Star Wars: Force Unleashed (X360 & PS3)

Zardon

Read The Review Here
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The Force Unleashed is a new title from LucasArts based on the immensely popular Star Wars franchise. There has been much hype around this game as it is based on Naturalmotions’s Euphoria engine and features technological highlights such as Digital Molecular Matter.

Cannyone

Hmmmm......???

Why is it that every review mentions "issues with targeting"? The way it's done seems perfectly reasonable to me. You target what your character is facing. Now if you have trouble keeping up with how your perspective is lined up, that isn't totally a game malfunction. I think your expectations are just too high. And besides, you don't always have enough energy to able to constantly use your force powers. That's WHY you have a Light Sabre! Also I have to opine that this game is not just about "Force Powers", the light sabre combos are also very cool. So when you get caught up in the deficiencies of that one aspect, you fail to be truly objective in your evaluation.

The "tearing" you mention on the Xbox is probably an artifact that is related to the LCD display you're using. I've been playing on a Plasma and I haven't seen this happen. I also have the output for the Xbox set to 1080p - though my Vizio 32" Plasma is only capable of 1080i/720p. My guess is that I might get slightly better performance with a 720p setting in games, but I also watch downloadable shows that benefit from the higher setting (don't ask me why...!?! It just makes them appear "sharper" on my TV).

And finally, I have to disagree with your comments on replay value. I've almost completed the game, and I'm just getting used to the control scheme. See I'm more accustomed to PC gaming controls, so every new game on the Xbox 360 requires some adjustment on my part. I figure future play-throughs will be more enjoyable, while also allowing me to select a higher difficulty setting and experiment with different character builds. I guess some of the high expectations people have are Lucas Arts fault. They've hyped up the force power features with slogans like "May the Force blow your mind". And some of you are lazy and want the game to be super easy, seconds after you begin playing "Starkiller".

This is my take on the game: If you like Star Wars, and want to take a walk on the Dark Side, you'll enjoy this game. Just give yourself some time to get used to "how things work".

Tril

I got the game yesterday for the Xbox 360. l played about two hours so far.

I noticed, like the reviewer, that the game gives you a loading screen every time you go into the menus. Since you have to use them often to upgrade your powers, it gets annoying fast.

I found the camera not so good. You are often surrounded and you don't see the enemies behind you. The camera does not turn around fast enough by itself when you turn around and run. At least you can click on the right analog stick and it rotates the camera instantly.

I did not like how the health bar of boss is displayed. It's displayed on top of the character, like all enemies in the game. The problem is that sometimes you are up against very tall enemies that are taller than you. While you attack them from close up, you don't see their health bar because it's on top of their head and their head is out of the screen.

I found the targeting system to be okay. Most of the time you succeed in doing what you want to do.

There are lots of specials effect such as wood stuff breaking and falling on the path where you're walking. These effects are well made but unfortunately, the debris don't stay on the floor. Worse, they disappear so fast that often they disappear before they touch the ground.

What I don't like is the feel/gameplay of the game. Even with all the pretty graphics it still feels a bit crappy/not fun (I'm not sure why). I'll keep playing because I'm a bit interested in knowing the story but I'm already a bit bored by the game. I preordered the game before playing the demo. I had second thoughts when I tried the demo. It did not seem fun to play and I think I was right based on the time I played so far.

A game that has a similar gameplay is Devil May Cry 4 on Xbox 360. In both games you battle lots of enemies by using powers that you unlock by gaining experience, you have a sword, some powers, repetitive gameplay and videos to tell the story. I like Devil May Cry 4 a lot more. I don't really know why. It's just more fun to play.

I'm playing the game in french. There's something I noted. They don't say "Darth Vader", they say "Dark Vader".

CDsDontBurn

i picked up the game last night and started playing it today. and OMG, the game is most impressive so far! and i also just saw the trailer that was included in the DH review, and i cannot wait to advance further in the game!

although the one thing that i don't like, and that's probably because i'm used to FPS style games, is that i cannot see what's directly in front of me and target what it is that i want to target. sometimes the camera will be slightly off-center and i'll be looking down one angle and my character will be looking at a slightly different angle and because of that, the item or person i desire to target is not targetted. but, i'm sure that is something that i can get adjusted to.

the next thing i need to learn, is how to do lightsaber combos!