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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a video game set in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. It follows the life of Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice, Starkiller. It was originally set for release in 2007 however, problems with moving the code onto the PS3 software caused the project to be delayed until 2008.

One of the games highly anticipated features was the new graphics used for the game. They greatly increased the realness of gameplay as first seen in the graphic explanation videos on the official site[2]

Gameplay[]

Each type of gameplay is different on each unique console, partialy due to the controls. For example the Wii uses the Wii remote as a lightsaber and the nunchuck for Force powers. The gameplay engines are also different. For example only the Xbox 360 and PS3 have all of the simulation systems. The handheld versions and the Nintendo Wii version has a Duel mode in it, where players have a one on one duel. The other console versions also have different game modes exclusive to them. Some examples of how to control the characters actions using the Nunchuck and Wii Remote are pushing the nunchuck in a forward direction, resulting in Force push. Or, to throw your lightsaber, just press and hold the A button and swing the Wii Remote in the manner that you would use to throw a lightsaber in real life.

There are also various combinations that can be found as the player learns more Force powers. An example is an attack where the player can slash twice with his lightsaber, and then charge his lightsaber with Force lightning, before slashing downwards with it. More combinations can be gained by collecting combination spheres.

Force powers[]

Forcelightningunleashed

The Secret Apprentice using Force lightning

Force powers play a major part in the game, as suggested by the title. There are a variety of Force powers to use, unlock and upgrade through the use of power spheres. The game features many new abilities used by the Secret Apprentice, it also enhances older Force powers, such as Force lightning. Among the new Powers there is a Force power called repulse which creates an eminating sphere of Force energy around the player sending any enemies within range flying when charged at lower levels but disintegrates them at higher levels.

Another new twist on Force powers is the ability to link Force powers together with lightsaber moves and even with other Force powers. For example Force lightning could be combined with Force repulse to create a wave of power that sends all nearby enemies flying whilst shocking them with Force lightning. If Force push is combined with Lightsaber throw then the Apprentice throws his Lightsaber into an enemy and sends them flying into an object. Also Starkiller can send a jolt of Force lightning through his lightsaber that is deadly to small enemies such as stormtroopers, Rodians, and Felucians. But, also the strike can momentarily stun larger enemies such as Rancors, Dark troopers, and AT-STs.

There is one force power exclusive to each version of the game, for the Xbox 360 and PS3 Starkiller can use Lightning Shield and for the Wii version Starkiller can use Force Maelstrom.

Only one Force power used by a playable character cannot be used by Starkiller, and that is Force choke which is used by Darth Vader in the first level of the game. Force choke can be used by Starkiller, at least, on the Wii version.

Storyline[]

Despite the different modes of gameplay, the Storyline of The Force Unleashed remains the same on each game. It focuses around Starkiller's stuggle with the light side and dark side of the Force. He starts of as a Dark side adept and either works his way towards the light or dark side of the Force resulting in several different game endings being available.

Prologue[]

Darth Vader's shuttle landed on Kashyyyk were he was met by the commander there. After using the Force to destroy a wooden barricade he encountered several Wookiee's firing at his stormtroopers. After quickly dispatching them Darth Vader moved his way though various wooden bridges and structures, dispatching wookiee's along the way. At the end of the trail Darth Vader came to Kento's hut. After a difficult fight with the Jedi Vader went to strike Kento down when a small boy, Kento's son, used the Force to take the lightsaber from him. Vader killed Kento with Force choke and discarded his body when a small group of stormtroopers and an imperial officer arrived. They saw the boy with Vader's lightsaber and immediately fired. Darth Vader took the lightsaber from the boy's hand and deflected the bolts, killing the soldiers. He then commanded the boy to follow him.

TIE Construction Yard[]

The boy was trained by Darth Vader as a secret apprentice with the goal of defeating the emperor, under the name Starkiller he worked with several pilots and a droid, PROXY who was designed to kill him in order to constantly test his skills. Starkiller's first mission was to eliminate Rahm Kota at an Imperial TIE Construction Yard that he and his militia had taken over. After fighting his way through groups of Stormtroopers, and Kota's militia he met with Rahm Kota. A fierce duel broke out and Starkiller defeated Kota by blinding him, he then sent him flying through a window onto the planet below, whilst the construction facility plummeted towards the planet, as Kota had ripped part of the facility away with the Force. Starkiller then jumped into the Rogue Shadow piloted by Juno Eclipse before the facility crashed.

Raxus Prime[]

Paratus vs Starkiller

Starkiller duelling Kazdan Paratus.

Starkiller's next objective was to eliminate the Jedi Kazdan Paratus. Kazdan had exiled himself to Raxus Prime after fleeing the Jedi temple during the Great Jedi Purge. On Raxus Prime he built up a droid army out of scrap parts held together by the Force. Starkiller fought his way through many Rodians and Jawas hunting for useful scrap on the planet before engaging some of Paratus' droids. Starkiller eventually reached Kazdan Paratus where he fought him in a lightsaber duel. Despite Paratus using several Junk Titans against Starkiller, Starkiller still emerged victorious with Paratus revealing that he had failed again. Starkiller was picked up by Juno Eclipse, and again he returned to his master.

Felucia[]

Darth Vader then said that his apprentice's victories were easy, and that his final test was to hunt down a "true Jedi Master". Starkiller was sent to Felucia in order to hunt down Shaak Ti, a Jedi master who had survived the Clone Wars. On Felucia Shaak Ti knew that the imperials were coming, and ordered her adopted apprentice, Maris Brood, into hiding in the forest as planned.

After fighting his way through many Felucians and four rancors, Starkiller met with Shaak Ti. The two duelled next to a Sarlacc and before Starkiller could finish Shaak Ti off, she fell into the Sarlacc leaving only a powerful blue light, similar to that off Kazdan Paratus' for Starkiller to witness. Several felucians then surrounded him but ran away after he drew his lightsaber.

Empirical[]

Aboard the Empirical Darth Vader betrayed his apprentice under the emperor's order as he arrived to see Vader. To prove his loyalty, the emperor demanded that Vader kill his apprentice. Vader threw the apprentice around with the Force before pushing him through a glass window into space. Darth Vader and the emperor left the Empirical whilst Vader secretly sent a droid to pick up the apprentice. After healing him, Darth Vader spoke to him through PROXY and then told him that his new mission was to make a rebellion against the empire, as part of Vader's plot to overthrow his master. Starkiller realised he would need a pilot, and decided to rescue Juno from the ship. Starkiller fought his way to Juno and escaped aboard the Rogue Shadow before the ship flew into the sun, as PROXY had set it to, to avoid any witnesses.

Bespin[]

Starkiller went in search of Rahm Kota, as he believed him to still be alive. His search led him to Bespin where he found him, drunk in a bar. He then escorted Rahm Kota to his ship whilst fending off stormtroopers, senate guards, Imperial royal guards and Jumptroopers. After reaching the ship a Shadow Guard attacked him along with several stormtroopers and Jumptroopers. Starkiller emerged victorious and left Bespin with Rahm Kota.

Imperial Kashyyyk[]

Rahm Kota said that he had a link to someone who may start a rebellion, but he said that Starkiller must bring him something from Kashyyyk. Starkiller was frustrated that Rahm Kota did not specify but continued anyway. On Kashyyyk Starkiller found a small hut, and a symbol on a large cloth, a symbol that was later used to represent the Rebel Alliance. Starkiller felt a connection and entered the hut, there he lost all communication and was approached by a cloaked figure who said "I never wanted any of this for you" before leaving. Starkiller realised that it was his father who had spoken somehow.

Starkiller fought his way through several Scout trooper nests as well as Incinerator troopers and stormtroopers before reaching his target. He entered the private quarters of Ozzik Stern and, after defeating a Royal Guard, found what he was looking for - Leia Organa, the daughter of Bail Organa who Starkiller realised Rahm Kota had meant. Leia refused to leave until the Skyhook, an imperial slave base, was destroyed in order to save more Wookiees. Starkiller defeated Ozzik Stern in his modified AT-ST and destroyed the Skyhook, before leaving with Leia Organa.

Imperial Felucia[]

Back on the Rogue Shadow Rahm Kota informed Starkiller that he could not find his contact, and that he lost contact after going to Felucia. Starkiller then headed to imperial Felucia in order to find him. After Shaak Ti's death, the native Felucians had turned to the dark side of the Force, and confrontations between the Dark Felucians and imperial forces grew more common making Starkillers mission much harder. After fighting his way through Felucians, rancors and various imperial troopers, Starkiller came upon Bail Organa, Kota's contact, in a large pit littered with bones. Before he could free Bail, Maris Brood confronted him. Starkiller offered to spare her any pain if she got out of his way but instead she ordered her tame Bull Rancor to attack Starkiller. Starkiller defeated the Bull Rancor and the defeated Maris Brood. Maris begged the apprentice to let her live, and Starkiller let her run into the Felucian jungle before leaving the planet with Bail Organa.

Imperial Raxus Prime[]

Starkiller explained his mission to form a rebellion to Bail Organa, who told him that in order to rally other dissidents, they need to show that the Empire is not invincible. Starkiller confided in his master, who suggested destroying the Star Destroyer construction yard over Raxus Prime. Starkiller fought his way past stormtroopers and Rodian scavengers to reach an orbital cannon. He then used it to destroy the construction yard, however one of the Star Destroyers came crashing down through the atmosphere, towards Starkiller's location. Kota told Starkiller to use the Force to bring the destroyer down safely, which he barely managed to do.

Corellia[]

"Take them alive, the emperor wants to execute them personally."
—Darth Vader commanding his Snowtroopers on Corellia.[src]

After leaving Raxus Prime Starkiller, Rahm Kota and Bail Organa went to Corellia to have a meeting on assembling a rebellion with Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis. Despite Starkiller agreeing with his master that no imperial forces would be sent to Corellia, Darth Vader sent his forces and captured the newly founded rebel leaders. Starkiller realised that Darth Vader had used him to bring together the greatest threats to the empire in one place to be captured. Darth Vader then went to kill Starkiller, but PROXY in disguise as Obi-Wan Kenobi distracted Vader for a few seconds. Starkiller fell down the side of a rock face and was collected by Juno in the Rogue Shadow. She then told him that the fate of the Rebellion was in his hands.

Death Star[]

Navigating the Death Star[]

Starkiller found the location of his captured allies through the Force, and Juno dropped him off inside an Imperial hanger inside the Death Star for what she believed to be the last time, after revealing her love for him. Starkiller navigated his way through various hangers, killing many stormtroopers, Death Star gunners and other imperial forces. He then entered one of the super laser tunnels, and managed to avoid being killed by the super weapon's test charges. Upon reaching the emperor's throne room Starkiller was confronted by several Imperial guards and a Shadow Guard, he defeated them and entered the emperor's throne room.

The throne room[]

Starkiller entered the throne room to meet Darth Vader. The two fought for some time and reached the emperor's main observation window before Starkiller emerged victorious. Vader lay injured on the floor, and the emperor told Starkiller to give in to his hate and kill Vader to take his place as the emperor's right hand man. Starkiller instead charged at the emperor and engaged him and his guards in a fierce Force duel. Starkiller killed all of the emperor's guards and was about to kill the emperor himself when Rahm Kota stopped him by telling him not to give in to his hate. Whilst the two where discussing what to do with the emperor, Rahm Kota was blasted by Force lightning from the emperor's hands. Starkiller blocked the emperor's attacks and used all of his energy to keep the empire at bay so that his allies could escape. After they had safely escaped Starkiller died from using all of his Force energy to save his friends, leaving the emperor and Vader to recover and continue their mission of galactic domination.

Alternate ending[]

The following section is non-canon and does not fit in with Star Wars continuity.


In the alternative, dark side, ending to the game, Starkiller duels Vader once more and kills him. The Emperor tells Starkiller that he will be his right-hand man from now on, however Starkiller instead attacks The Emperor as well. After a large battle Starkiller is defeated and The Emperor rescues him in a similar way to how he rescued Anakin Skywalker from death on Mustafar. Starkiller then becomes The Emperor's servant until The Emperor finds himself a new apprentice, at which point Starkiller will be discarded in a similar fashion to Darth Vader.


Non-canon section ends here.


Legacy[]

The rebel leaders and Juno Eclipse then met on Kashyyyk at Starkiller's home. They decided to continue the Rebellion and use Starkiller's symbol, found at his home, as their logo in honor of Starkiller.

Graphics[]

The game features three new types of simulation systems, new to LucasArts. [3]

The first type, Digital Molecular Matter (DMM), is exclusive to LucasArts for any game releases in September 2008. It allows things to crumble and fall as they do in the real world and allows buildings to collapse when all supports have been destroyed. This brings a new level of realness to gameplay.

StarkillerPSP

An image of Starkiller on the PSP version of the game. Considering the PSPs graphical limits, the game has one of the top visual outputs of all PSP games.

The second type, Euphoria, is owned by NaturalMotion Ltd. and allows characters to act as if they were human controlled or actually alive and thinking. It means that NPCs can grab on to things to try to stop themselves from falling and perform similar actions. This also removes scripted reactions so each character will react differently each time, instead of using pre-programmed commands and actions.[4]

The last new graphic engine is called Havok. Havok allows many items and objects to be moved around the screen at once. This can enhance the secret apprentice's Force powers, as instead of moving 4 or 5 enemies around the screen, he can move 15 or more enemies and lots of objects at once. Havok also tells objects information about other objects, allowing collision between objects to be realistic.

Soundtrack[]

The music for The Force Unleashed was composed by Mark Griskey and bears some resemblance to the Knights of the Old Republic series' music which he also composed. Some music from the Star Wars saga, composed by John Williams is also used in the game.

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Playable campaign mode characters[]

  • Starkiller (Darth Vader's secret apprentice) (First appearance)
  • Darth Vader (Playable on first level only)


Other characters[]

Non-campaign mode characters and PROXY mimics[]

Creatures[]

Lightningrancor

The Secret Apprentice using Force Lightning on a Bull Rancor

Droid models[]

Locations[]

Locations in game modes other than campaign mode[]

Organizations and titles[]

Sentient species[]

Vehicles and vessels[]

Forceunleashedstardestroyer

An Imperial Star Destroyer from The Force Unleashed video game trailer

Weapons and technology[]

Force powers[]

Miscellanea[]

Voice cast[]

Cheats[]

There are many cheats for the game, some unlock extra characters, others benefit the player directly with cheats that boost statistics such as damage or Force points. Some cheats were also released with the Hasbro action figures from The Force Unleashed project.[19]

Extra downloadable content[]

Kit Fisto TFU

Kit Fisto in The Force Unleashed through downloadable content.

LucasArts plans to release a new campaign mode and new playable characters to be used in the game. The extra content is to be released through Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network store[9]. The new level is set inside the Jedi Temple where Starkiller goes in order to find out more about his father. Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Kit Fisto are among the new playable characters available through the download.[9]

According to an interview with the development team, there is a chance that much more content will be released for the game over time in an episodic style.[9]

Cheats[]

  • speeder = 1,000,000 force points.
  • countdooku = All combos at max.
  • tyranus = All force powers.
  • cortosis = Invincibility
  • vergence = Unlimited Force Power
  • grandmoff = Unlock all costumes
  • katarn = All Force powers at maximum level
  • lightsaber = Amplified lightsaber damage
  • legion = Clone Trooper Costume
  • emperor = Unlocks all Lightsabers
  • nerfherder = Han Solo costume
  • grandmoff = unlock all costumes (except Darth Maul)
  • zabrak = unlock Darth Maul

Trivia[]

  • Like most of the Imperial Officers in the original Star Wars trilogy, Juno is played by a British actress, in this case Natalie Cox.
  • The back of the apprentice's Raxus Prime gear has a plate identical to Darth Vader's chestplate.
  • The first mission of the PS2 and Wii version of the game takes place at night, and at a seemingly earlier point in time than the Kashyyyk invasion shown in the PS3, Xbox360 and PC versions (since 501st Clone Troopers aid Darth Vader instead of Stormtroopers)

See Also[]

External links[]

Wiki-shrinkable
SWGames has a collection of images and media related to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

StarWars.com articles[]

References[]

  1. http://www.starwars.com/gaming/videogames/news/news20080403.html
  2. Graphic explanation videos on the official game site
  3. TFU Homepage on LucasArts, under media gallery and the web docs for the references.
  4. previous videos explaining DMM and Euphoria on the LucasArts site http://www.lucasarts.com/games/theforceunleashed/
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Web Documentary showing the first level of TFU
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 [1] Screenshot of character selection screen for duel mode.
  7. Video's on the official TFU site display him, other review and preview sites released names infromation.
  8. [>[2] Preview review of TFU, seen in screenshot.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 http://kotaku.com/5056648/new-campaign-characters-coming-to-the-force-unleashed
  10. 10.0 10.1 http://www.forceunleashed.net/images/screens/starwarstheforceunleashed4.jpg Screenshot of duel mode.
  11. [3] Screenshot of a PSP duel in duel mode.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 http://www.lucasarts.com/games/theforceunleashed/ Videos under media gallery, then in web docs
  13. 13.0 13.1 The Force Unleashed at Celebration IV
  14. Yahoo! Games: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Preview
  15. IMDB: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  16. IMDB: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  17. IMDB: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  18. IMDB: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  19. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed one of four random cheat codes found with the official Hasbro figures.
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