The Force Unleashed: Kick ass combat, solid story outweigh mediocre level design

There are times while playing "The Force Unleashed" that I literally banged my controller on the couch and wrote in my notebook "BAD LEVEL DESIGN!!!" out of sheer frustration. But luckily for LucasArts, and more importantly us gamers, there were way more moments when I wrote things like "Slicing through an At-At is AWESOME" or was too busy watching the compelling drama and kick ass action on screen to even write anything.

I've seen the negative comments. Some, like the inconsistent, sometimes just plain bad level design, I agree with. That sequence where you bring down the star destroyer is the first time I have ever realized that a videogame isn't just giving me bad instructions, it's giving me wrong instructions. It's not some obscure glitch that may be hard to replicate (of which "Force Unleashed" has a few, but not a lot). It's right there on the screen. How it got through QA is mind boggling.

But at its best, "The Force Unleashed" is like "God of War" with a lightsaber. Even if you're just a modest "Star Wars" geek like me, I don't see how you don't love that. All the force powers we've seen only briefly in the movies, like lightning bolts, throwing stuff with your mind, and tossing a lightsaber, are finally utilized for their best potential -- destroying waves of storm troopers, bringing down At-AtsAT-STs and Rancors, and taking on fellow Jedi in epic set pieces that put the hand-to-hand combat in the movies to shame. The best one is against a silent Jedi master whose name starts with Darth but doesn't end with Vader (What's that? He's dead long before "The Force Unleashed" takes places? Don't worry, LucasArts came up with a very clever and believable way to revive him).

Plus -- and here's a real shocker given the last three "Star Wars" movies and the general state of videogame writing -- it's a well done story. Not exactly Oscar-worthy, but it very nicely fills in an important bit of "Star Wars" lore between episodes three and four by showing how the Rebel Alliance was founded. In the process, the game puts the combat into a compelling context where I actually cared what was going to happen next. Plus there's a satisfyingly tragic undertone given that (and I'm not giving much away here if you have a basic sense of logic) we all know Darth Vader doesn't have an apprentice in the original "Star Wars."

As well acted via motion capture and brilliantly animated as the cut scenes are, though, I'm surprised more people weren't annoyed like I was by the lack of integration of story into actual gameplay. Case in point: Since when can Jedi's gain new powers by collecting orbs? That's a lazy old videogame cliche just inserted in here. Surely there's a smarter way to let the Apprentice gain new powers in a way that fits into the story and general "Star Wars" lore.

But enough summary. If you're interested in my full review, it just posted online and will be in tomorrow's Daily Variety. Go read it already, please.