Star Wars: Force Unleashed
The Force Unleashed is one of the last Star Wars games to be developed by the folks at Lucasarts before they ceased operations in 2013. It had fairly big ambitions at the time, wanting to provide players the ultimate experience at being Darth Vader’s personal assassin with incredible Force powers while also bridging the two trilogies together and giving an origin story for the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Civil War. The story is solid and well told, evoking the classic feel of the franchise with its characters and settings. Starkiller ends up being a compelling protagonist, and the back and forth between his droid PROXY and Jedi Master Kota is plenty fun.
Gameplay is where things aren’t entirely as solid. Yes, unleashing the Force on stormtroopers with telekinesis, Force blasts, lightning, and your lightsaber is plenty damn fun, no doubt about it. It’s just fun to blast someone and break their spine while filling three other dudes with lightning before slicing them to little meaty bits. But the game has a nasty habit of sometimes swarming enemies at you, and combined with the uneven targeting, it can be a grind at times. The game also unfortunately recycles environments about halfway through, and the big showcase moment of bringing down a Star Destroyer ends up being more trouble than cool. Unleashed is a fun game, but it’s maybe not entirely deserving of its title.
