Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has been talked about quite a lot since it was announced for the App Store. Many people have been eagerly awaiting the release to see how their beloved franchise would turn out on the device whether it would be a great game with awesome controls, great sound and an interesting story or if it would just be a port of an old game made for some crappy old phone with a keypad. Well, the game was released today, and while I am not the biggest fan of Star Wars, I have to tell you, THIS GAME ROCKS!

• Genre: Action/Science Fiction
• Number of Players: 1
• Price: $9.99

iTunes Description:

“Experience the Star Wars universe as never before. The devastating power of the Force in your hands. You are Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice, trained by the menacing Sith Lord to hunt down the last of the Jedi. Unleash a barrage of Force Powers – including Grip, Lightning, Jedi Mind Trick and much more – at the flick of your fingers as you tap, touch and swipe your way through enemies using the intuitive touch-screen mechanics and exclusive CellWeaver™ feature. Your journey will take you across the galaxy, yet you are destined to become something greater than just Darth Vader’s servant. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – May the Force Blow Your Mind. – © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM.”

iTunes Link: Click Here

Opening Blurb:

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…

STAR WARS

THE FORCE UNLEASHED

The galaxy is on the brink of darkness. The evil GALACTIC EMPIRE has overthrown the Old Republic and now holds countless worlds in the grip of fear.

The Jedi Knights have been all but destroyed. Only a handful have escaped Imperial forces, disappearing into hiding across the galaxy.

The remaining few are being hunted by the Sith Lord DARTH VADER who, unbeknownst to the Emperor, has been training an Apprentice of his own…

In Star wars: Forced Unleashed, you play as Darth Vader’s bad ass apprentice. If you don’t know who Darth Vader is, maybe you should check out the original (and best) trilogy of Star Wars or you can read his Wikipedia page. Vader sends you on a mission to wipe out all remaining Jedi so that the Empire can finish taking control of the galaxy and you accept. Throughout the game, you are joined by an array of characters, but mainly your pilot, Captain Juno who you interact with frequently. Throughout the game, Vader sends you on missions to different planets to spy, search and destroy. The story is pretty average but for a App Store game, it’s great! It will keep you entertained. What I mean is, it is not as good in comparison to the movies but it is the best story for a game on the App Store so far.

The story is told in small, in engine cut scenes with text (which you can skip). The game is completely linear, it has a set structure which it repeats over and over. The levels usually progress like this:

• Level loads
• Opening cut scene, usually a briefing with Darth Vader or Captain Juno about the mission
• Learn new techniques with the on board training computer (New Force moves or ways of fighting)
• Land at the planet
• Explore and fight all of the enemies (there might be a little bit of puzzle solving)
• Boss battle
• Ending cut scene
• Earned a new technique
• Level complete
• Next level

Although this sound kind of boring and wouldn’t be very acceptable on a console game, it is perfectly fine on the iPhone/iPod Touch. The campaign has 6 levels, it took me about two and a half hours to complete. I was satisfied by the length because along with the campaign mode, there is also Survival mode, aka, try to stay alive as long as possible to get a highscore.

Overall the game is presented well, it has a very epic feel about it and at least it has a story! You get a sense of satisfaction completing the levels and unlocking new moves and techniques. The cut scenes are presented great, even though they are kind of repetitive.

The game is what I like to call an on-rails game. What this means is that you cannot move the character or the camera but you do the actions such as attacks and blocks. Although this might sound kind of lame, it actually works out fine because if you had to move, attack, block and switch techniques all at the same time, the game would be a mess. What this allows for is terrific camera angles which show off the pretty graphics. I believe that the game controls perfectly. To attack or interact with an object/enemy, there has to be a symbol above it. What this symbol tells you is what gesture you have to do (you just draw the gesture anywhere on the screen). It works out really well and it makes you feel as if you are actually controlling the force, well sort of. You can see how the game controls in the video below of Survival mode.

Some objects/enemies only allow you to interact with them with certain moves/techniques. There about 10 moves in total. Some of the main ones are grip, push and lightning. To activate grip, you tap the screen with two fingers, then draw a loop, then draw in the direction you want the object to move. To active push, you draw down with two fingers, then gesture. To activate lightning, draw right with two fingers, than draw a lightning bolt. There are other moves such as drain (drains enemies health and restores some of yours), heal, pull, slow motion plus more! These moves add a layer of difficulty into the game but in a good way.

There are also block moves which deflect lasers, light sabers, etc, and rebound them back at enemies. When an enemy is about to fire at you, a red circle pops up above their head. One quadrant of the circle is shaded. To deflect the attack, you must draw a line in that direction. This also adds another layer to the great gameplay. Although the missions might be a little repetitive, fighting using the force is so fun, it doesn’t even matter! The combat is complex enough so that you can have your own playing style. The only let down with the fighting is probably the boss battles, they are a bit boring, maybe THQ will update them though and make them a bit more interesting.

The graphics are terrific, they are a blend of what looks like painted backgrounds and three dimensional models. The frame rate never drops so it looks very smooth. Although I am a big fan of graphics on games such as Bejeweled and Critter Crunch because of their simplicity, Force Unleashed looks so good and performs so well that I think that it is the best looking game on the platform. The game has lots of color, each level looks different, all of them look great. The only problems I have with the graphics is sometimes, when you get a close look at the character models, they look a little bit pixelated but what you have to realise is that the game is running on a music player and/or a mobile phone. The graphics look great!

For me, the sound was a bit of a let down, not so much in the sound effects but in the music department. I was hoping for an MP3 soundtrack but instead, there are only two low quality tracks that repeat over and over. This was a little bit of a shock for me because I always remember Star Wars having wonderful orchestrated sound tracks. Maybe this will be updated too? Sound effects on the other hand are quite good. They are higher quality but again, they are quite repetitive.

Overall, the game is terrific because it tells a story well (even if it is not the most original or detailed), it controls well and it looks fantastic. If you are choosing between some of the higher priced games, I would definitely recommend that you get this game. If you are a Star Wars fan, it is a no brainer and if you hate Star Wars and you wish that it never existed, you might still like this game because it is so fun. Although the game isn’t that long, the experience you have with it is a great one!

• Gameplay: 95% – The combat is fantastic! The missions are a little repetitive though.
• Graphics: 100% – The best looking game on the App Store
• Sound: 80% – Where is my high quality orchestrated music? Sound effects are pretty good.
• Value: 85% -  A pretty good price but hey, everyone likes a price drop
• Lasting Appeal: 70% – The campaign will probably take you around 2-3 hours if you get right into it but survival mode will have you coming back for more!
• Overall: 90% – It’s looks great, it’s fun to play and it’s Star Wars! What more could you ask for?

Bkram1