The Force Unleashed preview (Demo review)

[Sathannas]

The force unleashed preview (demo review)

With the upcoming new star wars game: The Force Unleashed arriving in stores in less than a month I thought that it was high time to jump onto PSN and download the merry little Demo that LucasArts had so generously put up.

Now I played through it - it took like 10-30 minutes ? and the verdict a wholehearted sigh.
I?ll be honest with you, I really like Star Wars and I am big fan of the franchise, so I really hoped that the game would be good and LucasArts could clear their name and start making good videogames again. Sadly, even though I really wanted to like the game, it was so bland uninteresting with so few good points that it wouldn?t even be enough to cover the feet of the negative ones. Let me say that the physics behave and act really good and the way that a stormtrooper will grab onto stuff and try to hold on as the Apprentice, named Starkiller, (terrible name isn?t it?) hold him in the air and wiggle him around like a crane holding a stuffed animal.

That?s about the most positive thing I can say about the game play, those of you who had hoped for a carnage filled ballet of destruction ala God of War, prepare to be disappointed. Each combat combo has an annoying clunky feeling to it and it really slows down the flow somewhat and they don?t feel all that powerful.

The camera and targeting controls are mildly said non-exsistent. Im not a person that usually gets annoyed at developers for taking a very long time to develop games, but seriously Lucasarts what the hell! I wish my madboy rant could stop there but no.

Accepting the fact that animation and controls needed refining to the degree of changing the game entirely. I was even more disappointed by the blandness and stupidity of Enemy soldiers -Rebels and Imperials alike- they make no real attempt to run away from the light saber wielding maniac who wants to slice them to pieces. It?s funny to think that the developers went to so great lengths to make them behave realistically when getting ragdolized into the air, but it seems not a lot of time was spent on making them believable when actually fighting.

Even though the graphics and physics are pretty good the game as a whole feels very last-gen and its quite saddening because this game had lots of potential. Since this is only the Demo I can?t say if the story will be enough to save the game, but from a game play view it feel very poorly executed.

I had hoped that I could say that The Force Unleashed would be a masterpiece that could proudly wear the Star Wars name, but apparently this will not be the case? Instead, I will go play some Jedi Knight II and kill some smart stormtroopers with a dance of death from a blue light saber wielding madman by the name of Kyle Katarn.

PS: Since the entire point of a Demo is to make me want to play the game? it fails gloriously.

 

[shatnershaman]

His name is Starkiller because that was the original last name of Luke.

 

[Sathannas]

I know that, but there was a reason that Lucas did not use that name.

 

[Altorin]

I know that, but there was a reason that Lucas did not use that name.

because it didn't fit with what he wanted the jedi to be. The name Skywalker is pretty stupid too if you think about it.

Similarly, Return of the Jedi was originally called "Revenge of the Jedi", which he changed for a similar reason.

 

[shatnershaman]

I know that, but there was a reason that Lucas did not use that name.

because it didn't fit with what he wanted the jedi to be. The name Skywalker is pretty stupid too if you think about it.

Similarly, Return of the Jedi was originally called "Revenge of the Jedi", which he changed for a similar reason.

Now if only he injected "common sense" into the movies.

 

[Altorin]

I would post a simple emoticon here if I didn't think i'd get in trouble by some rogue mod

so I'll add this extra text just to sate his appetite for words

 

[nmmoore13]

I wasn't too impressed by the demo either. I found throwing things with the force to be very clunky and unintuitive. The Euphoria engine looks like its doing its job, the enemies react great to everything. I specific part that annoyed me was when you had to fight that dumb robot thing near the end. Every time I tried to pick up a box to hurl at it, it shot me and I dropped it. I was constantly getting shot and there was no way to avoid it. Plus the camera decided to focus on everything besides the enemies.

 

[Platinum117]

I know completely what you mean about the Euphoria engine, such life-like animations and movements for when they are being thrown around it it was fun to see them desperately grab thing, especially other troopers that you could then just drop from 30 foot.

I really liked the demo to be honest, and im going to get the full game, i'll admit that msot of your points stand true. Enemy AI while fighting was fucking pathetic, not once did i see any semblance of tactics, grouped or singular. Take for instance baton weilding rebels, so you see a guy with a lightsaber, this thing could cut you in half without even slowing down. Theres three of you one jedi weilding the lightsaber... so do you:

A: Try to surround the jedi and attack him from all sides
B: Run like hell, theres no way even three of you are going to take down this ************
C: All three charge blindly forwards until stopping 3 foot away and waiting to be attacked

Yeah.. geuss which...

However i loved the lightsaber combos of which there are actually quite few you can pull off if you do it right. Throwing stuff was a bit clunky but excellent physics provide a reward i just can't resist everytime i see a storm trooper smash into the wall panels.

The aiming system was annoying at best, but it works... just... but hey, once you eventually got the right target ultimate fun ensues.

Theres are a few glitches that seem to spoil the experience a little:

1: Imperials cannot do damage to rebels, which means no matter how many fights you see the rebels will always win, this is very odd, especialy when i watch a sqaud of six troopers shoot at a rebel for over two minutes, only to be killed the moment they let up the stream of fire.

2: Throwing the at the right targets doesn't always work as the game decides what you want to be throwing at, for instance, storm trooper infront of me, another storm trooper 10 foot away, pick up storm trooper, aim at other storm trooper, throw... destroy tie fighter hanging on the ceiling 40 foot away...

okay i cant be bothered to finish this enjoy

 

[Mistah Kurtz]

I wasn't too impressed by the demo either. I found throwing things with the force to be very clunky and unintuitive. The Euphoria engine looks like its doing its job, the enemies react great to everything. I specific part that annoyed me was when you had to fight that dumb robot thing near the end. Every time I tried to pick up a box to hurl at it, it shot me and I dropped it. I was constantly getting shot and there was no way to avoid it. Plus the camera decided to focus on everything besides the enemies.

That's not how you kill the AT-ST.

 

[nmmoore13]

I wasn't too impressed by the demo either. I found throwing things with the force to be very clunky and unintuitive. The Euphoria engine looks like its doing its job, the enemies react great to everything. I specific part that annoyed me was when you had to fight that dumb robot thing near the end. Every time I tried to pick up a box to hurl at it, it shot me and I dropped it. I was constantly getting shot and there was no way to avoid it. Plus the camera decided to focus on everything besides the enemies.

That's not how you kill the AT-ST.

Good. I'll try again. The game was annoying me so much before I just got fed up with it. I'll try again later.

 

[Whiskey_Tango]

I thought that the physics seemed rather good with the force, as you stated above, but the actual control everytime I picked anything up was simply too slow, it should have just been dynamic and smooth rather than broken in half and very jagged. It also seemed pretty linear to me, they could have made it better if I actually felt I was in a battle, and not triggering one encounter to another. I really hope they'll fix the AIvsAi combat, and try to fix some of the fighting mechanics, like lightsaber melees, although I doubt it.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

I'd be more impressed by the levitation if Psi-Ops hadn't done the same thing years ago. Only this time they try to grab onto things, onoz!

Havn't played the demo, the footage I see makes hope for a good game but expect the worst, especially the saber combat.

 

[Solytus]

I wasn't too impressed by the demo either. I found throwing things with the force to be very clunky and unintuitive. The Euphoria engine looks like its doing its job, the enemies react great to everything. I specific part that annoyed me was when you had to fight that dumb robot thing near the end. Every time I tried to pick up a box to hurl at it, it shot me and I dropped it. I was constantly getting shot and there was no way to avoid it. Plus the camera decided to focus on everything besides the enemies.

That's not how you kill the AT-ST.

Good. I'll try again. The game was annoying me so much before I just got fed up with it. I'll try again later.

Trying it again the right way won't lessen your irritation any more, the entire thing is button-mashing until you get it's heal almost all the way down, at which point it forces you to do a finicky quicktime sequence.

Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly with this review, the demo really didn't make me want to buy the full game.

 

[Platinum117]

All you people are gay, sorry let me rephrase that. Did not one of you find it hilariously funny and entertaining depsite its flaws? Simply mashing enemies into walls repeatedly was executed so well in the demo i couldn't help but do it time after time after time. I realise its not a superb game but christ, its alot better than most of the shit i've seen come out recently (cough too cough human). I could coem up with a load of other reason why it is infact good but im too tired to defend my point right now.

 

[Amnestic]

Counter points time.

That's about the most positive thing I can say about the game play, those of you who had hoped for a carnage filled ballet of destruction ala God of War, prepare to be disappointed. Each combat combo has an annoying clunky feeling to it and it really slows down the flow somewhat and they don't feel all that powerful.

While the combos weren't exactly complex finger twisting impossibilities, saying they're clunky I wouldn't agree with. In fact I found that once you reached the right rhythm they flowed quite well.

The camera and targeting controls are mildly said non-exsistent. Im not a person that usually gets annoyed at developers for taking a very long time to develop games, but seriously Lucasarts what the hell! I wish my madboy rant could stop there but no.

It can be mildly annoying to target the correct object you wish to throw. Grabbing tie fighters I found particularly difficult. That said however, targeting is quite simple once you remember to bear in mind that targeting is defined by which direction Starkiller is facing, not which direction the camera is pointing. And on the topic of the camera, how much control do you want? Turning the right analog stick turns the camera, and though I can't recall fully, I believe clicking it centralises it behind Starkiller again. I prefer that to the fixed camera controls that God of War had a lot of the time.

Accepting the fact that animation and controls needed refining to the degree of changing the game entirely. I was even more disappointed by the blandness and stupidity of Enemy soldiers -Rebels and Imperials alike- they make no real attempt to run away from the light saber wielding maniac who wants to slice them to pieces. It's funny to think that the developers went to so great lengths to make them behave realistically when getting ragdolized into the air, but it seems not a lot of time was spent on making them believable when actually fighting.

So wait, you're faulting the the enemy AI because they follow orders and attack the intruder and assailant? I'd expect soldiers to stand their ground and fight, especially (in the case of the demo) if they were defending their own installation as was the case with the stormtroopers. As far as animations went, I didn't think it was too bad. The combo animations I found reflected what I wanted, a crazy powerful guy dominating those who are weaker than him.

Even though the graphics and physics are pretty good the game as a whole feels very last-gen and its quite saddening because this game had lots of potential. Since this is only the Demo I can't say if the story will be enough to save the game, but from a game play view it feel very poorly executed.

Again, I'll have to disagree. I found the gameplay to be thoroughly exhilirating and fun. The game feels about as last-gen as Assassin's Creed or Bioshock to me, and I mean that without any exaggeration.

So there's my counter points. Obviously it's all subjective, I just wanted to give my reflection on the demo.

 

[Miles Tormani]

Then why is it available on the PS2 and PSP? It's possible on those two systems, is it not?

Then it's last-gen.

I call foul, good sir.

By your string of logic, that would mean that, at the time their respective releases, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PS2), Half-Life 2, TMNT Tournament Fighters (SNES), the new Ghostbusters game, and Rock Band are all "last gen" games. Why? THPS3 has a PS1 version, Half-Life 2 has an Xbox 1 version, Ghostbusters will be released on PS2/Wii, TMNT has an NES version, and Rock Band was later ported to PS2/Wii.

Saying that because those games have previous gen versions makes them previous gen is incorrect for one simple reason: the previous gen versions are often WAAAAAY different from their present gen counterparts. Since THPS3 is the most glaring example, let's take that for instance. In the PS1 version, the environments were smaller or had completely different hidden areas, there were no pedestrians (which believe it or not had a factor in gameplay), no cars ever moved (a step BACK from THPS2), levels like the cruise liner were completely absent, and if I remember correctly, many of the hidden characters were absent.

Given that insofar we have NO idea just how much is going to be stripped out of the PS2 version of this game, assuming that, because it's "possible" on the PS2, nothing is improved on the PS3/360, is just wrong.

 

[jamiep319]

i thought the demo was ok. not great, not terrible. it seemed like the game would be fun for a little while, i think ill just rent it. also,

Again, I'll have to disagree. I found the gameplay to be thoroughly exhilirating and fun. The game feels about as last-gen as Assassin's Creed or Bioshock to me, and I mean that without any exaggeration.

Then why is it available on the PS2 and PSP? It's possible on those two systems, is it not?

Then it's last-gen.

i would just like to point out that psp is not a last gen system.

 

[Amnestic]

Extra content doesn't mean anything. If the engine and physics and such things like that are already possible on the PS2 in the first place, then BAM, it's a last-gen game to me.

So Twilight Princess, Resident Evil 4 and Mercenaries 2 are last-gen games? No, with their placement on Wii, 360 and PS3 they're current gen games. If they can be scaled back to fit onto last-gen consoles then so be it, but the very fact that they're being released for a current gen console says that the game is current generation as far as gaming goes. Braid could likely be scaled back to PS2/Xbox. Does that make it last gen? No, not at all.

Like it or not, TFU is a current generation game. That's why it's being released on current generation consoles.