The Force Unleashed

I really haven’t done a video game review in quite a while for the simple reason that while there are really good stories that happen in video games, the focus is more on the gameplay and not the story. The goal first and foremost is to create an experience for the gamer to enjoy him or herself and entertain themselves with more than just watching a movie, actually interacting with the world of a video game.

It’s awesome because while that is the central purpose of video games, there have been a lot of games out there that have not only provided a great gaming experience, but also a great story to go along with it. These games include Bioshock, Grand Theft Auto 5, Skyrim, and to a certain extent, the Halo games.

Now while I won’t consider The Force Unleashed a game that mastered both their story and their gameplay, it still is a good story and the gameplay itself makes you feel like the most powerful Jedi in the Star Wars Galaxy. I do think there are better Star wars games out there, but there are a couple reasons why I want to talk about The Force Unleashed, where it could have gone, and where it could go in the future.

I’ll start with the first game. The first installment of The Force Unleashed came out in 2008. The game takes place between Episode 3 and Episode 4 and you play as Starkiller, the secret apprentice of Darth Vader. As Starkiller is trained to be the ultimate Sith death machine, he is dispatched by Vader to hunt down the remaining Jedi who escaped the purge of Order 66.

I thought it was a fresh take on Star Wars, combining the immense power of the Force alluded to in the prequel films, yet blending it with the iconicness of the original trilogy and the menace of Darth Vader. On top of that, you introduce a new character in Starkiller, who though a little bit bland, could be molded into an interesting character, especially with his struggle with the light or the dark side of the force. In the long run, Starkiller is bland because you’re supposed to insert yourself into his character and make this your journey as opposed to his.

The original Force Unleashed is a great game. If both games in this franchise were like the first one, it probably would be my favorite Star Wars game just based on the interactiveness with the Force you are able to tap into with Starkiller and the absolute adventure the first game is.

The game has gotten criticism on how linear it is and how one path it really is, I think that is something that could have been developed even further and I even read something about an open world game for the 3rd game to move away from the linear containment that was in the first and second game.

Again, you really have to keep in mind that the main point of the game is to entertain the gamer. Its more focused on you being able to unleash the force, then it is on the story. However, I thought the story for this game, though linear made for a good mini narrative to the Star Wars universe. On top of that, it provided an interesting origin to the Rebel Alliance that we’ve seen but it developed it more and made it relate to the story. The first game is a story that could conceivably fit into the lore of Star Wars and not really take away from the movies at all.

On top of that, the characters for The Force Unleashed were really great. Starkiller (voiced and modeled after Sam Witwer) was a little bit more chill in this installment than he is in the second game and he makes for a good protagonist. Again, it allows for the player to insert themselves into his journey but it also makes for a protagonist to lead a new narrative in the Star Wars universe.
I really like Rahm Kota. While he’s probably the biggest threat to the movie cannon, the idea of a blind Jedi master leading the Rebellion for a little bit makes for a really interesting story. There are a lot of good cameos in The Force Unleashed like Bail Organa, Princess Leia and Mon Mothma, but the obvious mention is that of Darth Vader.

Vader is a quintessential part of the story and in a way, I think this movie tried to bring back the menacing persona that Vader had in the original trilogy and look away from the sob story that came out of the prequels. And the great thing is, Vader is evil in this franchise. There’s no good that Starkiller is going to pull out of him the way Luke Skywalker did in the original trilogy so there’s no way that that will intervene. It was just a great iteration of the character.

Is the story incredibly compelling? No. I can’t say it enough though, that wasn’t the point. While video game developers I think are figuring out that good stories will help them in the long run, their main purpose is gameplay and making sure that their game is fun.

My point is that The Force unleashed started something really great. I think gamers were intrigued by the gameplay and seeing where that could go. I think they were also intrigued by the story and they wanted to see where that could go. Overall, The Force Unleashed was a great starting point and it promised a lot of potential in the future.

And then the Force Unleased 2 came out.

Now I will talk about the alternate endings of both games in a little bit, but regardless of how much potential the Force unleashed had, either endings don’t really make a lot of room for a sequel that makes a lot of sense, and if they did open up for a sequel, it’s not a sequel that could have fit into the cannon at the time (before Disney bought Lucasfilm).

The Force Unleashed 2 opens up on Kamino where a clone of Starkiller is being trained by Darth Vader again to be the ultimate weapon. Vader wants to create a perfect clone of Starkiller who is just as powerful but is more obedient and won’t betray him.

Of course, the clone escapes and does his own thing. Now, this clone is full of the memories of Starkiller, looks and sounds like Starkiller, but he’s a clone. Definitely a more powerful clone, but a clone nonetheless.

Now this could be fine, just because he’s a clone doesn’t mean that he can’t have a personality or the ability to be a different character… but no instead he’s the same character just a little bit more shouty at times…. Oh, and he has two lightsabers this time.

The story from there is a little bit hazy. He basically meets up with Rahm Kota again, struggles with the idea of joining this infant Rebellion that the OG Starkiller inspired… and yeah. Like they try to make it so it’s this clones journey to find himself and decide what kind of man he’s going to be, and while that might work for a movie… maybe, it doesn’t work for a video game focused on being the galaxy’s most deadliest force user.

There of course is a choice at the end of the Dark Side or the Light Side and that decides which ending you get in the end but while the game is kind of fun because it’s the same gameplay you had from the first Force Unleashed. It pales in comparison to the original in every way.

The original characters are shells of the previous game and the writing makes it so they’re basically floating in this world until some kind of story about the Rebellion needing a victory comes along. But in the end, its really an incomplete mess that I think they just gave up on because they knew that Lucasfilms were being bought by Disney and this story wouldn’t make the new cannon anyway.
But with that, they just go right off the rails and give us some kind of bullshit cliffhanger ending that makes no sense and doesn’t fit into the cannon at all.

While the first game was a little bit ridiculous, you could see it happening in between the movies and its consistent with the lore. This game ends with the Rebel Alliance capturing Darth Vader and going off to interrogate him while Boba Fett is hot on their trail.

I almost feel like the alternate ending where Starkiller and all his friends die when Deus Ex Machina evil clone comes in a saves Vader from death is a little bit more probable because it kills off all the loose ends and leaves the Rebellion in a desperate state where they need to go after the Death Star.
If the evil ending of the second game would have been cannon and the secret evil clone apprentice had eventually been defeated by Obi-Wan in retirement, I would have been okay with it, but overall,  it doesn’t matter because the game is a mess, and there aren’t any plans to make a third installment because its no longer cannon.

While I enjoy The Force Unleashed 2, its only because you do feel a little bit more powerful with the two lightsabers, and it is a visually appealing game for its time.

So why bring up these games. Well aside from the fact that December has essentially become Star Wars month for me, I recently played the alternate endings for both The Force Unleashed, and The Force Unleashed 2.

In both alternate endings, Starkiller has fully converted to the dark side and he is an agent of Vader and the Dark side. Whether he’s in his own Darth Vader like armor, or he’s just an evil jedi Hunter, he goes to iconic battles of the original trilogy and brutally murders the original cast, including Ben Kenobi,  Han, Chewy, Princess Leia. He evil turns Luke to the Dark side at Hoth.

Now all these alternate storylines are Downloadable Content and not part of the actual story but I almost feel like The Force Unleashed missed out on an opportunity. At a certain point, the story of games were proclaimed not cannon, meaning they don’t fit within the actual story of the movies.
I think that instead of giving up, The Force Unleashed should have capitalized on that status and made The Force Unleashed the alternate Star Wars timeline, the one we never expected to get, but I am incredibly interested in seeing.

In this alternate timeline with an evil Starkiller who isn’t killed by the Emperor, Ben Kenobi is killed by Starkiller, Luke Skywalker is turned to the darkside on Hoth and Leia becomes a Jedi Knight, sporting an awesome white outfit and a yellow lightsaber.

There’s a story there! What happens when Luke is evil? How does Leia pick up his destiny when he fails? What happens when the Rebellion fails and the Empire continues to rule? And finally, what happens when the Emperor realizes that Vader has been using this ultimate evil to undermine him and eventually overthrow him?

Instead of being constrained by cannon which the original story is, The Force Unleashed should have been the alternate reality Star Wars that you can really only explore in a video game.

I bought that DLC of me brutally murdering Chewy and Han on Endor for a dollar. I know it was more when it first came out but could you imagine a full 60 dollar video game, full production on this wacky alternate reality that probably could have happened. I’ve recently been playing Star Wars Battlefront and I love it. I think that Lucasfilms needs to get back into the Star Wars video game world because it is something that has an audience.

C’mon Disney, get on that!

But what do you think? Are you a fan of the Force Unleashed franchise? Are you a fan of the DLC that came out of it? What do you think of that alternate reality I was talking about? Comment and Discuss below!

You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as sending me your thoughts for future reviews I should do on my blog in the future. If you subscribe, you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews as well as live tweets sometimes when I’m watching movies and much more.
 
I'll leave you with this. Star Wars The Force Awakens is coming out in five days, I'll be seeing it in four, here's the last trailer I saw. I'm pumped! Enjoy!