Review of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – a game full of wrinkles and Forces

Enough of “ordinary, nameless Judas” who become heroes who will save the whole world. There were also plenty of positive characters, good-hearted Jedi, or perfect fencing duels. Welcome to the world of a 14-year-old game ported to the Nintendo Switch that tells the story of Starkiller, Darth Vader’s apprentice.

• Platform: Nintendo Switch
• Publication date: April 20, 2022
• Developer: Crome Studios
• Publisher: Aspir
• Genre: action adventure
• Czech localization: Not
• Multiplayer: Local battles 1 in 1
• Data to download: 3.4 GB
• Game time: 8 ocloc’k
• Price: $19.99 (Nintendo Store)

Starkiller is not Judah. His father was a Jedi killed by Darth Vader during his hunt. But he sensed the potential in the little boy and took him under his wing, despite the emperor’s ban. He taught him how to fight, and yes, he gave him a red lightsaber.

The plot of the game takes place between the third and fourth episodes of the film. Although not considered canon, especially due to the possibility of different endings, it complements some points nicely. For example, you will learn how the Rebel Alliance was formed, and through the main character sent into space by Darth Vader, you will kill the last remnants of the Jedi. The dialogues are not exactly exciting, and the behavior of the young student is quite predictable. As usual, Starkiller eventually begins to question Vader’s orders… or not?

In 2008, when The Force Unleashed came out, it was the best-selling game in the Star Wars world. The ratings were mixed, but they did appear on various consoles (PlayStation 2 and 3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii) as well as the PC version. Even now it’s not a remake, just a switch port. It is based specifically on the Wii version and offers, in addition to the main story, bonus missions in the Temple of the Jedi Masters, local multiplayer, and the ability to control Starkiller with joy-cones. Conversely, several scenes that can be seen in the PC version (for example, with the friendly PROXY droid) are missing.

In the shoes of Darth Vader

It is important to say in advance what you want from the game. If you’re expecting a deep story and witty swordsmanship that even Darth Maul would envy, avoid the Force Unleashed Galactic Arc. It’s pretty fun to try out a joystick-controlled lightsaber, but the strength of this 14-year-old game is in the Force. Gradually, you will find that you simply do not hit enemies. They absorb your wounds and duels become tedious and eventually a little boring. Also, in this port, the camera sometimes does what it wants, so while focusing on the boss in the middle, his driver runs, Starkiller turns to him mamlas and receives several painful blows to the back.

You sit on the couch with a pocket mod and eat Jedi.

But it’s called The FORCE Unleashed, isn’t it? You get a pretty solid set of skills right from the start. After the tutorial where you play as Darth Vader himself (!), you can also, like in Starkiller, throw people against the wall, choke them in the air and deliver electric shocks. Gradually, the protagonist gains experience by killing enemies, and thus learns various combos, where, for example, he swings his sword several times, and then toast Stormtrooper. Personally, I mostly liked this side of the game: pure fun. You sit on the pocket mod couch and rub a Jedi or group of Wookiees face to face. Sometimes it’s chaos, but a small screen is enough.

Also, she is friends with The Force Unleashed in one more. Even if the game is running smoothly, you can still see her wrinkles: awkward facial expressions in some scenes, sometimes repetitive environments, or poor visibility (a red dot in the distance could be a bonus to your health or normal light). Unfortunately, this is neither a remake nor a remaster, but just a slightly polished port.

Fear of enemies and droids

In addition, it is also a suitable travel game in the pocket version. Its duration is a maximum of ten hours if you decide to collect all sorts of lightsabers or other collectibles. And each mission will fit in an hour. The Switch version isn’t difficult, I’ve only died a few times, so there’s no risk of vulgar swearing while sitting next to a frightened man on a bus.

You can easily throw innocent squeaking robots out the window.

There is no open world in the game, only narrow corridors through which you run and mow down everyone who looks badly at you. You can easily throw innocent squeaking robots out the window just trying to run around you (and then blame yourself for a week). In the meantime, you go through various smaller or larger bosses, whether it’s the Jedi Rahma Kotu or the giant AT-ST.

But there is one inconvenience for bosses: quick events. The game was created at a time when it was gaining popularity with developers (think of Heavy Rain from 2010, for example), so almost every boss fight ends with a longer sequence of pressing the prescribed buttons. The quick events aren’t too complicated here, you just cycle through four buttons. But all you have to do is mess up once, you’ll get a loader, and the enemy will bounce back a bit – so you’ll have to push through again for the next try. If you’re downright incompetent (hello, there!), then some fights get unnecessarily long, lose momentum, and you focus on squeezing out AABYAX instead of an action point behind the life of an ugly bastard.

But maybe you can. Maybe fast events don’t bother you. Then you will like these endings of the battles, especially since the series looks “cinematic”. In general, the rest of the game is filled with cutscenes that are successful for their time, in which famous heroes or a mighty Star Destroyer appear.

Like in a movie

Add to that the ageless film score of John Williams. You aim at a huge hall, hold a red lightsaber, push back screaming enemies with a pressure wave, and The Imperial March plays in it. Priceless.

In addition to the main storyline, the game also offers a duel mode where you can fight your friends in the shoes of one of the 27 famous characters from the Star Wars world. Replay the duel between Qui-Gon Jin and Darth Maul. Or send both Skywalkers against each other. It takes some time when you pick up a joystick instead of a lightsaber.

The port was handled by Krome Studios and Aspyr, who ported the racing game Star Wars: Episode I – Racer or Knights of the Old Republic to the Nintendo console. The latter is currently being prepared as a remake for computers and Playstation 5, which many fans are looking forward to.

The so-called KOTOR is different from The Force Unleashed. But you can still have some fun with this new Switch port. The key word here is action, not dialogue, and controlling Vader’s gifted apprentice evokes a warm feeling of power from the start. The bonus is that although there is a second volume, story number one is clearly demarcated and closed.