I was rather bored today, so decided to write a review of The Force Unleashed. Wanna know why? Well, why not?

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Nintendo Wii)

I'm sure this game is known to almost everyone who has anything to do with games. It's the latest Star Wars game promising to completely revolutionise the story and to take the Force to a whole new level. I honestly believe it achieved both of these – to an extent. It's not perfect, but then what is?

The gameplay is fairly straightforward. Run around, slash things with lightsaber and blast them with the Force until dead. Move on and repeat. That said, it's really fun! I mean, who hasn't wanted to be able to lift a Stormtrooper into the air and use him as a battering ram against his allies? What isn't cool about incinerating an entire room with Force Lightning? Is choking the last, annoying and powerful enemy to death while suspending them over a bottomless pit not immensely satisfying? You can do some very cool things with the Force this time around.

Telekinesis provides the bulk of your Force abilities from hurling enemies across the room, lifting them and throwing them over ledges or sending nearby scenery (and bombs, for some reason) flying into a group of unsuspecting stormtroopers. There are also a number of combos you can get, mostly combining your lightsaber and some sort of power. To be honest I mostly ignored these, but being able to combine Force Push and Force Lightning was VERY useful.

While the gameplay can get repetitive, it's fun repetitive! As your force powers grow stronger through the game you'll enjoy testing them out to see what you can now do. The enemies get progressively more annoying as the game continues, the worst being anything with a jetpack. They delight in flying above your camera and shooting you with fifty-lasers-a-second guns and flame-throwers while you flail around helplessly trying to get them in view. Then of course, they DON'T DIE!!! And you can't throw them off ledges either, because they have JETPACKS! Besides that, you'll usually find a few combos that work well and will continue to use them through the game. I utilised Force Push, Lightning and Grip far more than anything else – even my lightsaber – so could take out most enemies from a distance. Of course, charging into the fray with your saber blazing is another approach that works well.

There is a lot of variety here, and the range of abilities should keep you entertained for a good while. I enjoyed the game enough to have completed it twice now and was always finding new, better ways to kill things. What's really great about this game is that I actually feel like a Jedi! I feel like I can control the Force and the range of lightsaber abilities is excellent. In other Star Wars games I've often been left wondering “well, why couldn't I do that? I'm a Jedi!” That happens much less often in this game.

While it's good, the game does have its flaws. The camera often seemed much more interested in looking at walls than the enemy that had just sneaked up and was whacking me in the face. When I turn round, I kinda want to be able to see what my character is looking at, y'know? Taking five seconds to do that can be costly. My character, and NPCs, also seemed to get stuck in some stupid places. I think a boss managed to take off half my health once just be trapping me in a corner and breaking the game so I couldn't move or jump. Boulders also seem to be difficult for NPCs to navigate round at times and even manage to make them blind to my presence when I can see them just fine.

I've seen it said in many places that the force doesn't really feel as unleashed as promised, and I kind of agree. Certainly the system stands head and shoulders that of any other Star Wars game, but as I mentioned, it just felt like I was a Jedi and not some super-powered planet-destroying death machine the Apprentice was reported to be. I don't want to complain too much as I love the system, but it does feel more scaled back than was originally mentioned.

The controls are excellent. Really, they are. A lot of games for the Wii spam the motion sensitive controls and throw them in where, really, they were not needed. This game uses them appropriately and really, really well. Your wiimote works as your lightsaber. Swing it to kill stuff. Your nunchuck is your left hand (well, right in my case) and acts as your Force powers. Push forward to use Force Push, hold Z to grip, C to use lightning etc. It makes so much sense it hurts. It will take a while to get used to them, but once you do it's absolutely fantastic. I found the key was getting over thinking about it as a wiimote and nunchuck. Think lightsaber and force powers and you'll be away! Get the Lightsaber add-on for the wiimote you'll be even better. I don't have it myself, but I imagine it makes things very fun indeed.

Boss battles tend to be either a Jedi or a giant robot. Of those, the Jedi are easily the most fun to fight. It's not like a lot of boss battles where you wait for them to attack, dodge then hit them lots – these guys don't have a routine as such, making them all the more dangerous. They will act logically (keep your distance they'll use force powers, get close they'll stab you) so you have to be prepared for that. These battles are really, really fun and one of the best parts of the game experience. Don't expect to be waiting ages for your first Jedi battle, either. They appear very early on in the game.

The graphics aren't brilliant, and at times they seem quite old, but this is the Wii. It isn't up to the same standard as other next gen consoles. To be honest, I don't think the graphics are that bad. I also don't adhere to the current opinion that good graphics make a good game. A good game makes a good game, that's why it's a game and not a series of cinematic videos. It's designed to be played, and so the most important thing is gameplay. As I feel the gameplay here is excellent, for me it overrides any graphical issues the game might have. My judgement here is “good enough”. If you're a Wii owner you probably aren't used to amazing graphics anyway, so it shouldn't be a huge issue.

The music is up to the usual standard. I recently watched A New Hope, and through the entire film I kept thinking “I've heard that piece in this game!” or “Oh, that's from that bit!” You can't go far wrong with traditional Star Wars scores, and the game uses them very well indeed. The sound effects work well too, and are never overpowering. Overall I wouldn't say the sound quality is exceptionally noteworthy, but it's not by any means bad or lacking.

The storyline is, in my opinion, another area where the game shines. Far better than the prequel trilogy and containing a couple of breathtaking twists. From start to finish I was hooked, and was genuinely surprised at times. About half way through a certain event (which I shall not elaborate upon) happened and I thought “oh no! This must be the end!” only to be even more surprised by the way the story continued!

The story itself is advanced through cutscenes and cinematics. This is nice, but it makes the game incredibly linear. During many of the cutscenes I became quite annoyed by how the Apprentice was acting, because it simply did NOT fit with how I'd been playing him! After a game like Knights of the Old Republic, this entirely linear development seems restraining. It's almost a kick in the teeth when the game finally allows you to choose the light or dark side. All through the game you've been rigidly following its structure then you FINALLY get the chance to effect the game, except by then it's too late! It's the end! I would much rather have been able to effect my alignment and perhaps other things throughout the game, but I digress.

There are a few extras available in the game. It's possible, for example, to choose the colour of your lightsaber by collecting crystals, choose your hilt (by finding them) and to choose your outfit. You also collect holocrons throughout the game which let you view various images or pieces of concept art. There are 200 to collect, so chances are you won't find them all. After playing through the game twice I've only found 120 or so. There's also the Duel Mode, which allows you to pick a character and face off against a friend. I haven't had a chance to try this yet as I don't often have friends round, but I'm having a few over on Thursday so will hopefully be able to play around with this.

So, what do I think overall? Well the gameplay, despite a few minor faults, is fantastic. This, for me, is the most important part of a game and the part that has the most impact on my opinion. It's quite a basic system but with the potential for greatness should you wish to experiment. The controls work nicely and seem a lot better than a normal controller. They seem so natural and intuitive, which really helps you get into the game. Lots of enemies around you? Frustrated that they're not dying? Trying to slash them apart with a lightsaber (or Wiimote) has to be more fun than endlessly tapping a few buttons. The graphics serve their purpose, though are not nearly as good as they are on next-gen counterparts, and the sound is essentially what you'd expect from a Star Wars game and nothing more. The story should keep you hooked and will surprise you (unless you've looked at spoilers), although the love aspect seems a bit...well...it's Star Wars. Need I say more? The extras are nice little additions, though nothing to shout about. I would have been much happier if the Duel mode let me fight an NPC opponent, but alas.

So, should you get this game? In fact, let me phrase that differently. Do you want to be a Jedi? If the answer is yes, buy this game. If the answer is no...bah, what am I saying? EVERYONE wants to be a Jedi!

The pros far outweigh the cons in this game and in my opinion it's well worth your money. I thoroughly enjoyed it (both times), so hopefully you will too.

On a side note, this is Entry 66. Like Order 66! You see!?