Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

I've played a lot of bad Star Wars games, but this is one of the worst. First off, the control scheme feels just like a really really bad game called Dark Kingdom. This means; the jumping is limiting and mostly uncontrollable, you can't block blaster fire and move at the same time like... I don't know... A JEDI, the combat is boring and frustrating (the but of a blaster is apparently more affective than a lightsaber in melee combat), and there is a constant supply of graphic barriers and other annoying clipping and pop-up, and the one upside the force can sometimes feel more like fable spell casting then Jedi Powers. I remember the lightning effect being cooler on Jedi Outcast.

Onto other things. I didn't like that you get health by killing people. I noticed on the second level that droids would float around and suck force energy. What star wars blasphemy! Yes, I do care about plot and things making sense. I don't think that's too much to ask. Droids would also materialize out of the floor. I hate that it would give you a button sequence on boss fights and if you missed it, it would keep repeating over and over again. I'm more interested in actual control than completing your idea of how MY fight should have gone Lucas!

There were a few good things. The force push did feel more "unleashed". The leveling system seemed intriguing, but once I accidentally used a star and couldn't take it back even before I left that very menu. I loved how you could pick things and people up and launch them. Very good mechanic. The graphics were pretty.

I liked the idea of a secret apprentice for Darth Vader. He totally would have had one. But this story of him being the most powerful thing ever is silly and I cannot accept this as canon. No, I took that privilege away from Lucas when I was 14 on my first re-watch of the Phantom Menace, and I was right to do so.

Playing this game (for the short time I did) makes me want to replay Dark Forces II. I think I will.

I was very excited to get this game in to play. Long story short, If it weren't for the Star Wars characters & music, this game does nothing for the SW fan. It could have been any characters in any location. The game is so glitchy that it irritates the mind. It feels as though it was thrown out to the market before all the bugs were worked out. Honestly, it feels like a regular Play Station game made for the PS3 system. My advise, read a book instead.

First and foremost, let me preface this review by saying that I am one of the biggest Star Wars nerds I know. I was able to pick up some faults with the title, but Lucas knows I probably overlooked some in a moment of sheer nerd ecstasy.

Now that that's out of the way...

The Force Unleashed has been hyped up for a very long time. From the new story that is official canon material, a leveling tree for force abilities, the Havok engine that provides random encounters with enemies, the DMM technology that showcases splintering trees/boxes and what not, to the various lightsaber crystals and costumes, Lucas lives up to what he promised for the most part.

While some might say the levels are a bit bland and straight forward, I found them to be BEAUTIFUL! Raxus Prime, Kashykk, and the Death Star all gave me goose bumps. The interactions in the game really kept me going and excited for more. Rancors, AT-STs, and the slew of rogue Jedi you'll be hunting mix it up enough to make this game truly an experience.

The force abilities are where the game truly shine. If you're a defensive player, you can opt for more health and a larger amount of health orbs from enemies. Conversely, you can pump your force recharge meter and offensive skills. By the end of the game (even as a defensive player), you will be a killing machine.

I don't even know if a hardcore Star Wars fan will even read this, as they've probably bought the game (as I have), but to them this game merits an automatic 10. It is the best bit of material added to the universe in a LONG time. The story really adds a great deal to the period between Episode III and IV. For everyone else, this game is between a 7 or 8, as there really isn't a lot to do once you've beaten the game. Your powers, costumes, and abilities carry over into a new game though, so there is something to do following completion. Oh, there is a black lightsaber by the way...

Hope you enjoy it. May the force be with you!

First off I wanna let you all know I'm 31 years old and I've played video games since the Atari 2600.I consider myself to be a gaming connoisseur. I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Star Wars:The Force Unleashed is undeserving of the average reviews it has received from so-called "Professional Game Reviewers". This game is for the fans, but not in the usual bad way ( Coughs Lost Coughs ). What I mean by that is this title is your best chance to be a bonafide force user.You have to actually use the moves you're given(even the defensive one). It seems they're are alot of players who want the "Easy" ride, and to them I say "Stop being 12".This game is as hardcore as it gets for Star War Fans and gamers. Now with all of that being said I just can't buy into all the gripes people are making about this game. Yes, it has it's hard spots...what game doesn't? My only complaint...the level design leaves a bit to be desired.Other than that this is a full throttle title that will have you using every button and skill that you can conjure. The Storyline is well thought out and will keep you hooked the whole way. You will definitely get into the customization of Vaders apprentice.Everything from leveling your current move set to actually customizing your Lightsaber to your own preference is there. The Soundtrack is spot on. The Graphics are impeccable. The voice acting is something to behold. There are a few spots where you'll think "God of Star Wars", and I loved it especially in the boss fights. In closing I want to say if you're a Star Wars fan, and a gamer you will dig this game. If you can't play .....then don't. The Force is strong in this one.

I finished the game first time around in 7 hours and that was with spending too much time taking down a star destroyer.

The game is fun, the story is really good and the game play ranges from very good to fair.

Game play: The biggest part of the game is just plain fun, the controls can be a bit overwhelming as there are so many combos that can be used. Moving around and basic combat is easy to get the hang of and it is what you will do the most. Where the FAIR rating comes from are the kill moves, they just reminded me of Space Ace; hit the right button at the right time and you get the results you want. Also, the Star Destroyer scene really bothered me; only after I ignored the on screen prompts and did it my why did I bring it down.

Fighting Bosses was the best part of the game as was making my way through the Death Star. I found the AI of the enemy units to be better than expected; some charged and some hid or ran away.

Graphics: Top Notch visually, I did get slow down twice in the game which I never experienced before. Animations were smooth and cut scenes were great. I got lost in the graphics more than once, especially fighting a boss; I missed screen prompts more than once just by taking in the visuals of what was going on.

Sound: It is a Star Wars game, great music and effects.

Upgrades: I do like earning points and then having to spend them on skills to advance in the way of the Force. There appears to be no way to max out on everything, so choose wisely.

Replay: Low, unless you want to find everything you missed or go for a hard level.

Issues: My PS3 locked up once with the final boss, this and the couple of slow downs might raise the need for a patch; as would the prompts during the star destroyer scene not being correct.

Final thoughts: The game is fun and proudly displayed with my Star Wars collection. It does not live up to the hype, but it does come very close. I am glad I bought it, but if your not a Star War fan, rent it.

This title promised a lot and delivered a lot but unfortunately fell short of its name. Now I hate to sound mean and unfair to a Star Wars title so let me first explain, as I always do, what the developers did right.

To begin with the animation is nothing short of spectacular. It is bar-none the best Star Wars animation we have ever seen on either PC or console. Facial expressions were realistic and full of emotion. Movement was fluid. Detail was incredible. Physics were quite realistic.

Second, the voice-acting was phenomenal. This is not something I would have expected from a Star Wars title. The only character I felt was a little overplayed was the Emperor (and he's always a little overplayed I suppose). And amazingly as this sounds, I feel the story helps redeem Parts I through III. At the very least it provides a very satisfying and intriguing way to integrate the plots of the two trilogies.

Now to the bad stuff. There were two things that really made this game utterly annoying to play at times. The first was the camera, which was sticky, floppy, and very hard to follow. I spent way too much time putting my camera back into a position where I could actually see my opponents rather than inside a wall.

The second problem was the virtually non-existent targeting system. Note to developers: just because your primary weapon is a melee weapon does not mean your game does not need a good targeting system. This goes hand-in-hand with the camera. I have a feeling if they had just fixed this, few people would have noticed the bad camera.

This game had great potential, but it was just so frustrating for a number of reasons that it didn't need to be, That's why I'm not giving it as high a score as it could have received. It's still a fun title if you have already played most of the good stuff out there though. It's a must if you are a Star Wars fan and want to know what happened between episodes III and IV.

This game starts out beautifully. Solid graphics, fluid mechanics, and a steady frame rate. It goes far beyond the average hack-n-slash and delivers top notch playability, for about an hour.
The same old animations get old, the sounds never really change, and there are several level glitches that ruined the whole experience for me.
Give it a try, but don't buy it until you try it.

The graphics are nice and the combat is interesting and tries to get you into your character by allowing you to customize their skillset. On the note of customizing your skillset, this was a joke toward the end as you have enough points to almost have every combo, etc. The cut-away scenes were nice but had that annoying jitter effect of a game that is taxing a system, which is highly annoying as it makes you feel that your console is a piece of junk.

Most annoying thing in the game was jumping and the turning camera was way too slow.

Worth playing at least once but beware you will most likely beat it in 1-2 days but there is a lot of bonus missions, so look out for them.

This game is very difficult to get through and is too tedious in my opinion. If you have never cursed in your life you may start while playing this game. Battles are overly difficult, you fall off edges easily, and you die quickly. The first three missions are the most difficult, but the game does get easier. The game is also short around 6-8 hours probably.

Pros:
Great graphics and force powers. Entertaining storyline. Interactive environments. Fights require attention and though.

Cons: The main character isn't as evil as you'd like him to be, there are some frustrating turn of events. Taking down the starship is ridiculously frustrating. Taking on multiply enemies at once can also be frustrating. Too short. Tedious levels that you can't wait to end so you can catch a bit of story.

Rent it, don't buy it, do it on easy.

As the title of this review might suggest, this game has some minor glitches, but ends up coming through for a mostly enjoyable experience. Some of the flaws did leave me rather frustrated at times. The biggest of these being when your player is knocked down or in a large group of enemies. While it is common in most action games to take hits while already down, this can be especially annoying in this game. You'll get knocked down, take hits, and as soon as you start to get up, knocked back down again. There were points when I was playing that I would go from full to half life in a single knock down. This leads right into the other half of this problem. While there is quite a bit of fun to be had in charging into a group of enemies to blast away, most of the time you'll leave with a feeling of cheapness. The targeting is very fidgety, so if you're not directly in front of a specific enemy, you may not attack your intended target. The biggest feeling of cheapness comes in the form of dodging/escaping enemy fire. The enemies never miss. It's that simple. I would say at least 80% of the time, regardless of timing or direction of avoidance maneuvers, you'll still get hit. Outside of these few flaws mentioned, the game is outstandingly fun. Wielding the force felt intuitive and responsive. Most objects within each environment can be interacted with as well. There is plenty to explore, and you actually use your abilities to find secrets and upgrades. The story of the game is decent; not groundbreaking, but serves its purpose. The sounds are excellent, from the voice acting, to the level music, to the sounds of lightsabers clashing. Also the game allows for a fair amount of customization in building up your character, to fit your individual play style. All in all, this game delivers on the fun, with a few flaws here and there.

Ok so maybe it's not really a pig with lipstick, but let's be honest, the main thing this game has going for it is the "wrapper". If it had the same controls, graphics and game play without the Star Wars dressing this would be just another hack and slash/platform game that may or may not gain a following. So if you don't care about either of those, you should probably stop reading and find something else to play. If you're into Star Wars but not platform games, it's worth a rental or download the demo from PSN, maybe it will click, maybe it won't but it is Star Wars ;) If you like both of these things then this is obviously for you, so stop reading and rent it already.

If you are still reading I guess it is only fair to tell you more about the game. The layout and controls are pretty much your standard hack and slash, adventure, platform style game. The powers and the combos are fairly straight forward and with the leveling system you can expand on them and customize your character based on which ones you like best. The story has been ok so far, since it is an official release I can only assume it is "canon". Personally though I hate when stories like this are wedged into the existing story line. In my opinion it would have been better to change it a bit and set it before or after the events of the movies.

Unfortunately since it is a platform game that also means it has some of the deficiencies of the genre. There is a "lock-on" feature but locking on to the right thing can be difficult at times. Also, getting the character to face in the right direction (in combat and out) can be problematic too. Some of that is probably just me though as I'm not a huge fan of this genre. Finally, what to do next and how to do it are not always obvious.

Bottom line, it's a Star Wars wrapped platform game so how you feel about those should dictate whether or you spend time playing it. It didn't click for me, but maybe it will for you.

In all this game was good. Maybe a 5 out of 10

Pros:
1: Awesome graphics, and a good storyline(although pretty hoaky at some points)
2: You get to use the force, and of course it is pretty pivotal in the gameplay.
3: In game dialogue is not bad. Did you play Assassin's Creed? Way better than their in game dialogue.

Cons:
1: The targeting system is terrible. Maybe not the worst, but it will cost you some lives.
2: The game is solid, but I ran into quite a few glitches.
3: You can't be a wookie. Major let down I know.

Awesome game! Hard to put down! The title says it all. Using the force is the whole point of the game and you are rewarded the more you do it. The cutscenes and story line are incredible.

the opening level of the game is as good as it gets.you start of as darth vader charging through the planet kashykk and wastes a bunch of wookies with ease. the following levels are basic point A to point B hack-n-slash. the force powers are cool for about half an hour.Forget about blocking anything you'll take three stricks from an enemy without the ability to parry.I was tired and frustrated by the fourth level. star wars force unleashed is a poor rip-off of god of war with a weak plot and shabby combat mechanics. the games only spark of life is the graphics. the different worlds look great and have alot going on in the background but thats about it.This game is an ok rental but Id be peaved if I paid 50$ for it.

I'm a big star wars fan and have been waiting for a game where you can play as the sith and have some connecting story to the movies. and that is the only thing that kept me playing this mockery of a game. the game play is repetitive , camera angles just make your eyes bleed , the targeting system combined with the cam angles will have you slicing at air off screen and getting pelted by your foes at the same time. but you do get a nice cut-scene every time you beat a level , filling in some of the plot . but I think I'll wait for someone else to beat the game and put the cuteness up on you-tube and just watch them from there and maybe enjoy them , so I don't have to play this horrible game anymore.

It was absolutely horrible.

I like star wars, and the story was really neat, but the game itself was horrible, bad level design, a lot of bugs, not responsive control, and speaking of controls bad control scheme.

I am not insulting star wars, I love star wars, but this was the worst game I have played in over 5 years. Don't let people do this to you (gamers) demand that they make good games, and not just slap on a product name and then tell you it is worth 50 bucks.

This game was hyped for the last 2 years, making everyone think that this was going to be like, the next KOTOR (Knights of the Old Republic) Now that I've actually had the chance to play through it (and beat it) I'm sorry to say I'm very disapointed. This reminds me of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox 360/PS3. This game has lots of glitches (e.g. physics issues like falling through solid objects), long load times, outdated platforming/sidescrolling- /hack n' slash gameplay(only presented in 3D) reminiscent of Pitfall and other older games of the 80s and 90s (but not in a good way). What does this mean? Lots of cheap deaths (lots of falling to your death), having to start over from the beginning of the level if you die; this is the year 2008 starting over is unacceptable. Encountering enemies that spawn randomly and overpowering your character (even after leveling-up). The games only redeeming qualities are the Star Wars character cameos (the new characters seeemed generic and unappealing like "Mary Sues" in somebody's fan-fiction), nice cutscenes, and decent story (even if a bit convoluted) You have your comic relief sidekick, romantic interest, old mentor etc. Kind of cliched eh? You can beat it in about 8-hours so I'd say rent don't buy. Hopefully KOTOR 3 will be the Star Wars gaming experience we've all been waiting for and Bioware will release it.

Pros
character cameos (familiar faces)
John Williams music
Shenmue-like "QTE" sequences
Good voice acting (kudos to the actors who voiced Vader and Palpatine)
cool cutscenes

Cons
Outdated Platforming, hack n' slash gameplay (not enough variety, rinse lather repeat)
lots of cheap deaths
long load times
Beat it in 8-hours
last-gen graphics (a lot was sacrificed to make a multiplatform game)
For the die-hard fans

i think for a star wars game it was kind of cheesy i was disappointed with the control for the force and some enemies have attacks that knock you down and they repeatedly do it and it gets really annoying

good: story is good

bad: everything else. controls i had to continuously fight with. graphics are pretty bad. lock on for the force powers is awful.

overall: awful game. i have no idea why this has a 7 rating. i fought more with the controls than i did with the enemies. the lock on system is just plain broken. i would be facing an enemies to toss him, and then my character would do a 180 and lock onto nothing. i would also just get stuck in an open area. just would hit an invisibly wall and wouldnt be anle to move for a second or two. it seemed to happen when the ground was uneven, but for the love of god lift your foot 4" to step over the bump. the lightsaber feels like a wooden stick. enemies just take hit after hit. though the only way to fix that would be to add a lot more enemies at once. otherwise the game would just be too easy. only good thing was the story, but i just couldnt play anymore, and i watched the rest of the cut scenes on youtube.

Final: skip this game

The game begins awesomely enough with you taking control of Darth Vader, fully powered up. It will give you the sense of power that you will have by the time the main character reaches the end of the game with all his powers maxed.
It quickly goes down hill from there. The camera is atrocious and on many occasions in the heat of battle it will get stuck at your feet, behind a wall, out of position etc. The lock on system (which is critical to direct those incredibly awesome force powers) is broken. Totally broken. It targets what it wants to with no real logic behind it. Want to shoot a bolt of lightning at that Storm Trooper? Sorry, it hit the crate to your right. Wanna force grip that rebel? Sorry, your lifting that R2 unit instead. It makes playing this in the later game a nightmare. That isn't even mentioning the huge frame rate hiccups. At time the action will pause (but not really because things are going on around you) and when it begins again, oh, your dead! Add to the fact that many times enemies suddenly become invincible. During one boss battle, I had the boss down to a quarter of his life, and it went into a cut scene. After that cut scene, the boss just stood there, and no matter what power I used or how much I wailed away on him, he just stood there, invincible. Restart.
The only saving grace and reason to play this is the storyline. While it doesn't really explain anything, it does fill the gap between 3 and 4 quite nicely and makes for an interesting story. If your not a Star Wars fan looking to find out what kind of history Starkiller made, then avoid for the sake of your sanity.

This is an example of a game that could have been really great and just got lost in the details. It's a great, fun concept with some nice set pieces and beautiful graphics, but my god is it frustrating to play. My few major gripes about this game:

Quicktime events: alright fine, if you're gonna use them, I'll deal with it. But some of the most exciting scenes of the game are lost while the player is watching intently for the next button press at the bottom of the screen.

Bizarre sense of your power: You're supposed to be this all-powerful force wielding master, but with the exception of the base-line storm troopers, the majority of the enemies seem to be immune to one or more of your powers, making it feel as though you're only on par with them, rather than being a destructive Jedi master.

Load times: Absolutely abysmal. Every time you die, the game seems to reload the entire level with up to 25+ second load times just to respawn. There are even load screens in between the MENU options! Unbelievably frustrating, especially when in the middle of a tough battle that requires multiple attempts.

I would give this game a higher score, if not for the fundamentally broken Star Destroyer segment at the end of the Raxus Prime level. COMPLETELY BROKEN. This one battle more than any other highlghts Lucasarts usual sub-par control scheme, and apparent disregard for polish. Who let this slide by their desk?!

The best part of this game was the first level.

After that the game was hard and not because of the enemies. I spent more time fighting the camera, being stun-locked and dealing with difficult controls.

Run, Lightning, Light Saber, repeat. I was so excited for this game, but it ended up playing like a bad rip-off of God of War. As a life-long Star Wars fan, I felt obligated to play through the story, but I couldn't make it. And I don't think it's a long game-it was just a waste of time. The force grab was cool, but I rarely used it..partly because it was often difficult to lock in on the correct object/enemy. This game might be good for kids under 12