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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition Review
November 2, 2009 - It took LucasArts longer than it expected to put the finishing touches on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, but when it was finally released last year it went on to put up huge numbers for the company - record setting numbers in fact, and considering the success of previous Star Wars titles, that's no small feat. Given that it might be a while before we see a direct sequel, assuming one is even in development (and you have to assume that it is), we're now seeing the release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition.
Essentially, this is the collector's edition that we didn't see
last year, coupled with all of the available downloadable content and a
brand-new exclusive level. For the retail price you'll get the original
game, the Jedi Academy, Tatooine and Hoth levels, all of the
downloadable skins, a collector's card and a nice tin case to hold it
all in.
Click the image to watch our full video review.
In
terms of the tangible stuff, the collector's tin is really just the
metal case that a lot of other special editions ship in, which, while
cool and nice, isn't anything new. The collector's card is just a thick
piece of paper with some artwork on it and is hardly worth collecting.
In fact, there's a paper pamphlet that shows what all of the cards look
like, and that's probably enough for most everyone out there.
Now, if you're a PC gamer then you'll likely know that The Force
Unleashed skipped over the PC last time around, with LucasArts going so
far as to say that it would probably never come to the platform. Well,
the Ultimate Sith Edition does away with this jibber-jabber and brings
the secret apprentice and gang to Windows machines. By and large, it's
a solid port, but it really isn't any different from the previous
console releases in any way. That's not a bad thing, but if you were
hoping for enhanced physics or something of the sort, that's not to be
found here.
The base Force Unleashed experience is the main star of the show,
and nothing has changed. The code looks to be completely untouched, for
better or for worse. If you haven't played the game or want to know our
thoughts on the original experience, be sure you check out our original
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed review. In short, it's still a fun, if somewhat flawed, experience that gives you a great set of Force powers to play with.
Obi-Wan is a pushover.
In
terms of the additional content, what you're getting here is an
extension of the base game, something that simply adds more content to
the experience but doesn't actually change (or even fix) anything.
What's sort of nice is that each of the three additional levels are
standalone options, so you don't need to play through the game in order
to get to them. The downside to this is that none of your powers or
anything carry over, nor does anything that you earn carry back into
the main game. However, that largely doesn't matter as you start almost
fully powered-up for each of these levels anyway.
I won't spend too much time talking about the Jedi Academy level as
it's been available as DLC for some time, but it's a pretty decent
bonus level that has you wandering through the academy in order to get
to a personal test of sorts. It doesn't seem to fit into any specific
part of the secret apprentice's story and instead acts as a random side
mission that he goes on for himself, which is nice as you don't need to
know what's happened in the base game to appreciate it. There's a small
bit of simple puzzle solving towards the end that helps break up the
pace a little bit, and while it won't tax your noggin, it's a nice
change from all of the killing.
The Tatooine level picks up after the main game and goes under the
assumption that you wind up killing Vader and taking the apprentice
position under the Emperor. The Empire has learned that R2-D2 has the
plans to the Death Star and Starkiller is sent to go "talk" to Jabba to
get them. So, you head into Jabba's palace, kill a bunch of guys, wind
up taking on the rancor beneath Jabba's throne and then escape to find
the droids at Mos Eisley.
After some big battles with rancors in the original Force Unleashed
story, the battle here is pretty disappointing as there's an
invincibility orb in the room that lets you just quickly slash it to
death. The rest of the level is basically just running through and
killing everyone dead until you make it to Mos Eisley and take on both
Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Given that you're packed to the brim with
Force powers, both of these fights are pretty much a joke on the
default difficulty level as you can just Force Lightning them to death.
Wielding the Force is still pretty fun.
The
Hoth level, which again is the only exclusive bit to the Ultimate Sith
Edition, isn't quite as exciting as either the Jedi Academy or Tatooine
levels as the Hoth base is essentially just a series of square rooms
and corridors connecting them. This is simplifying it a bit, but you
get the idea. It looks great, mind you, and is pretty much dead-on with
what you see in Empire, but it doesn't really make for the most
interesting level to fight through.
After slicing and dicing for a while, you'll face off with Luke
Skywalker. The battle with him is much tougher than the fight against
either Boba Fett or Obi-Wan, but that's because he can be pretty cheap.
He has attacks that can't really be blocked, or at least not that I was
able to figure out, and there can be guys out of the area that you're
in that constantly shoot at you. It's not a terrible fight, but it's
not nearly as fun as I had hoped it could be.
As I mentioned, the Ultimate Sith Edition didn't change anything in
terms of the original content at all, and the bonus levels follow suit.
The same issues that I had with the base content remains here,
including enemies that hit you when you're down, wonky physics in some
spots and the like. It's still fun as Force throwing someone off a
ledge never really gets old, but it is what it is. It's worth noting
that a lot of the Digital Molecular Matter tech that was used well in
some spots of the original release (though not nearly as much as we all
would have liked) is used a little more sparsely in the add-on levels.
It's mostly relegated to things like statues or other background items,
though Hoth does have plenty of glass to break into bits, which is
always a cool effect.
The battle against Luke can be somewhat aggravating.
Really, whether or not you should pick up Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition
comes down to whether or not you already own the original. If you do,
just pick up the DLC if you want more as you're not missing a ton
without Hoth. If you don't own it but are still interested or have been
holding out for the PC release, then it's worth a shot at this point.
You're getting a fair bit more than you would have originally and the
DLC is included in the purchase price, which is nice.
Closing Comments Star Wars:
The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition is just an extended version
of the game that was released last year. It doesn't fix or change
anything in the original game - it just gives you a few more levels and
some new skins. If you don't already have the game, give it a look. If
you do, you might just want to go the DLC route.
IGN Ratings for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed -- Ultimate Sith Edition (PC)
Rating
Description
7.5
Presentation The
main story is still good, though the expanded stuff could have been a
little more well told. Also, having to load menu screens still sucks.
7.5
Graphics Nothing has changed here since last year's release, and while it still looks reasonably good, many games look better.
9.0
Sound It's the Star Wars library put to good use. What else can I say?
7.0
Gameplay The same deal as last year's release. Some bits are still wonky, but wielding the Force has never been as much fun.
7.5
Lasting Appeal The main game still isn't incredibly long, but the additional three levels help extend your playtime by a few hours.
