Game You Should Buy Only If You Like Star Wars of the Week

The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, and PC...heck even the iPhone)

So, lets get this out of the way. Save your $60 unless you are a rabid Star Wars fan. The upside for me is that I am a rabid Star Wars fan. But no game in recent history has frustrated me more. I mean...to the point my controller was almost unleashed from my freaking hand and sent flying into the wall.

I am not going to rehash the story. You are Vader's apprentice. Since this character doesn't appear in Episode 4...you DO THE MATH.

The game gives you a taste of what you can eventually do by letting you play as Vader in the first level. And you also get a taste of how this game will destroy your will to live. And this first level is only a small dose. You get shit thrown at you from every direction. With Vader it's fairly easy. But when you enter the game as the Apprentice....the game goes from STUPID EASY in a corridor...ramping up to FLESH FLAILING HARD in the next room. Wave after wave of baddies attack. You get knocked down. The combo system works well against one...but when you start a combo and the animation takes over you move automatically. This of course leaves you open to attack from the sides from any of the bazillion bad guys attacking you. This leads to you getting knocked down...and then beat on. Then you get up...and get knocked down. Much like CHUMBAWAMBA.

And this is where the game really sucks. It should be called THE FORCE UNBALANCED. Because you get to d these really AMAZING FORCE POWER things. But MANY of the bad guys are IMMUNE to your FORCE POWERS. And what should one of the coolest moments in the game...bringing down a STAR DESTROYER from orbit...is turned into anal rape. The controls are such crap....and wave after wave of tie fighters knock you on your ass. For most this will be a game breaker moment.



Anyhoo....on the UPSIDE...the story is better than then Episode 1 & 2 combined. And in that, the game has cemented itself securely in STAR WARS LORE. There is a HUGE EVENT in this game that has ramifications in Episodes 4, 5 and 6. And luckily for Lucas Arts...that will keep many players plodding through the maddening landscape of the this game.