Sitting on my couch with hand outstretched, I close my eyes and concentrate deeply, longing for the remote. Eyes open, the remote still sits there unmoved like the inanimate object it is. Damn it… I’ve been playing too much of The Force Unleashed again.

With a motto like ‘kicking ass with the Force’, my hopes had always been high for The Force Unleashed. Star Wars games are dime a dozen, but few have satisfied that inner urge to just go nuts with the Force. Ever since we were first shown a demonstration of the Digital Molecular Matter system in action with R2 units thrown helplessly at all manner of inorganic objects in the name of technology, The Force Unleashed looked like it was up to the task. Touted as not only a technical marvel but a direct piece of canon that ties together the events of Revenge of the Sith and, 1977’s classic, A New Hope, when The Force Unleashed turned up on my desk, the nerd inside of me donned his Jedi robes and sat down to play through LucasArts’ latest blockbuster.

The Force Unleashed pits you in the boots of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, codenamed Starkiller (geek-gasm!). Stolen as a child and trained out of the Emperor’s watchful sight, no one must know of your existence, leaving you to fend against both friend and foe of the Empire. Not is all so loyal on the Dark Side and you soon find yourself betrayed and on the hunt for vengeance. If you can tell a B’omarr Monk from a Twi’lek then TFU will satisfy your inner nerd, witnessing the formation of the Rebel Alliance, construction of the Death Star and the final days of Order 66, but you by no means need to be a Jedi in training to appreciate this bitter tale of revenge. With George Lucas’ seal of approval, you know this is beyond mere Expanded Universe filler. Perhaps my standards have dropped since The Phantom Menace, when all I longed for was a movie without Jar Jar Binks, but even so, the narrative behind The Force Unleashed feels perfectly in line with the Star Wars universe, both a logical progression and recapturing the look and darker feel of the original trilogy. On reflection, I’d even go so far as to argue that it feels more like Star Wars than any of the prequels ever achieved.

From the moment you set foot on Kashyyyk as Darth Vader, with a forest world of Wookies at your disposal, The Force Unleashed reveals itself as an undoubtedly beautiful game. Between Havok, DMM and Euphoria, the three engines work in harmony to create a veritable playground of potential. Euphoria sees your foes react independently and in a non-scripted fashion: Throw a barrel at a Storm Trooper and he will attempt to dive out the way, pick him up using your Force grip and he will clamber for a railing to brace himself from your clutches. Havok has become somewhat of a staple of modern gaming, delivering a sense of weight and inertia to objects, but this is the first time that the DMM engine has been used in gaming, and it looks just fantastic: glass cracks apart and shatters, wood splinters naturally. With such technological might backing the game, you feel truly in control with the full power of the Force at your fingertips. I couldn’t think of a better game to put these engines through their paces.

Beautiful in action, the DMM system is not without a few initial flaws, most notably the level of inconsistency between different objects of the same matter. Starting out on the Wookie planet of Kashyyyk, trees can be hacked down and huts torn apart. Later in the game when you arrive on the planet of Felucia in pursuit of Shaak Ti, a world brimming with natural vegetation, you quickly discover that absolutely none of the plants that surround you can be pruned, let alone hacked to pieces. They either wiggle around like a fat man on a bungee rope or respond nonchalantly, like they’d never been attacked with a glowing rod of unstoppable power. I don’t know about you, but I always figured the only thing a lightsabre couldn’t slice through was another lightsabre blade, but maybe I missed something when they went back to alter the original trilogy. Now I can understand why you can’t hack a Stormtrooper limb from limb, I’m sure the game would struggle to get past the Classifications Board let alone big George, but giving you an element of freedom only to strip it from you whenever the game feels like just highlights the linear nature of the title. It is these inconsistencies that end up limiting your experience and removing the new-found level of depth and realism opened by the technological synergy powering it. Far from game ruining though, The Force Unleashed still stands as an impressive first application of DMM in action, demonstrating the potential the engine holds.

Game engine aside, inconsistency seems rife in other areas of The Force Unleashed. Jumping toward the end of the game, you find yourself single-handedly bringing down a Star Destroyer with the power of the Force. The next, and should I add final, level of the game you are back at it and once again, you are still unable to pick up the hulking Purge Troopers or AT-ST’s that roam the level. Large yes, but I just moved a god damn Star Destroyer with the Force! You level up by assigning individual Force points to attributes as you wish, but there is never a natural curve to progression. As an apprentice, you must learn the ways of the Force, but instead of learning powers from certain scenarios or teachings, you will find yourself beginning a level only to find yourself bestowed with a new ability. It feels like a purely artificial restriction to keep to your interest.

As an apprentice in the ways of the Force, the lightsabre exists as your sole weapon of choice. There’s a plethora of combos to unlock, although control and fluidity pails when compared to beat ’em ups the likes of Ninja Gaiden and God of War. With the powers of Force Lightning, the ability to repel foes with Force Push and the ability to move and throw objects with Force Grip, just to name a few, it’s not hard to see why melee combat fast takes a back seat to the powers of Force. Linear by nature, the levels themselves don’t deliver the greatest level of freedom, but it is the way in which you use the elements within, each littered to the brim with potential. With explosive barrels, all obliterating force fields, precarious ledges and easily broken windows, waiting before you is a world of possibility. Not quite as powerless to your Force powers as the generic Storm Trooper, boss battles are plentiful and must be gradually chipped away before being disposed of with a stunning Shenmue-style Quick Time Event sequence as you unleash unholy wrath upon your enemy in spectacular fashion.

With such a mass of force abilities and attacks on offer, the controller layout manages wonderfully, delivering full access to your abilities without the need to cycle abilities. Control itself isn’t quite as refined, feeling somewhat delayed and as far as the Force Grip is concerned, often overly clumsy and convoluted. With such a mass of items on screen and enemies who rely on power in numbers, you are time-and-time again left miss-targeting from whom you intend. When you are required to remain perfectly still when using the Force Grip, clumsiness is not exactly a desirable trait. It’s strange, but The Force Unleashed is perhaps the first title where I’ve truly wondered if the game would benefit from using the SIXAXIS controls.

Even with the almighty power of the Force on your side, The Force Unleashed is far from a cakewalk. Playing through on the default difficulty (Sith Warrior) is enough have you pulling hairs and breaking controllers. To counter-balance your ultimate power, waves upon waves of enemies have been sent to stop you, and stop you they will, often continuing to attack when you’re down in the dirt. The aforementioned scenario as you single-handedly bring down a Star Destroyer, is one hell of an effort in frustration. The task wouldn’t be so hard if there weren’t legions of TIE-fighters are sent to stop you. With the Star Destroyer recorrecting itself at any chance it can get, you are constantly required to rotate it back into a precise position just so you can pull it crashing down into the ground; one hell of an unnecessarily hard task. Unusual as it may sound, but forgetting about challenge and playing through the game on easy really gives you that feeling of playing as an all powerful Jedi as you crave your way through waves of hapless soldiers.

Completing The Force Unleashed is a satisfying conclusion to the missing link in the Star Wars saga. The open ends that existed between episodes 3 and 4 are finally wrapped up and Starkiller’s story comes to a powerful, yet tragic end. There’s an alternate non-canonical ending to work your way through if you accept the calling of the dark side, but unless you like the concept of playing the game through again on higher difficulties, there isn’t a lot to go back to. Levels have bonus objectives to complete and hidden holocrons to be found, delivering rewards such as new costumes, lightsabre crystals and force points. With no multiplayer, online play or extra missions to turn to and use your new found abilities, it really just feels as if you are done and dusted by the time the credits roll and the eternal closing theme begins. Still if one thing remains constant, screwing around with the Force is still fun as hell; a cathartic experience of ultimate power with an endless number of hapless subjects at your disposal. I mightn’t see myself going back to play through the game, but I sure hope we see a sequel in some shape or form.

So is The Force Unleashed just a tech demo to show off three marvels of modern technology? No, it is a competent game backed by a strong narrative, which feels perfectly canon in the Star Wars universe. Controls are somewhat clunky, gameplay repetitive in spades and the game is riddled with bugs, but few things can top the feeling of flinging a Storm Trooper out a starship’s window into the vacuum of space as his fellow soldiers and an entire room’s contents follow suit. Any self respecting Star Wars fan should play through the game, if only for the story, but for the sheer fun that comes from screwing around with the power of the Force in a complex digital playground, The Force Unleashed is an experience that any gamer can appreciate.