Star Wars: The Force Unleashed / The Force Unleashed II

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JaySevenZero
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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed / The Force Unleashed II

Post by JaySevenZero »

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed / The Force Unleashed II for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.
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designermatt
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Re: 581: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed / The Force Unleashed II

Post by designermatt »

I picked the Force Unleashed up for my Xbox 360 back in the day, drawn by my love of third person action and of course, star wars nostalgia as a kid of the 80s. It was fast and slick, and I remember having enormous fun backflipping around the place, slicing up stormtroopers and choking them out with force grip. As your powers levelled up, it got very over the top and had your character pulling off feats that I knew were probably not in keeping with the star wars story, but honestly I felt so cool doing them that I didn't care. My main memory is of the last level before the final boss, with the protagonist dropping ten stories down into the death star, landing gracefully and proceeding to take on absolutely every one and everything in it all by himself, like a superhero with a lightsaber. Ridiculous but so much fun!

I did try the sequel with high hopes, but remember feeling very let down. It was incredibly short, and the story - which had your character being cloned out of nowhere then killed off again not long after - felt clumsy and tacked-on. For me, the Force Unleashed 2 really felt like the developers had done the bare minimum, which was a big disappointment. I still have very fond memories of the original though!
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Re: 581: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed / The Force Unleashed II

Post by Tolkientaters »

I Didn't play games growing up, but Force Unleashed was one I heard a lot about. In a lot of ways it's similar to Jedi Fallen order, taking a lot of inspiration from other popular games and genres of the time without having too much of its own unique identity.

The gameplay is fun if a little janky, with the force powers being the standout feature. Visually it's fine, but playing now certainly it doesn't blow you away. The story is just bad and does what I generally dislike the most about a lot of Star Wars media in particular where it's constantly going whoa look at this character instead of making it's own unique story in the universe. It's also got of the dumbest most self congratulatory endings I've seen in a game for the good route, how the hell did our dipshit edgy main character inspire a rebellion? Honestly the evil route probably would've been more fitting.

That being said, the sequel was so much better than I expected, it looks better, plays better with more fluid combat and solid setpieces, though some do overstay their welcome. There were a couple times in the first game where I knew what to do for a sequence but found the controls difficult, that never happened in the sequel. The sequel also had a cleaner look that aged well with some pretty impressive lighting and reflections. I also kinda liked the story, it's still dumb, but I was engaged enough. Still sucks that Juno is more just motivation for our main character rather than her own distinct character. It is short, but I don't see that as a negative.

Playing these games gave me some weird nostalgia for games I always wanted definitely play in middle and high school, I definitely prefer the sequel.
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Re: Our next podcast recording (5.8.23) - 581: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed / The Force Unleashed II

Post by Wuqinglong »

The original Force Unleashed was one of the few single player titles I experienced on my Xbox 360. I remember having a lot of fun with the physics engine and pulling a Star destroyer out of orbit with the force is a particular highlight lodged in my memory. With that being said I don't remember much else about the game and it sits a in a weird place with me as a fun game that I don't remember very clearly. The sequel did not fare much better in that regard as all I really recall is the ending that looked to set up a continuation that was to never be. They were both some quick Star Wars fun and for that alone I am more than happy to have experienced them despite the lack of an impression they've left on me.
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