Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Comments by Johnny Minkley

First comment...

I was shocked though. I thought it would get at most a 5/10 >.>

So a 6/10 if you're not all that arsed about Star Wars. Seems about right from the demo.

QTE are next gen!

Totally saw that coming. Still picking this up, I think I can handle the sloppy combat and wonky controls.

So an ok game really, which is a bit of a shame if your shopping list is a bit chocka already.

From the demo I assumed this would be slaughtered. I guess a 7 is the best it could hope for.

While they've gone to considerable lengths to make glass that breaks like glass, the actual gameplay physics is often borderline broken. I've had four game-breaking bugs so far - usually because some object fails to load (such as the Imperial base which provided an invisible barrier) or because some character has fallen out of the gameworld. I killed one of the boss characters by sending him sailing into an abyss, but that doesn't allow for the QTE finale, so the game just left me there, stranded and alone in an inescapable arena. Add in the near constant scenery snags and wretched camera, and you've got a horribly half-arsed game. Mucking about with the Force and lightsabers is only fun for so long.

I'm guessing the guys at Eurogamer are pretty much screwed up.

Oh well... I'll wait for Gamecentral's review =P That will bound to get slaughtered

Sounds pretty cool actually.

I loathe QTEs as well. The author put it very well.

the demo was long enough for me, i was bored after that.

and i enjoyed the old ravensoft games too.

Stupid Star Wars game.

In the final game, can I slice a Stormtrooper in half with a lightsabre?

I couldn't in the demo and that is such a major deal breaker for me.

I was playing the full game over the weekend and enjoyed it alot more than the demo. I'd even go as far as to give it an 8 as it was so much fun.

Not sure about longevity yet but throwing bad guys all over the shop is great. the controls have been tweeked a bit since the demo also as the force is that bit easier to implement.

This is pretty much the exact same vibe I was getting from the demo, which is disappointing because I had been looking forward to it for such a long time.

The technology backing this game though is undeniably great and I would desperately love to see Jedi Knight 3 on PC with this same game engine. JK2 was ridiculous fun and if they could tap into that with this technology and marry it with the crazily fun, occasionally inane (but in a good way) lightsabre combat of old rather than the button mashing, finesse-lacking mess of an experience I had with this demo it'd be a must buy. I hope someone's listening, seems like a no brainer to me.

@Colin

Longevity is overated. How many time did I run through DMC1 or 3, or GOW 1 and 2. Once that is.

Replayvalue in this day and age. Before I finish a game I already bought a new one.

Still, this doesn't seem to be my cup of tea. I do like some decent ai.

@ lavalant

Agree with you on that, the demo was very bland. 5/10 imo.

In the final game, can I slice a Stormtrooper in half with a lightsabre?

I couldn't in the demo and that is such a major deal breaker for me.

One of my major gripes with the game, from a fan perspective, is how they've botched the balance of the game. They want you to be able to do all these ludicrous things with the Force, but that would make the game an absolute walkover. So pretty much every character suddenly has shields that can block lightsabers or make them immune to Force attacks, so you get the baffling situation where a powerful Sith apprentice can be killed by bloody Greedo and his pals. And yet, at the same time, you're able to pull starships out of the sky but your Force Push attack isn't enough to kill a Stormtrooper.

Oh, and there's a robot that can use the Force. Not sure how that works.

I want to play for the canon...but the gameplay does not sound inspiring at all. Short enough for a rent and complete by the sounds of it?

My thought's on longevity are if i think it will keep me playing until the end. It's very rare for me to want to revisit a game once it's finished. My games collection consists of over 50 xbox games but i've completed so few it's embarassing.

I just keep buying them.

The wait goes on...

Bring back Tie Fighter.

@ DanWhitehead: Cheers for the reply!

Another sucky Star Wars release, and EG being extra friendly not to get in trouble with Activision when it comes to banner income and stuff. This franchise deserves so much better...

You give a game an extra point for being a licenced game?
I see a certain person being requested by a lot of publishers to be the one on review of a lot of movie marketing games for the foreseeable future.

Well, I have to say, this sounds very disappointing.
It sounds like they got off to a great start with the games engine, then decided that was all they really needed game play wise and got lazy. Really lazy.
I may pick it up from a bargain bin one day. But probably won't.

So not as good as Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast.
Just redo this lightsabre star wars game including LIVE multiplayer and you'll have a hit.

From what Dan says in the comments above, no way does this deserve a 7. Sounds very broken. Insulting to fans.

Saw the final version of this title at my friend's house yesterday on his Xbox 360 -- and people say that piracy on the PC is rife!

It looked very good ... although would be improved if Stormtroopers et al were cut into pieces by light sabre rather than bouncing about; and the disappearing scenery is annoying too.

I want to see EUROGAMER comparison of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions: resolution, refresh, tearing, etc. please!

Exactly what I was expecting from the demo.

Veto.

Is this the first review Johnny's ever written for the site, incidentally? I had a look at his contributor page and there aren't any others listed there.

I was looking forward to this, but the QTEs are a deal breaker for me. Sounds stupid I know, but Mercs 2 reminded me of how utterly pointless they are, and how they add absolutely nothing to the game.

Lol.. @ Stoomonster
I too went round someones house yesterday and they had the 'final' version.
Which they acquired for £5 from a market.
360 piracy is as easy as the PC i'm sure.

Lucasarts, where art thou? Stricken by commercial success, your corpse flails.

Like I originally said. I knew this was going to be sub-standard when your lightsaber couldn't even cut a stormtrooper in half. After that, you just knew that this was not going to be that great.

Wookiee is spelt with 2 'e's Mr. Minkley.

so, jedi outcast outclasses yet another forced star wars game?

Yep, bring back Tie Fighter.

I see EG still haven't sacked the utter cunt who arse-fucked the images page such that I haven't been able to look at a page of game images on EG for months now ...

Please sort out the images page so it's actually useable ...

Have to admit that I was tempted by it, but the demo left me a bit cold. This review and -especially- Dan's comments just cement my initial reaction to the demo - maybe once it hits the bargain bins...

defo getting this, really liked the demo................ just finished the '5' Infinate Undiscovery, really enjoyed that and hated your perfect 10 Braid.. go figure.

Sounds like ideal rental fodder to me.

Hehe owned.
Looks like buy used copy when it comes in platinum series title :)

One word: It's Star Wars.

Pre-ordered.

Hmmm...... I really hoped (in a pessimistic kind of way) that this would be the game to break the ongoing tradition of crap Star Wars games. Just as I thought - Still Im tempted to rent purely for the story and so on, though I know Ill regret it.

Well as a couple of others on this thread have said..... TIE Fighter please!!!!!! With full online treatment...... Like it ll ever happen though.

What happened to Lucas Arts ???? Surely they can get it right someday.

I really don't get EG scoring anymore, they should just stop. Though I'd argue all review sources should drop the scoring.

I'd still buy it when it inevitably gets cheaper, but I still have to finish some of the really good Star Wars games first.

Can someone please post a spoiler-tagged/hidden spoiler as to what the ending is for this game.

Wow! Only 7/10 =/ Still going to get the game though!

It's shocking to me that over five years later, no game featuring swordplay has surpassed The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Every time I fire that up, I'm enthralled. Just go do the fencing minigame for a bit and see how many strikes you can get in without dying; this is swordplay at its finest, and it's a real shame that the only way other games seem to want to do it is with QTEs.

By the way, the initially-powerful-then-stripped-of-powers routine is hardly new, and shouldn't necessarily lead to a poor game. One of my all-time favourite games — Castlevania: Symphony of the Night — does this, and it's all the better for it. Giving the player a taste of the power they can tap within the game, then letting them explore it themselves is a great teaser. It's obvious that in the case of SW:TFU they've just not done it right, amongst many other issues.

The note doesn't seem to agree with the review.

I'll understand it as a 5/10 if you are not into SW (or left after the bastardizing Lucas has done since the prequels).

"Oh, and there's a robot that can use the Force. Not sure how that works. "

Midi-chlorians. Dur.

i could get into this but I think I'll wait for it to land in the bargain bins... there's just too much stuff coming out in Oct & Nov so I have got to prioritise and I think this one falls short.

Pick it up in the new year when the winter rush is over.