The Force Unleashed demo impressions

[Jim Steele]

The demo went up yesterday on XBLA and PSN. Weighs in at just 100mb shy of a gig for about 30 minutes of gameplay.

I had no idea that it was essentially a God of War clone until playing it - but that's not a bad thing in itself.

It is a fairly competent mix of hack n' slash gameplay with Force powers standing in for traditional 'magic' (a rose by any other name...). The main power you'll be using to blast through this sample level is "Force Grip", the same kind of kick-ass telekinises you saw Darth Vader pwning Luke with in Empire.

You can't move the character while using this power which I found frustrating initially and the controls for moving objects - which use the right trigger to grab/throw and both sticks to move - are a bit fiddly and it took until the end of the demo before I felt comfortable with them.

The camera is not as responsive as I'd like and is used to snap-to target objects for force gripping as well as looking around, which I considered a necessary irritant but again I got used to it.

Visually it's bloody gorgeous, with crisp high resolution textures and one of the most expressive faces in a cutscene that I've seen since GTA4. It's all anti-aliased and pixel shaded up the arse as you'd expect from current gen, looks wonderful.

Lastly, I absolutely loved fighting an AT-ST as a boss in the last bit of the demo. It was seriously cool - I felt like an all powerful force of nature (no pun intended) while I twatted the thing with random heavy stuff, all the while flinging stormtroopers to their deaths.

My biggest real gripe was the QTE finishing move on the AT-ST. I realise this is a staple of the genre, but frankly QTEs are shit.

Really shit.

It's just a lazy way of giving you something to do while the game engine kills the boss for you in what is essentially a mini-cutscene - which you're not able to watch, because you're concentrating on the button presses. I know QTEs split gamers right down the middle and most of you will think I'm just being nitpicky, but there it is. QTEs are crap game design imho.

Aside from that though - it's awesome and I'm definitely buying the game next month. Can't wait!

 

[JonathonWally]

Damnit Jim, I was just going to finally go to sleep and now I have to go download this.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

The PSN demo was 1355mb, and i have too admit that the look of the game was just stunning, could you imagine those x wing or tie fighter games with all that detail.

Anyway i enjoyed the demo, short and it does seem to focus more on the powers, but still enjoyable and very stunning to look at.

The Star wars universe has never looked so good.

Oh why oh why oh why now that we have all this raw power is our beloved Trek gaming franchise dead and buried......just not fair.

 

[unimatrix7]

Lastly, I absolutely loved fighting an AT-ST as a boss in the last bit of the demo. It was seriously cool - I felt like an all powerful force of nature (no pun intended) while I twatted the thing with random heavy stuff, all the while flinging stormtroopers to their deaths.

My biggest real gripe was the QTE finishing move on the AT-ST. I realise this is a staple of the genre, but frankly QTEs are shit.

Really shit.

It's just a lazy way of giving you something to do while the game engine kills the boss for you in what is essentially a mini-cutscene - which you're not able to watch, because you're concentrating on the button presses. I know QTEs split gamers right down the middle and most of you will think I'm just being nitpicky, but there it is. QTEs are crap game design imho.

Aside from that though - it's awesome and I'm definitely buying the game next month. Can't wait!

QTEs are less shit than the complete worthlessness of your Force powers in the face of the AT-ST thing. I can use the Force Grip to pull a Tie Fighter out of the sky and slam it into a group of storm troopers, but i can't use it to chuck an AT-ST over a ledge, purely because the designers have decided to designate that enemy as a Boss Monster?

Sorry, but that's crap. I don't like games that don't play by their own rules

 

[apostle83]

I think it would be funny if everyone called this Star War:STFU.

I downloaded it last night, and I will definately be buying this game! Roxor!

 

[FordSVT]

Oh why oh why oh why now that we have all this raw power is our beloved Trek gaming franchise dead and buried......just not fair.

What's that you say? Star Trek Online?

 

[Jim Steele]

Lastly, I absolutely loved fighting an AT-ST as a boss in the last bit of the demo. It was seriously cool - I felt like an all powerful force of nature (no pun intended) while I twatted the thing with random heavy stuff, all the while flinging stormtroopers to their deaths.

My biggest real gripe was the QTE finishing move on the AT-ST. I realise this is a staple of the genre, but frankly QTEs are shit.

Really shit.

It's just a lazy way of giving you something to do while the game engine kills the boss for you in what is essentially a mini-cutscene - which you're not able to watch, because you're concentrating on the button presses. I know QTEs split gamers right down the middle and most of you will think I'm just being nitpicky, but there it is. QTEs are crap game design imho.

Aside from that though - it's awesome and I'm definitely buying the game next month. Can't wait!

QTEs are less shit than the complete worthlessness of your Force powers in the face of the AT-ST thing. I can use the Force Grip to pull a Tie Fighter out of the sky and slam it into a group of storm troopers, but i can't use it to chuck an AT-ST over a ledge, purely because the designers have decided to designate that enemy as a Boss Monster?

Sorry, but that's crap. I don't like games that don't play by their own rules

I somewhat agree, but I can look past that. I don't mind realism (even within the context of the game's own universe) taking a back seat to level design/gameplay structure.

There's also the fanwank explanation that Tie Fighters are probably a lot lighter and less armoured than the Imperial equivalent of a sherman tank. Right? Right??

Also, the demo is taken from pretty early on in the game. I noticed you were able to target the AT-ST even though you couldn't force-grip it. Perhaps once you've progressed through the game you'll reach a point where you can throw them about too?

 

[JonathonWally]

Well, if it's anything like the Jedi Knight series or Kotors as you level up you earn points to spend on talents, so if they go by that system it's possible to get your force grip skill high enough to do such a thing.

Then again, I know fuck all about this game except for how awesome it looks.

 

[Jim Steele]

Well, if it's anything like the Jedi Knight series or Kotors as you level up you earn points to spend on talents, so if they go by that system it's possible to get your force grip skill high enough to do such a thing.

Then again, I know fuck all about this game except for how awesome it looks.

It does have a basic levelling system, yeah. It's obviously not a full blown RPG like Kotor but it's pretty equivalent to God of War.

Then there's the famous concept art/screenshot depicting your character force-crashing a Star Destroyer.

Yeah, I think it's safe to say that your force power gets good enough to fling an AT-ST.

 

[PKerr]

I read some early reviews that downed it for the QTE's.
I personally hate them.
I'll still be picking the game up on September 16th.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Oh why oh why oh why now that we have all this raw power is our beloved Trek gaming franchise dead and buried......just not fair.

What's that you say? Star Trek Online?

Unfortunately that's online only and you will have to pay a monthly sub to play it.

 

[JonathonWally]

Oh why oh why oh why now that we have all this raw power is our beloved Trek gaming franchise dead and buried......just not fair.

What's that you say? Star Trek Online?

Unfortunately that's online only and you will have to pay a monthly sub to play it.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were already developing a stand alone game for non MMO gamers. And plus, if the game does take off, it could show the developers there's a market for Star Trek games again.

But, at this point this is nothing but wishful thinking.

 

[PsychoPere]

There's also the fanwank explanation that Tie Fighters are probably a lot lighter and less armoured than the Imperial equivalent of a sherman tank. Right? Right??

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is."

 

[nx1701g]

Then there's the famous concept art/screenshot depicting your character force-crashing a Star Destroyer.

Spoiler: From the novel

That is part of a mission on Raxus Prime. Starkiller overloaded a cannon and it fired destroying a shipyard and damaging a Star Destroyer. The Destroyer lost propulsion and was pulled from orbit by the planet's gravity. Marek did, however, use the force to direct it to fall away from him and into the nearby cannon.

 

[Arrqh]

On the AT-ST: I've seen a clip from what I guess is later in the game where you can see an AT-ST being crushed into a ball. Possibly that's just the result of a different QTE, but I'm holding out hope that it's just an upgraded version of force grip.

The demo I thought was pretty fun. The controls were clunky but playable for the most part. Not clunky enough to dissuade me from buying the full game at least! I'm pleasantly surprised as my expectations for the game were pretty... low.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

What's that you say? Star Trek Online?

Unfortunately that's online only and you will have to pay a monthly sub to play it.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were already developing a stand alone game for non MMO gamers. And plus, if the game does take off, it could show the developers there's a market for Star Trek games again.

But, at this point this is nothing but wishful thinking.

Have Cryptic ever made a game that was not a online monthly sub MMO...?

Still nothing wrong with wishful thinking, i have been doing it for Trek since the train wrecks that were "These are the voyagers" and "Nemesis".

I hope and pray all my wishing will at last be answered next May.

 

[Rii]

Didn't do anything for me at all. I did actually complete the demo, though, which counts for something I suppose.

 

[Jim Steele]

^

It was only about 30 minutes worth.

 

[Rii]

^ Which is around 25 minutes longer than I give most games that don't engender my interest from the word "Go".

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

Ahem... (high pitched voice) Hey look at me, I'm the Force Unleashed demo, I'm so cool! But you can't download me yet because you have a silver membership and we're a bunch of assholes!