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

Review: Lego Star Wars: Complete Saga (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC, DS)

Ah, yes. The latest installment of the Lego Star Wars series. I figured I would give this a review in light of the upcoming Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones games. I'll start off with the console version, whereas I have the PS3 version. I had Lego Star Wars 1 for Gamecube and Lego Star Wars 2 for Xbox 360, so I pretty much thought I knew exactly what I was going to get. It was a matter of whether or not it would live up to what I expected. I thought I was going to get a polished version of both games with a few extras. Well, it did, more so than I even expected!

The graphics are as good as they are going to get for a Lego game, which is fantastic. You literally look like little legos running around (except they're a little more flexible than real legos). The music and sounds are straight from the movies and 100% perfect. Apart from the old versions, there are a few more characters, a few extra 'extras', and even a few extra'ish levels. But the fun doesn't stop there.

In Lego Star Wars, you start off in what I will call, for lack of better words, the overworld. It's nothing like an overworld in most games but it is where you choose what episode and chapter you will play. But it is free roaming and such like an overworld area. Well, I found that there was so much fun that you could have in this little overworld area. (see pic below)

That is a picture I took with my camera of my TV (which explains the odd look to the picture), and I took this picture because of how ridiculous I thought this was (in a funny way). You don't just walk outside and there's a race track and go-kart thing, you have to do a few things to get them there, but this is one of the things I love about the Lego Star Wars series. Random stuff thrown in to make pure hilarious fun. The game is simple and fun, with plenty of game modes (including a new challenge mode for each stage), you won't get bored easily. The controls are great and easy, though the flying levels are still a little awkward. I give the console versions an 8 out of 10.

8/10

Now in the DS version, you obviously expect a downgrade in graphics and sound because the DS is not a powerhouse system. The graphics are quite superb for it being on the DS though. The screenshots your see from here on are actually from the DS version.

To be honest, there isn't too much different in the DS version from the console versions. There are the obvious shortcomings due to lack of storage space on the DS cart. Less levels, different sometimes shorter levels, not as many extras or characters, and it was semi side-scroller in play. But that doesn't make it much worse of a game at all. It is definitely a great portable edition of the series.

The only thing that really bothered me about the DS version is the cutscenes. They were basically stop-motion animation. A bunch of still images spliced together, they are so annoying to watch. They almost take the humor out of the cutscenes. The controls are the same as the console versions except for a few touch add ins (some you don't need to use). Now that isn't to say that the DS version is completely lacking. It has many extras that the consoles don't have. Quite a few mini games, most which utilize the touch screen. You can definitely tell that the game was built from the ground up for DS and not horribly ported. The game is great and if you like Star Wars, you'll like this game. I'm going to give the DS version a 7 out of 10.

7/10

-CA