Preview: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Yes, folks, the wait is over. The people at Lucasarts have released the official demo for Star Wars: the Force Unleashed available on XboxLive and Playstation Network. I downloaded it yesterday and played it through, and then I played it through again, and again. It is shaping up to be a powerhouse of a title that will definately satisfy your thirst for a taste of the dark side.

You play a Darth Vader's secret apprentice named Galen Marek (codenamed "Starkiller"). The opening cutscene was especially satisfying. Vader sends you on an assignment and tells you to kill everything, Rebels and Imperials alike; you are not to be discovered and nothing will stand in the way of completing your mission. The game takes place between Episode III and IV, during the great Jedi purge ordered by Emperor Palpatine. You're pretty much responsible for seeking out and destroying any Jedi throughout the galaxy.

Keeping in mind that this was a demo, it looked good. The graphics when performing Force moves were especially unique and showed little details in the attributes of each move being performed. The controls could be a little tighter, though. It got a little awkward performing one move after another and I sometimes ended up just button-mashing to clear a room full of enemies. It seems, though, that once you get used to the controls, learn the combos, and master force-moves, you could probably unleash some pretty viscious attacks. The gameplay reminded me of the God of War series, with combos and powerups and also little button-sequenced boss fights. That being my only complaint, i was very satisfied with Force Unleashed. I think the Star Wars franchise needs something like this to appeal to the older gamers, plus I'm tired of playing as the good guys.

In conclusion, when this game hits store shelves on September 16th, I'll be one of the first to pick it up and I think you should too. Look for the full review of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed later in September.

Thanks for reading and may the force be with you.

-JD

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Okay, i know its been out since last year; but i just picked it up recently and want to share it with you. The team over at Naughty Dog Studios (Jak and Daxter series), taking influence from games like Tomb Raider, has created an awesome adventure game.

First let me familiarize you with the story a little bit. The protagonist of the story, Nathan Drake, is the last living descendant of Sir Francis Drake who apparently had a ring with coordinates to a treasure map that lead to a location that had some thing to do with El Dorado; you know the famous lost city of gold. As you can tell, this is a treasure hunting game. As you progress through the story, there are 60 small treasures hidden throughout the game that you don;t necessarily need to find, but it'll look good if Sony ever makes the whole trophy thing work. Which I think is an elaborate fabrication. Moving on....



The gameplay is great. It seamlessly combines gunplay with savage melee combos that allow you to beat people's faces in with their own guns. When you do this they drop twice the amount of ammo that they would if you just blew their faces off with a shotgun.



One other cool thing they integrated into the game is the ability to climb across ledges and traverse various cliff faces to get from point A to point B; which gets really cool when your thousands of feet above a roaring waterall. Nate's ability to keep his cool and have a good sense of humor during ridiculous gunfights keeps the game light-heart and comical amid bullets whizzing past your head.

The graphics are astounding. Using the PS3's powerhouse processor, Uncharted runs at 60 frames per second and at 1080i resolution. Which makes that waterfall I was talking about look fantastically real. Speaking about water; when swimming in the game you come out and your clothes are still wet. I thought it was a pretty cool extra. The foliage as well looks like a page out of National Geographic. Oh, the backgrounds: amazing.

Overall, i had a great time playing this game. I'm gonna give it a 7 out of 10. Honestly there is a con to this game, which is why its not an 8.5 (like i want it to be). Towards the end of the game, there is a very annoying plot twist that pretty much made me "wtf! r u serious?!", but I'll leave it to you to find out what that is. And trust me, you'll know when you see it.

P.S.: I want Nathan Fillion to play Nathan Drake if they ever make a movie out of this thing.

Thanks for reading

-JD