 Great Tech Demo, Not So Hot Game |
| Review Date: September 17, 2008 |
| Reviewer: A. Kamat, Providence, RI USA |
So, I just couldn't resist. Bought the game on release day (at BestBuy) and now have played through a bunch of missions. The good:
The concept of the game is fantastic -- who doesn't love running around with a lightsaber and force pushing stormtroopers?
The graphics are more than adequate -- I'm sure not as good at the 360/PS3 but the game still looks pretty darn good.
The purchasing of new force powers with force points works well.
The story line is very good, as is the voice acting.
The actual control motions are well thought out, and pretty natural.
The problem is that the mechanics just aren't there.
The big problems with the game are:
1. Too easy -- there's really no consequence to dying. You just are resurrected and go about your merry way.
2. The camera -- I think that the camera angles are what really hinder the game. This game would be ideal from a first person perspective, but is played entirely in the third person. As a result, the camera angles are critical, and LucasArts' coding is just not up to snuff. The camera often looks in directions you don't want, especially in tight spaces and with lots of enemies. Also, since the commands/combos are all dependent on moving the Wiimote/Nunchuck in a particular direction IN RELATION TO YOUR CHARACTER the controls become confusing when the camera is not oriented over your shoulder. If you're fighting a boss it's not a big issue as you can lock the camera on your target. This doesn't really apply in a room full of stormtroopers, though.
3. Saving - the game saves as you go past checkpoints (ala Halo, and most other FPS games), but when you come back (after turning off the Wii) you start back at the beginning of the chapter as opposed to at the last checkpoint that you encountered. I fail to see the point of the checkpoint system. Further, it makes it difficult to pick up and play for a half hour -- you really want to continue until you're done with the chapter.
As a result you wind up with a beautiful looking, intuitive game with a great storyline that's just more difficult to play than it should be.
Save your $$ -- rent. |
The Force is unleashed on my Wii
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| Review Date: September 17, 2008 |
| Reviewer: A. Martin, Gilbert, AZ |
The story behind this new entry into the Star Wars universe starts with Darth Vader being sent to Kashyyyk by Palps in order to track down a Jedi that survived Order 66 and the Jedi purge. Vader lands on the planet in his shuttle, and you proceed to kick some serious Wookie butt. The Stormtroopers you see are a nice blend of the Clone Trooper outfit and the newer Storm Trooper outfit, you can see the progression. From their sound, I think the clones aren't in use anymore by this time. The main reason I say that is that they sound a little scared when they status Vader on things, but the whole difference in the Clones and Storm Troopers is a discussion for another geek day. Vader finds the rogue Jedi, and you get your first real battle. Once Vader defeats him and is about to deliver the final blow, the lightsaber is Force Pulled out of his hand and he turns around to see . . . a little boy, maybe 5 years old I would say. Vader feels that the Force in the kid and stands there for a minute thinking of what to do and takes back his lightsaber. The Stormtroopers come up with their guns trained on the kid, and Vader turns around to face them. Cut to the kid's scared face as you hear Vader's lightsaber fire up and takes out everyone - rouge Jedi and Stormtroopers alike. With no witneses, he leads the boy away to become his Secret Apprentice. As the Apprentice, you'll go on missions to find other rouge Jedi, and see how the Rebellion came to be. That's about all I know on the story so far, it's as far in game as I was able to get tonight.
First off, as expected, the graphics aren't anywhere close to what I'm hearing the PS3 and XBox 360 are. That's ok, because I think the graphics are still pretty impressive on this game. Cutscenes are rendered well, the action is pretty fluid, and I didn't really notice any distracting frame drops like I've seen in other titles. There were some graphics glitches, though, but I hear that those are showing up on the other consoles as well - characters sliding through objects/walls, capes and costumes cutting through figures, that kind of thing. But, it's not that bad, really. From my gamer perspective I'd say it looked pretty good.
I was initially disappointed to hear that the Havoc and DMM physics engines weren't going to be in the Wii version, but they do manage to pull it off pretty well. Your victims squrim around when you've got them in a Force Hold, they scream and grunt realistically when you toss them around like ragdolls (I'll get to that in a minute, by far the most awesome part of this game), and there is some rudimentary A.I. being implemented here where they will at least display some level of self-preservation once they realize you're going to squish them like a bug with your Force Slam. I had a few Rebel Militia guys running away after I grabbed a flaming barrel, so that's always fun. There are so many things in the environment that are breakable or throwable, it's really amazing to see. Again, I know the PS3/XBox 360 versions make this look silly with their DMM physics, but the Wii is immersive enough for me in this aspect.
The controls are what sets this game apart. When a game implements a good control scheme for the Wii, it just feels right. You get a lot of games where the controls do feel tacked on, it's just not that exicting to play. Not this one, the controls are incredible. The recently shown Motion+ 1:1 controls would have been great, but honestly, how many of us can realistically wield a sword or lightsaber in a fluid manner anyway? My Apprentice onscreen would look like a flailing idiot, just like me. The limited motion recognition is fine with me, lets me look like a fool while the Apprentice is still fun to watch. Contrary to some opinions, it's much more than just "waggle" (most of those opinions are voiced by PS3 of XBox360 snobs . . . saber-envy, I guess). You swing left-to-right, so does the Apprentice. You swing right to left, so does he. An upward swing? He throws and uppercut-like strike. Downward? Overhand slice. Thrust forward? Lunging stab. You get the picture. You can string together some pretty cool combos with this and, coupled with the force powers, open up some serious Sith whooping.
The Force powers are controlled with the Nunchuck. Push it forward, and you do a simple Force Push. If an object on the screen is highlighted, you can Force Grab by holding the Z button and use the control stick to move it out of the way or throw it at a whimpering target . . . who screams satisfyingly when it hits. The C button gives you your Force Lightning. One of my favorite moves in stringing together attacks is to grab the target soldier, hoisting him up in the air with the Force, and throwing the lightsaber to impale him. I threw a lot of guys into walls, off cliffs/catwalks, into each other. The Force Grab/Throw is by far the coolest and most natural attack I've ever experienced in any of the Star Wars games I've played. And I used it. A lot. And was grinning ear to ear the whole time. Does that make me a Sith?
There is a great training mode, for use with the young Padawans to help get the controls and attacks down before trying out the game. Very interesting use of first-person style showing both hands onscreen using a Wiimote and Nunchuck.The Apprentice's droid is facilitating the training, telling you what to do to get what effect. Well done, overall, and does a great job of introducing the controls, explaining their use, and giving you ample time to experiment with combos and the like.
Lastly, I want to spend a little time on the voice-over experience. So far, Sam Witwer is great in the voice-over acting. Apparently, the cut scenes were actually recorded by the actors on green-screen, interacting with each other, then captured and animated in the game rendering, so there is actual chemistry between them. I haven't heard much from Juno Eclipse yet, the Apprentice's pilot for his ship, the Rouge Shadow, but what I've heard from her, voiced by Nathalie Cox, has been pretty good. Matt Sloan did the voice for Darth Vader, and I'll tell you what, at first I thought it was James Earl Jones, he really nailed the voice. It looks from the cast that they have Jimmy Smits reprising his role as Bail Organa, but I haven't gotten anywhere near his part in the game, I'm guessing. The story is acted wonderfully, and I don't see (yet) any heavy handed influence from George Lucas, which is a good thing. At least, if he throws a Jar Jar Binks or Ziro the Hutt in there, at least let me be able to kill it mercilessly. It really has an older Star Wars feel to it, could even be compared to the Knights of the Old Republic game and it's storyline, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I'll report more as I get deeper into the game, and especially as I try out the Wii-exclusive Duel Mode, which really looks to be amazing. I'm sure my Padawan daughter will wipe the floor with me, but that's just good parental bonding, right? |
Greatest Star Wars Experience Ever
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| Review Date: September 24, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Kristopher G. Williams, Memphis, TN USA |
| I don't want to echo what a lot of other reviewers have already said. Yes, the graphics in this game are definitely inferior to the 360 and PS3 versions BUT I can't imagine the other versions of the game being nearly as satisfying an experience as this one. Pushing a button to do execute a force push just can't feel the same as actually doing a pushing motion with your hand and seeing your enemies fly back on the screen. The camera is definitely an issue, a lot of times you will find yourself waving your light saber like a madman at enemies you can't see because the camera is out of position. You definitely DO feel powerful in this game as a Sith Lord but at times it seems like you loose a lot of health for just a few blaster hits but this could just because I'm still in the early stages of the game. |
A solid Star Wars Game on Wii
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| Review Date: September 17, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Timothy Chase, I'm under the moon...now |
The game play is very scripted with premade vitory and battle cut scenes. The camera is slow, but you can change the camera's turn rate in the settings.
The force controls in the nunchuck are fantastic. You buy updgrades to your force powers as gain force points by killing your enemies. You can also find upgrades hidden throughout the levels.
I picked up the game on release day and played for a couple of hours. My arms hurt. It's just about impossible to sit down while playing this game, your arms are so involved in the game play for the Wii version.
If you're looking for the best grapics, try the XBox 360, or PS3 version. If you want the most interactive play, grab the Wii version, you won't be dissapointed. |
Great Game, but..
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| Review Date: September 22, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Michael A. Chavez, Topeka, KS USA |
I admit, I'm not a big gamer, however every once in a while a game comes around that appeals to my interests and makes me want to try it out. TFU was one of those very games. Here are the pros and cons to my experience with the game:
Pros:
Great use of the Wii controllers: This was probably by far the best way to actually PLAY and CONTROL the game. I tried to use the PS3 controller when I played that version but it did not compare to the experience on the Wii. During battles, icons come up to tell you when to use the remote or nunchuck for a final hit/kill which is fun.
Storyline: Now why couldn't have this been a movie? Seriously! This particular story arc closed more gaps than I think the third movie did (even at the end of the third film, there were still some things needed to be closed). The voice acting was great and believable which added to the overall story.
Duel Mode: Awesome! THe more you play the game and pass the levels, the more characters you unlock which is a plus (and to not spoil anything for anyone, the characters unlocked are not all from this game..)
Cons:
Graphics: I really wish the Wii could play 720p or even 1080i. Then I think this game would be worthy of a 5-star review. Some of the graphics look a little fuzzy, like some graphic-heavy wii games. The graphics on the PS3 are excellent and it was hard going from that to the Wii.
Inability to save: There is an autosave feature that lets you save your progress, however, don't expect to just pick up EXACTLY where you left off. Once you turn off the wii and turn it back on, you start over from the beginning of the saved chapter. Not cool especially if you are towards the end of a chapter and you decided to stop. This was something that confused me from the LucasArt team.
Overall, I thought the game was great with the exception of those few things. I believe it is a fun game and exciting at most parts. If you are an avid gamer or star wars fan, then it may disappoint you. For the average joe like me, it was a great game to purchase and play. |
Great stress reliever!
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| Review Date: November 6, 2008 |
| Reviewer: LMK, |
| I'm only a casual gamer, but I've played almost all previous LucasArts titles (mostly on the PC) and loved them. My favorite games have been in the Jedi Knight series. Force unleashed gives that first-person gameplay style a new dimension on the Wii. You can really get immersed in the game by using the nunchuk to push/toss/fry stormtroopers or pick up objects to toss at your enemies (great stress relief). There are enough force powers to try to master, also. The lightsaber control is decent with the Wii remote. The game has a slight learning curve, so don't get frustrated initially. The storyline is great, and I feel the graphics are adequate enough for me (didn't buy a wii for graphics). The sound is good as well. A nice addition to my limited Wii collection. |
Rent dont buy
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| Review Date: September 2, 2009 |
| Reviewer: smullins, seattle, wa |
I was really excited about this title. I'm a star wars nerd and what better way to act out childhood fantasies then wielding a plastic control pretending to be a powerful sith.
Unfortunately, this title falls short for several reasons:
1. The graphics are horrible. I have played plenty of games on the wii, some look amazing like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros Brawl. Force Unleashed has very bad polygon rendering and at times reminded me of past games on N64! The presentation is just poor; this is not because of the Wii, plenty of games look great on the Wii - this is just a bad port.
2. There are a lot of combos you can learn for fighting with the light saber. However, they require voodoo like memorization to pull off. I can remember button sequences really easily (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a) but trying to remember A, wiimote forward, nunchuck up, Z, Z, wiimote left to right, nunchuck down C - that's more than I bargained for. As a result, I tended to use the force powers instead of melee combat. I think the force powers were way over powered, especially force lighting with force push. The game lost its challenge with using these powers.
3. The game was supposed to tout a highly specialized physics engine and AI decision engine. There were supposed to be all these interactions with the environment and enemies would react to the environment differently each time. What was actually delivered was a couple boxes scattered throughout each room that you can force grab to throw at enemies to instantly kill them. Some wall panels could come off but that was about it. The environment interaction was just not there.
I'm giving this three stars because it is always fun to play as a jedi/sith, even if the rest of the game is lame. Fans of star wars will appreciate the game a little more than indifferent players. Had I not been a fan, I would have given this 2 stars and said to skip it altogether. |
Lot's of fun with minor flaws..
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| Review Date: November 7, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Alfonso Rios, |
Ok.. So I'll start saying that I dont own this game, I rented it 'cause I wanted to try it first...
Having said that, I also have foud the key strong points are:
- Adequate Graphics. I own a Wii so I bet the xBox or PS3 are far better, but this one looks very ok.
- Great sound. Nobody pays attention to music, but this game has a lot of it and you feel like youre actually on a movie.
- You are on the dark side!!! At least! I mean I have played a lot of Starwars games, including KOTOR 1 and 2 and beleive me, it always is easier if you're good. But in this game you start as a really bad guy. In fact, u get o play Darth Vader!.
- Beside the "force points" you get for killing enemies, and then trade them for levels of skills (i.e. a stronger force push) you unlock new crystals for your lightsaber, new force powers and some more stuff wich is awesome.
- The Wii controls are really natural, there are a lot of force powers and Wii controls make it really easy and enjoyable to use them.
And for the cons:
- Camera movement is widely mentioned in this reviews but it gets fixed if you increase the camera speed option in the menu of the game.
- The third-person disadvantage is there, truly if you're on a room filled withj storm troopers it gets difficult to use force powers accurately. Still the AI of the game helps you a bit there, so whenever you throw something it hits the nearest enemy, and stuff like that.
- True, if you die there's not a lot of consequences, still, this game is for fun, not for repeating the whole level if the boss kills you. Besides, there is a consequence, your force points diminish and it takes you more time to aquire more points so u can buy extra levels for your powers. And in the bosses they regain energy, so if you die they recover about 30% of their strength.
-Bad point that the games saves a lot in the check points but if you turn off and on the wii, you have to start from the beginning, but well chapters are not that long.
In general it's not a perfect game, so it does not get a 5 star grade, but still is a lot of fun to play it for like an hour from time to time and maybe on some weekend afternoon.
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Despite some flaws, Force Unleashed delivers
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| Review Date: October 7, 2008 |
| Reviewer: N. Durham, Philadelphia, PA |
| The eagerly anticipated Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is finally here, and Star Wars fans will find plenty to admire and enjoy here. Others however may find a certain degree of disappointment to be found with Force Unleashed thanks to some noticeable flaws and glitches (especially here on the Wii), but if one overlooks these, a good time is to be had. Featuring one of the best and most compelling stories you may ever find in a video game period, Force Unleashed also features some thrilling and jaw dropping moments that will make even the smallest Star Wars fan squeal with joy. You play as Starkiller, the secret apprentice to Darth Vader, and you are charged with eliminating the last remaining Jedi in the universe. Interacting with your pilot Juno Eclipse and a droid named PROXY, Force Unleashed also features some compelling and inventive characters to boot; so much so that you'll actually be caring about what happens to them as the game progresses. As said before, Force Unleashed is loaded with thrilling moments, but a good amount of these moments are few and far between, and some technical and gameplay glitches really hurt the game as well. Including times when the camera seems to want to work against you, the targeting system is frustrating in nearly every sense of the word. The Wii-specific controls take advantage of the Wii-mote and nunchuk, and sometimes work out well, and sometimes prove unresponsive and hard on your wrists. Force Unleashed also comes off at times as being too epic in scope to fit the final product of what you're playing; it just feels as if something is missing here that shouldn't. Still though, the game looks decent, the music is superb, and the art design is great as well. All in all, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but despite it's flaws, the game delivers the goods that Star Wars fans will be looking for, and it is definitely worth your time and attention. |
Not necessarily what we've been waiting for, but good for now
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| Review Date: December 30, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Eric Siron, |
Let's sweep the negatives first so they're not ignored:
- The camera is ridiculous. You'll wish you could do to the camera what you can do to your opponents. I routinely found myself running away from enemies just to get the camera in an angle where I could see them. With some of the flying troopers, I never was able to see them no matter what I did. There is the ability to lock the camera on boss opponents, but that was only a little less useless. If LucasArts were pioneering the chase camera paradigm with this game, I'd be more forgiving, but they've got plenty of functional games (even from their own library) to use as templates for how this should be done.
- Like most LucasArts action games, this one is excessively linear. The only way to make it more linear would be to implement "Wrong Way" warning flashers, but that would be bad in this game because you're probably only running back so you can reset your camera view. I don't personally have any real problem with this but some might.
- Part of the "Star Wars" legend has always been that a lightsaber cuts through anything except another lightsaber blade, with notable exceptions being Vader's suit as seen in ESB, the electrified sticks wielded by the droids in RotS, and the limited-application cortosis from the EU and other LA games. This game changes all that. Now lightsabers are stopped by Stormtrooper suits, skimpy leather outfits, and even bare skin. A design goal of this game was to really focus on the Force, but a side effect is that the lightsaber is nearly reduced to a novelty item.
- When I first saw Episode 1, one of the things I did like about it was the raw speed at which the combatants moved during lightsaber battles. That aspect got better and better and hit a major high point in Ep3. Conversely, the apprentice, with all his amazing Force powers, moves like a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter. Most of the damage you'll take in this game will be while waiting for him to finish a lightsaber move.
- The AI is pathetic. I'm getting just old enough that I like my games a bit on the easy side, but this was a bit much. The enemies don't get smarter as the game progresses, they just get beefier statistics.
- I've long felt that LucasArts uses frustration where other game developers use difficulty. For instance, the Rancors aren't particularly tough to beat, but their continual knockdowns needlessly drag the fights out and make them more frustrating than fun or challenging. Some of the AT-ST encounters are like that too.
- The repetitiveness in places gets tiring. I was thoroughly sick of fighting Rancors by the end of the Felucia levels. Fighting multiple Rancors across the spread of an entire game isn't bad, but "take six steps, fight Rancor, rinse/repeat 5 times" is bad game design. Add in how needlessly long they are and it can be enough to make you switch off and do something else for a while.
- The grunts are plentiful, which would be a whole lot more fun if the lightsaber hurt them. Because they're all but immune to lightsaber damage, you have to use the Force powers on them. In concept, that's great, especially since this game is meant to highlight the Force powers. However, what you'll find is that the individual unit types can be incredibly difficult to beat... until you find that one Force power they just can't defend against. Then you just spam that Force power (and it's almost always one of the one-button or one-motion ones) until you get to the next boss. Putting in any variances might result in you getting overrun and killed by silly little grunts that should be running in fear just from the sound of an activated lightsaber, but instead stand their ground no matter what is happening.
- As is mentioned by other reviewers, the biggest threat of actually dying is doing so far from a checkpoint, which at worst usually means a 45-second run. You do lose some Force points, but I wasn't especially good at this game and died more than most people probably do, and I still had more than enough to upgrade my Force powers sufficiently to finish the game with relative ease. I didn't try, but I imagine you could use the "return to Rogue Shadow" command to get fully respawned enemies on a level and rack up all the Force points you need.
- Having the + button bring up the menu caused me troubles. It was flat-out horrible when I used it with the Glow Saber unless I just consigned myself to not using the A button, but I still had a few troubles when I put the remote back into the jacket.
As formidable as the above list may seem, it doesn't stop this game from being a ton of fun to play, especially on the Wii. Let's look at the reasons I rated it well:
- I'd imagine I'm not the only person who's waited a long time for the ability to use something besides a joystick or a mouse to wield a lightsaber. This game really gets you into that. I did note that I don't like how weak the lightsaber is, but I don't want to be overly critical of that because this isn't a Wii-specific title. They could easily have made the Wii remote's uniqueness as near meaningless as they did in Lego Star Wars. LA put forth a good effort to make the Wii remote motions translate directly into saber moves without requiring the player to be a swordsman, and they worked in the nunchuk to control Force powers in a meaningful fashion. That they did so in a title not specific to the Wii is a bonus to us as the players. I'd still like to see something like Jedi Academy released specifically for the Wii, but this is good for now.
- Overall control of the character is pretty fluid and intuitive. Getting the camera screwed around means you might have to perform your moves in an uncomfortable direction, but as I said before, I'm not especially good at this game and I only had trouble with this a few times.
- I always place gameplay above graphics, but this one is extremely visually appealing as well.
- This isn't my favorite storyline of all the LA games I've ever played, and certainly not among all games I've ever played. However, it's not to be forgotten that this story is dealing directly with major characters in the Star Wars universe and in the middle of an established timeline, not before or after. I think they did a great job working within their constraints of not violating the storylines of any of the movies (at least not in the story as I uncovered it).
- The multiple storylines and the unlocking of the harder mode (which I haven't tried yet but I'm holding on to a tiny glimmer of hope that it makes the enemies smarter, not just beefier), as well as the Wii-specific duel mode give this game a good boost in the replayable department.
A comment I'd like to make regarding the saves as read from other comments: It's true that the automatic saves only work if you continue immediately but send you back to the beginning of the level if you reset your Wii. However, if you manually save, you'll pick up right where you left off. |
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