Star Wars: The Force Unleashed tells the story of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice and is set between Star Wars episodes III and IV. At the beginning of the game Vader find a young boy and obviously spots some potential in him, so off they go to Vader’s place of residence and a lucrative career in the dark side begins. Fast Forward a few years and it’s time for the apprentice to become a man, so plotting with Vader they decide they are going to take the emperor down, however first he must prove his worth by killing some Jedi and this is where the story really begins. 

The main area of the game is the combat and here you can really get used to your new found force skills, lifting enemies up with a press of the trigger button and then throwing them across the room really is quite therapeutic, you also have other nifty attacks such as force lighting, which sees bolts of lightning emerge from your fingertips and stun all in your path, and of course you can still use the lightsaber too if you desire to do so. The more style you use in disposing of enemies the more experience you will earn, and this in turn will unlock even more types of attacks. Earning experience will eventually see your character increase in level which in turn allows you to increase the efficiency of his attacks in any way you choose to do so, therefore if you prefer his lighting attacks to his Force Levitation then you can assign the points simply by pressing the start button.  

 

Defeating enemies in the Force Unleashed requires more than just pounding the attack button, sure most of the grunts can be defeated in this way, however larger creatures for example will have to be stunned by electricity before you can take their health down, before finishing them off by following the on screen button prompts. Most of the time, especially in the latter levels the screen can become very crowded, with fire coming from all directions, this usually results in your character having to get up off his backside a lot, however with a bit of tactical thought, you can usually fight your way through the hordes and onto the next stage.  

 

The boss battles offer a nice change from pounding your way through the various other enemies spread throughout the levels, though there is a slight problem here in that there is no real pattern to the way they attack, what this means is that there is no point when you know for sure that you will be able to get a hit in. Personally I have found that using your lighting and then attacking with your lightsaber was the best tactic to use against the bosses, however this tactic didn’t work so much later in the game, so using a combination of the skills you have learnt is a much better way to win here.  

 

Throughout each level there are plenty of collectables to be found, these range from limited boosts such as invincibility and unlimited energy to different powers and colours for your lightsaber. These collectables can certainly help you when the going gets tough, plus it’s always nice to change the colour of your lightsaber now and again.  

 

The levels themselves are quite varied, starting from the Tie Factory which just sees you fight your way through the level destroying everything in your path, you then progress through to the Junk Yard and although there is some fighting involved here it is more about using you force powers to manipulate the junk and make a pathway to the other side, be warned though one slip here and you will fall to your untimely end. Some of the other levels see you fighting in the belly of a beast and trying to take down a Star Destroyer, which is a real challenge and proves that there is more to this game than combat, and eventually you end up in the Death Star where the game all comes to a rather nice climatic end. 

Unfortunately the game isn’t perfect mainly due to the way the camera works, there was a few times during gameplay were the angle of the action was really off, in fact sometime I couldn’t even see what my character was doing, while other times I got stuck in a corner and therefore all of his health drained causing me to have to start the level again. It’s a real pity because otherwise I would find it quite hard to pick any other flaws with the game.  

 

The presentation in The Force Unleashed truly is top notch, the cinematics and voice acting during the cut scenes are excellent and really makes you care about the story you are involved in. This to me is why this game stands apart from many others, it has a fantastic story which is presented in a way that puts many movies to shame and this alone is a reason to buy the game, especially if you are a Star Wars fan.