Tuesday 30 Sep 2008

Playing the apprentice of the baddest bad guy of them all is possibly what sets this Star Wars game aside over and above any other Star Wars game franchise before this. What does stand up even more though is the way Lucasarts has made this a living breathing game that emphasizes just how strong this apprentice is with the force at his side… while Darth Vader watches on.

Several years ago we had Midway testing with telekinesis and it worked quite well, but had very little heart, something this game explodes with from the introduction level where you play as Darth Vader working his way through Wookiee’s to acquire himself the secret apprentice, who you will be playing with for the rest of the game with the Emperor in his sight. You just feel so powerful! See a Star Trooper way in the distance? Lock on and pick him up with the might of your “R-trigger” and “analogue sticks” and then throw him towards the oncoming horde of Star Troopers following, which in return flattens them to the ground or you could just toss him into oblivion. Feel like some close combat? Wield with your trusty lightsaber and pull out some of the most amazing combos!

Some time and effort has gone into the combo system as you require leveling up points as you would in an RPG which you can use to acquire new combos for your light saber, new moves to use with the force or just upgrade the strength and agility of your character overall. The only problem I have is that it takes an unnecessary loading screen just to accomplish the upgrades, but that is just me being petty.

The force might be used to rid you of the enemy, but it also has its use for puzzle solving right throughout the game which lends itself to a bit of adventuring instead of just the normal hack and slash type hole that most games dig themselves into. Battles with bosses and the like has you often making use of the force or if you feel like being the most boring gamer you could just keep pressing the “x” button to slash him up with your lightsaber. When a boss reaches a stage where he is weak you are prompted with a Quick Time Event (QTE) where you have to press the correct buttons in accordance to what is shown, like you would in God of War. What I did enjoy about the QTE’s in this game is that it took only a few button presses and you could watch the final few blows in all it’s cinematic glory.

As good as the cinematics were in this game it did feel a bit rushed. The game would jump between in-game engine and CG which would be confusing as there was little difference between the two. The background level design was actually quite astounding with some levels leaving my jaw on the floor, while other was just very mediocre.

The atmosphere in this game is something that should be experienced on a 5.1 Dolby surround sound system. The soundtrack and overall sound effects are top notch (well, since when has a lightsaber sound effect not been top notch?)

With so many silver linings you do expect a dark cloud once in a while, but at least that happens to be small problems. The level design has high ledges littered all over the place which, if you went to far, would have you slip and fall yourself to your untimely death – this happened to me quite a few times by an enemy knocking me towards a ledge and it resulting with me falling off. My controller at times had the experience of a concord…

Secondly, it depends how you are going to tackle this game. If you are going to continuously press the “x” button to beat everything in the game then this game has as much depth as Barbies Horse Adventures. It is up to you to try new methods. For example: Lift an enemy into the air, shock him with lightning and toss him towards another enemy bugging you. Be creative.

Now for the bombshell.

I’ve never been a Star Wars fan. After playing this I’m contemplating watching the complete series.

What I’m trying to say is that this is a great “game” and instead of depending on amazing graphics and the obvious license they created one of the best Star Wars games yet to grace any console and with it an amazing story to complement it. What more could you want as a fan?

Pros: Inventive gameplay mechanics; the force – it’s just awesome

Cons: Some twitchiness near ledges; might be a bit on the short side

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Contributor:	Dawid

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