Star Wars - The Force Unleashed

[kido14]

So who has it? Apparently it is HORRIBLE for the 360, but I wanted to hear people's opinions here. I heard the Wii one was significantly different, so I was considering maybe buying the Wii version, if it is significantly different than the 360 one. I'm surprised no one has made a topic on this game yet

[deloriagod]

A friend got the 360 version and has enjoyed it so far. I'm not going to get it though since I've never been a fan of Star Wars.

[Michael]

I've not come across anything "horrible" So far it's a very decent game.

[kido14]

Here's a review my friend sent me that pretty much sums it up for the most part..

 

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/09/for ... ash-1.html

[ThurinEthir]

Well, I know the Wii controls sound/look better than the normal button mashing. (From what I've heard) Basically take the Twilight Princess controls, except make it PvP. Replacing the sword with a lightsaber and whatnot, of course.

 

I don't know about gameplay, I'd assume it's basically the same though.

 

I might get it, I might not...I don't think it'll be a must-have, but it'll probably be up there.

[Macmaster92]

I have it for the Wii and I think its very fun but it could have been made way better. This article, from IGN, really sums up my opinion for it.

 

 

 

[hide=Article]Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Wii Review

 

The force is relatively strong with this one.

 

by Mark Bozon

 

 

 

September 15, 2008 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is one of those games we've been following since the very beginning of its development. While the original 360/PS3 game has been in talks for over two years, it wasn't until the middle of last year that we found out the game was coming to Wii, and that it would be handled by developer Krome Studios. We've gone hands-on with it numerous times, and after taking the young apprentice from start to finish through what was an entertaining, true-to-source Star Wars experience, we feel pretty much on par with how we did when first going hands-on with the game. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed calls out to our inner fanboy, it satisfies in ways that the new trilogy couldn't, and it makes great use of the Wii hardware. The only thing holding it back is a lack of both polish, and from what we can tell, development time.

 

 

 

Since Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is most-known for the PS3/360 balls-out tech-fest that it is (gameplay is a whole other story), Force Unleashed was a product that was refreshing to see excel over what we expected it to be. Krome could have easily phoned this one in, sloppily adding some waggle here, a quick IR aspect there, and calling it a day, but when ripping through the game's six hour single player campaign it was obvious that the team wanted this to be a truly entertaining Star Wars game, and if it wasn't for a few random bugs and flaws within the execution, we would have rated it even higher, as Force Unleashed delivers a level of satisfaction that we don't find often on Wii. Sure, there are great games, but pure action titles are almost nowhere to be seen, so when a team can rock Wii control the way it's meant to be done, and wrap it all up in a reliable, responsive experience, that goes a long way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In fact, even areas we expected would be problematic ended up working very well in the end. Gesture-based attacking is nearly flawless, though you'll need to time your swipes perfectly to string together combos that, in other Force Unleashed games, can be done by mashing the attack button over and over again (in this reviewer's opinion, the Wii version is superior on that front). The nunchuk controls, used mainly for "force clashes" and interactive kill sequences, work to a much higher degree than we expected, even getting the rotation and push system found during Jedi duels and the game's multiplayer vs. mode working flawlessly. It's obvious that with more time, and more attention to just a Wii version of the game, Krome Studios could have knocked this one out of the park.

 

 

 

Where Force Unleashed for Wii really drops the ball though, is in the overall lack of polish found throughout the game. The camera is extremely touchy, the lock-on mode often creates more problems than it's worth, the AI can be extremely buggy, running in place or getting hung up on collision, and some of the boss battles are downright broken, being so unbalanced that you're dying and respawning over and over to complete them, rather than finding a weakness and exploiting it in typical boss fashion. Most of the Jedi battles end up being the highest points of the game, as they can be extremely cinematic and immersive. At the same time, you'll often be battling camera problems and the lock-on issue as you try to use parts of the world to your advantage, or dodge and block incoming force attacks from your enemies.

 

 

 

In one extremely frustrating instance, a boss battle in Felucia ends with a bout against a gigantic Bull Rancor. Due to camera issues though, you'll only end up seeing the bottom half of the monster, will constantly be battling the camera, dealing with unblockable attacks from the gigantic boss creature, and simultaneously trying to lock on to environment objects to try and attack the thing with any type of offense. In one portion of the fight, the Rancor gets stuck on a small boulder, and the model itself pops up into the air. It was a complete disaster of a sequence.

 

 

 

Few things in life are more fun than hucking stormtroopers with the force. Hucking R2 units and wookies, however, are on that list.

 

 

 

 

 

And as much as we hate to come down on Wii games for graphical issues (especially when the obvious response would be "This is Wii, not 360"), Force Unleashed simply needs to be called out where issues arise, and visuals are one of them. Yes the game is going to look worse than the HD counterparts, but even more frustrating is that it doesn't end up holding its own against other recent Wii titles, or that it's still rivaled in certain areas (space battles, primarily) by Factor 5's Star Wars efforts on GameCube now seven years ago. The game uses some nice motion blur, depth of field blur, and some impressive lighting effects, but it also suffers from a generally low poly feel, and that's due in a big way to the fact that the game also released on PSP and PS2. In-game cinemas show off some pretty sketchy models at times, with cloaks and costumes often clipping and glitching out with other characters, and the more controlled environments (such as the space scenes) are plagued with basic, plainly textured models. There's a huge amount of aliasing, space sequences seem devoid of style or substance, and ships and terrain are often made up of flat colors or extremely simple texture maps. In the opening level of the game, Darth Vader's personal shuttle lands on Kashyyyk, seemingly landing over a single color lake inhabited by gray AT-AT walkers with no texture maps to be seen, with the battle raging below with terribly simple explosion animations and laser blasts. It isn't pretty.

 

 

 

Closing Comments

 

Force Unleashed makes up for some of its visuals with certain elements that end up looking really nice (Felucia on the whole is a pretty colorful, vibrant area), but it really comes down to the lack of detail in visuals and in presentation -- camera and AI - working in tandem. It can be a blast to play, and using the nunchuk and Wii-mote for force powers is unrivaled when compared to any other control scheme, but the gameplay isn't strong enough on its own to make up for the overall rushed feeling in the game. LucasArts and Krome tried to make the experience unique on every platform by adding in the duel mode on Wii, and while its a nice touch, we can't help but think of how the PSP version (again, also made by Krome) was privy to not only a vs. mode of its own, but an additional challenge and survival mode as well. Whether you're looking at the lack of modes, the clunky presentation, or the PS2-like visuals, there's just so much in Force Unleashed that you wish was better, but ultimately ends up being just passable. The combat is great, the game is extremely entertaining at times (if you're a Star Wars fan, you'd do well to pick it up, or at least rent it), but it's never truly great in any stretch of the imagination. We look forward to what Krome and LucasArts could do with future Wii titles, especially considering the awesome potential of Wii MotionPlus, but as far as Force Unleashed is concerned, the game is a fun but flawed action game, and nothing more. If you're looking for this type of game on Wii, give it a rental. If you're a big Star Wars fan, you'll enjoy it. If you want a polished, well-rounded effort overall, you won't find it here.[/hide]

 

 

 

Yes, I was too lazy to voice my opinion. I do really like duel mode though. Since I love multplayer games I'm really looking forward to owning my friends tomorrow. :twisted: :P

 

I also recommend this game if you have a Wii and have really been itching to play a hardcore game.

[jgrazotis]

i heard that it had an awesome story that should be made into a movie and great graphics but the gameplay was really bad, like there were heaps of glitches, like on the last level the bonus objective was "Default Text" , and some counters didnt work, ill probably still rent just to try it out

[raaarga]

Well, I'm kind of a Star Wars nerd at heart. I love everything Star Wars.

 

 

 

I read the book the day it came out, and was mildly surprised at how well it was written. There was a strong story, and the characters were very well designed and developed. I bought it the day it came out for the Xbox 360, and it's my one of my favorite Star Wars games, besides KotOR 1. The game is very fun to play, and it has a pretty good replay value. The game is very difficult on the higher levels, and it's a lot of fun. The combat is very varied, and it's a lot of fun. My only complaint is that there are a pretty good amount of glitches, both graphical and gameplay-wise. Other than that, the game is very good.

 

 

 

I definitely recommend this game to anybody who can buy it.

 

 

 

 

 

Do you think they'll release some kind of patch for multiplayer on the 360/PS3? Maybe even just local, not even Xbox LIVE or Playstation Network (or whatever it's called. Sorry, I don't have a PS3.)

[Millard]

I downloaded the demo from Xbox Live store today, played through the level and it was nothing special so meh doubt ill waste £40 on it, may rent it though.

[OldJoe]

I would like to play this game, but i don't own a console.

 

More and more games are getting just released to consoles or delayed for PC.

 

But it looks good and from what i've heard, it has some annoyances but very good overall.

 

 

 

Maybe i should buy myself an Xbox 360 in winter.

[Mr_Putter]

But it looks good and from what i've heard, it has some annoyances but very good overall.

 

 

 

Its current score on metacritic is 72%. In a time when dozens of average games get over 80 in any given year, a 72% is a nice way of saying that reviewers don't want to completely bash it (so as not to anger publisher PR or fanboys), but that really it blows*.

 

 

 

One should also note that on metacritic, the score is roughly inversely related to the prestige of the review souce**: prestigious sources like EGM, 1up, Gamespy, Giantbomb, Eurogamer all give it 7 or less, while most of the other ones are in the 70-75% range (IGN, Gamespot, Official Xbox Magazine, Destructoid). No-names like "WonderwallWeb", "MaxiConsolas", and "XboxAddict" are the only things keeping it from sinking below 70%, which in a crowded season is unmistakably bad.

 

 

 

That's not saying you shouldn't get it, but you should try to make an educated opinion before spending $60+ dollars on a game that you could very well end up taking back.

 

 

 

*Note: Before saying I 'need to play it', there are some qualities of games that aren't based on review subjectivity. While the experience of one reviewer to the next might vary slightly based on number of bugs encountered, length of the game, etc., a general idea can be drawn from looking at the fact that most reviews say it's short and buggy, and I believe all reviewers would agree that it does not have any multiplayer, which in this case can be seen as a con.

 

**With the exception of Game Informer giving it a good review, and G4 giving it a bad review. This is merely a trend I'm seeing, and 2/40 aint bad.

[Macmaster92]

I downloaded the demo from Xbox Live store today, played through the level and it was nothing special so meh doubt ill waste £40 on it, may rent it though.

 

 

 

No don't take that as an example, the demo is of the beginning and that part is not that fun because you don't have awesome powers. Once you start really unleashing the force it gets very entertaining.

[BabyPunchers]

Well I have an Xbox360 and a Wii, think I'll get it for the wii though. Played a demo at some store today. Was pretty good.

[limpbizkit]

I downloaded the demo from Xbox Live store today, played through the level and it was nothing special so meh doubt ill waste £40 on it, may rent it though.

 

 

 

No don't take that as an example, the demo is of the beginning and that part is not that fun because you don't have awesome powers. Once you start really unleashing the force it gets very entertaining.

 

 

 

 

 

Your just going to shoot yourself in the foot in the end and link it to the perfect rental title .. coughmercs2cough

[LaserDude333]

I got it for the PSP two days ago :anxious:

 

Comparing it to other psp graphics, it's pretty good, and the gameplay rocks but I can't wait to buy it for another console.

[BabyPunchers]

Got the game yesterday and beat it earlier today. Pretty short story mode. Around 8 Hours or so. I was dissapointed on that end. But it has good replay value since it's really just a lot of fun on the wii. The only problem besides the length is the voice acting. Their mouths hardly move at all so it's kind of hard to tell who's talking early in the game, when you don't know the voices.

 

 

 

There's also "finishers" which are really really cool and look great when you do them. But you can only do them on bosses or big robots and the like.

 

 

 

There's also a duel mode, which is really well done and a lot of fun. It's great :D . But theirs only about 10 stages to play on i think. There's a lot of characters you can chose from when you beat the game, as you unlock them as you go on. There's roughly ~25 or so. But they kind of cheated as all the costumes you get for your main character count as their own seperate character. So there's like ~10 Different characters or so. Oh and there's no option for Player Vs Computer on this. Only Player Vs Player.

 

 

 

What i mean by that is the costumes count as their own character. I.E. "Heavy Training Armour" and "Light Training Armour" are 2 seperate characters.

 

 

 

Overall it's a fun game, but kind of overhyped.

[Ginger_Warrior]

I went into town yesterday, saw people playing it and it looked pretty easy to get a hold of and play. Graphics looked amazing, as did the gameplay. I certainly didn't see anything "horrible", I think it's just people trying to smear licensed games for no apparent reason.

 

 

 

I think I'm still saving up for FF IV on the DS though.

[Hoobs]

I want it pretty badly, time to convince my dad to let me buy it. :-#

[Macmaster92]

Got the game yesterday and beat it earlier today. Pretty short story mode. Around 8 Hours or so. I was dissapointed on that end. But it has good replay value since it's really just a lot of fun on the wii. The only problem besides the length is the voice acting. Their mouths hardly move at all so it's kind of hard to tell who's talking early in the game, when you don't know the voices.

 

 

 

8 hours? Its taken me about 6 and half. :| Anywho, the reason the voice acting looks bad is because, if you look at the 360 version, the characters faces look human and have human movements the voices match that human movement. So when they downgraded the human movements and graphics and just transferred over the audio it makes it look weird.

[BabyPunchers]

Got the game yesterday and beat it earlier today. Pretty short story mode. Around 8 Hours or so. I was dissapointed on that end. But it has good replay value since it's really just a lot of fun on the wii. The only problem besides the length is the voice acting. Their mouths hardly move at all so it's kind of hard to tell who's talking early in the game, when you don't know the voices.

 

 

 

8 hours? Its taken me about 6 and half. :| Anywho, the reason the voice acting looks bad is because, if you look at the 360 version, the characters faces look human and have human movements the voices match that human movement. So when they downgraded the human movements and graphics and just transferred over the audio it makes it look weird.

 

 

 

Ah, that's why. Well I still say, get it for the Wii if you have the choice. It's a lot more fun that just button mashing. :thumbup:

[Macmaster92]

Couldn't Agree with you more.

[PuppyKing]

Im waiting for the PC release. If ever. :cry: