Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Why so much hate?

[RagnorakTres]

I've been playing this game on my PSP a bit recently and it's quite a bit better than some of my friends had led me to believe. Not only my friends, in fact, but some people on here have said it's not all that good.

Now, it's far from the best game I've ever played, but it's not broken. It's perfectly playable and in fact some good mayhem causing fun. The Force powers are a little clunky, I'll admit and some of the enemies apparently haven't heard that a lightsaber will kill almost anything human-size or smaller in one stroke, but overall, it's quite enjoyable, if a bit linear.

Is that it, the linearity? Or is it some unknown sense that tells people that all Star Wars games should be on par with KotOR?

 

[BolognaBaloney]

The story is a pathetic add-on, to cash in on the starry-eyed fans, the combat is lackluster at best, and extremely repetitive. The levels are recycled, it's very short, all this combined with a good amount of hype has kept this sitting in my drawer, untouched.

 

[mjhhiv]

The story is a pathetic add-on, to cash in on the starry-eyed fans, the combat is lackluster at best, and extremely repetitive. The levels are recycled, it's very short, all this combined with a good amount of hype has kept this sitting in my drawer, untouched.

I thought the story was very good, actually. The camera and targeting systems were totally screwy, and the game is buggy as hell, but I think it's at least mediocre.

 

[BolognaBaloney]

The story is a pathetic add-on, to cash in on the starry-eyed fans, the combat is lackluster at best, and extremely repetitive. The levels are recycled, it's very short, all this combined with a good amount of hype has kept this sitting in my drawer, untouched.

I thought the story was very good, actually. The camera and targeting systems were totally screwy, and the game is buggy as hell, but I think it's at least mediocre.

The story is yet another attempt for georfe to pretend he can still write, seriously tacking on some bullshit apprentice, who is loads stronger than any jedi ever seen before is a really pathetic way to cash-in on his loyal fan's. He could have done much more with this story. My guess: curious george wanted to see how little effort he could put into a game, and still sell it because of the "STAR WARS" on the front.

EDIT: and for the record, I don't hate the game, I just haven't seen a need to replay it, when I barely slogged through it initially.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

What got me was the fact that you can beat it on Sith Lord difficulty without much trouble in around 6 hours. That's not a lot of gameplay, though I did enjoy it for the few hours of play.

 

[Skullpanda]

It wasn't a bad game, per se, but the hype around it made it sound like it was going to be much more expansive, much more epic. I played through the game once, ended up doing the good ending, and shortly thereafter traded it in for another game. It was buggy, the boss fights ranged from pathetic to "Why the fuck can they block everything?", and the "choice system" that they spouted so much about was really only one choice, but it still wasn't bad. I think it was worth it.

 

[phar]

I enjoyed it but it doesnt have a lot to it. Too short. Its a billion times better than ninja blade though.

But its no devil may cry or god of war.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

Well it was a good game if I didn't listen to all of hype for amazing physics and graphics. On the PS3 maybe, but on my 360 it just live up to what I expected. And the AI was far too weak. Again the hype made me think I was going after smart stormtroopers not redshirts dressed as stormies.
Yes I got it and I liked it. But not as much as I thought I would.

 

[MrBrightside919]

Hmmm...where do I begin?

The game was so hyped up and looked SO great in the trailers but then it turned out to be a buggy mess that had a story on the level of Clone Wars, stupid good/evil choices, brain dead AI who were more dangerous in numbers than in grey matter, monotenous combat that never ended, bad level design, horrid platforming, characters who have the depth of a kiddy pool and the single most disappointing moment in gaming history (it wasn't so much ripping the star destroyer out of the sky as it was rotating it out of the sky).

I played through it once and sent it back to Gamefly as soon as I was done...and I didn't look back.

 

[Azazcyh]

I think the reason it got such a bad reputation was because it was to over hyped

I didn't think the story was that bad. It did a good job of connecting episodes three and four.

 

[Mirroga]

Let's just say I bought it and played it. It would be a good hack n' slash game in which the force powers are awesome to use.

Then inFamous was released, and it gave me more enjoyable moments of using variations of lightning (which felt close to force powers considering there's a force push) than the actual force powers.

And then, God of War 3 gets released next year, and then I have no more reason to play this Star Wars hack n' slash mediocrity.

This is just how I plan on playing games. I want a game in which I could play it back again due to some game concept which was original, making me play it again for more (e.g. Portal). Hell, even I still play Heavenly Sword due to the sword transformations and the extremely wonderful crossbow + sixaxis concept.

 

[CustomMagnum]

Everything everyone else as already said here are valid points, and this is coming from someone who REALLY LIKED the game.

Other than the fact that it was short as hell and I payed $60 for it. And only had the interest to play it once.

Then again, I STILL have un-opened DVDS of the Original Star Wars Trilogy, so umm...

...

 

[scnj]

What annoys me is the fact that the Empire suddenly has stormtroopers that can block the Force powers of a guy who can pull down a fucking Star Destroyer. I'm on the Kashyyyk level where I have to disable a tractor beam, and these fucking purge troopers are everywhere. It led me to switching off in frustration and not going back to it.

 

[Mewick_Alex]

Sure it wasn't as good as the hype made it out to be, but then what is?

At the end of the day I think it achieved what it set out to do, which was to use force powers on scale larger than has previously been seen, and make them the core of gameplay. I personally enjoyed the game, including the story and the (albeit flawed) general gameplay.

That said, I completed it once then moved on. Maybe I should add it to my trade-in pile....

 

[GuerrillaClock]

What annoys me is the fact that the Empire suddenly has stormtroopers that can block the Force powers of a guy who can pull down a fucking Star Destroyer.

Pretty much this. It's full of these little niggles that add up to stop a game being fun for me.

Inventing powers that make no sense and screw consistency to all hell off the top of your head is one of my pet hates.

 

[ZeroMachine]

The story is a pathetic add-on, to cash in on the starry-eyed fans, the combat is lackluster at best, and extremely repetitive. The levels are recycled, it's very short, all this combined with a good amount of hype has kept this sitting in my drawer, untouched.

I thought the story was very good, actually. The camera and targeting systems were totally screwy, and the game is buggy as hell, but I think it's at least mediocre.

The story is yet another attempt for georfe to pretend he can still write, seriously tacking on some bullshit apprentice, who is loads stronger than any jedi ever seen before is a really pathetic way to cash-in on his loyal fan's. He could have done much more with this story. My guess: curious george wanted to see how little effort he could put into a game, and still sell it because of the "STAR WARS" on the front.

EDIT: and for the record, I don't hate the game, I just haven't seen a need to replay it, when I barely slogged through it initially.

(Little disclaimer- I'm not a fanboy. I just look at the facts and what I enjoy.)

George Lucas didn't write the story for Unleashed. In fact, I'm pretty sure he didn't have his hand in it at all, except for endorsing it as an addition to the movies' canon. And the story itself, even though the writing isn't the best, is a good addition and is better than any of the slop he put out for Episodes One through Three. This story, simple as it is, is way too above Lucas. And not because it's that great- it's because Lucas sucks.

And I don't how people had such an issue with the gameplay... people used to overlook certain issues that Force Unleashed had just for the sake to blow everything the fuck up with Force powers. And with this, it's Force powers x10. It's meant to just be a load of fun killing stuff and lightning, tossing boxes at Stormtroopers, blasting a group of mushroom-dudes away, and flinging Jawas out of the atmosphere. Seriously, how is that not fun enough to overlook some of the mistakes and repetetiveness?

From what I've seen, a lot of the gamers on this site are waaaaaay too picky... so don't think this is specifically targeted to you, BolognaBaloney. And I don't care if people don't like a game... I just don't understand how such little things can turn people away from a game.

EDIT:

No game should be released to the general public with as many bugs as the game had. The demo was rough, which is to be expected, but I expected them to figure out how to fix the bugs in it and tighten the game up by the time that they put it on store shelves.

OK, can someone please point out some of the bugs to me? I was playing it (the 360 version) with my friend last night, and I didn't see anything other than Kota being kinda slow in the mission where you need to escort him. And I just found that to be funny, because the guy is drunk (with a lightsaber, come on, now that's funny).

So am I just oblivious or something?

 

[BolognaBaloney]

The story is a pathetic add-on, to cash in on the starry-eyed fans, the combat is lackluster at best, and extremely repetitive. The levels are recycled, it's very short, all this combined with a good amount of hype has kept this sitting in my drawer, untouched.

I thought the story was very good, actually. The camera and targeting systems were totally screwy, and the game is buggy as hell, but I think it's at least mediocre.

The story is yet another attempt for georfe to pretend he can still write, seriously tacking on some bullshit apprentice, who is loads stronger than any jedi ever seen before is a really pathetic way to cash-in on his loyal fan's. He could have done much more with this story. My guess: curious george wanted to see how little effort he could put into a game, and still sell it because of the "STAR WARS" on the front.

EDIT: and for the record, I don't hate the game, I just haven't seen a need to replay it, when I barely slogged through it initially.

(Little disclaimer- I'm not a fanboy. I just look at the facts and what I enjoy.)

George Lucas didn't write the story for Unleashed. In fact, I'm pretty sure he didn't have his hand in it at all, except for endorsing it as an addition to the movies' canon. And the story itself, even though the writing isn't the best, is a good addition and is better than any of the slop he put out for Episodes One through Three. This story, simple as it is, is way too above Lucas. And not because it's that great- it's because Lucas sucks.

And I don't how people had such an issue with the gameplay... people used to overlook certain issues that Force Unleashed had just for the sake to blow everything the fuck up with Force powers. And with this, it's Force powers x10. It's meant to just be a load of fun killing stuff and lightning, tossing boxes at Stormtroopers, blasting a group of mushroom-dudes away, and flinging Jawas out of the atmosphere. Seriously, how is that not fun enough to overlook some of the mistakes and repetetiveness?

From what I've seen, a lot of the gamers on this site are waaaaaay too picky... so don't think this is specifically targeted to you, BolognaBaloney. And I don't care if people don't like a game... I just don't understand how such little things can turn people away from a game.

Several things, first and foremost, George Lucas did in fact write the strory for the force unleashed. Secondly, I believe that for $60 I should be entitled to more than an average hack-n-slash with several repeated levels, and enemies that were cheap for the sake of making the game challenging. Lastly, I don't hate the game, I simply am not a huge fan of it. It was decent for a few hours, but it quickly wears off.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Several things, first and foremost, George Lucas did in fact write the strory for the force unleashed. Secondly, I believe that for $60 I should be entitled to more than an average hack-n-slash with several repeated levels, and enemies that were cheap for the sake of making the game challenging. Lastly, I don't hate the game, I simply am not a huge fan of it. It was decent for a few hours, but it quickly wears off.

Ah, just checked IMDB, you're right. That's actually kinda surprising to me... I thought it was much better than anything he's done recently.

And like I said, I wasn't directing all of that at you, just my admittedly wrong assumption that Lucas didn't have his hand in the game.

 

[implodingMan]

Despite being billed as the game with unstoppable force powers, I always felt underpowered in this game when I was fighting anything other than the most common enemies. This might just be a measure of how bad I was at the game, but my strategy of choice for all of the game's tougher enemies from the rancors to the 12 foot tall stormtroopers with the rocket launchers to the walkers was to run around them in circles and hit them with force lightning over and over. Force push was useless, lightsaber combat was useless. Everything went down to repeated and boring use of force lightning.

My next problem is with the story.

Spoiler: end spoilers

So your mentor would not let you kill Palpatine after you beat him, claiming it would bring you to the dark side. Well what the hell is the point in rebelling then? Are they going to just ask him nicely to stop?

 

[BolognaBaloney]

Several things, first and foremost, George Lucas did in fact write the strory for the force unleashed. Secondly, I believe that for $60 I should be entitled to more than an average hack-n-slash with several repeated levels, and enemies that were cheap for the sake of making the game challenging. Lastly, I don't hate the game, I simply am not a huge fan of it. It was decent for a few hours, but it quickly wears off.

Ah, just checked IMDB, you're right. That's actually kinda surprising to me... I thought it was much better than anything he's done recently.

And like I said, I wasn't directing all of that at you, just my admittedly wrong assumption that Lucas didn't have his hand in the game.

I think it could have been an amazing game if the focus hadn't been on making it canon.
EDIT: Rather, I feel like I personally would have enjoyed the game more if I felt like the story wasn't the emphasis.