Star Wars – The Force Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a 2008 action-adventure game developed and published by LucasArts, and part of The Force Unleashed multimedia project. It was initially developed for the PS2, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360 consoles and on iOS, second-generation N-Gage, NDS, PSP, and Java-equipped mobile phone handhelds. The game was released in North America on September 16, 2008, in Australia and Southeast Asia on September 17, and in Europe on September 19. An enhanced remaster of the Wii version, developed by Aspyr, was released for the Nintendo Switch on April 20, 2022. Shortly into the Galactic Empire‘s rule, Imperial spies locate a Jedi survivor of the Great Purge named Kento Marek on Kashyyyk. 

Darth Vader arrives as the planet is invaded and eliminates any Wookiee resistance between him and the fugitive Jedi. Reaching Kento’s home, Vader easily defeats him in a lightsaber duel but senses someone far more powerful nearby. Initially believing it to be Kento’s Jedi Master, Vader prepares to execute the defiant Jedi until his lightsaber is suddenly force-pulled from his hand by Kento’s son, Galen. Sensing the boy’s strong connection to the Force, Vader kills Kento and an Imperial squadron after they try to execute Galen and secretly takes him as his apprentice, with only a select few knowing of his existence. Years later, an adult Galen (given the alias “Starkiller”) completes his Sith training.

He’s sent by Vader to eliminate several Jedi survivors across the galaxy in preparation for assassinating the Emperor so that the duo can rule the galaxy together. Starkiller travels aboard his ship, the Rogue Shadow, alongside training droid PROXY (who is programmed to try and kill Starkiller) and Imperial pilot Juno Eclipse. Starkiller’s targets include Rahm Kota, a Clone Wars veteran and leader of a militia; Kazdan Paratus, insane after years of isolation on Raxus Prime; and Shaak Ti, who’s hiding on Felucia. Two of these three Jedi masters, Kota and Ti, inform Starkiller that they have foreseen that soon Vader will no longer be his master before he finishes them (with Ti committing suicide instead).

After the latter’s death, Starkiller returns to Vader again, but the Emperor arrives, his spies having uncovered Starkiller’s existence. To prove his loyalty to the Emperor, Vader appears to kill his apprentice by stabbing him and hurling him through space. Unbeknownst to the Emperor, Vader has Starkiller recovered and resuscitated. Vader sends Starkiller to foster a rebellion among the Empire’s enemies, hoping to distract the Emperor’s spies for Vader to overthrow him. Starkiller rescues Juno, arrested and branded a traitor to the Empire, and escapes with her and PROXY. Looking for allies to aid his mission, Starkiller finds an alive Kota on Cloud City, rendered blind from Starkiller’s earlier victory over him and reduced to alcoholism, and rescues him from Imperial forces. The group travels to Kashyyyk to locate Kota’s contact, senator Bail Organa.

Starkiller discovers his old home and meets his father’s spirit, who expresses remorse for Starkiller’s upbringing under Vader. To gain Bail’s trust, Starkiller rescues his captive daughter Princess Leia Organa, and liberates the enslaved Wookiees at her request. Starkiller learns from Kota that Bail went missing on Felucia, after searching for Shaak Ti in the hope that she would rescue Leia. Starkiller travels to Felucia to find Bail, discovering that he’d been captured by Shaak Ti’s former apprentice Maris Brood, who succumbed to the Dark Side after her master’s death. Starkiller defeats Brood but spares her life, and convinces Bail to join the rebellion. The Force Unleashed is a third-person action game in which the player’s character’s weapons are the Force and a lightsaber.

Developers treated the main character’s lightsaber like another Force power, and wanted to ensure “something visceral and cool” happened with each button-push. The game has a combo system for stringing lightsaber attacks and for combining lightsaber attacks with Force powers. Experience points earned by killing enemies and finding artifacts can be used to increase Starkiller’s powers and traits. The gameplay is intended to be easy to learn; the development team included “horrible” gamers to help ensure the game’s accessibility. Players can casually run and gun through the game, but the game rewards those who take a stealthy, more tactical approach. The game includes enemies that are easy to overcome; game difficulty arises from presenting these enemies in large numbers that can wear down the player’s character. 

Additionally, enemies learn from the player’s character’s attacks; using the same attack on different characters can sometimes lead to the player’s character doing less damage. The enemies, which number over 50, have various strengths and weaknesses; developers faced the difficulty of effectively placing them throughout the game’s varied environments. Players must also carefully manage their automatically-regenerating Force energy when using exceptionally strong Force abilities, as overuse of them can drop the Force meter below zero to a negative level, incurring Force debt that disables all Force powers for a period of time until the auto-regeneration removes the debt; the more Force debt incurred, the longer the player will be without Force abilities.