Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Review

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Article Comments for [link=http://ps3.ign.com/articles/910/910000p1.html]Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Review[/link]
by Chris Roper

Summary: It's been a long, long time since we've seen a good action-based Star Wars game hit consoles. Raven did the PC right with a handful of Jedi Knight titles, but console gamers have been left out in the cold on Hoth for many years now. LucasArts hopes to change all that with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a game that's been hyped not solely on its license and story, but its technology as well. Featuring such technical buzzwords as Digital Molecular Matter and naturalmotion's Euphoria engine, the game has brought a ton of promise to the table. [link=http://ps3.ign.com/articles/910/910000p1.html]Read Full Article[/link]

 

[Leon_Darkstar]

I was actually expecting a much lower score, ign always hypes a game, then crushes your dreams of it being good with their reviews..

 

[NASERZ123]

lol, 7.3!!

gametrailers gave it a 6.9

 

[Sir_Carrot]

@ Leon Darkstar: This is true, and why I gave up on IGN reviews some years ago. Still, I've found myself less bothered recently.

This game has appeared to fail to live up to its' hype for some time now, and after playing the demo, I was fairly assured of that. It's sort of fun, but also surprisingly not... hard to place your finger on.

In the end, I blame Lucas Arts for firing half their staff near the end of the production cycle. This one was taken out of the oven too soon.

 

[xxxvvvbbb]

Well, the game is officially a let-down then.

7.3 from IGN, 7.5 from Gamespot, and 6.9 from Gametrailers.

 

[RubberChickenMan]

The game is fun. That is the only thing that ever matters to me.

 

[legacyAccount]

har har. review a bit too harsh score wise. when i read the review, i agree with a lot of his points. granted i only played the demo. but man, it was awesome. the euphoria engine rocks. so does havok, and the other one too. the graphics don't look as polished as i hoped, thats my main complaint.
but if it has a good story, thats worth points. however, if it's only 8 hours in length, that's dissapointing.
demo rocks, i could tell 5 minutes of playing it i was going to buy it.

 

[diddy1287]

Screw that, I'm still buying it. I thought it was pretty damn fun. It can't be as weak as Too Human.

 

[sci-fi_fan]

If I see comparable scores from other sources I will buy this game. Looks like a lot of fun and I loved the demo. I already know how the story turns out but it will be fun to play it. It is too bad about the DMM, that is a really cool idea, but it is still in its infancy. I can imagine a game where the entire world is built from DMM, that would be amazing.

 

[legacyAccount]

i dont know why ppl thought this game was going to be great. Its fun, but it has almost zero replay value. you will play it for 8 hours and then never touch it again.

 

[starwarsfan444]

Scores don't really matter that much at least not in the 7.0 to 8.0 range, he said it was fun, its star wars, great story, so just play it and have fun with it. still looks wicked to me (forget my name my opinion is not bias.....kinda)

 

[Fortwaba]

Interesting... so the graphics arent good?

 

[xBlackwolf]

From the moment i saw the main menu on the demo, I knew this game was going to suck.

 

[Mattsumune]

As much as I appreciate the review, I'm gonna stick with the reader score on this one, playing the game with a critical eye is very different from just playing it for the fun of it.

You all saw it in the interviews, the guys were focused, on the new systems (Euphoria, DMM), force powers at 150% and story, something just had to give. Frankly, if all the problems are linear level design and that some enemies are really tough, I don't care. It's like giving a 6 to Ninja Gaiden because it's stupidly difficult to beat(Hypothetical Example).

I can't wait until Euphoria and DMM are used in latr titles, TFU simply opened the floodgates on something much bigger, or atleast I would like to hope so.

 

[Neo-Geon]

its like playing every other game out there with starwars music. i can do that with god of war and a cd-player

 

[FumigatedDaniel]

I thought the graphics from the demo were pretty impressive. Nothing AMAZING, but good non-the-less. I'm not too surprised about the score though. I've played a lot of star wars games, and the only ones i've gone back and bought are jedi outcast and KOTOR. Still, this looks like a great rent.

 

[muzzar69]

i realy cant believe this 7.3.
so ign your saying mercenaries 2 a game that has so many bugs it feels like it has been in production for 6 months, a game where hitting a boat kills you a game where a enemy is 2cm away from you fires a rocket takes you to down to 2 points away from death but there just dandy a game that is so in consistant one time you can runn up a mountain the next time you can, a game where you can drive through trees but cant drive or walk through a bush open your eyes and tell me this game reviewing system is not biast no i havent played force unleashed yet but ill bet my life it dosent have 1 percent of the bugs mercs 2 has
heres to a reviewing system that rates games on how well they do things and how relyable everything is not rated on how much fun it is just because blowing things up dosent mean you can ignore ALL the bugs and give it a good score

 

[legacyAccount]

Spore, now this. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of games with awesome potential failing miserably to deliver on their hype. At this rate, I'm sure that Warhammer online and Brothers in Arms:HH are going to suck ass as well. 2008: the year of overhyped mediocrity?

 

[stevo302]

Yeah trust the reader score, all star wars fanboys that obviously haven't played the game because it isn't even out yet lol.

 

[yoshirox85]

Meh, I'm still buying this on day one. I've been looking forward to it since the first news of it (In April 2005) was released.

It seems a lot of reviews nowadays forget what games like this are supposed to be: Pure, mindless, fun. You shouldn't criticize what is essentially a hack-and-slash for having "repetitive level designs." Couldn't you technically say that about all games? It seems like an awfully nitpicky thing to say.

Also, did they really complain about the technical limitations of the physics engine? As it obviously isn't a major flaw with the game, or something that could be helped, they shouldn't list that as a reason to lower the score a bit. They even note that they know why it happens, so why are they complaining?

And what's with the new score description for 7.0-7.9? Decent? Really? Whatever happened to a game in the 7 range being considered "good" by IGN standards? "Decent" is usually the 6.0-6.9 scores. This is what's wrong with gamers today: A lot of them think that if a game doesn't get a 9.7 or whatever it's completely awful, and this is why. 7.3 is a great score, in my eyes.

 

[3D-Xtremality]

I'm not surprised at 7.3. I actually thought it was gonna get a 7. Still debating about buying it. I played the demo and thought it was awesome.

 

[legacyAccount]

first of all, mercs is so repetive its unreal, they dis sw in this review, makes me laugh, plus mercs is more full of bugs then my back garden is, and its incredibly frustrating in single player esp. later on. The sw demo was amazing and i will be buying this game whatever the reviews, i expect gamespot to give this around a 6.5 as well (knowing them)

 

[yoshirox85]

@CallanPaul: Hillary Goldstein is also the one who reviewed Mercs 2 for IGN. Take a moment for that to set in, then look at the rest of Goldstein's reviews; He gets excited by the most trivial of things. Also, GameSpot gave it a 7.5, and the Wii version a 6.0.

 

[ARGUSMERC]

I honestly don't think this game deserves a 7.3. It deserves better. If it plays out like the demo, i will gladly shell out 60 bucks for it. IGN has been a bit harsh lately, tho....

 

[alexslater]

yoshirox85

i think that the reviewers are changing over time. Due to the advancements in gameconsoles i think that gamers are expecting more from the games they buy.. not just better looking textures.. the whole game experience is supposed to be next gen....if i spent £xxx on a new console and an hdtv etc I want the very best games and i find i am constantly disappointed in what software developers release these days

 

[acoolcougar]

i didnt like the demo so i was kind of expecting this type of score. it looked amazing, but wasn't very fun to play. on the other hand, other people were praising the demo like crazy. I guess this reviewer was like me.

 

[jenguando]

First of all let me just say i had really high hopes for this game from the day its idea was spawned.Who would not want to play as a badass Jedi on a next gen system? Wait a minute! LucasArts you say.Oh crap there goes the game down wasted potential avenue.LucasArts are well known for taking brilliant ideas and sprinkling it with so much hype you want to wet yourself,but never actually deliver on anything apart from making you just wet yourself by how badly their hype misled you in the first place.

 

[jenguando]

Did you people actually think that a single player game that takes only 8hours to beat with lame repetitive boss battles would fair well.I dont think so.
Alarm bells should have been buzzing the moment we all heard there would be no multiplayer for next gen systems.At least that would have extended its replay value.
They could have at least made the experience worthwhile with a bit of gore and dismemberment for mature gamers.
The game is a joke.LucasArts are even funnier thinking they can fool gamers into buying this game.I for one will be renting this game.

 

[RubberChickenMan]

Scores don't really matter that much at least not in the 7.0 to 8.0 range, he said it was fun, its star wars, great story, so just play it and have fun with it. still looks wicked to me (forget my name my opinion is not bias.....kinda)

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I agree 100% im not even a star wars fand i saw the movies i liked them but im not a fan. The gameis great fun and like you said ratings between 7-8 dont matter anymore.

 

[ATARAXISFridge]

i think gamers/reviewers expect too much from games these days. I played the demo and i had a blast with the physics. Granted its not the best "epic" game ever, its fun, and a good rental i would say.

 

[McMurphy86]

Chris Roper is one of IGN's best when it comes to reviewing games (just read the God of War 2 review).
I wanted this game to score in the mid-80s, but I trust Chris and Gametrailers.
I'll still get the game because I liked the demo and the story seems to be great, and I'm not expecting a second God of War...

 

[Revanofdarkness]

I totaly agree with you ATARAXISFridge this game is really one of the best StarWars Games out there it filled all my needs and im looking forward to some new StarWars Games.

 

[t3g]

Just wait for the Wii review. I am curious as to how the control factor will help or hurt the Wii version.

 

[Auspipboy]

jenguando....

Multiplayer is not the be all and end all mate. With respect, a single player game can kick a lot of arse these days. Just look at Mass Effect, Assasins Creed etc. The trick....make a game longer than 8 hours.

I am not brow beating you so don't take this the wrong way.

It is a pitty about this game. I will rent it when it comes out. But I dont think I will buy it.

 

[luvs2spooj]

Think I'll save myself some money then...

 

[legacyAccount]

So there you have it, physics based gameplay still isn't any fun without tight level design.

 

[AWS0M0]

this game sucks. the review sucks. video games suck. star wars sucks. xbox sucks. ign sucks. the vikings suck. everything sucks. just deal with it people. dont fight it. just accept it.

 

[RavenWretch]

The force powers on display appear ludicrously out of step with the rest of the frachise lore.... a case of just because you can doesnt nescessarily mean you should... Jedi Academy got the balance right, and the multiplayer was fun....wish we could have a sequel to that......

 

[SmoothE911]

ouch. it sounds like Vinatieri hurt someone a lot.

on the game side, it looks like it will be entertaiing, but I will definitely wait until the price drops or a used one is available. Not many 'must have' games on the horizon except for a few (LBP & GoW2 to name a couple). a shame, this could have been a lot better.

 

[hs11noles]

Eh. Worth a rent.

 

[yordancho]

awsomo I accept that your opinion sucks.

 

[kz1de]

I'll have to admit that playing the demo did seem like playing an enhanced version of the Anakin portion of Episode III. It wasn't all too bad, but then again, it wasn't all that great, either.

 

[lions333]

it looks crap but im wondering is it free roam like gta someone tell me

 

[Droolingb]

demo was terrible

 

[AMRFJ]

its sad that the psp version got the best score

 

[legacyAccount]

i stopped making decisions based on IGN's reviews a LONG time ago (but not in a galaxy far far away. sorry, i had to do that). I have had this preordered since july. You know how IGN gave Assassins Creed a 7.7? well, i still have that game; i've had it since december and i still get an hour or two of enjoyment every time i play it.

 

[Burtonboy05]

Yep I agree Okwdfavrea, I take IGN's reviews with a pinch of salt. Totally agree with assassins creed, sure it was flawed but it was something new and fresh and still play it from time to time and bought it at launch. For me it was more than a 7.7 - gamespot gave it a 9! maybe slightly high but it was a great game. IGN gave COD4 a 9+ for god sake. One of the most uninspiring games of last year besides its MP. Don't even start me on Halo 3 FFS. You watch these clowns compare BIA:HH to COD4. Other than being shooters these games are completely different but they have their fav's.

I think this will be a good game. As a SW fan i just want it to link EP III and IV. I thought the demo was ok and showed some potential. I'll purchase then trade it on something new if its not worthy of shelf space but I think it will be a keeper.

 

[ryan-ts]

Assassin's Creed is nothing more then a tech demo and 7.7 was pretty damn good score for a game I didn't like at all.

 

[Droolingb]

Ign isn't wrong on this, i'm surprised it didn't get less than a 7. Even the demo wasn't cool in a "well if they fix a thousand problems this game will be awesome."

 

[legacyAccount]

I've read about 10 reviews for this and none of em are too good. Check out metacritic, the general feeling I get is that its not even as good as the jedi academy games.