Previews

"You don't know the power of the Mark side!"

'The Force Unleashed is a game about the Force', begins Activision's James Cathcart, 'This isn't purely about fighting with a lightsaber. It's designed to be exactly what the name says – a complete re-imagining of what the Force can do'.

He's not kidding. From the moment Lucasarts released the first video of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – showing a mysterious cloaked figure using the Force to bring down a hulking Imperial Star Destroyer – fans have marvelled at the possibility of wielding a power even Jedi Master Yoda himself could only dream of.

Dark Side abandon

The Force Unleashed doesn't start you out quite that powerful, but it certainly still makes good on its name. Giving you control of the saga's iconic villain, Darth Vader, you're soon striding imperiously across the spectacular-looking walkways of the Wookie homeworld Kashyyyk, wielding the Force to obliterate enormous gates, picking up boulders with a press of a button and slinging the planet's furball inhabitants casually to their doom with reckless Dark Side abandon. It's very, very good to be bad.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed takes place between the two film trilogies, in a time when the few remaining Jedi are scattered across the galaxy, hunted by the evil Galactic Empire, headed by Vader's master, the tyrannical Darth Sidious. The thing about the Sith, though, is that they always betray each other. So when Vader ends the level by finding a small boy with extraordinary Force powers, the besuited Sith takes the kid for his own, deciding to train little Starkiller as his Secret Apprentice in a bid to eventually overthrow the Emperor.

Fast forward a decade and the boy has become a man – and developed considerable power with the Dark Side of the Force. And so Vader decides to send him on his first of many tests – and the first of the game's many levels as the Secret Apprentice.

Secret Sith slaughter

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed begins proper in a Tie Fighter Manufacturing Facility overrun by Rebel troops, lead by the Jedi General Kota. As Vader's Dark Side minion, it's your job to take him out. Being a secret Sith, however, you have to slaughter everyone else in the factory too. Rebels, Stormtroopers; none can be left alive to tell of your exploits.

This provides your first chance to test out the Apprentice's own considerable Force prowess; and it's an utter joy to behold. Unlike the lumbering Vader, Starkiller sprints, leaps and quick-dashes (both on the ground and mid-air) energetically, but like his master he can bend steel doors with a swift Force Push, as well as pick up highlighted objects with the R Trigger Force Grip ability.

It's Force Grip that captures the imagination, especially when you run into your first batch of Stormtroopers. Pick them up, wave them around and they'll flail in comic fashion, scrambling desperately to find a purchase on something and even latching onto their comrades in their futile struggle to stay alive. It's perfectly conceivable to have several of them, all dangling daisy-chain-style over a precipice, and you'll laugh manically when you float them into the path of an oncoming Tie Fighter. This sandbox factor alone will delight Star Wars fans.

Old-skool design

And yet, The Force Unleashed also boasts a remarkably deep combat system. With unlockable Force powers like lightsaber throws, Lightning, Repulse and numerous saber combos (as well as novel costumes and blade colours to unlock), there's a world of choice. Linear and combat-driven as it is, The Force Unleashed ends up playing like a Star Wars take on Ninja Gaiden, with the wide variety of weapon styles replaced by a huge degree of choice in the way you use the Force.

It's an old-skool way of designing a game, which climaxes perfectly with each end-of-level boss battle. The first as the Apprentice sees you battling Kota in a room reminiscent of the location for the Count Dooku lightsaber duel in Revenge of the Sith, and proves an epic conflict with lightning-fast lightsaber parries, Force-powered projectiles and a spectacular QTE finish. It's a true fan service, this; there's never been a game that's made you feel like a Jedi in quite the way The Force Unleashed does.

And Kota is just the beginning. We played another two levels after that; the junk planet Raxus Prime and the colourful vegetative world Felucia – each with completely contrasting, but equally beautiful detail and their own iconic enemies, from cobbled-together junk monsters to colourful Rancors; culminating in increasingly tricky Jedi battles that really push your ever-growing arsenal of Force abilities.

Much has been said of The Force Unleashed being 'the greatest Star Wars game ever'. To fans that played Knights of The Old Republic that will seem a tough ask, but this is undoubtedly the most empowering, as well as visually astounding title that the series has yet seen. Add that to a compelling, twisty-turny story too, and Star Wars fans have every reason to be excited about unleashing the Force in just a few short weeks.

Preview by: Mark 'Sithspawn' Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Preview Published: 05.09.09