Game: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Genre: Action, Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows & macOS) also on Nintendo Wii)
Developer|Publisher: Krome Studios, Lucas Arts | Aspyr
Age Rating: EU 12+ | US Teen
Price: US $19.99 | UK £17.99 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: April 20th, 2022
Review code provided with many thanks to Sandbox Strategy PR.
Wii Port
Aspyr has been doing a bang-up job re-releasing many classic Star Wars games to the Nintendo Switch. Giving an opportunity for old and new fans alike to experience these titles on a modern and portable system. The Force Unleashed brings back a lot of nostalgic memories for me. It was released on several platforms back in the day and had quite the marketing boost in the games media. Well, it was a Star Wars product after all. I personally played through the game on Xbox 360 and found it to be a pretty decent action-adventure title.
The Switch port though is not that version. Instead, this is the Wii version. A very interesting choice indeed since this was clearly graphically and technically inferior to the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions at the time. Although, when I did some digging on this port I found out it actually had quite the beloved following with some even citing this as the best version… do I agree? Well, I guess that’s what the rest of this review is for.
The Hidden Apprentice
You play as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice ‘Starkiller’. Trained in the ways of the dark side since childhood it’s up to Starkiller to do Vader’s bidding and wipe out all the remaining Jedi in the galaxy. Vader also wants to use Starkiller to overthrow Emperor Palpatine and rule the galaxy himself. But as Starkiller continues down the path of the dark side he starts to notice that not all is as it seems. As he encounters more Jedi he begins to see the bigger picture realizing that maybe he’s not on the path he should be.
The game is clearly designed for Star Wars fans who will no doubt love the attention to detail. From the lightsaber and blaster sounds to the look and feel of the Star Wars universe. And of course that memorable John Williams score. The game nicely fits in between the episodes of the films three and four with clear nods to both the original and prequel trilogy.
Use the Force
The Force Unleashed is a pretty typical 3D action-adventure game from the era it was released. You basically run through levels across familiar Star Wars settings taking out a plethora of enemies with your lightsaber and force powers. From the beginning, you’re given a generous amount of attacks and force powers to play about with. You can attack with your lightsaber with a wide variety of moves, saber throws, aerial attacks and ground smashes and you can also deflect blaster shots back at enemies. In addition, you can even grab various pieces of the level environment, your enemies and fling them about or into another enemy. You also have some pretty neat moves, like force lighting and forcing a gun turret to follow you and attack enemies. The game often presents large open level areas, much like a playground, and just lets you go nuts with your move set. It’s a great way to allow the player to just create their own fun the way they want.
Niggles with the Combat
The game’s combat does come with some niggles. While it’s fun to experiment with the moves, the aiming in this game is very off. While it does have a lock-on feature it was hard to throw objects where I wanted. Sometimes I wanted to grab an enemy, but instead, the game just settled for a random box nearby. Enemies often feel like meat shields. There were many times I thought I had downed an enemy after a flurry of lightsaber hits only for them to jump back up which was a bit of a pain. Their health just seemed very inconsistent. When you defeat enemies they drop blue orbs which you can use to upgrade your move sets in the menu. You can also find lightsaber parts to customize your main weapon like its colour and attack perks.
When you reach the end of the level you take on a boss, an encounter that is pretty cinematic. You can basically destroy the scenery by throwing parts of the environment at the boss, whilst engaging in epic lightsaber duels. It’s really quite something and dare I say even more epic than the films. I guess the main niggle is there is a lot of button mashing which did start to make my thumbs pretty sore.
Waggle or Buttons
The game lets you pick from two main control styles. You can opt to play the game with just a controller or you can detach your joy-cons and go with motion controls. With this being from the Wii era, the motion controls initially are not too bad. You use one joy-con to swing your lightsaber about and even stab forward whilst using the other to perform the force powers. It probably is the best use of motion controls in any Star Wars, but it is nice to have the option for those that prefer good old buttons. Unfortunately, this game comes from the era where quick time events (QTES) were all the rage. This game certainly brought back horrible memories of that era.
Usually, after a boss fight, you press a button to initiate the QTE sequence. You get only a small window to press the right face button (or waggle the remote the right way) if you fail the boss will regain health and you have to repeat the tedious process again. It’s not like you can remember the QTEs either since they are presented randomly each time, which really sucks. I recently played through Resident Evil 5 on Switch which was also released on Xbox 360 and PS3 and that added a feature that auto-completes QTEs which was most welcome. The Force Unleashed sadly does not offer this option. In fact, it offers basically no quality of life features compared to the original game which seems quite the missed opportunity.
A Shinier Downgrade
The graphics feel pretty dated and a typical product of the Wii/PS2 era of gaming. If you have had experience with the Xbox 360/PS3 version of this game you will notice a notable downgrade here. This port of the game does actually upgrade the Wiis original graphics. It appears much shinier and smoother. However, the character models are quite plain and the environments are pretty bland, lacking textures and detail. It still gets the Star Wars feel across but this is a title that is really starting to show its age. Despite all the lightsaber and blaster action, there is no gore in this game making it pretty suitable for teens and onwards. This game performs very well in handheld and TV modes with no notable slow down even in the former.
Definitive Wii Port
The campaign will take you around seven hours to finish. On completion, you can jump back in on a new game plus run where you’re even more powerful than the first time. There are also a lot of collectables to find, which unlock artwork that you can view between missions. You can also unlock new outfits to wear and even input cheat codes like the good old retro days to access some cool secrets.
You can also indulge in a versus mode where you select characters from the Star Wars franchise and duke it out with a friend in Jedi battles. Essentially what you get with the Switch version is a graphical upgrade and the choice of motion and analogue controls. It feels somewhat a missed opportunity not to include the Xbox 360/PS3 version of the game as well, since the Switch seems capable of running that. I can easily say this is the definitive version of the Wii port.
Conclusion – Between Dark and Light
So do I like this port and do I recommend it? I did have fun with this game but that did require putting up with some pretty rough edges. The combat often becomes a cluttered mess and enemies feel like inconsistent meat shields at times. But I can’t deny there were moments where I felt like an awesome Jedi. Star Wars fans will certainly love this game. I would also recommend this to lovers of the Wii console, a fan base I know exists out there. For everyone else, it’s a bit tricky, since this is a title that resides in the past with no modern quality of life improvements. It’s also hard to ignore that some will see this port as a downgrade from the Xbox 360/PS3 versions. But if you love your Star Wars or just want to play a game that’s a decent action-adventure this is not a bad pick up.
Final Verdict: I Like it
