Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Genre: Action

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

(Note: There are multiple Star Wars bundles on Nintendo Switch. If you want a breakdown of which bundles contain which games, please check this page.)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an Action game released in 2008 across numerous platforms, but at that time the differing capabilities resulted in two major versions of the game being released – one version releasing on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, and one version releasing on PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii, with the Wii release getting further upgrades such as improved visuals, multiplayer, added motion controls, and the inclusion of content released as DLC in the PC/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 version.

Strangely, this made for an unusual situation where many saw the Wii version of the game the best version, even more so than the more graphically-impressive PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 version. Perhaps for this reason, the Wii version of the game was selected as the basis of this upscaled remaster, releasing on Nintendo Switch in 2022. This remaster retains that version’s content and multiplayer mode, and not only reproduces the original release’s motion controls using the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Cons, but also adds more traditional gamepad controls too (and it’s a good thing – the motion controls are terrible).

This game is set at a time between the prequel trilogy of Star Wars films and the original trilogy, attempting to bridge the gap between the two, and it puts players in the role of Starkiller, a young apprentice to series villain Darth Vader raised in secret by Vader to undermine the emperor, with Starkiller’s story also telling about the rise of the Rebel Alliance. Well… sort of – this game’s story has since been dismissed as non-canon, so treat it like a professionally-produced fan-fiction, I guess.

The game’s decade and a half age certainly shows in the 3D visuals, which have low-poly models for both characters and environments by today’s standards. However, while they have aged, they have aged relatively well, thanks to a clean resolution and framerates in this version as well as some nicely-detailed textures. In short, don’t expect to be impressed, but for an old game, this looks pretty good.

The sound is also quite good, with the voice actors doing excellent work as their characters, and the soundtrack doing a good job imitating John Williams’ film score. I do have one complaint, though – as amusing as it is to hear your enemies’ screams as you tear through them, you’ll very quickly start hearing the same screams over and over again, which gets really repetitive (and no, I don’t mean the Wilhelm scream).

When it comes to the gameplay, The Force Unleashed is a delightful romp where players are meant to feel nigh-invincible as they tear through countless enemies. This is a lot of fun, though it does have a downside – the game can feel simple, button-mashy, and repetitive. Even the bosses feel repetitive, with sith/jedi fights often feeling samey and repeated AT-ST fights losing their luster after the first one. Also, the level design is woefully lacking, and while the “ATB” button prompt cutscenes may have been all the rage when the game first released in 2008, it’s a fairly hated mechanic all these years later.

Overall, I think fans of the original game will find this release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed manages to present the best version of the game yet, and players new to the game will likely enjoy it too, even if its flaws are easier to see now. Still, as Action-packed Star Wars games go, this is a pretty good choice.

tl;dr – Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an upscaled remaster of the Wii version of this Action game that results in what is arguably the best version of this game yet. The action here is delightful and this release polishes the game up and adds much-appreciated gamepad controls. At the same time, this is a pretty shallow and repetitive game, and some gameplay elements have aged better than others. Overall this is still an enjoyable Action game in the Star Wars universe, but not a great one.

Grade: B-

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