top of their game (no pun intended) but there are a few things in TFU which just take the pace out of things. The most notable would be the loading screens in the character menu, which is just plain annoying if you just want to look up a few combos.
Then there are several enemies who just don't seem to notice if you hit them with anything else than Force Lighting. You start a combo on a dark trooper, just so that he picks you up throws you away. And if you're really unlucky you fall down, get up and then you fall down again, just because the enemy attacks are just stupidly timed. Then there's of couse the issue with the targeting system. Or "Hell no, I don't want to target that stupid rock, I wanna Force Fry that Rancor right in front of me".
Also: I'm getting tired of quicktime events.

Not everything about this game is bad though: It looks quite nice, altough the 3 physic engines don't hold what they promised. I can break giant metal doors but some trees won't even splinter.
The sound, as in every Star Wars game, is quite good. The voice acting is good, and it doesn't bother me at all that Vader isn't voiced by James Earl Jones. Just Palaptine sounds a little odd.

The Story is really entertaining. Introducing new characters (Proxy is awesome) and giving existing characters a few new edges, I really liked that. Altough I was a bit let down by the ending.


In the end I have to say, as stand-alone game it lacks a lot of polish, but as expansion to a universe which needed a little fresh air (read: not the clone wars again)it does a fine job. If you're a total Star Wars geek like me, it might be worth 60 bucks, otherwise I think it'll do fine as a rental over a week end....Did I mention it's damn short?

I played the demo on the xbox and haven't been tempted by it at all. As you said, I found the targeting (and camera) unconvincing and it really seems like a charmless version of God Of War. Strange that a game like this has been hyped so much when it is clearly based on a previous systems mechanic.

I find it depressing that a game like this is trumpeted simply because of the franchise. The results were evident of this strategy in the latest cinema release from George Lucas.

Panned.

The game's a reasonable idea on the whole, but when games such as Knights Of The Old Republic are recieved so well, why end that avenue after a second release? I hope that KOTOR makes a return soon, at the expense of future ''unleashed'' titles.

I am quite tempted by it, simply because I am a massive Star Wars Geek.

However, having played the demo, it had a potentially fatal flaw.....the boss mini-games, like the ones in God of War.

It simply didn't give you enough warning it was entering into it, which wound with me getting more than a couple of shots to the pills from the AT-ST. If this is sorted out in the main release, all groovy. If not, I don't think I'll bother.

Good write up Anung.

Im quite enjoying the game at the mo. But feel the hype machine does make it sound like the next leap it gaming that it isn't.

It's good fun except for a few things like the problems you've mentioned.

Being knocked down, only to have it happen again just as you get back up by the same fething attack. Stupid.

But fun on balance and worth the money if you're a fan for sure.

@Mad Doc. They aren't too bad to be honest. The ones in the actual Jedi Boss fights just start again automatically when you fail. So no need to punch them up again for a bit to start it.

Yeah, but it's still only a quicktime event.

The gamplay is very good, nothing like throwing Stormroopers at Stormtroopers

I agree with the poorly-timed attacks. I had to spam lightning on most of the rancors (especially the bull) because of that.

I agree with you entirely on the game length. It took me 8 hours to beat the game, which is extremely weak for a game like that. Take a
game like Odin Sphere (Epic game btw), I looked at my time at the end and noticed it took me 43 hours to beat. TFU should have been at least 20.

If you like quicktime events, please put this game down and dig through the bargain bin until you find God of War. The quicktime sequences are so much more exciting in GoW. Did I mention it's less expensive and certainly longer?

Apone wrote:the hype machine does make it sound like the next leap it gaming that it isn't.

I've learned never to trust the hype surrounding a game ever. Halo is probably the best example there is. It is probably the single most hyped series ever besides Mario. And what does it deliver? Average gameplay to an average shooter with a very worn out story line. There is nothing about Halo that sets it apart from 99.999999999 (on into infinty)% of other shooters out there. By not buying into the hype you can save yourself some money as well. Wait till one of your friends is suckered into buying the game and go play it at their house

I have to agree with all of you. The Force Unleashed was not a good game overall, however I think for those who have not played it that needs some clarification.

Looks: The game looks great visually; the characters are all bright and full of lifelike movement, none of the foes blend in or do strange things with the environment making them hard to spot or other nonsense. The force power animations are fantastic and the cut scenes make you feel like your watching a brand new Star Wars film. The physics engine is awesome and works seamlessly.

Story: I loved this story, it was the ONLY reason I played the game after the 1st couple of levels (that and I knew it was really short!). It's a classic tale of the Star Wars universe, it brings answers to questions I have had for a while and seamlessly integrated with the current cannon. To echo previously stated sentiments, it wasn't the damn clone wars again! All the characters were well voiced; the game created a new and wonderfully amusing Droid character, and the story really grabbed me from the beginning.

Gameplay: This is where the game really let me down; it's hard to know where to start. The enemies are supremely stupid at times (Rancor’s will sit there and allow you to lightsaber them to death with the lightsaber throw move if you’re in the right place. I have also seen stormtroopers run off cliffs and other stupidness. The game loves to hit you with attacks that knock you over, almost every enemy save the bog standard storm trooper has at least a couple of ways to knock you down or immobilize you. This wouldn’t be so bad if your character was durable, but the game thrives on encounters which damage you to near death and then recharge your health before the next attack. The problem with this is that when you get hit by a (for lack of a better word) Shock troopers electric blast (or similar ability) you can’t move for several seconds (mobility is key in this game). During the time you’re stunned you can’t block and every enemy in the room will shoot at you. Usually this results in your death long before the effect wears off. Another neat trick the game loves is knockback attacks (the golems on the scrap world to name but one) pretty much anytime your hit by one of these you get flung backwards off your feet. When this happens the game takes over your controls and you ragdoll until you come to a stop. Unfortunately you will ragdoll down the slightest slope, making you vulnerable for up to 10 seconds at a time, more than long enough to be killed by others. The worst part about all this is nearly all the enemies do this, so when you stand up you get hit again before you can react and you start the process all over again. Also you have fights in suitably cinematic SW locals, meaning large pits and narrow bridges. And guess what? You get knocked into those pits and off those bridges and instantly killed A LOT! Also the pathing for some areas isn’t correct. So jumping onto a seemingly solid surface results in your slipping to your doom down something that any normal person should be able to walk on without any problems. Finally force grip, this is a really important power! The game would not be possible without this power, its more important than your lightsaber! However it will target things at random. If there is a Storm trooper sitting behind some crates you can’t just pick him out of there (well sometimes you get lucky). The force grip will select all 17 of those crates he is behind before it lets you target that stormtrooper. Also when throwing things the controls are not relative to the camera, it appears to be loosely based on where the apprentice is facing (maybe?!?) making hitting things that are fast moving nearly impossible. In addition to all this the camera is something of a pain. You can’t elevate the camera high enough to target some high up foes (nearby jet troops and scouts in guard towers mostly) also the camera zooms way out in some fights. During the final boss battle I had no idea what I was doing half the time because I was a tiny speck in the corner surrounded by blasts of force energy only halfway on the screen most of the time. Also every once in a while when ragdolling the camera would then focus in so close I could make out the apprentices teeth and all the nice details of the WALL BEHIND HIM!! Finally the game doesn’t really tell you what to do. Most boss fights are trial and error while you discover the pattern and what powers and combos they are immune to. It really reminded me of old NES era games that drove me nuts, games like that aren’t usually made anymore with good reason.

The Star Destroyer: This gets its own section because it is the ultimate culmination of all that is wrong with the game. While cool in theory it has some extreme flaws, the Ties are nearly impossible to take down because force grip won’t target them unless you are perilously close to the edge (once you figure this out the fight is stupidly easy). All you have to do to beat them is hide yourself behind a pillar and rapidly tap the force grip button till they all fall out of the air (apparently force grip stalls Tie engines?). Then you can go onto the Star Destroyer. You have to line it up on all three axes before you can pull it down, doing this is exactly like using force grip normally, with a twist. You can't pull it down until it’s lined up right. And the game won’t tell you when it’s correct, only that you’re close. Of course you have no idea which way you need to pivot the damned thing to get it to work right. While you’re doing this there is another flight of Ties incoming, making it impossible to get it done in one go. When you let go of the SD it begins turning around and moving away. If you can’t kill the Ties quickly enough then you have to start all over again. I spent nearly 30min on the thing till I discovered the trick for the Ties.


Overall I would give the game a D for Gameplay but an A+ for Story. It was more convincing a tale than all three of the new movies and the Clone wars together. Unfortunately it was marred by terrible game play and frustrating level design. Overall I never want to play it again, but im glad I at least finished it to get the story.

Yeah, that stupid ragdolling was quite annoying.
Not as annoying as fighting the Purge Troopers though...

Something which also bothered me, was that there was almost nothing in that game I didn't see in a preview or trailer already. I was hoping for some more characters. Would have been quite cool if Starkiller met Yoda or Ben Kenobi