A New Star Wars Adventure

I'll do without the usual unleashing the Force jokes and just move into a first-hand account of this game.

I wish this game were a movie. I really do. The characterizations, emotional depth, and events portrayed in this game really are better than any of the new trilogy of movies that have come around in the last decade. The voice acting is superb, and the animations and quality of the art and visual design are straight-up pimped-out in the full-frame videos.

Having said that, of course any reader will know where I'm going to say next. I'm going to say that the targeting is frustrating, there are game play sequences that are poor, all the action including boss fights that are boring and repetitive, and there's just plain buggy stuff.

But I'm not going to say that. Listen, I don't care how many times I encounter a vanilla Stormtrooper, I'm going to have fun. I can toss him off a cliff, I can throw him into a laser barrier, I can use my lightning combo on him, I can toss my lightsaber. Come on, how can it not be fun? This is a game about beating the crap out of people in imaginative ways. It's like saying combat in Super Smash Brothers Brawl gets repetitive. It's a game about fighting! It's all you do! That's the game! Same thing with all the mini-boss and boss fights. I don't care how many times I knock out some AT-ST variant; it will still be hilarious when I chop it in half and falls apart like a roasted chicken.

There are some flaws with the game, yes. Sometimes the camera plants me right into the wall. I just chalk that up to being a bad player, so I don't put myself in those situations anymore. I've also seen some bugs where on loading a new area the map is just a wide-open square rather than the actual contour of the explorable area. The targeting can be a little frustrating, but I've only ever had a serious problem a couple times.

My biggest issue with the game is not one of game play but I think of difficulty. I have a hard time blocking attacks, and even when I'm holding the block button I fail to block. I don't know if it's that I'm not quick enough or what. And then when I get knocked down it takes way too long to get up. There's a timing thing that you can hit some button to recover from a fall while hovering in the air, but I think I'm just bad at it.

This game is so much better than reviews have made it out to be. I think it suffered a great deal from all the hype. There was so much talked about it being a revolution in gaming with all the physics technology, which is admittedly a little short of the expectation. But a few shortcomings don't make a bad game. If you enjoy action titles and enjoy Star Wars, this is a game not to pass by.

Edit Oct 12, 2008: Nevermind, forget what I said. This game is so incredibly frustrating, I put it up for bid on eBay minutes after completing it.