It's as if a million geeks all cried out in nerd rage, and then were silenced - 'cos it's actually good!
Star Wars games have had a strong run over the years. I remember playing the original trilogy games for the GameBoy. I cut my FPS teeth on the first Jedi Knight game. I must have played the demo for Mysteries of the Sith about a thousand times before I bit the bullet and bought the full game. I met most of the people I know (Lell included) on the internet when I was a founding member of one of the biggest Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy clans, JSU. Needless to say the Star Wars franchise has a very special place in my heart. With that heart beating good, unadulterated, undiluted gamer blood, as you can imagine the Star Wars games sit on an even higher pedestal. In 2006, we saw the footage of Starkiller (the game's main character) lifting up Storm Troopers, slamming them into the walls, and then throwing them away like unwanted toys. Awesome stuff. A couple of years passed with no news, and then in early 2008 we saw the video (again, linked) of Starkiller bringing down a Star Destroyer, a freaking Star Destroyer!! That's when I knew that I NEEDED this game. Unparalleled physics power, 3 physics engines working in tandem, a new chapter in the Star Wars universe, and the feeling that you have full control over the powers of the force, both light and dark sides. Nothing was going to stand in the way of getting this game. Nothing did.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed looks amazing; it's one of the most graphically appealing current generation games out there on the market right now. That coupled with the ridiculously accurate physics engine means that from the minute you start playing you'll feel entrenched in the Star Wars universe. You'll feel like Darth Vader (in the first level), and then Starkiller from then on. You'll start to formulate methods of taking down multiples enemies in one fell swoop using the force. My favorite method was during one of the first levels, the one in the demo actually, where you could herd some of the enemies into a corner, then pick one of them up and take out the window with him, allowing the vacuum of space to do the rest of the work for you. Unbelievably satisfying, I could do it again and again and never get bored. Another shining point of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the story. In short, it's outstanding. I would go as far as to say that it's better than all of episodes I, II and III combined, almost as good as Jar Jar in bed... That's about all I can say about the story. Anything else would be spoilers and I really want each and every one of you to experience the story in all of its glory, without me giving you any heads up about anything at all.
Being the good reviewer that I am [forced to be], the bad points must be thrown into the spotlight as well. There should have been a multiplayer option, maybe a small fighter-style game where people can fight against each other wielding only Lightsabers and the Force. A sort of co-op mode would also make for fantastic fun, although I'm not sure how they'd tie it into the game’s lore without totally butchering the canon of the Star Wars universe with the whole, “always two there are, a master and an apprentice”.
The Force Unleashed is the pinnacle of current gaming, although the lack of multiplayer puts a strain on replayability. The physics engines alone are something that makes this game stand out from the crowd. The way that some of the puzzles are solved using physics is something that I, as a gamer of over 20 years, found difficult because puzzles have just never been solved in this way. I'm not saying for a minute that it's bad thing, just that it's a different thing and that it might take a while for more veteran players to get used to. If you haven't got Star Wars: The Force Unleashed by now, get it. If you've been thinking about it, think no longer. If you can't afford it, rent it, borrow it. Everyone needs to play it, Star Wars fan or not. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed breaks the boundaries of singleplayer gaming.
Short Term: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a very fun game, whether you're playing it for 10 minutes or 10 hours. There are a good amount of checkpoints, although some of the time I noticed that the checkpoints are after the major battle, when they could really have done with being slightly before them. - 95
Long Term: The game itself has no replay value other than the fun you'll have blowing stuff up. There's no multiplayer, so if you're not prepared to put some money down for the downloadable content in the form of mission packs and new playable characters, there's really nothing to make you play the game again. Unless you feel the need to taste some barbecued Storm Trooper again. - 85
Overall: I'd say that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a must own title for the current generation systems. The physics system alone makes sure that using the force powers is fun and that you'll find multiple ways of dispatching throes of enemies in new and interesting ways.