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Star Wars: the Force Unleashed Demo Sets Xbox Download Record

The demo version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released a few weeks ago for download through Xbox Live and the Playstation Network. Now, LucasArts has announced that the game shattered records for the number of downloads on Xbox Live, taking only eight days to reach 1 million. The full version is due out next Tuesday, and LucasArts will be holding a launch party in San Fransisco on Monday night to celebrate. The game is part of a multimedia project which includes a best-selling book, a comic, action figures, and other tie-ins. According to Eurogamer's interview with producer Cameron Suey, previous Star Wars games suffered from a "lack of ambition." Suey also shows off some of the gameplay in a video. A video walkthrough of the PS2 and PSP versions is available at Kotaku. The game will not be available for PC. Early reviews for the game are good, but not great, and developers recently mentioned that George Lucas himself provided input on the project.

11 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. You are part of the problem by nobodyman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm picking up the game for the story, and if that is good, I won't mind the gameplay so much.

    While I can see your point to some extent (I like the Star Wars universe too), I can't help thinking that you're part of "the problem" when it comes to LucasArts, and the whole movie-tie-in market in general. What publisher is going to put any effort in making a good game if they know people like you will line up to buy it even if it sucks?

    LucasArts used to make top-notch games: Full-Throttle, Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, X-Wing, and dozens more in every genre. But then Lucasarts executives (and Lucas himself, I imagine) realized that the most profitable thing to do was to churn out countless Star Wars games irrespective of quality. Yeah, there's been a couple good ones, but for every "Knights of the Old Republic" there's at least ten "Star Wars: Galaxies - Episode III Rage of the Wookiees"

    1. Re:You are part of the problem by grahamd0 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Aren't we due for a new X-Wing title that features ships from all 6 movies, and the EU?

      I don't know man. Somehow I doubt the eurofighter stands up against an A-Wing.

  2. JKII... by i.of.the.storm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I miss Jedi Knight II... whatever happened to that storyline, anyway? Kyle Katarn was awesome. Jedi Academy was really fun too. The dual-sided lightsaber was so powerful, I loved it. This is bringing back a lot of memories, of the days when Lucasarts didn't suck.

    --
    All your base are belong to Wii.
  3. Lucas Provided Input? Oh... by McNally · · Score: 4, Funny

    and developers recently mentioned that George Lucas himself provided input on the project.

    Meesah sorry to hear that.

  4. Re:Lack of ambition? by russlar · · Score: 4, Funny

    Guess what, physics games have been done. Played Half-Life 2? No... really? Try it, it's great.

    Yeah, Half Life 2's pretty good, but for the ultimate physics game, you gotta try this new game from France called Large Hadron Collider.

    --
    Anybody want my mod points?
  5. Re:Lack of ambition? by jannone · · Score: 4, Funny

    I also find their "lack of ambition"... disturbing.

  6. Re:fp by carlmenezes · · Score: 4, Funny

    Please don't unleash the force.

    --
    Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
  7. Re:The Force is too powerful. by grahamd0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's what she said...

    She was just being polite, man.

  8. Re:Moderate gameplay by lewp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    KotOR's gameplay was bad because:

    a) It was massively imbalanced. Pick up the right combination of feats (Master Flurry, Master Speed, Master Two Weapon Fighting) and you could drop even Malak in one round. Pick up the wrong set of feats (a caster build without Force Breach, for example) and you could breeze through the entire game and then get completely fucked on the boss fights at the end.

    b) Half of the mechanics in the game were useless. There was no reason to be a techie or a stealth class because while both had gimmicky moments where they could do something cool, the game was chock full of full-on frontal assaults you couldn't avoid. The gimmicks never paid off as well as going head on anyway. Besides, you could never be as good at those things as the droid, because in the end you had to make your character combat able as well.

    c) Ranged combat was horrible. You could abuse the hell out of force powers and plink away at mobs that were permanently stunned with your pistols, but in and of themselves blasters weren't a decent weapon choice.

    d) Levelling was fucked up. By allowing you to bank levels until you switched to your jedi class, you could completely break the difficulty of the game. Staying level 2 until the first planet was completely made the first planet way too hard, but having an extra 4-5 jedi levels made the rest of the game way too easy.

    e) You could cheese half the fights in the game with grenades and shields. That's how you get to being a jedi at level 2, but it works just as well for the rest of the game. There are very few fights that shield spam and grenades can't win.

    KotOR is one of my favorite games of all time. The story is great, there's tons of stuff you can do off the beaten path, and it has a ton of replay value. The actual gameplay is subpar, though. KotOR 2 is one of my biggest disappointments of all time because it fixed the gameplay of KotOR but was so buggy and had so much cut content you couldn't actually enjoy it. A bastard child hybrid of the two might be the best game never made.

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    Game... blouses.
  9. Re:Lack of ambition? by Fx.Dr · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's gotten great reviews, they say it's absolutely smashing.

  10. Re:Moderate gameplay by AmberBlackCat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Some are being left disappointed with gameplay. I'm picking up the game for the story, and if that is good, I won't mind the gameplay so much. People forget that KOTOR's gameplay was pretty bad.

    Have you considered just getting a DVD? Then you don't have to deal with the gameplay at all.