Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

As a foreword to the readers, I really tried to like this game I was super excited that Lucas Arts came out with a game of their own and I really wanted to like this game. I came into the game thinking it was going to be a force-gasm; as you’ll read it ended up not.


Story:

You play as a young apprentice to Darth Vader, who kills your father and swoops you up so he can get his jollies on you, or train you, we still don’t know what happens there. You are then trained as Darth’s right hand to do all the dirty work, like finding Jedi and killing them.

The story of TFU is a great addition to the Star Wars lineage, and with amazing cut-scenes it does a great job of telling it. Also the Voice acting is amazing with perfectly synced actions and the characters really emote well. If Lucas arts is good at doing one thing, it’s making full digital movies that can/could be passed as real.


Game play:

Having the power of the force is one of many dreams of man, with TFU you get to experience all of it. When you first start the game you get to play as Darth Vader and yes he is as badass as you think he is. Darth Vader doesn’t run he walks with a shitload of hate in every step; you can tell that he’s rearing to tear someone in half. Playing as Vader gives you a glimpse of just how destructive and hateful you can make your game play; with strangling your enemies or crushing them into a suitcase size flesh packs. The hilarity that ensues during this initial mayhem is awesome and will make you laugh, but the evil twisted laugh, not that pussy giggle laugh. (thanks to IGN for the picture)

As the game progresses so do your skills and so does the amount shit stomping you do. I was initially playing as a Sith Warrior, which I recommend you not do until your second play through. The game will get really gay really quick if you decided you are already a badass, and at the beginning it might seem that way but shit hits the fan very quick. So just play as the apprentice which is what you are, and you’ll have more fun playing.

The game controls are pretty solid and really lend themselves well to wielding the force. Combos are not really all that exotic with 75% of them have the same beginning with a couple different ending schemes ( X, X, X, X, Y or B or what have you). I have heard some people gripe about how the targeting system is kinda garbage and sometimes you don’t pick up what you want. That’s true, to and extend; targets are selected with the direction of the character, not the camera, so it’s easy to select something you don’t want. There have also been some criticisms on throwing things at people, I so far have not had any trouble crushing imperials with boxes, rock, heaters, barrels, chairs, R2 units, Tie fighters, Tie Bombers, etc etc.

One important thing to learn, which will make your day much easier, is the quick recover. A simple tap of A will make you jump up and recover so you don’t get the HAVOCK engine’s typical, “I just jumped out of my car at 100 mph see how long I can flail” syndrome. No where in the tutorials does it give you this information, which is a damn shame because it is such a critical move to the game not sucking. Staying on moves, the force combo list is pretty decent except that there should be more awesome attacks. Because you only have one character and you have about ~25 combos where as a dedicated fighter games have A LOT of combos and a lot more characters, so I just think it’s a shame many more moves were not added.

Although a lot of this might sound like praise there were numerous things that I thought detracted from the game. Firstly the environments, however pretty, were notoriously glitchy. By that I mean there are a lot of clipping issues where you will get stuck on level planes and many items will fall through the level for no reason. The environments were way too slippery; you will slide off low inclined tank treads or easily fall off platforms. Speaking of platforms, some areas of the game that would seem like they would make perfect sense to jump on to acquire an item are too slippery to stand on let alone use for plat forming. It just really annoyed me that everything seems not well tested, I’ll get to this point later.

It is important to mention the new technologies of DMM and Euphoria that Lucas Arts has integrated into the game. DMM is Lucas Arts way of making materials behave with real world characteristics. Instead of the normal breaking of wood or stone at the same pre-defined areas the material will splinter or shatter in accordance with the stresses applied on it. This for me was the games best aspect because I totally geeked out on it. Euphoria is another tech infusion that allows your enemies to emote in accordance with how bad their shit is getting stomped. Euphoria basically makes the baddies react by trying to grab onto things when they are force gripped or shake like Michael J Fox when they are shocked. Really interesting to see these come together.

To wrap up the game-play section the AI in the game was kind of lacking in some situation the enemies would stand around and not do anything. Also some of the larger bosses, like rancors, would just stand in a dumbfounded state and not attack even when they had close to 1.1 gigawatts to razz them up.


Graphics:

As I have said before graphics are now a very important thing to gamers, if it looks like shit, it’s not fun to play. This is one area where Lucas Arts defiantly is a power house, being next door to Industrial Light and Magic TFU shines and glows in all the right places. Cut scenes are perfectly choreographed and are real a treat to watch.

Real geeks of Star Wars will defiantly geek out on a lot of the geometry used in the game. For me the Junkyard level was awesome, I saw the Millennium Falcon, escape pods, and just things that I “knew” what they were and I am sure that was exactly Lucas Arts intent.

Now Daniel thinks its cool when you get graphics slow down, because he is thinking. “Man I am a badass if I am doing this”. Which he can get pretty crazy at times but I am no where near that and I was able to slow the game down hard. Some areas of intense explosions and action really make the 360 come to a crawl and seem like you are watching a slide show. But the times where this happened was very few maybe three times. Thankfully the game show little to no graphical texture pop-in, something that seemed to plague Mass Effect.


Sound:

ILM has done a magnificent job giving TFU the Star Wars sound. Every sound has been recycled from past Star Wars games/movies/episodes so that when you play it you know it is a Star Wars game. They didn’t really introduce too many new items for the game but everything sounded great one thing ILM and Lucas Arts has always excelled at.


Verdict:

This game was supposed to be a truly epic game, and it is a great game. But unfortunately the game does lack a lot in my opinion. For being a multi-platform release I do not think that they play tested the shit out of the game like some other titles. Many little things plagued the game and made me curse and spit and throw controllers.

Having beaten the game through three times now it’s much more enjoyable; although some of the gripes about game play still stay the same. Until you are leveled enough you don’t get the full satisfaction of totally raping your enemies with the force. Thus the game doesn’t feel too fun on the first play through.

80/100

Flame War ON

It has come to my attention that some clown name Mike has joined the crew and has initiated the shit talkin', to which I say BRING IT ON.

But first since I haven't been reviewing many games recently but I have been playing them, here (in no particular order):

The Phoenix Wright Series, a collection of amazingly written storybooks games dealing with a cast of zany characters following about 4-5 cases each game. The strength in these games lie in the accessibility of the DS, where you can play part of a case and come back later never missing a step. Honestly, I have become addicted to playing DS games before I go to sleep because of this series instead of my usual routine of jacking it, watching TV, surfing the intrawebs, or all of the above. The series is hokey sometimes but I love playing detective and if you enjoy Law and Order and anime at the same time, try these games. They are like 10 bucks each at the Gamestop ffs.

Another DS game I recently love is Professor Layton and the Curious Village (I am addicted to saying the full name every time I bring it up). Basically it is like doing those STAT math puzzles as well as some abstract teasers and classic puzzles while playing through another storybook-esque game that has amazingly well done cinematics (think Spirited Away style).

No More Heroes is the exact game you'd expect coming Suda 51. Though not as good as Killer 7, this game has motion controls that actually work for Wii and has a crazy amount of gore. You play Travis Touchdown a wouldbe assassin that has to kill 10 assassins ahead of him to become number 1. You should know by that description that the game shines at the boss battles as each are as unique as Zelda bosses. The combat is neat too using a pseudo-katana kata with low and high stances to hit enemies weaknesses which is not even that important when a slot machine spins each time you kill a mob and you get some new crazy mode. Zero punctuation does an amazing job as you would expect reviewing this game. Pluses for this game are the gore, slick controls, cel-shaded, boss battles. Minuses have to be the bullshit overworld you have to transverse, those lame filler jobs/hits the game makes you do, and the bullshit overworld. Honestly Suda you aren't making GTA, if you cut all that bullshit and just made the game linear I would of been so much happier.



Which brings me to GTA IV. Buy This Game.

Oh you wanted more, well it is just plain awesome. The Havok Engine is incredibly detailed with physics fans creaming themselves over the crazy shit you can do with all the vehicles. I also like the Gears of War adoption of duck and cover style with even some innovations of its own. I've played I think 45 hours now and am only 50% done, to say that is impressive. I'll be honest I didn't like San Andreas or Vice City too much, but this iteration is THE next gen title I have been looking for. With 6 million worldwide sold already, I'm extremely happy for Rockstar's success.


Super Smash Bros Brawl - Awesome fighter, FIX THE ONLINE FOR FUCKS SAKE. Geez, every game is laggy, you have to play 2 minute matches with non-friends, WITH ITEMS ON, bullshit Smash Balls which is god mode in those lag storms, no ranking system. Nintendo please learn have to properly use online kthx. Honestly, if you've played Melee, you've played Brawl. It is less of the slippery controls, more of the "features", and a shitload of characters. All of them pretty balanced surprisingly.




Mario Kart Wii - Nice job with the online, a SERIOUS improvement from the jackass online that SSBB had. With rankings, fast matches, ability to play as your Mii, and roulette style race choices. Nintendo has to be realizing by now that there is a market for the online play. I would gladly pay for an online service like Xbox Live but with a million Wiis sold every month I don't think Nintendo cares too much. I just hope they realize their mistake soon, they can cater to the causal market AND make the hardcore players not migrate to other systems if they just learned from their mistakes. Get a non-friend code system, release headset support for games, and make a HD for download content.


God of War: Chains of Olympus is another amazing game. That and Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core are the reason to own a PSP. Too bad Barry got pissed at the difficulty and broke his.


The Orange Box, a great value and must rent.




Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors for Wii is too long of a name for such a simple little diversion. The game is like No More Heroes in that it has too much random overworld bullshit to maintain to get anywhere in the story. Not all games need an overworld, you can linearity for the sake of not BORING the SHIT out of your players. Also, the game gets crazy hard for no reason on some boss fights (the best part of the game). Really a lot of little annoyances add up fast to why I couldn't finish this game and that's a shame really. As I really liked the Wii controls and the premise.

The localization of the new Fire Emblem games by Nintendo is a great step toward more RPGs on the Wii/DS. If you ever wondered who the hell Roy and Marth are, you'll have to keep wondering as they are still in the Japanese prequels but Ike from the new Smash Bros Brawl is in the Gamecube/Wii games and is a badass. These games play alot like Final Fantasy tactics and have some good stories attached to them. I have really gone back to console gaming like I used to in my childhood. I had a decent relationship with MMOs that ended with WoW last summer. But this is where I belong, and at the most important time when the games market is breaking records with each month, week, year, and AAA title that is released. 2007 was a fucking awesome year for gaming and I expect this year will be just as great. Now if only John (Player 3) can get us a PS3, I can enjoy the next Metal Gear Solid 4 and Little Big Planet when they come out later this year.

So that's it, I don't feel like there is much to say about myself. I think I am the most obsessed with games out of all of us, so there is that. I have a lot to say when it comes to these games, some of which isn't always fair, but I love this medium and am optimistic about the future. Next I will be renting Boom Blox for Wii next so I'll tell you how it is. /endrant

Oh and Mike's gay.

Working on Content and Additional Crap

Its about that time that I need to vomit some more words onto your screen.

So we are renting games from Gamefly as fast as we can and reviewing the ones we feel like. Such as we just played Mass Effect obviously and tried out Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom. Kingdom Under Fire really didn't hold our attention as much as we hoped as it was great in the blurp that we tried on the XBL demo but as a full game it gets to the point that even the game makes you wonder why you are playing it. The gameplay was fun as well as the customization that all of us love but it is only multiplayer on Xbox Live and there is not enough of a story to keep you in like Mass Effect in. Don't get me wrong now, the graphics were superior and if they can continue on their series I could probably give the game a "more than a rental" review, that is to say that we didn't like this game enough to buy. That is probably why we sent it back for Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn and kept Mass Effect to rent out the new Advance Wars DS game. Those game will more than likely get reviews from us as they warrant it more than Kingdom Under Fire.

Me and Barry are mostly the review writers here so we will continue giving our junk 2 cents on the industry, new games, and whatever the hell we feel like. Player 3 is really our editor and David isn't more vocal of our crew, he really doesn't care for blogs. His name may be on the wall but I'm three times more important than him, you will mostly see him on Gunbound but he peaks his interest time and again for whatever game we are trying.

I'll post this here. I agree with Barry here enough not to post my own review, so I'll just add whatever I can.

What else can you expect from Bioware. They know console RPGs that Americans can appreciate as much as the asian anime looking staples flooding the genre. Not that I don't love those games too but damn is it nice to have variety.

You may remember Bioware from a little game called Knights of the Old Republic or Star Wars: KOTOR as many people refer to it as. What an awesome game that was and what else can you expect from the makers of KOTOR than a fresh new IP that is amazing in a lot of new ways.

All I can add from Barry is that the engine that they run the game in is fantastic. Not only does it fluidly handle all of the action during combat and exploring but even involves the "cutscenes" or dialogue in a way that doesn't make you ever think it is pre-rendered. I see very minimal FMV (Full Motion Video) in the game and I am happy for it. All the cutscenes look like you could do that instead of elaborate choreographed battle scenes. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't your attention without the over-the-top showings that your local Final Fantasy or [Insert RPG Here] offers.

Read Barry's review for more insight as to why this game is "so effing awesome."


So that's it until the next review for me. Down the pipeline we will probably get a review on Radiant Dawn from Player 3 and a review of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin from me. And plan on doing a belated look at The Orange Box and the new Turok game.

Assassin's Creed

I can't think of a more inappropriate game to review right now. As it stands Assassin's Creed is the highest new IP to date beating out Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001. This game is the poster boy of why a great game stands to be released as third party and doesn't have to be first or second party to gain back development costs. “Well of course games don't have to be released as first and second party to stand a chance,” you might say, but that isn't how the last twenty plus years of the gaming industry have run. But I’m not here to talk about the paradigm shift in way developers/publishers think in the 21st Century. The point- as elusive as it may be- is that with the cash that Assassin's Creed has been raking in (980,000 and 377,000 units for 360 and PS3 respectively in November, and 893,700 units in December for 360), the word is clearly out as to why this game belongs in your CD tray.

But you wouldn't think that with the reviews the game has been getting.

With an average rating of 83% at gamerankings.com the Creed sits with others like DiRT, Crackdown, and F.E.A.R.- great games all, but not in the same league as the Creed. 83% isn't even the problem; in going through the many available reviews we find that 20 popular sites/magazines didn't all review AC as 83%. Scores range from GameSpot’s 90% to Electronic Gaming Monthly’s 58.3%. Never before have I seen a more varied list of reviews. It’s clear that there isn’t a consensus of what this game is worth, how fun it is, how it ranks up with other games, etc...

So that’s why I’m talking about Assassin's Creed 2 months after it was released.

GAMEPLAY

In terms of equipment, Assassin's Creed starts like most action games: you may have had all your equipment at the beginning but due to a series of unfortunate clusterfucks you now have to recollect yours weapons and abilities. In that way it compares to Metroid, Zelda, Okami, etc... yet unlike those games you don't even need most of the gadgets that you recover. The game’s true obstacle is the environment, and all you need for that is the analog stick and the right trigger. As you enter these cities you'll quickly find that anything you can lock your eyes on can be climbed or scaled onto. This is where Assassin's Creed shines: the unparalleled freedom of movement within three massive cities. The ridiculousness of escaping guards down an alley with two small boxes to spring off of onto two hanging sticks onto a pole that you swing off of and into a merchant’ booth which you dart through (much to the merchant's distress). All of this can be done with the greatest of ease. Seriously, therein lies most of the game for me: maneuvering through this city that seems to be alive and busy. I think there lies the problem with most reviewers, that this may not be enough for them. It takes a certain attitude to take a moment and marvel on how fluid the animation is of Altair (the protagonist you control) or how the crowd reacts to what the hell you are doing to them or around them... an attitude that isn’t conducive to writing reviews for a living.

A lot of criticism has been leveled at the free GTA nature of these “eliminate the target” missions. Basically when you arrive at a given city, you must at one point arrive at your Assassin's Bureau to progress the story. Rather than pigeonhole you into a game that makes you assassinate on rails, the Creed allows you to discover the best way to take down your target Templar; be it through pickpocketing crucial maps, interrogating respected speakers, easedropping on vital conversations, or doing odd jobs for informers to gain their trust. All the while, each city has scattered throughout it numerous citizens that need saving from guards, viewpoints on top of high buildings that need to be surveyed, and collectible flags that are hidden in any dark alley you can think of. All of which adds to how you progress to what type of assassin you are. Sure, saving a citizen doesn't give you light points that accrue your character like in Fable or KOTOR, but it does help you out in dealing with the massive quantities of guards that these cities produce. In the same way, if a fat asshole brushes past you in a crowd or a retarded leper decides to shove you into a guard, you aren't penalized for f'ing their day up... with your knife.

COMBAT

Much like the demo played at E3, a lot of the combat takes place in the middle of a circle of guards that attack you mostly one at a time. As you start assassinating the targets your lord has charged you to kill, you gain vital pieces of equipment and skills that you will need in order to go apeshit on the guards. There’s the long blade, the hidden blade, your fist, or my personal favorite, the short blade (and with it are throwing knives). The system favors watching your opponents for times to strike, such as when one is limping or calling others to go attack you, you can dash over to them and stab them with your hidden blade. Or as they attack you can with all of your weapons counter their attack with some of the most brutal kills I've ever seen. Combat rewards the patient with killer finishers that aren't over-the-top, but still suitably graphic.

In combat you will find that as you go along it pays to constantly switch weapons as the situation demands. Starting with the long sword allows you to go for some easy kills before switching to the short blade to take out one guard as you turn around to lodge a throwing knife into the throat of a guard you just made distance from. Even the hidden blade is effective, as you are guaranteed a one hit counter kill (as opposed to the occasional counter by sword, in which you just push the guard that offended you). This ain't rocket surgery by any means, but it does have a certain finesse that as you go along you will come to appreciate as new counter/dodge/guard block kills are introduced.

Out of combat you will find that hidden blade is the tool by which you manipulate the world to your liking. Until you are all out wanted by guards you have free rein to be as subtle or as obvious as you want in accomplishing your mission. With ways of blending into the crowd if you just decapitated a guard, jumping in a pile of hay, sitting on a bench with some smelly old people, or mixing with a wandering group of monks, you can be as inventive as you want in getting away from the local toughs. As you go along it is clear that your enemies can't distinguish between you and the men of the cloth that walk the streets, in spite of the stockpile of weapons strapped to your body. The throwing knives are a lot of fun too; drive-by long-range guard murdering became a favorite hobby of mine, next to jacking shit from unsuspecting mercenaries.

GRAPHICS

The graphics in this game are nothing short of amazing. This is truly next gen level with these cities living and breathing, a metric assload of polygons on the screen at one time with the frame rate never dipping. But if the sheer amount of bulk you can see isn't enough to get you hyped, then how about the architecture that you experience first hand as you plant yourself on the side of dozens of beautifully crafted churches and castles. What takes the cake for me, however, is that fluid animation that I alluded to earlier. This game progresses the industry in terms of the most seamless transition of a character in how he interacts with his environment. Not only do you have a sense of full control over Altair, but you’ll swear that he has monkey blood (even if you’re a creationist!) in the way he scrambles up and down alleyways and building sides. Once you progress and gain grab ledge, it all gets even more ridiculous on how this man can dominate his surroundings. Yet none of it seems at all too far-fetched. In the realm of an assassin game that takes place in the crusades, I think it is fair to make your character a badass that seems more like an acrobat than an assassin.

STORY

The Da Vinci Code came out in 2004 beset with glowing reviews, an instant best seller spawning dozens of books concerning the Holy Grail and the Templar legacy. Yet aside from Deus Ex and the occasional RTS dealing with the Crusades, not much has been done video game wise on a very engrossing subject. Enter Assassin's Creed.

You play the role of Altair, a cocky assassin that botches up a mission that lands him in his lord's bad side. After the mission you have to redeem yourself to your lord as well as to the rest of the Assassin Order, as you violated all three tenets of the Assassin Creed (namely thou shalt not fuck up) and are just as arrogant as you were before. Soon you learn that really you are a bartender that has been kidnapped by a large corporation named Abstergo Industries (which was obviously modeled after Microsoft). Apparently, memories of past generations are encoded in DNA and can be retrieved through the use of a machine known as the Animus. This device allows the corporation to hijack people and force them to reveal their ancestor's memories, hence why you are so important to the company. You house Altair's memories- being his descendant- and he knew something that they want. Unfortunately for your captors, memories can't be jumped to the relevant information, but must be played out in a linear fashion. Thus the purpose of the game is for the bartender to play his ancestor's memories to the point that the corporation needs.

Personal characterization aside, everyone has a lot to say on how you go about your assassinations. The voice acting is spot on with believable accents and a lot of modern commentary about the machinations of a few men to control a larger population. A lot of the story is believable, although the leap of faith you have to make for the Animus is considerable.

The ending is one that is on the minds of many a reviewer. Gabe over at Penny-Arcade.com said it best, claiming that unless you show your gamertag along with your review, you have no credible way of commenting on the story's ending. You need to have the Visions of the Future achievement in order to talk about what the ending means, and after completing the game I tend to agree. So here:





THE UGLY

Let's talk about the ugly real quick. This game attempts to do a great deal in what seemed to be a short development cycle after the last Prince of Persia. This game can get glitchy, like some other games that didn't have their game testers test the shit out of them. There’s a plethora of structures you can accidentally fall through, some weird NPC, and the occasional touchy script break. That’s to be expected in my opinion and does not weigh down my review as much as it does a lot of others. It is like the reviewers take it as a personal slight that a game didn't got the extra mile to overtest before going gold. Yeah, it’s sloppy, but it is also the nature of the beast when you need to release your game to rake in the cash from Q4.

Some of the missions are a little lacking, but I am of the opinion that Ubisoft wanted you to explore more than anything, and that is how I played the game. I ventured forth into the wild blue yonder, and had fun doing it. I enjoyed eluding guards and cutting down 25 of them with my short blade before the man hunt was finished.

LASTING IMPRESSIONS

What's not to like in this game? It’s as fun as it is deep. The graphics are amazing for what it tries to accomplish and this gem seriously aims high in that respect. Not to sound trite, but I can't rationalize the lack of higher scores for this game as it doesn't play like any other 70 or 80 games I’ve played. With superior voice acting, decent replayablity, great story, amazing graphics, fluid animations, and a lot of fun to be had I can't in good conscience give this game less than a 91.

Score - 91/100

Gameplay footage