Star Wars fans will always set out and buy a new Star Wars game whether it is good or not. The last few games of the series have not been as great as most people have expected them to be, but The Force Unleashed put Lucas Arts on the map again?

The story of the game falls in line with the Star Wars movie saga and takes place somewhere in between Episode 3 and Episode 4. It manages to fill in the gaps in the story quite well and ties in well with the movies. The best part is that it doesn’t follow any movie sequences and so the outcome will be unknown to the player. It does however carry a few Star Wars clichés: such as two unlikely lovers. Overall the story is great whether you are familiar with the series or not. It is an interesting story and develops at a good pace with a few interesting twists and turns.

The game starts off where you play as Darth Vader but after this first mission you play as Starkiller: a son of a Jedi who was killed by Vader and becomes his apprentice. Your task is to kill all remaining Jedi and eventually the emperor, but things get complicated.

By looking at the graphics, one can immediately notice that the game has made the jump over to the next gen consoles and it makes good use of them. The visuals are very sharp and very pleasing on the eye. The textures and rendering have been executed very well. Cut scene graphics are truly show-stopping, which is a pity that they couldn’t make it into the actual game play. The environments are vast and highly detailed, which creates a great atmosphere as you play through the game. Character models have been done quite well, they’re movements are fluid and their facial expressions are believable.

The gameplay of Force Unleashed was an area where Lucas Arts bragged about and one realizes why they were so confident. It runs on a new engine which allows the next gen graphics to play very smoothly which little or a barely noticeable drop in frame rate. It also allows for a greater use of physics in the game and now The Force is more powerful than ever. You can use it to kill enemies as well as interact with the environment to move forward in the game. The problem is that there are only certain things that can be moved, which makes the awesome power feel rather limited.

Action in the game is very linear but it is faced paced and frantic. Starkiller has a number of abilities and you can earn points to unlock new combos and abilities to test out on your opponents. You can also upgrade these and become the most powerful force in the galaxy. Even though the environments are so unique from one other the task remains the same: hack and slash the baddies and beat the boss. The game rarely ventures from this formula and so it can be a bit repetitive.

With a large number of unlockables such as different light sabers, light saber crystals and new outfits , the game tries to encourage some form of replay value but it is not all that much. It also lacks any form of downloadable content or online play which is probably its Achilles heel.

With a strong story, great graphics and some interesting game play which should keep you going for nine hours, Star Wars Unleashed is a solid title and should be enjoyed by the fans and noobs to the series. It puts Lucas Arts on the map once again. Hmmm, the force is strong with this one.

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