Metacritic's First Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Reviews: Ouch!

Metacritic has four scores up and the verdict isn't pretty.

[Killjoy3000]

This is one of those games that you know has potential, but can't judge quality straight away from the demo.

[big shadow]

thats true

[HeartlesskizZ]

yea is a fun demo, but im not sure if I should buy it or not...

[JoySticksFTW]

I too enjoyed the demo. Guess we all better rent it first before we dive in.

[Killjoy3000]

Yeah. You don't want to be the same people that played the Too Human demo and was b!tching and moaning "Oh it's so fun!! It's no that bad give it a break!! You wait and see when the real game comes out!!"

[Torch]

I have this pre-ordered and pre-paid with EB...but the uninspiring demo convinced me to move my credit to another game.

[The Mikester]

Are you kidding me?
I would so but this game it would be the stupidest thing ever not to buy a game b/c of the frikin demo.
This game is amazing and i can't wait to get it.

[Torch]

You want the game regardless of demo impressions?

Congratulations. I don't.

You're entitled to your opinion, but I can't help but find it MORE, in your words - "stupid" - to ignore the fact that I quite simply and honestly didn't enjoy the demo and proceed to invest my hard-earned money and already-limited time into the game - only to HOPE that it's not as listless as the demo was.

If you're talking reviews, then I can somewhat agree. But in my opinion, a demo should be indicative of the things you should expect from a game.

Two cases which come to mind are Uncharted and R&C FToD: I first played both demos, LOVED them, and bought the games as a result.

And guess what? I absolutely LOVED the games - which were pretty much on par with what both demos concluded me to expect from the overall game.

But if that's the best Lucasarts can do to convince me that the Force Unleashed is going to be a good game, then the game's obviously not for me. Despite the fact that I was honestly initially looking forward to picking up my prepaid copy.

[Spydr07]

Nice. The Mikester has just brought anti-logic into the world. Soon, this form of thinking will spread like wildfire. Rational thinking, objective reasoning, and the like will be gone as we know it. In time we will become too stupid to function and the human race will die off.

Thanks, prick.

[ikaris]

Mikester, there are also so many instances where demos didn't display the true games potential, simply because they didn't show enough (i think the force unleashed demo needed more leveling up demonstrated) and simply because the games are still in beta form.
If you didn't like the play style of the game, yes you wont like the real thing. But then you might as well just never played the demo, or posted on this forum.

[LightningPS3]

The Demo was very good.

[nbsmatambo]

i had fun with the demo...

using the force and sending troopers into oncoming ships lol =D

[Doggstyle]

nbsmatambo, I could do that all day long.

[Baka-akaB]

er no it wasnt ... crappy camera , silly targeting system , and pretty dull saberlaser fights .... and toying around with the troopers can get really old , especially with all of the above .

Was actually hoping a tiny little bit they'd fix those quirks at release.

[ICUP]

I enjoy playing the demo.

[squall2099]

stupied dumb aZZES. sony cant do nothing right. dont blame the developers, BLAME SONY! and stop hating on ORANGE BOX its plays like sh*t on the ps3 but not on the xbox LOL all playstation potheads must go down!

[Dacapn]

What?

[Harry190]

Since when did Sony turn into LucasArts?

[silverchode]

there are so many things wrong in that comment im not gana try.

[buckethead_X]

XD I didn't think it was possible to fit that much pure fail in one comment. And Sony would be honored that you said they can't do nothing right. What a compliment! :P

[Surfman]

youre silly, its only because Valve sux. They are 360 fanboys and dont want to develop on PS3 because its too hard for them. They are lazy.

[CaitSith]

YOU'RE on pot. Is this another typical 7 year old Xbox fanboy I'm seeing that's on weed? Think so. You look like a complete idiot with that post.

[KBDuB]

Lol. Bro, you can be a 360 fanboy. All the power to ya. But, please.. at least make an attempt to make sense.

[AngryXbot]

This game is trash people. All Star war games are trash. Just deal with it.

Why did you think they paid Namco to make PR for this game? Namco didnt include the suckprentice, Vader and Yoda in their game for free, yo. They got paid to do it. Its pretty much win-win for Namco and Lucas arts. Lucas arts gets PR and marketing, Namco gets cold hard cash.

Force unleashed never looked good. Its just a miserable spin off. You thought SC4 was good? Force unleashed doesnt even look as good as SC4 graphically. So if youre buying Force unleashed, youre cheated in a sense.

And real Star wars fan know...Lucas arts killed the star wars universe story by adding 2 students of Darth Vader, who never had any students (until 2 years ago...)

[skulldrey]

apparently you dont understand that because it isnt a ps3 exclusive on superior blu-ray, its not as good. So in reality, blame xbox.

[dukadork]

ask you mum kid: potheads usually get HIGH
you're a good bot kiddy, here's some candy XD

[Closing]

that it wasn't going to turn out well. I'd say the meta score will stay in the lower 7's. It's unfortunate as it did have lots of potential.

[kenshin22up]

Too Humaned? Although I had higher expectations for this game.. altho I haven't played the demo yet so maybe I may still like it.

[Killjoy3000]

The only difference is, Too Human was destined to suck.

[VMAN_01]

I don't care about metacritic or reviews I am still getting this game as I am an avid Star Wars fan.

[calis]

werd, I am getting it. I don't care what the reviews say.

[REPLOID24]

i dig the mega man x series, but it's reviews are always negative. despite that, i always have fun because i'm a fan. you like what you like.

[tocrazed4you]

You have got to be kidding right? Anyways about the scores its kinda like Assassins creed looks great is fun for a bit than it gets BLAHHHHHHHH

[KBDuB]

Iuno. I liked the demo, and for me, it wasn't long enough to see if it got repetitive or not.

But, hell, if it is a repetitive game, I would love to keep flingin muhfckas around the room with the Force Grip! Lol.

[smash1031]

Picked up Mercs 2 early and while it's ok, I should've rented it. So for this I'll wait for some user reviews. That's where you'll find the truth.

[BabyStomper5000]

Take it back to Walmart when you're finished and get store credit for another game. Nobody should feel bad about ripping Walmart off.

[firelogic]

EBgames has a promotion running right now where if you preorder the game, you can return it within 7 days for full store credit. So, yes it's store credit but you can pickup another new release title down the line with it such as Resistance 2 or Prince of Persia. 2 games for the price of 1. You can't really go wrong.

[Dii]

Is that a picture of you

[cemelc]

Heck i just want to know if he survives Dark Vader at the end of the game.

[Andor_Trask]

obviously not....or...maybe he goes into hiding..idk

[rhood022]

umm...I know but I don't want to spoil it.

[ape007]

it's an awesome game,I love it

you nearly have infinite ways dealing with enemies

am gonna buy it

[SonySoldierEternaL]

yea, the demo was fun, but kind of redundant

controls could use some tweaking as well

[morganfell]

Agreed. I had to put a gun to my own head to finish it. The aiming is horrendous. One minute you look up and target an item, you don't move, you look down and then up again and you can't target that item to save your life. You end up getting shot trying to lock onto a crate or container and it kips flipping in and out. You finally throw up your hands and just start beating these guys with a lightsaber. Of course you can't cut anyone in half in this G rated family title. Thanks but no thanks, I canceled and decided to spend the money elsewhere.

[KBDuB]

I thought it was a good demo. But, of course, the only problem I really had was the controls. They did get annoying after a while..

@Morganfell - I agree, it sucks that you can't chop em in half.. Lol.

[AngryTypingGuy]

Agreed. I didn't finish the demo because I became bored, but I did have a little fun. If people pick this up expecting it to be like past Star Wars games, they'll be disappointed. If they like the straightforward hack and slash, they'll like it.

[dachiefsman]

As a HUGE Star Wars fan, the demo was lame<IMO> after beating both Jedi Outcast II and Jedi Academy this variation really didn't add much.

I was going to buy this but I will probably rent it after all.

[rogimusprime]

jedi outcast was a damn good game. You got to cut peoples arms and heads off. Why couldn't they add that in Force Unleashed? It's not like theres going to be any blood...lightsabers=instant cauterized wounds.

[calis]

because Star Wars generally isn't about the violence and is aimed at all ages.

Limbs flying off would up the rating.

[dachiefsman]

In Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy you could cut off limbs. Although it was not bloody, which isn't an issue. IF you choke gripped someone, you could snap there neck. It was just a little more visceral.

Adding more realism makes the experience for most people more engaging. The light saber in this demo didn't feel powerful like the two games mentioned in the post.

I wanted to like the demo, but it felt incomplete to me.

[Bombibomb]

This is good for my wallet. Now I can just save that money for something else.

[J@D]

^ exactly. When the game receive a good price drop like $30 or a Greatest Hits mark(If the game sells good enough) I'm certainty to pick up a copy.

[Mr402]

It just didnt grab me. While I dont think it's near the stinker that Too Human (I rented Too Human and finished it by the way so I an give my opinion on that one)is. I do feel it could have been a lot better. I wish Lucas Arts would take the kid gloves off and give us a more mature and edgy type of game. Let's have severed limbs cut by a light saber no blood of course because the wound is cauterized but still. Something to show the brutality of the darkside and the force powers that come with it. Force choke that makes there head pop off. Crushing someones skeleton with your telekinesis. That is the type of Star Wars game I dream of. Oh wait there is a game like that and you can get it dirt cheap right now. It's called Psi-ops and for last gen machines it kicked ass. Lots of folks slept on that one. Had a better physics engine from what I've played too. This will be a gamefly pick for sure. I'll beat it in a weekend and buy it used down the line when it's cheap enough to warrant a purchase. Too many other games coming down the pipe that are better bets then this one.

[BabyStomper5000]

Psi-Ops used the Havok engine. Euphoria is pretty much a newer version of that engine.

Oh yeah, no offense but... yeah f*ck tha Cornhuskers. Haha j/k. But seriously OU is the only "Big Red". :)

[THWIP]

...the first day it's available USED from GAMESTOP, that is.
Whenever I'm not sure about a game...even enough to spend $8.00 on a rental...I just wait for it turn up used at GameStop. I can play it for a week (plenty of time to beat it, if I care to), then return it for a FULL REFUND...no questions asked. :)

[calis]

congratulations on being cheap.

[THWIP]

...it's called being SMART, and consumer conscious. Maybe when you grow up, you'll see things differently. ;)

[kingme71]

The beginning of the big Fall push is starting to roll in and at this point the heavier hitting games aren't producing very good scores. I hope this trend changes soon.

Mercs 2
Too Human
Star Wars
Infinite Undiscovery
Face Breaker (might be a middle weight)

[outlawlife]

eh nobody is expecting anything great from facebreaker...it was doomed from the start as soon as they showed that ugly art style

the demo only reinforced how unexciting the game is

[arngrim229]

combat was bad, dumb AI, only the force powers were fun, graphics were horrendus especially when ur used to the apprentice from soul calibur 4 hes hideous in unleashed.

i knew only star wars fans wud like it. still i'll beat it cuz force was fun

[Andor_Trask]

what the f**k are you people smoking? HOW the hell can people say that this game and Mercs 2 have horrible graphics?! They are awesome!! You guys are wrong in the F**kin' head I swear. Yes, the games may be a bit repetitive for some people(not me), but calling these graphics horrible is just plain retarded. I don't mean regular retarded either, I mean seriously, crakhead, down-syndrome, short bus, /b/ retarded...

now, I DO agree that the face on this game and his face on SC4 are WAAAY different(SC4 being the good one) but they are totally different games. Unleashed has a crap load of...crap flying everywhere and whatnot. SC4 is a fighting game so most of the power goes straight to the gfx whil unleashed has to divert resources to all the other things in the environment.. DURR DURRRRRRRRRR
Good bye for now!

[Raoh]

for the sony haters

i may be wrong so i will accept being corrected

unleashed was not a ps3 lead console

unleashed started in 2005 (in concept maybe) but lucas arts admits to having had only 360 dev kits at the time

after developing for both consoles later on, lucase arts decided that they took the wrong approach.. they realized that for best multi platform its best to take burnout paradise developer stance.. start with the ps3 then port

i see a lot of ps3 hate for unleashed and if its at fault so be it.,.. but from what i understand this is a 360 build with future lucas arts games using the ps3 as a lead console

[willwsu]

What machine leads development, an ok game is just that.....OK. Last i checked gameplay translates well between both machines, with a few acceptions, namely Orange Box, and thats ONLY because Valve didn't develop it themselves.

[Andor_Trask]

um, sorry to say but, Bluray>dvd......so...PS3 version limited due to outdated technology of other systems. ZIIIING

but then again....its also for PS2 and PSP so....I guess my statement doesnt matter in this case....Lucasarts didn't think out their plan all the way through I suppose.

[Harri4444]

I played the demo and loved the game but hated the controls

HAIL SONY

[Dii]

Star Wars: Force Unleashed is going to be one of the best games this year. It has better graphics than GTA and more interaction if you have it for the Wii. And if you Don't believe me go to this website, and watch as many videos as you can on Star Wars: Force Unleashed.

http://www.gamespot.com/wii...

[outlawlife]

doesn't matter what platform it is built on, that doesn't change the fact that the gameplay is less than inspiring

bring on KOTOR3 and give us a quality star wars game :-)

[willwsu]

It's hard to justify giving a single player game a high score now a days anyway......Bioshock, yea Fallout 3? maybe. But look how deep those games are. The demo was awesome but the game is........let's just say it, Psi ops with Jedis. That sounds bad, but Psi-ops was a good game......just not a great one. Like I said dont know what the heck they were thinking making the Wii version the only one with multiplayer. Specially seeing how the Wii is getting another game thats all about Light Saber Battles, kinda stupid. Should have put that feature on the 360 and PS3. The games just not strong enough on its own, needs multiplayer. Most games SHOULD have that nowadays, seeing that the internet is such an intricate part of the machines they are running on.

[Jewkin]

Poor tech demo.

[SL1M DADDY]

I would give the game a solid 7. It was an ok demo but nothing that I would call truly satisfying when it comes to playing a Star Wars game. I just wish it had more. Solid rental.

[tudors]

Would definatly buy and try.

[N2NOther]

I'm glad this is the kind of reviews this is getting. The demo was horrible. Sorry, but the purpose of a demo is to give you a feel for the game and give you the general gist of what to expect. The game is going to sell well, no matter what, but it's good to see that other people are incredibly disappointed with the wasted potential.

[Cajun Chicken]

I enjoyed it, seriously I'm on the edge of buying it because it reminds me of the gameplay of Psi-Ops and Destroy All Humans and has the true feeling of the Star Wars universe as seen on the films. I seriously don't know what everyone else was expecting, its fun on a large budget, that's all it needed to be. Not everyone wants complex, overwhelming controls.

Right, 'top developers' and critics, stand up and defend this one, I dare you; I know its not Too Human and its not published by Microsoft, but it would be a crime for nobody to willingly stand up for this game as what happened with Too Human even though the demos controls were seriously broken.
If not there's a blatantly obvious secret hypnotic "MS controls your life, opinions and do no wrong" broadcast being sent through deep radio waves into peoples brain patterns.

[kevnb]

bring Too Human into it didn't you?

[Cajun Chicken]

If a sudden defence force jump into action for a hyped MS exclusive with varying marks from 8-5/10 from the press as if emergency damage control...someone prove me wrong that everyone wasn't just BS'ing for the sake of MS sales.
This game sounds as if it'll split gaming audiences much like the people that liked Too Human.

People should defend this game equally.

[lordgodalming]

I've played the heck out of the demo--probably 10 times--and have enjoyed it tremendously every time. I'll be buying this game. Reviews be damned.

[Andor_Trask]

You sir speak the truth

[rhood022]

mee tooo. In fact, I will probably get the game on:

PS3 for next-gen goodness
PSP for my traveling needs + new levels
Wii for lightsaber combat and to shut up my nephew who complains about not having any cool Wii games to play.

[lordgodalming]

Ha ha! Are you disagreeing that I enjoyed the demo or that I will buy the game? I promise that both are true. What the heck...

[kevnb]

The demo was just going around and tossing enemies at each other.

[SolidSnake93]

I actually liked that about the demo.

[FCOLitsjustagame]

While I didnt hate the demo, I was not impressed by it. I thought the controls were not that good and the camera was quite annoying and the lightsaber seemed underpowered and sort of pointless. Still it was star wars so I am hoping the full game will be better.

Demos are not always good representations. I hated the Tales demo but am having fun with the full game. I thought maybe this would be the case with Force Unleashed but it may be that its just an average game as I thought it was. I was definitly going to buy it, but like Too Human I may end up putting this on the "get cheap" list only because there are sooooo many other games I want. Since there are other games to play I guess theres no real reason I have to have this on day one.

Hell I have barely touched Tiger Woods am still playing Tales, have Mercenareis (and yes IU) waiting, plus I am getting NHL09 for sure and other games are coming out in the weeks that follow.

Meh, still...its Star Wars.... I guess like Too Human it will be a game time decision for me. I may or may not buy it based upon my own gut feelings not necessarily what any reviews say.

[GameDev]

lucas arts hasn't put out anything worth playing since Outcast.

[Lord Vader]

NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOO OOO !!!

[Lumbo]

didn't like the demo much, so i wasn't going to buy it anyways. Imho games that release for 360,wii,ps3,ps2,psp (even DS?) ain't worth my time as the development has to make way to many compromises to make the game run on systems that are completely different in power.

I am ok with 360/Ps3 games, as both have enough power to provide some good looks, but when Ps2 and DS gets into the list i abstain.

[thehitman]

Only the 360/ps3 versions were made by the same developer and others were sent elsewhere so its not like they had to make many compromises. Also it was an xtremely gimped demo and I thought it was fun/hard (harder than most demos) and they didnt allow you to do many things you would be able to do in the real game. They had the entire upgrade section blocked off.

[project76dodo]

another lame star wars game

and just like the star wars "movies"
all you followers will buy this 60 dollar garbage

hahahahhahahaha

light sabers...
dude when is lucasarts going to grow Sw up?

i want blood and stuff
real darkside sh&ttt

[Kratos3452]

it takes them 4 years and they still can't make the game good?4 years to make a decent game?sounds like a waste of time and money to me.the force powers were kind of cool while inaccurate though and the sword combat sucked though.

[OGharryjoysticks]

This article makes me wonder who typically gives the high scores?

[she00win99]

i notice after mgs4 was released all the suppose to be a AAA game are getting a very bad reviews like alone in the dark, too human, mercenaries, japanese rpgs and now this...

[bigjclassic]

its a classic hack and slash with hd graphics and physics. lame.
And i would'nt pay $60 on it, Star Wars or not.

[DFresh]

For some strange reason this gen reviewers are quick to give exclusive games 10/10 but when it comes w/ multiplatform games they grade more harshly.
This goes for any exclusive game most of them get 10/10 w/ the exception of some popular franchises like GTA and COD also getting 10/10.
These reviewers are quick to give MGS4, Killzone 2, Halo, Resistance, Gears of War, etc. 10/10 but if it's a multiplatform game they are harsher.
Can everyone agree fan boy or not from the looks of it that's what's happening this gen?

[SolidSnake93]

I actually liked the demo, but as a game it looks bad.

[squablo]

Ahhhh Reviewers, how I love to laugh at your crappy 'reviews' of games these days. For me anymore, it seems like the games that get low balled are the ones that I want to play more-so than the games that get 'glorified' I mean really people, have these reviewers forgotten what a really bad game is? They seem to have all lost their way.

Too Human? Slammed by everyone - 50+ hours currently invested. I love this game and have no regrets toward the purchase of this title.

Haze? Torn apart by everyone - Hours spent enjoying 4 player co-op and laughing at the cheesy dialog. Most important part of a shooter is intact, which is solid controls.

Lair? Shredded to pieces - Game has a lot of potential with new patch for the controls, but wasn't what everyone 'expected'

Shadowrun? Blown to pieces due to lack of single player by the same people that praised Warhawk. To this day, Shadowrun is one of THE MOST BALANCED MULTIPLAYER GAMES out there.

It seems more and more to me that this is how the review process goes:

1. 'Reviewer' hears about a game early into development

2. 'Reviewer' says the themselves "wow, I can totally imagine where this game is going, its going to end up exactly how I imagine its going to.

3. 'Reviewer' starts fantasizing about this new game and everything about it. From how the controls 'should' be, to how the framerate should be, to how the chracters should act, etc. etc. etc.

4. 'Reviewer' gets a final build of the game to review, and then realizes that the game is nothing like they had imagined it to be. They believe that their vision of the game was much better than what the game really is.

5. 'Reviewer' slams the game for not living up to their personal expectations. Their 'version' of the game was much better, and the final product just didn't deliver what the reviewer had pre-determined the game to be.

These guys are so inconsistent in their reviews I almost cant take it anymore. They will praise a game with tons of technical faults and flaws (GTA4) for the story, or the overall ambition of the title, but then in the same breath they will tear another game to shreds for a fraction of the flaws that the game they just praised had. Why? I think it just all boils down to personal expectations, and a lot of the game reviewers being straight up snobs.

[Pika-pie]

Lair sucks!

[Harri4444]

ya mgs4 push the bar up a peg for all games... it isn't very fare to the xbots 360 because it cant compare to the ps3 any more.

and dfresh my guess is that most of the good compony have been hired by ms or sony so muti platform games are made by the lesser developers.

[Sty]

If it had Online mode, i would buy it!!!

[Raptors]

I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I enjoyed the demo.

[SuperSaiyan4]

Last gen had things like perhaps seeing limbs cut off and and even better destructive environments I have noticed this gen its all nicer graphics but where are the better physics? AI? Interactive environments?? Destructive environments?? And things just dissappear when they shouldn't really.

This Star Wars game IS dissapointing end of, its nowhere as big as they hyped it up to be and you cannot even cut limbs off or anything!!

[Pika-pie]

Im not to sure about the demo, it just seems very typically lucasartsy kind of star wars game.. They must have released hundereds of starwars games and they still havent got one just right, i think the feel of the films just never really translate into a game..
(although i cant claim to have played them all)

The use of the havok physics engine was cool to send things bouncing around.

[kesvalk]

like i said sometime ago, anything less than jedi knight would flop...

when i saw the lousy combat, i already knew something was wrong with the game...

a pity, really

[Dii]

I think that Star Wars: Force Unleashed is going to be one of the best games this year. It has way Better graphics than GTA and it really interactive if your getting it on Wii, and if you don't believe me check out this website. http://www.gamespot.com/wii...

[Legend]

Oh noes! Low scores! I liked the demo. The gameplay was great. I don't play games for story. I read instead. I think I'll still be picking this one up.