3/5 ★ – peacebrendanp's review of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition.

Disclaimer: nostalgia and an old love for Star Wars is driving a large part of this review. This game represents some of the best things about gaming at the end of the aughts. It also represents some of the shortcomings from the same time-period. The main-line story is tight, clocking in at around six-and-a-half hours to complete, with the ability to sink another hour-and-a-half into the DLC. Games are so weighty and deep these days; it's nice to be able to pop right into this game without too much time commitment. The story itself is tight as hell; you are a false-sith-prodigy of Vader, sent to eliminate remaining Jedi after the events of the third Star Wars movie (Order 66 given to take out the Jedi in "Revenge of the Sith"). The story is no longer canonical, but who cares? It's a well told story, despite Starkiller being an ever-so-slightly cringe character. The physics felt novel and experimental at the time this game came out (a lot of games from this period did fun game-stuff in the same vein), and they are still really fun to play around with in 2023. You will backtrack levels in this game, but there's enough difference on the re-treaded ones that it still felt interesting. The boss battles feel pretty special here too, with almost each one being a lightsaber duel leading to a final showdown with a pretty interesting choice. Unfortunately, there's also a lot holding this game back. The combat can get repetitive as you round the bend of the second half of the game, though there is just enough tools at your disposal to keep it from getting stale. Enemies can get repetitive as well, and while I think it is a combination of older game design and technical problems, it felt that death came cheaply towards the end of the game. The game throws a high volume of enemies at you (relatively speaking), but the player is restricted in their movement to combat the small variety and volume of enemies thrown at you (i.e. double jump feels inconsistent). There are "pauses" in the timing of succession of moves; omitting those pauses would present the ability to execute more fun combos and gameplay moments. For a game that is supposed to make you feel like a powerful Jedi/Sith, it's weird to restrict the player in such a confusing way. Technically, there were a list of issues as well. Audio inconsistencies nearly caused me to blow my ear-drums out; gameplay audio would be set at the audio level I preferred, and then a cutscene would start and the volume would jump up 10-20 decibels. The last two levels, the audio was almost broken. Either music would stop for 10 minutes, or the mix would be very off. The game crashed probably four or five times during my playthrough, but nothing game-breaking, per se. A lot of these issues are probably due to the game being a poor PC port, mixed with previous console-hardware limitations. Lastly, I just wanted to note that I played the DLC, it's cute (lol). There is some imaginative stuff here; Tatooine and Hoth were cool, while the Jedi Temple level on Coruscant felt a little under-baked. All three definitely played out a little silly, and a bit too "fan-servicey" as well, I suppose? But, at the end of the day, it's extra story-content, and fun to see nonetheless. I didn't mean to be this verbose in this write-up, but I guess I had a lot of thoughts on a game that I used to love as a younger person. In an effort to re-connect with some older games I used to play (as well as play some games I missed from yester-years), it made sense to return to this one first. It's short, it's sweet, and it's fun, despite it's problems. Unfortunately, this game may not live up to many new-comers' expectations playing for the first time, but for Star Wars fans and returning-players, it's nice to revisit, even if it may be for the last time. Console Played On: PC (Steam)