It’s a rare thing these days when I can sit down and finish a game in the space of 2 or 3 weeks but with the help of a sick day and a few late nights I was able to beat SW:TFU yesterday and I wanted to take a few moments to comment on the game – particularly in terms of the contribution it makes to the Star Wars canon.
Set between Episode III and Episode IV, the game reveals some of the major happenings that occurred following Vader’s embrace of the Dark Side, and subsequent hunt of the Jedi and anyone else that stood in the way of the Galactic Empire. Enter a young boy, raised by Vader, following the death of his father to become his secret apprentice. The personal fist of Vader who’s sole purpose was to dispatch his brand of “justice” to his enemies. Of course, that’s just the beginning and the player spends the next 7-9 hours unraveling the rest of the rich tale. I certainly won’t give anything away here as it’s something that every Star Wars fan should probably experience for himself first hand (that sad, if you have no real desire to play it, however, you can check the Wookieepidea for extensive plot details), but needless to say, I was very impressed with the whole experience and would say that it’s definitely one of my favorite chapters in the saga as a whole, and better than any one of the prequels (which I honestly enjoyed in a number of respects). To go one step further, in the protagonist “Starkiller” (a name associated with early Star Wars drafts) we get one of the greatest characters in the mythos – period. The title hints of the Force being “unleashed” and here was a character that few, if any, Jedi have been able to match in terms of raw power and ability. Additionally, he represents some of the greatest aspects of the characters we all know and love so well already. He was described by the creative team as what Luke might have become if raised by Darth Vader and as we watch things unfold we see (or at least, from perspective) that he was an even greater character andn arguably an even more pivotal one than Luke, himself, was in several respects. Likewise, I loved the way the developers almost seamlessly provided for the creation of the Rebel Alliance and the way that “organization” would be set up prior to the famous opening of A New Hope. Just great stuff and I’d be glad to go into spoiler territory via e-mail or what not if anyone has any further comments.
And as far as the gameplay goes, I had a blast. This is probably the most free roaming a Jedi as we’ve ever experience in a Star Wars game and wielding the force powers and the light saber is simply a heck of a lot of fun, and far more complex than some reviews led me to believe (a slasher it is not, unless you determine to make it so). In fact, I had almost none of the issues that some critics have leveled at the game. I did experience a few “bugs” here and there, but nothing that broke the experience for me and when I had a question there were plenty of resources available to provide me that “aha” moment. I would have loved for the game to have been a little longer but given the skins, challenges, and difficulty settings there is a lot of reply value given how much fun I had going through it the first time (kind of want to admister a painful beating to one of those initial Shadow Guards now that I’m nearly fully amped – and yes, you freakin’ get to fight those awesome Royal Guards you always saw protecting the Emporer). I’ve been itching to spend that much more time in the Star Wars universe lately, thanks in part to the Nancy Traviss novels, and The Clone Wars among other things, and this was a great means by which to accomplish that. Can’t wait to give those first few levels a try all over again over the next couple of days, particularly with the new unlockables.
Here In Duckburg 