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‘Star Wars: The Force Unleashed’ To Have Surprise Cameos

By The Movie God | @ | Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

For those of you unfamiliar with the upcoming videogame Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, it’s time to take notice! The game takes place between the Star Wars movies Episode III and Episode IV and follows a young apprentice to Darth Vader who has powers like you’ve never seen before. You control the apprentice, who also happens to be a secret, so while on missions to hunt down Jedi, you basically just destroy everything in your path whether it’s a simple creature, a wookiee, or even stormtroopers. Even if you’re a gamer who’s not into the Star Wars movies, this is still something worth looking forward to, as it has the potential do some really amazing things with next-gen gaming.

As such a powerful apprentice, you control a Force greater than we’ve ever seen in any of the movies; you can pick up large objects and throw them, you can take out groups of foes at once, or you can throw down with your lightsaber. One of the key attractions of the game is its usage of multiple engines Havok, Euphoria, and DMM (Digital Molecular Matter) which deals with materials — you break glass, it breaks like glass should; wood splinters and bends; metal dents. It’s all very realistically done which adds greatly to the experience.

Keep in mind that this isn’t just some Star Wars game that they’re rushing out to add to George Lucas‘s bank account. They’ve sat down and crafted this story to fit in perfectly and everything is getting Georgie’s blessing before it goes into the project.

Actiontrip was able to sit down with Haden Blackman, the project leader for the game over at LucasArts, and discuss the upcoming multi-platform game. When asked about what familiar faces we might see along with Darth Vader and Bail Organa (portrayed again by Jimmy Smits), Blackman revealed the Princess Leia would be in the game, too!

Yes. Princess Leia has a pivotal role, as does the Emperor. We also have a few surprise cameos from the films and the Expanded Universe, which I think will show fans that we are committed to staying true to the existing continuity wherever possible.

So Princess Leia will be in the game, but how old will she be and will she already be in league with the Rebels? This info is still to be revealed, but it’s definitely something to look forward to.

One of my biggest concerns since learning of this and seeing some of the footage was that if you have such seemingly infinite powers, how is the game any sort of challenge? One of the first trailers shows you literally pulling down a Star Destroyer from the sky and bringing it gently to rest right in front of you. I’m not sure if this is something that actually happens in the game, but you see my reasoning! Thankfully, Mr. Blackman covered this topic in the interview.

Well, first and foremost, we wanted to give you some enemies that you could deal with pretty easily, to make you feel like a powerful Force wielder. But even with “cannon fodder” like stormtroopers, we wanted to present some sort of challenge, especially as the game progresses and on higher difficult levels. For these types of units, we focused on wearing the player character down through overwhelming numbers and eventual attrition. You might be able to handle a small group of stormtroopers, but if you get surrounded by them and don’t use your powers effectively and efficiently, you can get ripped to ribbons pretty quickly. We also devoted a lot of energy to creating enemies. We have over 50 different enemy types, each with varied abilities, resistances, and tactics. Our design challenge was finding the best ways to place and combine these units in each of our environments. A scout trooper, whose primary attack in the game is a long-range sniper rifle, isn’t much of a threat in the corridors of the TIE Fighter Construction Facility, where you can close with him easily. But put that sniper in a nest on Kashyyyk, and then place a bunch of heavier units on the ground to engage and slow the player, and the sniper becomes a huge threat. Among our enemy types, you’ll also find a number of really tough units, including the Dark Trooper, Royal Guard, various Force wielders, and “giant” units like the AT-ST and rancor monster.

For more information, check out the full interview at ActionTrip, where the game’s engines are discussed and the use/importance of the lightsaber is talked about among other things.

Below is a couple of the best videos that I’ve seen so far. This first video shows you exactly what this game is; it shows you your Force powers, it shows you the aforementioned engines at work, and it has interviews with some of the creators of the game, including Haden Blackman. For some reason, the good videos from Game Trailers aren’t working, so you’ll have to deal with YouTube here.

This video has a spoiler warning attached, but it’s a newer video (note the last video said Summer 2008, which has changed) and it basically just shows how the game starts out and how the story is set up. If you don’t want a taste at how things sort of play out, definitely don’t watch, but I didn’t see anything that made me regret watching.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is currently set for a September 16, 2008 release on XBox 360, PS3, Wii, and DS.

4 Comments »

OMG i cant wait to play this.. I’ve been stuck on Soul Calibur IV just so I can kick a55 with The Apprentice.. he’s def a bad mofo, badder than Darth Maul..
Comment by Siah — August 10, 2008 @ 10:53 am
I hope Jar Jar has a cameo so we can slice in him half with our lightsabers.
Comment by Craig — August 11, 2008 @ 10:46 pm
that is a rather funny idea, and it would make a lot of star wars fan very happy to destory Jar Jar.
Comment by Rozwell P — August 12, 2008 @ 7:10 am
Haha, I really wish that was the case. It makes me sad to know that this game wont come out on PC
Comment by Star Wars Costumes — August 12, 2008 @ 1:08 pm