Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3)

Kratos, a lightsaber, a gravity gun and Darth Vader: Will it blend?
9/17/2008 7:41 PM | 2 Comments | Page 1 of 3

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is one of the most frustrating games I've ever played. And not necessarily because it's hard -- for the most part, it's not. It's suitably challenging and has only a couple of brick walls (both situated near the end of the game, after you're already invested enough to power through them). Instead, it's frustrating because it's far worse than it has any business being. LucasArts has here something rare and precious: an honest-to-goodness good story. And not just "good for Star Wars," which is lately a bar set lower than an Ugnaught's groin. It's good, period. This is the best Star Wars writing since, gosh, TIE Fighter. It even tops the epic messy slog of the Knights of the Old Republic games. And it goes without saying that it's certainly better than anything in the canon involving Trade Federations, Anakin pouting or midichlorian counts.

Early on in The Force Unleashed, there's an almost breathtaking iconic image. Shortly before the events of the original Star Wars, Darth Vader has hunted down a fugitive Jedi and is in the process of dueling him. The Jedi's tiny son happens upon the scene. The boy uses his latent Force power to grab Vader's lit lightsaber, which is longer than the boy is tall. There's a two shot of Vader, black and majestic, towering over him and the child uncertainly holding the lightsaber, his face reflecting the red glow. Nearly 15 hours of mostly attractive next-generation gameplay later, it remains the most powerful visual in The Force Unleashed.

The basic plot involves the young boy, having grown up to look vaguely like a cross between Billy Zane and Ashton Kutcher, serving as Vader's secret apprentice. He's sent out mostly to hunt down fugitive Jedi, but he also seems to be doing a little subterfuge on Vader's behalf. Hence the opportunity to slaughter Stormtroopers left and right. There are some great side-quests that turn out not to be side-quests, a few memorable set pieces and more plot twists than you'd expect. Unfortunately, many of these twists have been ruined by LucasArts' trailers for the game. If you've avoided the trailers, you're going to enjoy The Force Unleashed much more.

The genius of the The Force Unleashed storyline is that it taps into the things that made Star Wars good back when it was good: shame, betrayal, redemption, family, love, destiny and the storytelling insight to realize that Galactic politics, droids, spaceships and aliens were just a backdrop. This is the sort of stuff that made people reference George Lucas and Joseph Campbell in the same breath. Sadly, it chickens out in the end, opting mostly to repeat the conclusion of "Return of the Jedi." Hey, Force Unleashed, most of us saw that movie. And the final scene -- at least for the Light Side ending I managed to somehow reach -- is a big, fast, stinky slice of cheese. But along the way, it's got character, bite and mostly good dialogue. "I don't like being him," says the droid Proxy, who holographically transforms himself into Darth Vader when Vader sends remote communications. "I don't think he does, either," replies the apprentice. Those two lines of dialogue give more insight into Darth Vader than all three of the prequels.