Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Preview

E3 2008 Preview

This September, The Force will finally be unleashed across game consoles everywhere. LucasArts' long-awaited Star Wars game, the title that has masterpiece-in-the-making written all over it, will be here. And thanks to the latest iPhone upgrade, THQ Wireless was able to bring a version of the game to the iPhone.

Assuming the target market will rest somewhere between casual gamers and those who never play games, THQ Wireless designed The Force Unleashed as a simple, follow-the-on-screen-commands kind of game. You play as the Secret Apprentice that LucasArts has spent the last year promoting, a Sith Lord who is far more powerful than any Sith or Jedi we've seen in the Star Wars movies. On PlayStation 3, the player will use the deep but intuitive gameplay system to lift and throw any object they can wrap the Force around. In the iPhone edition, you'll do the same but with less interactivity. In a nutshell, the Secret Apprentice controls himself. All the player does is touch the screen for some Nintendo DS-style actions.

When an enemy approaches, you'll see one of two symbols: a squiggly design with an arrow on top or a red circle with a quarter cut inside. The squiggly design may be a circle with a line running through the top, or a full circle running counterclockwise. As soon as one of those images appears, touch the screen and repeat the design with your finger. The Secret Apprentice will then deal with the enemy in a very Forceful manner. The enemy gets lifted into the air and may be thrown aside like a piece of trash. To throw an enemy, wait for the left or right arrow icon to appear and drag your finger across the iPhone (or iPod Touch) screen to execute the move.

The red circle appears when enemies are attacking. The quarter slice inside shows you where you need to drag your finger. Think of it as a clock: if it's a slice between 3pm and midnight, drag your finger to the top left corner. If it's between 6pm and 9pm, drag your finger to the bottom right corner.

Graphically, players will notice that a few polygons have been pulled from Apple's hugely popular device, showing that it is a tad more competitive with the PSP and Nintendo DS than the average mobile phone. However, the overall level design and character detail is nowhere near the quality of what the PSP and DS can produce, so don't count on an iPhone takeover just yet. But certainly keep an eye on it.

The E3 demo concluded with a boss battle against Master Kota, a Jedi that's on Darth Vader's hit list. Like the rest of the game, you follow what the screen shows, drag your finger in the pattern, and the game does the rest for you. Expect a lot of story sequences, with text being the only form of dialogue available.
 

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