The Force Unleashed: Everything a Star Wars Game Should Be

So last night I finally got around to playing The Force Unleashed demo that was released last week and I was pretty goddamn impressed. I wasn’t really expecting much given the poor showings of previous Star Wars games to recreate the flow of battle in the Star Wars universe with uninteresting, automated saber controls. Whether it holds up to a full game is a question I can’t possibly answer. If I had to give the demo – and just the demo – a score, it would be 10/10.

Sure, it isn’t perfect with some slight targeting issues – in the fight versus the AT-AT, I continually shocked barrels underneath its feet rather than the walking air conditioner itself – but the game is f’n fun. It’s the argument Kevin Pereira made for Too Human: it’s not perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

The problem with using Too Human by comparison is that The Force Unleashed pulls off “badassness” even better than Too Human because Too Human is weighed down by unimpressive character models, bad animations, and a lazy control scheme in which you jam randomly on the analog sticks to pull off attacks. By comparison, I do everything I want in The Force Unleashed. I can slice a guy up, then zap him with a lightning shot, lift him in the air and fling him away or Force pull a goddamn Tie Fighter onto him.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – Badassness Personified (though not really personified since it’s a piece of software, but roll with it…)