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| Star Wars: The Force Unleashed | 
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| From: Lucas Arts Entertainment
Category: Video Games
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $48.99
You Save: $11.00 (18%)
Buy New/Used from $45.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  (92 reviews)
Sales Rank: 30
Format: Cd
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB: Teen
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Age: 12 - 20 years
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 33276
Model: 32761
UPC: 023272332761
EAN: 0023272332761
ASIN: B000R0URCE
Release Date: September 16, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Confront and associate with familiar faces from the Star Wars films, including Darth Vader in addition to new adversaries such as fugitive Jedi and Force-sensitive Felucians | | • | Unleash and upgrade the Secret Apprentice's four core Force powers - Force push, grip, repulse and lightning - throughout the course of the game, and combine them for ultra-destructive, never-before-seen combos. | | • | Examples of unleashing the Force in ways never thought possible: Secret Apprentice won't just Force push enemies into walls - he'll Force push enemies through walls, and will Force grip them in midair, zap them with lightning, then drop them to the ground | | • | Visit locations such as Episode III's Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk and the floral Felucia, the junk planet Raxus Prime, plus an Imperial TIE fighter construction facility | | • | Decisions made by players throughout the game will determine the path of the story, including multiple endings that will rock Star Wars continuity as they know it. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The Star Wars saga will continue in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a videogame developed by LucasArts, which casts players as Darth Vader's "Secret Apprentice" and promises to unveil new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy. The expansive story, created under direction from George Lucas, is set during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. In it, players will assist the iconic villain in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi - and face decisions that could change the course of their destiny.
Join the Dark Side |
You are Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice
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Use The Force to disable your enemies
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Artwork of the Jedi "Maris"
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As its name implies, The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force by taking full advantage of newly developed technologies that will be seen and experienced for the first time: Digital Molecular Matter (DMM), by Pixelux Entertainment, and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd. Paired with the powerful Havok Physics? system, these new technologies create gameplay only possible on the new generation of consoles. DMM incorporates the physical properties of anything in the environment so that everything reacts exactly like it should - wood breaks like wood, glass shatters like glass, plants on the planet Felucia bend like plants on the planet Felucia would, and more. Meanwhile, as a revolutionary behavioral-simulation engine, euphoria enables interactive characters to move, act and even think like actual human beings, adapting their behavior on the fly and resulting in a different payoff every single time.
Game Features:- During the period between Episodes III and IV, players hunt Jedi in the role of Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice.
- Unleash and upgrade the Secret Apprentice's four core Force powers - Force push, grip, repulse and lightning - throughout the course of the game, and combine them for ultra-destructive, never-before-seen combos.
- Examples of unleashing the Force in ways never thought possible:
- The Secret Apprentice won't just Force push enemies into walls - he'll Force push enemies through walls.
- The Secret Apprentice won't just Force grip foes to throw them aside - he'll Force grip them in midair, zap them with lightning, then drop them to the ground to explode like a bomb.
- In addition to new adversaries created just for the game, such as fugitive Jedi and Force-sensitive Felucians, players will also confront and associate with familiar faces from the Star Wars films, including Darth Vader.
- Visit locations such as Episode III's Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk and the floral Felucia, the junk planet Raxus Prime, plus an Imperial TIE fighter construction facility.
- The Force Unleashed is LucasArts' first internally developed title for next-generation consoles, and it represents the first in-game collaboration of talents and technology between LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic, two companies now finally under one roof at the new Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco's Presidio district.
- The Force Unleashed debuts Digital Molecular Matter from Pixelux and euphoria behavioral simulation from NaturalMotion Ltd.
- LucasArts is preparing an unprecedented promotional effort around the launch of The Force Unleashed, encompassing a full line of toys and game-based action figures from Hasbro, as well as a full publishing program from Dark Horse, Del Rey and Palace Press.
Meet the Cast
The Star Wars Saga will continue in 2008 with LucasArts' biggest-ever video game event. Set during the "dark times" between Episodes III and IV, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed portrays the previously untold story of Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice -- and now you can put a face to that mysterious character as well as the major supporting cast members as LucasArts unveils the actors set to star in The Force Unleashed. The New Technology of The Force Unleashed
With The Force Unleashed, LucasArts not only introduces a new chapter in the Star Wars saga, but also two completely new and innovative technologies -- Digital Molecular Matter by Pixelux Entertainment and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd. These groundbreaking technologies combine with Havoc physics to create true next-gen gameplay and the Force like it's never been seen or experienced before.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 87 more reviews...
 Another could have been great if .... October 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This game was a great Star Wars experience with too many moments of excruciating game play frustration. If it wasn't for the story cliff hangers to keep me going, I would have walked away from this game several times. Too many times I wanted to throw my controller. I would only recommend this game to a Star Wars fan. Assassins Creed had the sword fighting mechanic down perfect for me.
The good: The art direction was great. The levels were dramatic and captured the Stars Wars atmosphere beautifully. The story was good and I enjoyed all the cut scenes. The QuickTime events were over-the-top once I could stop staring what button to press and actually watch it. Some the battles you get into are extremely fun when you can pull off some combos and use the light saber. The mini-boss fights were some of the favorite battles for me.
The bad: The game play was enjoyable only about 60% of the time. It seemed to me that the actual game play was an add-on to the story/movie portions. The 40% part was frequently a tedious exercise in frustration. Why?
1.Targeting, especially in a short range fight. It always picks some piece of junk instead of the enemy that your fighting or one that is about to attack you.
2.Most of the levels, while beautiful, are just boxes. When they have an unfair amount of enemies/snipers so you end up using "glitch" behavior to get through them. There is no strategy only your ability to quickly kill them off to build your health faster than they can wear it down. Too much luck involved for survival.
3.Once you get knocked down every enemy hits you just as you about to stand and you are soon dead. The sequence timing is terrible.
4.Many times you re-spawn in front of enemies without your light saber ready. They get a couple shots in at you before you can defend yourself.
5. The end-boss Jedi fights are in an exercise in tedium and frustration. I cruise along having a good time and then the end boss battle shows up and ruins everything. These should be the best and they are NOT. The fixed camera approach is terrible. The QuickTime events are the only good thing.
6.Too many combos to remember and there is a long learning curve for the appropriate situation for many of them because you just use the ones that work for you. Rinse repeat.
7.Looking for holicrons etc around the level is lame.
8.Not enough save points.
In summary this game is similar to Bioshock for me. Good story, beautiful design, and a variety of tools to fight with. It has many unique and enjoyable small events, but Jedi fails in the big picture - game play. I can't believe all these frustrations got by their game testers or they ignored them.
I did finish it and I am working on the second try at the highest difficulty to see how more effective I can be with my fighting style and to pick up things I missed first time through. The only reason I continue to play is that there are not any other game out that interest me.
 Why Wasn't This Game Made Into A Star Wars Movie? October 5, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
George Lucas had a chance to make more money out of "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" and he blew it. I know he's going to make millions of dollars off this game now, but I think he could of easily made millions more by making this game into a Star Wars movie. When I was playing this game, I kept asking myself why wasn't this game made into a movie? This game has I think one of the best story lines out of all of the Star Wars plots and it should of been made into a movie. What was George Lucas thinking?
The game itself is pretty awesome. The graphics are great. Using the Force and my light saber are a lot of fun. Actually I wasn't sure if I would like playing the game. I'm used to playing FPS (First Person Shooters) and I like a weapon like a gun or a blaster in my hand. But it turns out once I got used to the controls this game turned out to be pretty fun.
It is so much fun to use the Force on different things especially Imperial Stormtroopers. I can't tell you how many times I've used the Force to pick up a Stormtrooper and toss him up into the air and then watch him grab a nearby Stormtrooper and pull him up into the air too and then toss both of them across a room or across the sky. Sometimes I would pick up a Stormtrooper with the Force and toss him into a group of Stormtroopers who were standing behind him. It sort of reminds me of bowling. If I came to a door I couldn't open, I would use the Force to force it open then I would slide through the opening. I would also use the Force to toss objects at Stormtroopers or creatures that were in my way.
All the great stuff from Star Wars is in this game. There were so many parts of the game where I just had to just stop and look at the surrounding scenery with awe. The music is just great throughout the game. It's typical Star Wars music. There are so many cool creatures and so many different environments to look at throughout the game.
I can already tell that the two new technologies, Digital Molecular Matter and euphoria combined with Havoc physics will definitely be used by a lot of new games in the future.
I think this game is awesome. I would highly recommend to go out and buy this game. The Force is strong with this game.
 The Forced Release October 5, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm really sorry I decided to purchase this one. Right now, I'm not even sure if I'd recommend renting it. It's one of the worst Star Wars games ever. The Force Unleashed is defiantly not the game I thought it would be after playing through the demo.
The least LucasArts could have done was to play the game themselves before shipping it to the public. It should have been better tested and debugged. There are too many glitches to distract from the game. I've been stuck and forced to restart the game numerous times so far. And when I say stuck, I mean really stuck. Like I couldn't make my character walk or move at all. Or Kazdan would just sit there and not attack while I could not damage him, despite my hitting him. Or the inconsistent HP system, where damage is assigned in a very unusual way. Sometimes a fierce light saber combo would do almost 0 damage to a boss, other times a single swash of the saber would do significant damage to the same boss in very similar circumstances. And I'm not talking about him blocking my attack.
The levels are too easy to walk through, with unexciting and fairly boring boss battles. I did not find much cohesion to the game at all. It just felt like a bunch of Star Wars references thrown into a game with bits of a decent storyline to glue the whole thing together.
The game save system is not too good either. You are limited to check points instead of having the ability to strategically save anytime. There were some points in the game where my progress was saved right before a cut-scene that could not be skipped. Yup, I had to watch this scene every time I died on this difficult part of the last level.
I am very disappointed with the sad Star Wars games we have been given these last few years. After playing good games like KOTOR, Jedi Knight 2 or even Republic Commando, The Force Unleashed was a BIG disappointment. I know I'm just dreaming now, but a full rebuild of the original X-Wing would be sweet and probably fun too.
To sum it all up, this game could have used an additional 3 to 6 months of development time before they shipped it out to the public. It could have been a great Christmas release instead of this terrible end of summer dud. Seems like Lucas Arts is suffering from the same sort of issues as EA. Previously, a great game company that doesn't seem to care much about the quality or fun factor of the games they release.
The Force Could Have Been Much Stronger... October 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The concept behind The Force Unleashed is outstanding.
Play an action game as a sith under Darth Vader and hunt down Jedi.
However, there are quite a few bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay.
STORY 9/10
The game takes place between the two trilogies. You are Starkiller and you're Darth Vader's apprentice. You begin the game hunting Jedi, trying to prove yourself to Lord Vader. Once you earn his trust, he sends you on an important mission for the Empire. At your disposal is a small crew. A sexy pilot named Juno Eclipse and a droid named PROXY, who uses holograms to transform himself into other characters when they contact you. Complete with twists and character development, this is the best Star Wars story since The Empire Strikes Back.
GAMEPLAY 6/10
Starkiller has some amazing force powers. Force Grab, Lightning, Lightning Shield, Lightsaber Throw, and lots of melee attacks. Defensively, he can dash, jump, block, and counter attack. The Powers are great!
However, the enemy AI is pretty bad. Lots of times, they just stand there. The control scheme is ok, but locking onto an object or enemy is broken. Many times, you grab the wrong enemy or object. MANY TIMES!!! This is frustrating.
The Bosses... if you don't play the way the designers want you to play, you die. This is frustrating and very unfortunate.
The Levels... Some of the levels are great, while others don't work with the camera at all. The camera in general is bad, but levels 3 and 9 really show how bad it is. You can expect to die a lot from enemies standing right next to you, that you never saw.
Sub-Bosses. You can finish them off with a press the right button when we tell you - mini-game. However, you don't know when the mini-game starts, so a good deal of the time, you're mid combo on an enemy and the game decides that you missed the first button press. In God of War, the Player initiates the mini-game. In this game... good luck!
ART 8/10
The level artwork, character art, and effects are all great! Some of the levels look better than anything seen in the movies.
SOUND 10/10
Complete with the Star Wars soundtrack and sound effects that all the fans love.
INTERFACE 1/10
They're awful, clunky, slow, they load in... they even manage to take the fun out of leveling up. Also, at no point is a complete list of moves available to the player. You have to click on each move and read the button presses one at a time. Then back out of that screen and go to the next move.
Overall, I gave the game 4 Stars. If you're a Star Wars fan, you should like this game. It could have been a 5 out of 5, if the game wasn't so buggy. The concept is awesome, the powers are great, the scenarios are great, and the story is great. However, the execution ranges from good to poor. You'll have fun about 70% of the time and be frustrated 30%. The game is about 10 hours long. 1 hour of great story, 6 hours of fun gameplay, 3 hours of turd-dom.
You can replay the game again on different difficulty levels and keep all of the powers that you earned in your first playthrough. Aside from collecting light saber crystals and xbox live achievements, there's no reason to replay it.
It's a good rental!
Does what it does best, but tries to be more than it should be... October 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a fan of the Star Wars series, and Star Wars Battlefront games, I was incredibly excited when I heard/saw things about this game.
When this game does what it does best, this game is incredibly fun. These things include:
-Insanely fun force powers...this part of the game peaks midway, when your force powers increase, but your enemies are still gaining strength.
-Jedi boss battles.
-Great storyline.
However, if it stuck to these things, I'd give it a 5-star rating. However, it tried to vary the gameplay (and failed) in the following areas:
-Zelda-esque puzzles...accomplished in sub-Zelda style.
-Voice-acting...it didn't sound like Jimmy Smits, Carrie Fisher, or James Earl Jones.
Beyond that, a few thoughts:
-Great insight into the period between episode III and IV.
-A lot of fun playing as a Sith Apprentice.
-***You can punt Jawas!!!***
Unfortunately,
-You can't punt (or even kill) those irritating Ewoks
-Enemies become insanely strong as you gain force powers. I mean, REALLY, the empire as troops who are immune to your force attacks?!?! When Vader is "all that's left of their religion"?!?! They spend money to defend against the Jedi...who are apparently extinct intheir mind?
-Way too short.
-No online
In summation, they needed to make it longer, and focus on action.
However, I don't regret the purchase. My friends and I had 2 evenings of great fun playing this (along with a little frustration).
4 out of 5.
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