Everything about the game just works to me, the story, gameplay, music, everything.
There was only one part that was actually frustrating (star destroyer bit), but every game has its hard parts.
What are your thoughts on the game?
I’m not really that much of a movie purist. I really should’ve thought my name out a bit more.
I thought it was a decent game, albeit one with a canon-breaking storyline and a Gary Stu protagonist (which I despised). My favorite Star Wars games are the classic Battlefront games and Empire at War, partly because of the modding scenes around them. If I want an original story in a classic Star Wars game, I’ll stick with Rogue Leader or Jedi Outcast/Academy.
I kind of like the sequel, liked Juno Eclipse.
Starkiller is okay sort of. Though Vader having a secret apprentice is daft.
And the way Palpatine and Vader are portrayed is silly, almost Saturday morning cartoon villain.
The original game is fun in terms of gameplay but as an EU story it was never going to fit inside canon.
Now its completely non canon due to Disney.
Now its completely non canon due to Disney.
…yet Geroge’s sequel trilogy would’ve also rendered the old EU non-canon. All of those books, comics, and videogames could be stricken from canon the minute a live-action movie or show (or even George-produced show) contradicted it. Look at how TCW wiped out the Traviss-style Mandalorians and altered the name of Korriban.
But back to The Force Unleashed - I would say it’s aged decently enough, but that Fallen Order has a bit more story value to it and that we have TFU to thank for Sam Witwer becoming the definitive voice for Darth Maul.
It’s been ages since I played the two Force Unleashed games… and I got my 360 pretty late too. I was OK with the story (wasn’t expecting much anyway and could ignore it well enough) but I liked the gameplay quite a lot - I got all the Xbox achievements… the first game was slightly better iirc, I also enjoyed that there were more options to level the protagonist. Although kicking Ewoks in part II was so gratifying…
But best Star Wars game? Not by a long shot. I love(d) the X-Wing (and Tie) games, check out xwaupgrade.com if you haven’t already. KOTOR I&II were awesome too. Or Rogue Squadron 2, or Jedi Knight 2… I’d rank all of them higher than Unleashed. I haven’t played any of the newer games either, so there might be more great ones out there (itching to try Squadrons, but I lack the time).
It’s a decent game, but purely as a game there are notable problems. Mainly thanks to the terrible boss fight design that throws in too many fixed camera QTE sequences. It’s also dissapointing that after a certain point the levels start to become smaller and less detailed. The scope of the opening or the junk world is missing from Bespin etc. And yeah everyone hates pulling down the destroyer, a perfectly good idea spoiled by bizarre technical issues.
It’s funny you should mention the Star Destroyer. That’s the part I’m stuck at even now years later. How do you bring it down with all of the TIE Fighters attacking?
I should really try playing it again. I don’t really remember the story all that well but I do remember really liking it and Juno Eclipse as a character.
Really though, poor Shaak Ti. She can’t catch a break. Starkiller, Anakin, and Grievous. She either can cheat death and is who Palpatine was talking about in Revenge of the Sith or she has multiple clones roaming the galaxy. Haha
“Heroes come in all sizes, and you don’t have to be a giant hero. You can be a very small hero. It’s just as important to understand that accepting self-responsibility for the things you do, having good manners, caring about other people - these are heroic acts. Everybody has the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives.” - George Lucas
too many fixed camera QTE sequences.
Oh bleargh, I totally blended those out from my memory…
It’s funny you should mention the Star Destroyer. That’s the part I’m stuck at even now years later. How do you bring it down with all of the TIE Fighters attacking?
There should be plenty of youtube videos/walkthroughs, I think I reffered to a written guide back when I played it… You will beat that Star Destroyer, just keep at it! ^^
How do you bring it down with all of the TIE Fighters attacking?
The easy way to do it is to take breaks in between pulling down the destroyer to deal with the TIEs, and then, once enough are gone, it should be easy enough to fully take down the Destroyer before the next squadron arrives.
At least, that’s how I did it.
I’m not really that much of a movie purist. I really should’ve thought my name out a bit more.
It’s funny you should mention the Star Destroyer. That’s the part I’m stuck at even now years later. How do you bring it down with all of the TIE Fighters attacking?
There should be plenty of youtube videos/walkthroughs, I think I reffered to a written guide back when I played it… You will beat that Star Destroyer, just keep at it! ^^
The easy way to do it is to take breaks in between pulling down the destroyer to deal with the TIEs, and then, once enough are gone, it should be easy enough to fully take down the Destroyer before the next squadron arrives.
At least, that’s how I did it.
Thank you both so much for the encouragement and advice on how to do it. I appreciate it. I’ll have to buy a new controller sometime and try again.
“Heroes come in all sizes, and you don’t have to be a giant hero. You can be a very small hero. It’s just as important to understand that accepting self-responsibility for the things you do, having good manners, caring about other people - these are heroic acts. Everybody has the choice of being a hero or not being a hero every day of their lives.” - George Lucas
I love the first game, but the second game doesn’t exist to me. It’s pointless. Starkiller’s story was concluded, it didn’t need a sequel.
«This is where the fun begins!»
(Anakin Skywalker)
I love the first game, but the second game doesn’t exist to me. It’s pointless. Starkiller’s story was concluded, it didn’t need a sequel.
Was the 2nd game still about the same Starkiller? I thought it was a different clone of his?
I suppose I don’t remember much about it. I didn’t buy it, and only played it at a friends house occasionally because it was so disappointing when compared to the 1st game. A lazy “cash in” sequel game?
The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.
I would have liked to have seen the third TFU game released, supposedly to conclude the Starkiller story. But it would have to been more engaging and fun than the uninspiring and repetitive gameplay for TFU II.
Another victim of LucasArts being closed down by Disney shortly after the 2012 takeover, although the game was only in “the initial ideas phase”: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Force_Unleashed_III
Sorry for being a party pooper, but this game almost killed my passion for Star Wars back then, i remember being pretty much pumped up to play the first one, yet the more i went on through the story, the more i hated it.
When Tartakovski’s Clone Wars came out i saw that as a novelty and i liked it a lot, but it worked because it was a cartoon, when i see force users do ridicolous stuff like they would in the CW in more realistic settings, then i would have a problem with that.
The only thing i appreciated was that Shaak-Ti survived Order 66, although i don’t even remember if you kill her or not in the game.
What really broke me was TFU2, i got it with a special offer in a humble bundle not even one year after it came out, and i certainly didn’t get it for that, i wanted KotOR 1 and 2, all the Dark Forces saga, Battlefront II and other games on steam, yet i played it just out of morbid curiosity after finishing some big game and i didn’t know what to play, and it was tenfold worse than the first one. It was campy but without any fun aspects that usually characterize the camp, all the while they tried to make it look moody and grim.
I’ll admit, it was still a part of a bigger picture, it wasn’t solely responsible for my Star Wars crisis, The Clone Wars still hadn’t kicked into gear yet and i was starting to get frustrated by them (ironically enough in the end i like mostly seasons 3 to 5, excluding that god-awful arc with the aspects of the light and dark side), that atrocious star wars dancing game came out as well, and speaking of dancing, i saw that cringe-inducing video of Darth Vader imitating Michael Jackson at the star tours (it really foretold where the whole franchise would go in just a few months).
I definitely needed a pause, which i can’t say the Disney acquisition didn’t give me, because that started a whole new crisis, but at least it eventually forced me to reappreciate what i actually liked about the franchise up to that point.
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I agree with most of that. The 2nd game was so disappointing and felt rushed. Which is not surprising given what we know about the situation at LucasArts at that time, and the closure of it just 3 years later?
It really did feel like a let down, maybe because the 1st games was so strong, dark, and engaging. And also a lot of fun. Yes, it was stupidly overpowered and OTT, but that was computer games in general at the time. I’ll always be a fan of the first game, and the whole multimedia project thing around it, which shits on the fans and their loyalty and memory of it when this kind of content is de-canoned.
Was the first The Force Unleashed game the one that was considered canon at the time, part of the overall Star Wars Saga story, by Lucas himself?
And was the second TFU game also considered a part of that Saga story?
I am going to have to play these again soon, just to see what I can remember about them.
The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.
The first one was supposedly canon back then but I don’t remember about part two. What little story that sequel had. Technically I suppose Shadows of the Empire came before and tried the same thing.