Star Wars: Impressions Unleashed

The free demo of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released on the Xbox 360 today to give players a chance to test the waters and see if they felt like shelling out $60 for the game. While I normally don't play through demos because I like to be completely surprised by a games content, I thought it would help me save $60 in case the game sucks. As we all know, this Fall is a clusterf**k of great games and any oppurtunity to save some money would help. Unfortunately for my wallet, the game is impressive and definitely worth the purchase. That's not to say that the game is perfect because it definitely has some flaws but for the most part, this game seems like it will definitely live up to it's hype.

I'll start with the look and feel of the game because for a universe as big and as important as Star Wars, capturing the atmosphere is incredibly important. The demo itself follows the secret apprentice as he tracks down a Jedi Master through a large Tie Fighter plant. Everything from the story's presentation, the music, and events going on around you really do one of the best jobs of drawing the player into the Star Wars universe that I have ever witnessed. This really feels like playing through the next legitimate Star Wars movie. Hopefully the game will maintain this quality throughout the entire game rather than fall apart near the end like many games tend to do. As far as looks go, the game is gorgeous and packs an impressive amount of detail into the environments. This is definitely Star Wars and there is no doubt about it. With the exception of the explosion animations, everything looks crisp and clean. Maybe they will fix the fire animation before the game hits in September. Those of you who kept up with the game know that it uses the Euphoria Engine to realistically animate character movement and object interaction. If you played GTA4 then you know the implications of this and I can assure you that it works just as well here.

The game plays smoothly with very little complication in terms of the control. Force grip can be used by holding the right trigger wile the remaining force powers are assigned to each of the face buttons. The only awkward control was the force throw because it requires you to aim the left analog stick in the direction you want to throw and then release the right trigger which takes a little coordination but is relatively quick to get the hang of. The cool thing is that even if you mess up an attack, chances are that you will still do something cool. Combat is fun but I really can't comment on it too much because you don't have access to all the upgrades throughout the demo. I see where combat might suffer from the same problems that Assassin's Creed fell victim to because the game will likely not include a large variety of gameplay scenarios. While this may hold true, I doubt the game will ever become so repetitive that it becomes outright boring.

The demo ended with a boss fight against an AT-ST (two legged walker for all the non nerds) that showcased some fun combat but once again, not a whole lot of variety in attack combinations. The fight reminded me a lot of God of War because once the boss's life bar is depleted, the fight wont end until you successfully pull of a Quick Time Event (QTE). Some may hate this but I tend to enjoy the events as long as the entire fight is not one big QTE. Overall, the demo was impressive and I can't wait revisit the Star Wars Universe and see where the story goes from here. The game will hit store shelves on Sept. 16 here in North America and will be followed a few days later in Asia and Europe.

-Nick