Binary Impact

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Review [Xbox 360 version]

Posted by Mavrik | Filed under ZOMG

Let me start by saying holy crap this game is short but amazing! I finished this game in about 8 hours which is at the lower end of FPS length if you ask me, but for a 3rd-person action game, I expect about 12+. In any event, this game was a whole lot of ass-kicking fun! Sure there are bugs and it is at times annoying, but the sooner you dismiss them and enjoy playing it, the sooner you’ll have a ton of fun. Sure the system leaves a bit to be desired, but I see it as a beginning of great things to come.

The story in the game was excellent. I’m the type of gamer that needs a good story so this one kept me sucked in. For those of you who really like learning the back stories as I am, you’ll be interested to see the steps that ultimately lead to the original trilogy. It’s pretty interesting and sure there are times when you sort of doubt a few steps along the way (won’t spoil it, but apparently space does not freeze your body immediately in that galaxy far, far away like it does here…). In any event, the story was top notch, but it definitely could’ve been lengthened a bit more with some more character development (since the game was only 8 hours long).

Some may hate me for saying this, but I actually thought the gameplay was pretty good. Sure you can button mash your way through the whole thing, but the fun of it really is to keep experimenting with different combos and force powers to really take down an enemy with style. There were definitely some issues though. Occasionally for some reason the health bar of an enemy would not decrease until I hit another enemy and then came back to them…one of several glitches. But again, once you get past the glitches you really can enjoy the strengths of the game. Again, the system does leave something to be desired since the enemies are a bit easy even if they do at times have invincible health bars through the glitch. There are some skips in the frame rate too if you take on too many baddies at once though. But hey, it’s about kicking ass with the force which you do plenty of. There’s also a simple leveling system where you purchase upgrades to force powers, combos, and other attributes. You can also change the color of your lightsaber if you find hidden crystals in the levels which is always a plus. Some are not too hard to find though so you’ll at least have about 4 different colors by the time you’re done (I think there are about 12 or more).

The graphics in the game are pretty well done. The cut scenes are truly a beauty to look at and really keep the game together. Had the story and cutscenes not been so well put together, the whole game would have suffered, but these two aspects really hold it up. The graphics during gameplay are what we’ve come to expect from this generation and the force powers really look great. The story also gives you a choice at the end of the game (light side vs. dark side), which is always welcomed in a Star Wars game. Each ending I think is pretty sweet, especially the light side ending. I’m interested to hear what you guys think about the dark side ending…especially a certain aspect, but again I can’t say because that would spoil it, but feel free to comment below (MAKES SURE YOU WRITE SPOILER BEFORE COMMENTING!).

The sound is, as expected, excellent. The Star Wars score is back and so are some new tunes that really fit in nicely with the whole medley. I really love the theme song too and having the Star Wars music blasting as you throw stormtroopers here and there is nothing but awesome.

Now we must talk about the glitches. Yes there are several including clipping during gameplay, getting stuck in vegetation, health bar issues (I talked about before), and some others I’m sure you’ve heard about from other reviews. Believe me when I say that they are NOT as big of a deal as the reviewers have been making it out to be. These glitches definitely shouldn’t really be present in a game during this generation though. Another glitch that a lot of reviewers complained about was a loss of sound during cut scenes which never happened for me. Perhaps the review copies were more glitches and maybe they weren’t, but I really didn’t run into any problems while playing that would warrant such a backlash.

Ultimately, the game is really great, but leaves you wanting more because of the short length. I have to say that I really enjoyed playing the game even if it isn’t as groundbreaking as everyone was hoping it would be. I think the hype really caused lower review scores for this game and a lot of reviewers didn’t judge it fairly. I would recommend this game as a renter though since there is absolutely NO replay value after you’re done playing except to go back to your save point before the end to play through the alternate ending (make sure you save manually before the final battle or just play the final mission again).

Here’s the breakdown:
Graphics: B+
Sound: A+
Gameplay: B-
Story: A
Replay Value: F

Overall: B

Tags: Reviews, Video Games