[The following refers to the XBOX 360 version]
The gamer side of me thought this was an overall cool game. It was challenging but not unbeatable. Innovative without being too gimmicky. It was like a more streamlined Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast without all the jumping puzzles and doors that could only be opened by pushing a switch in some random room ten floors above them. But the Star Wars geek in me couldn't help but rage every other level. I'll explain that in a bit, but first let's focus on the game.
You play a guy named "Starkiller" who was trained by Darth Vader to become his secret apprentice. Vader tells you to go kill Jedi for him, and you obey. Most of the levels are pretty much going from Point A to Point B and killing almost everything in your path. You start out fighting normal cannon fodder stormtroopers and killing Jedi and eventually you end up fighting robotic Imperial Purge Troopers and AT-STs.
Let me get this out of the way first: the auto-aim is freaking horrible. To demonstrate, I'll just quote the always awesome Tom Chick [http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/]:
The graphics aren't really special either, though with the DMM engine you can see metal bend and spark just like you'd expect in real life. There was also something about realistic wood splintering or rock-cracking, but I guess they skimped out on that. I was too busy throwing them at enemies to care.
But now that I've run through the basics of the game, the thing that irked me the most about this game was the warping of the canon to fit it. First off, lightsabers are supposed to be able to cut through almost anything. Hell, Qui-Gon Jinn could cut through a few blast doors in that scene from the otherwise crappy Episode I using his saber. But in Starkiller's case, it's like someone just gave you a glowing wooden stick. All but the most basic stormtroopers take several hits to smack down with one. At least Jedi Knight II got the lightsaber damage right.
The next grievance were the enemies themselves. Okay, I can accept some advanced stormtroopers being equipped with things like flamethrowers and electric flechette guns, but where the hell do they get Force-proof shielding? Not to mention the Felucians who have armblades that can somehow match the strength of your lightsaber in melee combat. It's a gimmick that forces you to deal with them differently, but when you look at the fact that Luke Skywalker never had to deal with even half the shit Starkiller faces (and the stories are only about 3 years apart, canon-wise) it makes the appearance of these enemies even more insulting. I guess the Empire had a fire sale on their anti-Jedi equipment after the end of this story.
But having said that, I still found the story as told through the game's cutscenes to be better than the entire prequel trilogy combined. The biggest reason being that the protagonist wasn't a whiny little ***** like Anakin Skywalker or naive like the early Luke Skywalker. He had the strength of his convictions, and then when things went awry, he tried to make them right in the end like a hero should.
Okay, now that I've worked the nerd rage out of my system, I guess what it comes down to is a simple "Yea or nay?" question. In this case, I will say "yay," but you should probably rent it. Once you're finished with the story mode, there isn't much replay value left aside from some advance combat training modules or seeing both endings. If you're a bigger Star Wars fan than myself, chances are you'll buy it, play through the whole thing, and then rage on The Escapist forums about how much it sucks while George Lucas swims around in your money.
The gamer side of me thought this was an overall cool game. It was challenging but not unbeatable. Innovative without being too gimmicky. It was like a more streamlined Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast without all the jumping puzzles and doors that could only be opened by pushing a switch in some random room ten floors above them. But the Star Wars geek in me couldn't help but rage every other level. I'll explain that in a bit, but first let's focus on the game.
You play a guy named "Starkiller" who was trained by Darth Vader to become his secret apprentice. Vader tells you to go kill Jedi for him, and you obey. Most of the levels are pretty much going from Point A to Point B and killing almost everything in your path. You start out fighting normal cannon fodder stormtroopers and killing Jedi and eventually you end up fighting robotic Imperial Purge Troopers and AT-STs.
Let me get this out of the way first: the auto-aim is freaking horrible. To demonstrate, I'll just quote the always awesome Tom Chick [http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/]:
Yeah, chances are you'll want to unleash some lightning on an enemy, only to see Starkiller shocking a piece of paper in the background. Still, I had some fun playing with the Force in this game. You have the power to grab, throw, shock, push and impale things with the Force, sometimes all in the same five seconds. The duels with the Jedi even have a nice flow to them that keeps things interesting without being too annoying.
The graphics aren't really special either, though with the DMM engine you can see metal bend and spark just like you'd expect in real life. There was also something about realistic wood splintering or rock-cracking, but I guess they skimped out on that. I was too busy throwing them at enemies to care.
But now that I've run through the basics of the game, the thing that irked me the most about this game was the warping of the canon to fit it. First off, lightsabers are supposed to be able to cut through almost anything. Hell, Qui-Gon Jinn could cut through a few blast doors in that scene from the otherwise crappy Episode I using his saber. But in Starkiller's case, it's like someone just gave you a glowing wooden stick. All but the most basic stormtroopers take several hits to smack down with one. At least Jedi Knight II got the lightsaber damage right.
The next grievance were the enemies themselves. Okay, I can accept some advanced stormtroopers being equipped with things like flamethrowers and electric flechette guns, but where the hell do they get Force-proof shielding? Not to mention the Felucians who have armblades that can somehow match the strength of your lightsaber in melee combat. It's a gimmick that forces you to deal with them differently, but when you look at the fact that Luke Skywalker never had to deal with even half the shit Starkiller faces (and the stories are only about 3 years apart, canon-wise) it makes the appearance of these enemies even more insulting. I guess the Empire had a fire sale on their anti-Jedi equipment after the end of this story.
Also, at the end, despite killing hundreds of stormtroopers, Felucians, robots and God-knows-what-else, why the hell does Starkiller suddenly hesitate when he has the chance to kill the Emperor for screwing him over the course of the story? This guy could take down a fucking Star Destroyer and several TIE fighters with his bare hands but he can't bring himself to kill the Emperor? Because "he'll become just like him?" He's already a fucking Sith legend with his blatant use of the Force! Killing an evil old fogey isn't going to change that!
But having said that, I still found the story as told through the game's cutscenes to be better than the entire prequel trilogy combined. The biggest reason being that the protagonist wasn't a whiny little ***** like Anakin Skywalker or naive like the early Luke Skywalker. He had the strength of his convictions, and then when things went awry, he tried to make them right in the end like a hero should.
Okay, now that I've worked the nerd rage out of my system, I guess what it comes down to is a simple "Yea or nay?" question. In this case, I will say "yay," but you should probably rent it. Once you're finished with the story mode, there isn't much replay value left aside from some advance combat training modules or seeing both endings. If you're a bigger Star Wars fan than myself, chances are you'll buy it, play through the whole thing, and then rage on The Escapist forums about how much it sucks while George Lucas swims around in your money.
I just disregard what most major reviewers say until after I have played the game for myself.