Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the latest release from LucasArts, and part of the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed multi-media project developed by LucasArts along with Dark Horse Comics, Lego, Hasbro, and Del Rey Books. The game and project, set between Episodes III: The Revenge Of The Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope (that’s movies 6 and 1 chronologically just in case there’s anyone left on the planet unfamiliar with the series), and follows the story of Starkiller, Darth Vader’s apprentice. This game has been whetting the appetites of Star Wars and non Star Wars fans alike for the best part of two years now, and the hype has been built up to pretty incredible levels

So was the hype accurate? Well, despite the hopes of a free roaming, force wielding Star Wars universe for players, the game is unfortunately somewhat linear (apart from some of the later missions). The game starts off with you taking control of everyone’s favourite villain, Darth Vader, on the planet of Kasyyyek in the hunt for Jedi. It’s at the end of this level that Vader discovers the young Starkiller and takes him under his wing.

So, once the intro is out of the way and we’ve established the facts behind Vader’s relationship with Starkiller, we find ourselves thrust forward to the point Starkiller is well underway in his training as a Sith apprentice, and the game kicks off properly

You might recognise the first level of the game as Starkiller; it’s the full version of the Tie Fighter factory seen in the demo version of the game released on both PSN Store and Xbox Live earlier this month. As Vader’s secret apprentice, Starkiller must ensure his anonymity through the missions and therefore everyone needs to be killed.

The first thing that’ll really blow you away in this game right from the off is that the graphics are nothing short of amazing; the physics engine means things shatter, bend and break just like they would in real life, and it’s truly a sight to behold.

Alas the second thing you’ll notice is that the targeting is somewhat temperamental, when it works it’s amazing when it doesn’t it’s completely infuriating, and doesn’t really help your immersion in the game world.  Fortunately though the control system in general is pretty simple to start with but as you work your way further through the game you’ll find yourself unlocking quite an overwhelming number of different combos by collecting force spheres. 

It’s easy enough to get through the majority of the game by employing a tactic of manic button mashing, but it’s worth noting that this will limit your progression though the force powers ladder so it’s to perform combos and actually try to focus on skill rather than luck if you intend on getting the most out of the game.

For a game in development so long, it’s quite disappointing to find out that there are fairly mega glitches in the game as early as the first boss.