The Force Unleashed
Gaah! WHY SO AWESOME, GAME? As of ten minutes ago, I just beat the whole shebang, and my inner Star Wars fangirl has WORDS.
My overall reaction is ten kinds of flail, mostly directed at Galen Marek: aka Starkiller, aka Vader's Secret Apprentice, aka Sam Witwer. Guys, I have never loved an EU character even HALF this much before. I... want to keyboard smash at the fic possibilities this whole story has opened up. I can't even believe it. I rolled my eyes when I first heard about it.
Here's the thing. It's obvious Lucas sat down the game developers and took some time explaining Vader and Palpatine's relationship, because it actually feels genuine throughout the game - and most importantly, makes sense. So much EU gets this wrong: what motivates Vader, how he continually deceives himself, how much he hates the Emperor... and how well the Emperor knows this. As usual, Palpatine is a filthy, ingenious bastard. His punishment for Vader training this faux-son that he's taken in is... nasty. He knows that Vader wishes for his death above all else, and that he was planning a coup with Starkiller... so he makes Vader continue play out that same dream: only now, it's a lie. So Starkiller still thinks the game is on, but Vader knows it's not, and dude. I don't know who that sucks more for: Starkiller or Vader.
The story isn't perfect, of course - but that's mostly due to the nature of the medium. Things happen too quickly, there's not enough transition between "yay I just murdered a bunch of Jedi!" to "oh crap, I don't like this anymore" - and you'd think the proto-Alliance would be asking more questions about where the heck this random Jedi came from, instead of just being all "gee, thanks for the help!" With Kota it's excusable, because he knew all along, but Leia and Bail? Shouldn't they be scratching their heads? Hmm. Ah well.
There's also the fact that we don't exactly get any explanation as to how Starkiller gets "rebuilt" after Vader kills him. Does he just get a new heart? Does he have some mechanical bits now, a la the Skywalkers? A bit of exposition wouldn't have killed the pacing or anything. But again, I can forgive this. I'll probably give the novelization a glance, and if that doesn't satisfy me, just fic it to death in my head.
Juno kind of rises above her cliche on a few occasions, and I ended up liking her, but there's still so much more that could've been done to cement her character's relationship with Starkiller... or perhaps I am asking too much. After all, a Star Wars vidgame should follow in the tradition of the Star Wars films by being unbearably short. ANYWAY. I DON'T EVEN CARE cos the ending actually moved me, guys, and the ROTJ set-up is so beautiful, and and... heretic, that's what I am, for even wanting to consider this canon. But Starkiller is just so well-characterized I'm in shock! He actually acts as clueless and naive as a kid raised by Vader since childhood should be.
On a technical level, the game looks great, but the basic gameplay is the same thing LucasArts has been recycling for decades. Now, I don't necessarily dislike that - it means every time I play a Star Wars game, I get immediately taken back to my childhood. My brother Chris and I used to game on our PC: Dark Forces II, Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, the list goes on. And those are dang good memories. So sometimes, formula isn't a bad thing. And there are some truly great ideas behind a lot of the level design. I mean, being inside the stomach of a Sarlacc? Making your way through the big green laser tube of the Death Star without being obliterated by planet-eating death beams? Awesome.
But at heart, it's just another hack'n'slash extravaganza.
But it's a hack'n'slash extravaganza with AMAZING CINEMATICS and the best EU story pretty much ever. At some point I'm going to set aside time to just watch through all the cutscenes again, and then maybe I will add yet another inevitable fic outline to my ever-growing collection. I think I like outlining fics better than actually writing them. Should probably work on that. Yes.
My overall reaction is ten kinds of flail, mostly directed at Galen Marek: aka Starkiller, aka Vader's Secret Apprentice, aka Sam Witwer. Guys, I have never loved an EU character even HALF this much before. I... want to keyboard smash at the fic possibilities this whole story has opened up. I can't even believe it. I rolled my eyes when I first heard about it.
Here's the thing. It's obvious Lucas sat down the game developers and took some time explaining Vader and Palpatine's relationship, because it actually feels genuine throughout the game - and most importantly, makes sense. So much EU gets this wrong: what motivates Vader, how he continually deceives himself, how much he hates the Emperor... and how well the Emperor knows this. As usual, Palpatine is a filthy, ingenious bastard. His punishment for Vader training this faux-son that he's taken in is... nasty. He knows that Vader wishes for his death above all else, and that he was planning a coup with Starkiller... so he makes Vader continue play out that same dream: only now, it's a lie. So Starkiller still thinks the game is on, but Vader knows it's not, and dude. I don't know who that sucks more for: Starkiller or Vader.
The story isn't perfect, of course - but that's mostly due to the nature of the medium. Things happen too quickly, there's not enough transition between "yay I just murdered a bunch of Jedi!" to "oh crap, I don't like this anymore" - and you'd think the proto-Alliance would be asking more questions about where the heck this random Jedi came from, instead of just being all "gee, thanks for the help!" With Kota it's excusable, because he knew all along, but Leia and Bail? Shouldn't they be scratching their heads? Hmm. Ah well.
There's also the fact that we don't exactly get any explanation as to how Starkiller gets "rebuilt" after Vader kills him. Does he just get a new heart? Does he have some mechanical bits now, a la the Skywalkers? A bit of exposition wouldn't have killed the pacing or anything. But again, I can forgive this. I'll probably give the novelization a glance, and if that doesn't satisfy me, just fic it to death in my head.
Juno kind of rises above her cliche on a few occasions, and I ended up liking her, but there's still so much more that could've been done to cement her character's relationship with Starkiller... or perhaps I am asking too much. After all, a Star Wars vidgame should follow in the tradition of the Star Wars films by being unbearably short. ANYWAY. I DON'T EVEN CARE cos the ending actually moved me, guys, and the ROTJ set-up is so beautiful, and and... heretic, that's what I am, for even wanting to consider this canon. But Starkiller is just so well-characterized I'm in shock! He actually acts as clueless and naive as a kid raised by Vader since childhood should be.
On a technical level, the game looks great, but the basic gameplay is the same thing LucasArts has been recycling for decades. Now, I don't necessarily dislike that - it means every time I play a Star Wars game, I get immediately taken back to my childhood. My brother Chris and I used to game on our PC: Dark Forces II, Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, the list goes on. And those are dang good memories. So sometimes, formula isn't a bad thing. And there are some truly great ideas behind a lot of the level design. I mean, being inside the stomach of a Sarlacc? Making your way through the big green laser tube of the Death Star without being obliterated by planet-eating death beams? Awesome.
But at heart, it's just another hack'n'slash extravaganza.
But it's a hack'n'slash extravaganza with AMAZING CINEMATICS and the best EU story pretty much ever. At some point I'm going to set aside time to just watch through all the cutscenes again, and then maybe I will add yet another inevitable fic outline to my ever-growing collection. I think I like outlining fics better than actually writing them. Should probably work on that. Yes.