A Star Wars yuppie is defined by the following characteristics:
1) He is one who believes that George Lucas should have never made the prequels in the Star Wars universe.
2) The Empire Strikes Back is by far the greatest science-fiction fantasy movie ever crafted in human history.
3) The Jedi are too good to actually survive in this topsy turvy universe, the Sith is the true nature of the Force.
4) He’d wish George Lucas would have made a movie rather than a game for “The Force Unleashed”.
The latest videogame from LucasArts in the Star Wars franchise garnered a lot of attention following the utilization of next generation technology almost two years ago. Tongues waggled, jaws dropped and the imagination went loopy when “The Force” combined with the powers of DMM (Dynamic Molecule Matter), Havok and Euphoria gave gamers and every Star Wars junkie the true taste of the what it felt to be a guy who’d defy the forces of gravity, use telekinesis to bully everyone around, and could strike lightning using just his dirty nails.
As Star Wars: The Force Unleashed went on shelves and racks of every individual who had secretly sworn to become Darth Vader’s apprentice, many could not help feel disappointed. The game fulfilled almost what it had initially aimed but became a title that lay stenched in the corridors of mediocrity. Having pushed sales above a million on the lines of Alone in the Dark and The Matrix, the flaws and the absence of a strong gameplay pattern still loom large.
Here is a list of some glaring and some not so glaring irregularities that need to be fixed prior to making a sequel or an expansion on the same game:
Using Two Thumbsticks for the Force Push and Pull:
This one caught me off guard the moment I stepped into the game. Since I was playing on an Xbox 360, I found it a little clichéd using the direction (Left) thumbstick to move objects forward and backward and the thumbstick (Right) which controlled the camera to move objects up and down. I played a bit of the PlayStation 3 version and found it a little easier, but equally annoying. The problem was it detracted from the fluidity of the game.
I was an open target whenever I used the force push or pull powers. This became complicated when I had to constantly shift back and forth from one thumbstick to another to create havoc and send enemies and objects flying around many a times I would start pushing the wrong thumbstick only to realize that I was required to juggle my finger to the other, one to pull/push an object, enemy or interact with the environment.
The Targeting Reticule:
Well this was the major bummer in the entire game. I could not target a particular object or enemy I wanted in the first go, since the targeting reticule wavered around the environment with an intellect of its own, as it focused on objects that were remotely of any importance for the game, feelings of frustration and annoyance started to creep all across dampening and ruining what was presumed to be fun during the various demos that had been released for the game.
The lightning strike which was pretty effective in the beginning became obsolete, for many a time I would strike an enemy that I was not remotely aiming instead this retarded ravaging reticule retorted control in a rather unpleasant manner by targeting some random environmental object that would fall upon me and explode. Targeting TIE fighters takes a lot of luck and practice, better get used to the confusion and chaos that it adds to if you decide to buy the game.
The Powers of the Dark Side:
The disarray of being in a world with groovy powers which border the realm of futility after a point cannot be well exaggerated than this game. It starts off with Vader’s Apprentice “Starkiller” (Luke Skywalker’s initially planned/penned name for the Star Wars trilogy) fighting off the grand imperial army inside a starship. The initial phase of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is filled with a rather strong drive to use the force but starts to get annoying and rhetorical when the power of the dark side no longer applies to a huge chunk of foes.
These include Shock Troopers and Imperial Army Bots (who have an eerie semblance to Vader) and stand eight foot tall. The snipers are perhaps the worst of experience of the entire bunch. They are omnipresent in the tall towers that inhabit Force Unleashed, the gripe with them is that Starkiller cannot see them with his training since they reside so high above from the ground. Often I found my powerful Jedi hopping around areas like Bugs Bunny being chased by Elmer Fudd. The difference being Elmer Fudd never catches the Bunny, these pesky snipers do.
There are places a plenty where you shall secretly witness the birth of Imperial royalgaurds who have been bestowed with the powers of the force and are equally trained as the Jedi/Sith who bask in glory in the force. Most of your powers shall lay futile or you’ll just get too confused with the thumbsticks to use the combos on time and save your darling little Jedi arse.
Quick Time Events:
I am sick of timed button responses every ten minutes, there should be an official label on games that utilize the concept of QTE excessively (I hope From Software is listening), the game got to me when I had to interact with a timed button mash for larger monsters in the game who were quite oblivious to my traditional force powers. The hair clenching experience was yet to come when Starkiller has to pull an entire Star Destroyer using the force, it took me almost the entire day to get the alignment of my thumbsticks right after I repeatedly got bored with my attempts to manipulate TIE fighters and find the window period before the next squadron arrived, the entire ordeal made me too wearisome to continue.
DMM:
Well the enemy A.I. did not have a mind of its own, it rather used the concept of the herd to take down its foes. The cool bit of two troopers clinging onto each other was rather insipid in the grand final version of the game for it was only a few instances when something such as this would occur, either I was in a closed space or when the entire imperial army was taking a coffee break with a only a few hovering around. The destruction of objects with respect to DMM was a bit on the minimal side, there were very few instances when I had to bend metal objects or push troopers through glass/wood.
Camera Angles:
Even though Star Wars The Force Unleashed contains user controlled angles, one requires constant chaotic push of the right thumbstick to adjust the camera at all times during combat. The game transcends into an awkward mode when it translates into boss battles and a bunch of fixed camera angles, ala Revenge of the Sith were boss battles had confusing camera angles so as to make combat simpler but instead ruin the games experience to mere button masher.
LucasArts crafted out a game that was supposed to unleash the power of the dark side, instead it enhanced the look of the dark side for AAA titles failing to live upto expectations and the plethora of promises. The Force Unleashed remains a flawed competent experience that suffers from numerous technical glitches and gameplay design. Milking franchises are a costly deal in the current generation this title was lucky enough to escape the wrath of gamers unlike Too Human, which was a decent game but suffered a sad demise, the next time however the Sith shall not be prosperous outing for the Jedi have risen and bound to raise the bar.
- By Neelesh Mukherjee