Interscription

I recently finished Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and I am officially going on record as saying this is a great game, and one that Star Wars fans in particular have no business missing.  I had a wonderful time visiting some wonderful Star Wars set pieces, positively terrifying my opponents with mind-numbing force powers, and exploring some of the (extremely) light RPG elements as you develop your light-saber-wielding fiend of power.

There are a few things in particular worth noting.  First, the graphics are breathtaking almost completely throughout.  The set pieces I mentioned above are grand in scope and full of animation and life.  Being a part of the final attack on Kashyyk or hoping around inside an under-construction Death Star (1.0, of course) never gets old, with every screen brimming with life and Star-Wars-ey goodness.

The oft-advertised DMM (Digital Molecular Matter) technology that makes things react with appropriate physics (wood splinters, glass shatters, metal bends, etc.) will make you smile when it works.  There are some items in the world that, for obvious design reasons, are invincible (this ain’t Red Faction, you know) to any attack, but only occasionally ruined the immersion of using the Force to wreck shop throughout the universe.

And there is no denying the giddy appeal of the story as it bridges (and even slightly expands upon) the time between Episodes III and IV, which, I might add, is generally better acted than most game cinematics (and entire portions of the prequel trilogy).  There were a few very endearing moments, some truly funny deliveries, and although the proceedings never feel totally epic, the story was absolutely worth the journey.

And, it’s freaking Star Wars, man.

So, what’s the problem?  Why isn’t it the greatest game of all time?

The primary complaint I have with the game is a startling lack of polish.  This pervades many different aspects of the game, unfortunately.  Chief among these offenses is a gets-more-frustrating-every-time pause screen, which requires a rather lengthy loading time every time you access one of the options.  Unlike other action games, you’ll be accessing this pause menu somewhat frequently to upgrade and tweak your character with force powers, combos, talents, as well as lightsaber crystal upgrades you find along your journey.  Want to do your force upgrades?  LOADING.  Go back to the main screen?  LOADING.  Pull up your lightsaber crystals?  LOADING.  You get the picture.

Noted in the IGN review of the game is that the 360 has some distracting tearing issues with the image.  This doesn’t always occur, but it seems that the developers turned off V-SYNC for the 360 version to keep the framerate nice and snappy.  Unfortunately, turning off V-SYNC is rarely a good idea when it comes to having a sharp-looking game, since the framerate gains are marred by a strange looking, unfinished feel.  I have no idea if this is specific to the component cable-delivered image, or whether the PS3 version has this tearing as well (nothing was mentioned for either case), but it is worth noting for those who are 360 gamers.

Finally, the transitions between cinematics and the gameplay don’t flow smoothly enough for such a triple-A title.  Sometimes there is a loading screen, and sometimes a few seconds of inexplicable black screen.  Add to that the fact that the art/animation style really isn’t much better than the stellar looking in-game graphics in most cases, making the choice to use pre-rendered movies a strange one.  (Not to mention bringing some obvious continuity problems when you’ve changed your lightsaber color or outfit in-game and the next moment the cinematic forces a totally different skin on you or your lightsaber).

There are also some strange design choices that leave parts of the game wasted/awkwardly accessed.  For my main example, there are several training sessions (and associated trials) that your droid, Proxy, guides you through to train you in the ways of Force destruction and mayhem.  Lucasarts chose to make these accessible through your load-tastic pause menu.  I’m perfectly fine with this sort of accessibility, but it’s really the only way to get to these trials.  Since it is based on your currently created character, it makes sense to have them tied to your character via an in-game menu, but why not from the main screen as well?  Furthermore, how about folding these into your questing a bit more logically?  Since these teach you how to be a Force-chucking badass, shouldn’t we get more of these early on (especially the training sessions)?  It’s really unfortunate that I actually learned how to do a lightsaber flourish after I had already beaten the game (during my achievement sweep of the trials…*ahem*).  I understand that perhaps a few of these should be locked to save some of the surprises as you play through the game (some trials give away some of the awesome bosses you’ll meet during the game), but I would’ve loved to have seen the training sessions available (and forcefully prompted) between the first few levels to get you accustomed to the major gameplay mechanics, and perhaps having access to the trials of the bosses after you meet them.

There is also the small matter of the game’s reliance on Quick Time Events (made popular by one of my favorite but oft-lamented games, Shenmue) for some of the more devastating moments of Force powers, especially while finishing off bosses in the game.  Unlike some, I think this is a perfectly acceptable way of blending gameplay with cinema, and when done well, makes me feel even more powerful as the main character in the game’s universe.  While some of these moments are amazing, there are a few (the Force battle against the Star Destroyer in particular comes to mind) that are disproportionately difficult to perform from the rest, and after 15-20 minutes of trying to complete them, it’s no longer an epic moment in the story, but a silly gameplay mechanic that you will be begging to skip.  My opinion on QTEs is that this particular scene in the game could not be told as effectively from the normal camera perspective, whether because the dramatic flair the director wishes to convey would be lost, or the action itself would be entirely too difficult to perform in that perspective.  QTEs are about the scene, not the gameplay; the button presses are a small bit of risk/reward that make you feel more invested in the scene than a typical sit-back-and-watch cinematic.  Making them too difficult (in my opinion) totally loses what QTEs are meant for, and I’d be lying if I said that there weren’t a couple of times when these just didn’t work.

I want to say that I can completely ignore this quibbles, but it’s a testament to a really great Star Wars offering that I trudged through these annoyances just to see what else I could experience in this galaxy far, far away.  In summary, I think everyone who has even a mild love of Star Wars and a thirst for fantasy action needs to give this game a try.  It’s a wonderful and flawed experience, but a game that gets me passionate enough to review it (considering the avalanche of gaming this holiday season) is worth playing indeed.

I think I’ll end this off by sharing some observations from a couple of the more well-known review sites:

Chris from IGN said, “While it’s far from perfect, Star Wars fans will find that it’s worth playing through simply for its story and the ability to use the Force in fairly awesome ways.”

Ben from Ars Technica said, “If I were given this game as a demo I would say things look great, and I can’t wait to see where they are in four to six months. As a retail release though, the lack of polish is a deal-breaker.”

Sadly, I’d have to agree with both of those comments.