Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed:

Today, we're playing a Star Wars games that utilizes a number of different engines to calculate a variety of different tasks. Yesterday, we were playing a mixture of God awful games like Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi and Star Wars: Obi-Wan, or superb games like X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter and Knights of the Old Republic. There once was a time when a lot of Star Wars games just weren't any good. There were the occasional blips on the radar ages ago, but the majority of Star Wars videogames weren't received very well; some in fact, have appeared in "Worst Ever" lists, such as Teras Kasi. Off the bat, it's worthy to mention that Force Unleashed is not a bad game. On the other hand, it's a rather decent Star Wars title. It boasts some pretty impressive gameplay mechanics that really make you feel like you're part of the dark side, or that you really are part of the Star Wars universe. Having force powers such as the ability to Force Grip, Force Lightning, Force Dash, and Force Push is what Star Wars games should've had long ago. These abilities allow your character, the Apprentice, to feel like a proper and complete fighter. Star Wars fans should know what these abilities do, but in case you need a crash course: the Force Grip is the same telekinetic move that Darth Vader has, allowing the player to grab objects or people. You'll be able to use the Force Grip to pick up and throw objects, enemies, open doors, and so on. Force Lightning is precisely as it sounds, it allows the player to expel a wave of lightning as an attack. The Force Push allows the player to release a burst of energy as an attack, or as a means of breaking down obstacles. The Force Repulse is a stronger version of the Force Push, as it unleashes a blast of energy from all around the player, and not just forwards. Lastly, the Force Dash is a simple quick burst of speed forwards. When you're not using your limited Force powers, you'll largely engage in melee combat with your Light Saber. The Light Saber allows for various combos, which you'll be able to gain more of as the game continues, and will be your primary means of recourse. Now, the combat is directly involved with the engines running in the game, as the have a direct effect on the action. First, there's the Digital Molecular Matter system, which makes physical objects in the environment act as they would in real-life, under various conditions. For instance, wood will crack like wood should, and glass will shatter appropriately, as opposed to all of that just being pre-determined.

The Euphoria system by NaturalMotion is what LucasArts calls a "behavioral-simulation engine." In other words, the characters you interact with will act, move, and even think like human beings. The point is so that they come off feeling as realistic as possible, and adapt their behavior on the fly. All of this is then sealed with Havok's physics engine. So you'd imagine with all of that flare powering the game, you'd be looking at a Triple-A title, right?Well, when you've got the combat abilities down and actually begin to engage, things don't seem to hold up quite as well as expected. For one, the first immediate problem I noticed is that if you're using the Force Grip, you can't move your player. It'd have been nice for LucasArts to at least let you walk slowly, otherwise, you end up a sitting duck for attacks from all around you. Second, melee combat doesn't feel fluid; going back and forth between Devil May Cry and Force Unleashed makes that much more apparent. You simply never feel like you're in total control over your character, as the actions feel sloppy, lacking precision and fluidity.Today, we're playing a Star Wars games that utilizes a number of different engines to calculate a variety of different tasks. Yesterday, we were playing a mixture of God awful games like Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi and Star Wars: Obi-Wan, or superb games like X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter and Knights of the Old Republic.