Pre-E3 2008: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Hands-on
july 1, 2008 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has long held promises of grand technology that would help bring the Star Wars universe, and indeed the Force, to gamers like we've never seen before. I'd seen the game a number of times at various presentations, but without having actually played the game myself, I was always wondering whether the technology would hold up and offer gamers something more than a tech demo. After playing through a few levels of The Force Unleashed last week, it appears that LucasArts may indeed deliver on its promise and give us a new look at the Force like we've never experienced.
Though Vader's secret apprentice will serve as your persona throughout the bulk of the game, you begin The Force Unleashed as the Sith Lord himself on a mission to Kashyyyk in search of a rogue Jedi. At this point in the Star Wars timeline, situated between episodes III and IV, Vader has taken it upon himself to scour the universe and wipe out the remaining Jedi, and his prey at the start of the game has taken up residence on the Wookiee home world.
Vader is a badass, and a badass never runs. Indeed, Vader's assault through the treetop huts and bridges of Kashyyyk is slow and paced, with him walking confidently as his cape blows behind him, but also incredibly deadly. Though Vader's lightsaber makes quick work of the Wookiee soldiers, it's his Force powers that make him unstoppable. Lifting enemies into the air with a Force grab is immensely rewarding and offers you plenty of options. You can toss enemies off the side of a bridge to the ground below, slam them into a tree or other object, or toss them into other furry soldiers. Or should you wish to make an example of a particular Wookiee, you can lift him up, impale him with your lightsaber, and then throw his body into whatever happens to be the nearest and hardest object.
From the start, it's immediately evident that the control setup is put together in a way that allows you work with both your lightsaber and Force powers in a very smooth and cohesive manner. Two face buttons work your saber with quick and heavy attacks, while another unleashes a Force push, which is an incredibly effective way of finishing off a lightsaber combo. The right trigger makes use of the Force grab (releasing it then uses Force push), while the left trigger acts as a modifier for Force powers. For example, holding the left trigger while enacting a Force push will unleash an area push, shoving everything around you away from you, while using the left trigger with a lightsaber attack button will perform a lightsaber throw.
Even layers of fur can't help you.
The cool bit about the lightsaber combat system is that while you can quickly mash on buttons to dispose of an enemy, steady and timed presses will reward you with better combos. It's an interesting system that isn't apparent at the start, but once you start experimenting with it, you'll wind up finishing off enemies with a few more twists and slashes from your trusty saber.
Running (or, that is, walking) around Kashyyyk and killing everyone in sight gives you a good glimpse at the euphoria and DMM technology in the game. Throwing a Wookiee into a large tree will crack and splinter it, with successive tosses of hapless furballs eventually break the mass free from its roots and topple it over, which takes out anything that happens to be below it. Boxes, barricades and other bits of cover can be Force grabbed or pushed and tossed out of the way.
In the context of Kashyyyk, some of the physics here look a little floaty at this point. Trees and other large masses don't seem to fall and react to the ground a whole lot differently than lighter objects, making them appear a little more bouncy than they probably should be. However, once you're past Kashyyyk and make your way into the TIE fighter factory (the game's second level), things look and feel a little better in terms of their surroundings.
Attempting to remain as spoiler-free as possible, we'll just say that Kashyyyk ends with Vader meeting the soon-to-be apprentice for the first time. The way the story is set up makes a whole lot of sense in the scheme of things, and the beginning at least ties very nicely into the Star Wars universe. In other words, it makes perfect sense that Vader would pick this guy to be his apprentice, and their meeting paves the way for the secret apprentice's rather downtrodden look and demeanor that we've seen in the trailers and such.
Skipping ahead a bit in time until the apprentice has learned the ropes and Vader has been sending him out on assassination missions for some time, the second level gives you full reign over the secret apprentice in a TIE fighter factory. General Kota, one of the few surviving Jedi in the galaxy, has been spotted at the factory, so Vader sends his apprentice to dispatch the usually underground Jedi.
The secret apprentice is, well, a secret, and Vader instructs him to allow no one to know of his presence. That doesn't mean he's supposed to pull a Solid Snake and go unseen, but rather to kill everyone in sight and leave no witnesses, stormtrooper or otherwise.
This sets up an interesting mix in that the stormtroopers and other Imperial soldiers will be fighting against the Rebel alliance in many spots of the game, but you're essentially on neither side. So when you enter a new area, you can let the two sides fight things out amongst themselves for a while if you wish and then swoop in to finish off the remains. This is evidenced in one section where you have to fight an AT-ST that's in the midst of pummeling some heavily armed Rebel scum when you come upon it. You can jump right into the action, but then you'll have to deal with both the AT-ST and the Rebels at once. Letting them fight for a few moments first will not only weaken the soldier count but will also pit you against a weakened AT-ST.
The secret apprentice's powers are strong, if not entirely precise.
The bulk of the TIE fighter factory has you running through and fighting in giant hangers with soldiers everywhere. Sequences like this serve to quickly show off the differences between Vader and the apprentice. While Vader was extremely powerful but slow, the apprentice is extremely quick but without quite as many tricks up his sleeve. Tapping a shoulder button has him perform a quick charge, which is useful even in the air to immediately close in on enemies to take them out before they can hit you with a barrage of laser fire.
While the apprentice doesn't start with as many powers as Vader, his abilities can be upgraded over the course of the game. You'll earn Force Points for killing enemies, with more points coming for inventive kills. Force Points work to gain you new levels, and each new level gives you a certain number of skill points that you can use to upgrade your move set, Force powers and overall skills like your maximum health or Force recharge time. Along with these skills, you can also upgrade your lightsaber by collecting various crystals in the game that change not only the color of your blade but its abilities as well.
As you'd expect, the TIE fighter factory ends with a boss battle against General Kota. While the main games uses a standard following camera situated behind your character, boss fights will use an "arena cam" that's set at a fixed point and will follow you and zoom in when you get close to the boss. It sounds odd, but it works in that it allows you to make better use of your environment and to track the boss' movements when you're moving away from him (or it).
The fight against Kota is fairly awesome in that you start out fighting in what looks like a cross between a control room and an observatory that overlooks the planet below. There are windows running on the outside of the room and on the ceiling, with a handful of platforms in the room. After fighting for a bit, Kota steps back and acknowledges that you're more powerful than he expected but that you won't catch him. He then proceeds to use the Force to dislodge the entire room from the factory, sending it hurling into the planet's atmosphere upside down. You're now fighting on what was the roof and can see the planet rushing up to you below. As you begin to enter the planet's atmosphere, the floor begins to heat up and melt, and you're forced to take higher ground to finish the fight. Were this scene in one of the prequels, it almost certainly would have been the highlight of the three films.
One of the most satisfying aspects of the Force Unleashed is how well the Force powers and combat work together, and how quickly you can tear up an area by combining all of your abilities. If troops are taking cover behind something, you can Force grip it and yank their cover away from them or Force push it and knock them all out in one blow. One thing that could still use a little work at this point however is the targeting system for Force grip (or even Force push, for that matter). Because there can be a ton of objects around at any given time, and Force grip only grabs one object at a time, you'll need to be careful to hone in on exactly what it is that you want to grab. More than once, I found myself grabbing a random object when I meant to grab a soldier. It got easier as my time with the game went on; I just relied more on the chaos factor than pure precision (which apparently plays into the apprentice's raw but unrefined power anyway).
You'll be able to gain powers like Force lightning later in the game.
The Force Unleashed is looking really solid at this point and should do well to give players a cool Star Wars sandbox to run around and destroy stuff in. The game is set for release on September 16th.
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july 1, 2008 - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has long held promises of grand technology that would help bring the Star Wars universe, and indeed the Force, to gamers like we've never seen before. I'd seen the game a number of times at various presentations, but without having actually played the game myself, I was always wondering whether the technology would hold up and offer gamers something more than a tech demo. After playing through a few levels of The Force Unleashed last week, it appears that LucasArts may indeed deliver on its promise and give us a new look at the Force like we've never experienced.
Though Vader's secret apprentice will serve as your persona throughout the bulk of the game, you begin The Force Unleashed as the Sith Lord himself on a mission to Kashyyyk in search of a rogue Jedi. At this point in the Star Wars timeline, situated between episodes III and IV, Vader has taken it upon himself to scour the universe and wipe out the remaining Jedi, and his prey at the start of the game has taken up residence on the Wookiee home world.
Vader is a badass, and a badass never runs. Indeed, Vader's assault through the treetop huts and bridges of Kashyyyk is slow and paced, with him walking confidently as his cape blows behind him, but also incredibly deadly. Though Vader's lightsaber makes quick work of the Wookiee soldiers, it's his Force powers that make him unstoppable. Lifting enemies into the air with a Force grab is immensely rewarding and offers you plenty of options. You can toss enemies off the side of a bridge to the ground below, slam them into a tree or other object, or toss them into other furry soldiers. Or should you wish to make an example of a particular Wookiee, you can lift him up, impale him with your lightsaber, and then throw his body into whatever happens to be the nearest and hardest object.
From the start, it's immediately evident that the control setup is put together in a way that allows you work with both your lightsaber and Force powers in a very smooth and cohesive manner. Two face buttons work your saber with quick and heavy attacks, while another unleashes a Force push, which is an incredibly effective way of finishing off a lightsaber combo. The right trigger makes use of the Force grab (releasing it then uses Force push), while the left trigger acts as a modifier for Force powers. For example, holding the left trigger while enacting a Force push will unleash an area push, shoving everything around you away from you, while using the left trigger with a lightsaber attack button will perform a lightsaber throw.
Even layers of fur can't help you.
The cool bit about the lightsaber combat system is that while you can quickly mash on buttons to dispose of an enemy, steady and timed presses will reward you with better combos. It's an interesting system that isn't apparent at the start, but once you start experimenting with it, you'll wind up finishing off enemies with a few more twists and slashes from your trusty saber.
Running (or, that is, walking) around Kashyyyk and killing everyone in sight gives you a good glimpse at the euphoria and DMM technology in the game. Throwing a Wookiee into a large tree will crack and splinter it, with successive tosses of hapless furballs eventually break the mass free from its roots and topple it over, which takes out anything that happens to be below it. Boxes, barricades and other bits of cover can be Force grabbed or pushed and tossed out of the way.
In the context of Kashyyyk, some of the physics here look a little floaty at this point. Trees and other large masses don't seem to fall and react to the ground a whole lot differently than lighter objects, making them appear a little more bouncy than they probably should be. However, once you're past Kashyyyk and make your way into the TIE fighter factory (the game's second level), things look and feel a little better in terms of their surroundings.
Attempting to remain as spoiler-free as possible, we'll just say that Kashyyyk ends with Vader meeting the soon-to-be apprentice for the first time. The way the story is set up makes a whole lot of sense in the scheme of things, and the beginning at least ties very nicely into the Star Wars universe. In other words, it makes perfect sense that Vader would pick this guy to be his apprentice, and their meeting paves the way for the secret apprentice's rather downtrodden look and demeanor that we've seen in the trailers and such.
Skipping ahead a bit in time until the apprentice has learned the ropes and Vader has been sending him out on assassination missions for some time, the second level gives you full reign over the secret apprentice in a TIE fighter factory. General Kota, one of the few surviving Jedi in the galaxy, has been spotted at the factory, so Vader sends his apprentice to dispatch the usually underground Jedi.
The secret apprentice is, well, a secret, and Vader instructs him to allow no one to know of his presence. That doesn't mean he's supposed to pull a Solid Snake and go unseen, but rather to kill everyone in sight and leave no witnesses, stormtrooper or otherwise.
This sets up an interesting mix in that the stormtroopers and other Imperial soldiers will be fighting against the Rebel alliance in many spots of the game, but you're essentially on neither side. So when you enter a new area, you can let the two sides fight things out amongst themselves for a while if you wish and then swoop in to finish off the remains. This is evidenced in one section where you have to fight an AT-ST that's in the midst of pummeling some heavily armed Rebel scum when you come upon it. You can jump right into the action, but then you'll have to deal with both the AT-ST and the Rebels at once. Letting them fight for a few moments first will not only weaken the soldier count but will also pit you against a weakened AT-ST.
The secret apprentice's powers are strong, if not entirely precise.
The bulk of the TIE fighter factory has you running through and fighting in giant hangers with soldiers everywhere. Sequences like this serve to quickly show off the differences between Vader and the apprentice. While Vader was extremely powerful but slow, the apprentice is extremely quick but without quite as many tricks up his sleeve. Tapping a shoulder button has him perform a quick charge, which is useful even in the air to immediately close in on enemies to take them out before they can hit you with a barrage of laser fire.
While the apprentice doesn't start with as many powers as Vader, his abilities can be upgraded over the course of the game. You'll earn Force Points for killing enemies, with more points coming for inventive kills. Force Points work to gain you new levels, and each new level gives you a certain number of skill points that you can use to upgrade your move set, Force powers and overall skills like your maximum health or Force recharge time. Along with these skills, you can also upgrade your lightsaber by collecting various crystals in the game that change not only the color of your blade but its abilities as well.
As you'd expect, the TIE fighter factory ends with a boss battle against General Kota. While the main games uses a standard following camera situated behind your character, boss fights will use an "arena cam" that's set at a fixed point and will follow you and zoom in when you get close to the boss. It sounds odd, but it works in that it allows you to make better use of your environment and to track the boss' movements when you're moving away from him (or it).
The fight against Kota is fairly awesome in that you start out fighting in what looks like a cross between a control room and an observatory that overlooks the planet below. There are windows running on the outside of the room and on the ceiling, with a handful of platforms in the room. After fighting for a bit, Kota steps back and acknowledges that you're more powerful than he expected but that you won't catch him. He then proceeds to use the Force to dislodge the entire room from the factory, sending it hurling into the planet's atmosphere upside down. You're now fighting on what was the roof and can see the planet rushing up to you below. As you begin to enter the planet's atmosphere, the floor begins to heat up and melt, and you're forced to take higher ground to finish the fight. Were this scene in one of the prequels, it almost certainly would have been the highlight of the three films.
One of the most satisfying aspects of the Force Unleashed is how well the Force powers and combat work together, and how quickly you can tear up an area by combining all of your abilities. If troops are taking cover behind something, you can Force grip it and yank their cover away from them or Force push it and knock them all out in one blow. One thing that could still use a little work at this point however is the targeting system for Force grip (or even Force push, for that matter). Because there can be a ton of objects around at any given time, and Force grip only grabs one object at a time, you'll need to be careful to hone in on exactly what it is that you want to grab. More than once, I found myself grabbing a random object when I meant to grab a soldier. It got easier as my time with the game went on; I just relied more on the chaos factor than pure precision (which apparently plays into the apprentice's raw but unrefined power anyway).
You'll be able to gain powers like Force lightning later in the game.
The Force Unleashed is looking really solid at this point and should do well to give players a cool Star Wars sandbox to run around and destroy stuff in. The game is set for release on September 16th.
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