Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Demo August 21st

J-blk

It was a pretty good (if a bit short) demo - I too did notice some pretty bad frame rate issues in a couple of places (especially when TIE fighters are coming in close for an attack) but overall pretty impressed with it. I played it on the "normal" difficulty setting and it seemed pretty easy (even with just grip and force push, you seem way too powerful for everything else in the demo) so I'm going to give it another go on the harder settings... Still, pleasantly surprised so far.

molloyjh

Enjoyed the demo, but noticed a few issues aswell. Same as J-bik - the TIE fighters piece was particularly obvious. Other than that it was pretty good. Force Grip is class and the little bits - like bending the support struts into the TIE fighters path - were a lot of fun. The only problem is that the troops are absolutely no match on easy or normal for your powers and the only time I died was when the AT-ST knocked me off the platform, and that was just pure fluke!

I would have liked to have seen some lightsaber dueling action to get a taste for how that would pan out......:cool:

djkeogh

The demo was pretty easy alright. I'll play it again this evening on the harder difficulty which I then imagine unlocks a harder difficulty again. I love doing the combo attacks with Saber and force push so on your 3rd or 4th lightsaber strike the troopers go flying. I watched the Preview for the rest of the game after finishing the demo and it does look fairly varied with plenty of different looking levels. The lightsaber fights in it will be a big determining factor.

Mr Freeze

I cancelled my preorder for the game after playing the demo, definitely one to rent for me anyways....

I wasnt that impressed with it, and i am a big Star Wars fan, found it very basic and repetitive...picking people up with the force is great tho...

Will wait for the reviews....

Branoic

Fun enough demo, but epic lightsabre duels in the full game better not be reduced to QTEs. They couldn't....could they???

molloyjh

I doubt the lightsaber duels will be QTE's. Maybe the finishing moves will be???? I would hope they only come into play for the big enemies though - the likes of the AT-STs and rancors - because it would take something major to take them down, whereas a single strike (theoretically) will kill a jedi......

I knew about the QTE in the demo already so wasn't surprised by it. In fact I quite enjoyed it. There's nothing wrong with a scripted event that has you cut an AT-ST in 2 IMO.

Gunmonkey

I thought it was an ok demo, nothing too special. The manouvering objects in 3d with force grip was a bit fiddly, maybe just not used to it.

silvine

I'd give the demo a resounding meh. It was annoying that you couldn't walk/run and use the grip force power. It is Star Wars though so that's always good. If the story is good I'll get the game, if not I'll leave it.

johnny_ultimate

I enjoyed it, and will probably give it at least a rent if the reviews are decent. It was good fun right up until they ruined everything with the damn QTE.

Resi 4 has a lot to answer for...

molloyjh

Messed around with the demo a bit more. Completed all of the difficulty settings. Doesn't seem an overly challenging game. I really enjoyed the hangar though. There is another power-up on the high walkway just above the shuttle that you can get to by stacking the bombers on top of one another and then adding a couple of crates on top, which I thought was pretty cool......

chrislad

Ah would ye stop whining about the QTE. I'd say something if it was a proper boss, which is clearly isnt. It's one of those first level mid bosses that becomes a standard enemy later in the game things. There was enough damage to be done to the AT-ST before the QTE. Would you rather the thing just blow up or have a cool animation? It's not like it eliminated any challenge.

johnny_ultimate

chrislad wrote: »

Ah would ye stop whining about the QTE. I'd say something if it was a proper boss, which is clearly isnt. It's one of those first level mid bosses that becomes a standard enemy later in the game things. There was enough damage to be done to the AT-ST before the QTE. Would you rather the thing just blow up or have a cool animation? It's not like it eliminated any challenge.

Ah but here is the thing about QTE - it does eliminate any challenge. It is a technique that dramtically reduces the interactivity of a game, and is basically removing your control. For a game which goes out of your way to give you the ability to manipulate the game world in a lot of ways, QTEs are unforgivable - they require absolutely no skill and causes an annoying loss of immersion. It was a nice novelty in stuff like God of War for a while, but now its use has actually ruined some games - look at the pathetic bosses in Spiderman 3, or the Bourne Conspiracy demo, in which you do little but press a button every now and then to advance the animation. It is no where near as satisfying as games where you have complete control over your actions.

FreeOSCAR

Well QTE are going to be used against all bosses/mini bosses according to this chap around 1.18secs in.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/39051.html

thebman

Meh the quick times events are basically the equivalent of finish him moves in Mortal Kombat except they tell you which buttons to press.

It would be better that if you failed them the enemy still died and just didn't get a cool cinematic but I can live with it the way it is.

I think the real problem is the way they are done is kind of crap in the game. I don't like the way there is nothing to say I got it right basically so when there are two of the same button presses required in a row, all I had was the length of time it was on screen to go by.

FutureGuy

I thought it was pretty fun, but nothing exceptional. Having said that, it was brilliant fun to catch a stormtrooper with the force grip and hang him over the drops in the hangar bay before letting him fall

molloyjh

FutureGuy wrote: »

I thought it was pretty fun, but nothing exceptional. Having said that, it was brilliant fun to catch a stormtrooper with the force grip and hang him over the drops in the hangar bay before letting him fall

You should try the section where the Tie's come at you and you can dangle them over the ledge and either throw them straight up and straight dowm, then press the up arrow and see them fly!!!!

DeVore

But a three-d engine, while entertaining, is not a game. They need to do more then strew Stormtroopers and (millions of) boxes in front of you...

I hope this game absolutely *rocks* but the demo has only showed me that they have the tech more or less sorted out....


DeV.

chrislad

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Ah but here is the thing about QTE - it does eliminate any challenge. It is a technique that dramtically reduces the interactivity of a game, and is basically removing your control. For a game which goes out of your way to give you the ability to manipulate the game world in a lot of ways, QTEs are unforgivable - they require absolutely no skill and causes an annoying loss of immersion. It was a nice novelty in stuff like God of War for a while, but now its use has actually ruined some games - look at the pathetic bosses in Spiderman 3, or the Bourne Conspiracy demo, in which you do little but press a button every now and then to advance the animation. It is no where near as satisfying as games where you have complete control over your actions.

It doesn't. The boss has an energy bar. You deplete that bar. Normally, the boss should die. Instead, when the bar is depleted, you perform a basic QTE. I don't see how that takes away any challenge, if anything, it adds a bit more. While I agree the QTE is way overused, I don't believe it's inappropriate in this case. It makes for a more cinematic finish.

faceman

Nobody told me about this demo! downloading now!!!

johnny_ultimate

chrislad wrote: »

It doesn't. The boss has an energy bar. You deplete that bar. Normally, the boss should die. Instead, when the bar is depleted, you perform a basic QTE. I don't see how that takes away any challenge, if anything, it adds a bit more. While I agree the QTE is way overused, I don't believe it's inappropriate in this case. It makes for a more cinematic finish.

Yeah I admit that it doesn't strictly remove challenge in that there is a fight beforehand, it just feels condescending. Its like the developer is cheating by pulling the player out of the game at the best moment, the moment when you actually defeat the enemy and replacing it with some kind of false interactivity. It feels to me like its undoing all your hard work, where defeat does not come from the fight beforehand but the result of some glorified cinematic.

Yes I'm looking too much into this, but I also hate the fact that such a lazy decision was made in an otherwise highly enjoyable demo. The level showed that they have created a great interactive battlefield, in which you are able to use the environment to fight your enemies. It just to me doesn't feel like it fits into the overall experience, and is quite a jarring disapointment at the end of the demo. If they wanted to end the fight with a cool finishing move, at least base it on skill - introduce a finishing combo that actually takes some effort to learn and pull off.

Vegeta

Oh christ the lock on system sucks donkey balls

I liked the powers and the saber style, holding the thing like he does is cool too

Just really hated the lock on system, found it crap, tried it in toggle and hold and both were sh1t. There was no accuracy to attacking, it was shear brute force (no pun intended) all the way. Try to lock an enemy and half of the time you'd lock onto the chest/box/conveniently placed throwable object beside him and either shock, throw or grab that instead. Of course the box would still explode or fly through the air killing the guy but I felt I was not in complete control of the combat, it was not as fluid as I thought it should be.

Inability to move (even a very slow walk would do) while blocking, couldn't cycle through lockable objects, enemies, it seemed like luck who or what would be locked onto. These are just 2 things off the top of my head which annoyed me.

I did love the force powers and style of the movement/fighting, I just felt I couldn't apply them to the enemy as creatively as I would have liked

Would not buy this game as to me this type of game is all about the combat and it was not good enough to justify a purchase

thebman

I agree with those comments. It was still enjoyable though but could have been much, much better.

faceman

Vegeta wrote: »

Oh christ the lock on system sucks donkey balls

I liked the powers and the saber style, holding the thing like he does is cool too

Just really hated the lock on system, found it crap, tried it in toggle and hold and both were sh1t. There was no accuracy to attacking, it was shear brute force (no pun intended) all the way. Try to lock an enemy and half of the time you'd lock onto the chest/box/conveniently placed throwable object beside him and either shock, throw or grab that instead. Of course the box would still explode or fly through the air killing the guy but I felt I was not in complete control of the combat, it was not as fluid as I thought it should be.

I only played it for 5 mins and i found this too. A real put off for me.

smcelhinney

I likes it.

I never really liked Star Wars games, never got the hype. I think this is quite fresh, enjoyed the brief little 5 min demo, and will definitely buy it.

Shryke

I'm not payed up at the minute, does anyone have an idea of when this demo will stop being gold only?

DeVore

I agree vegeta, I was thinking the same thing when I played it too, just too little control over the brute strength that he possesses. I think I'll rent this though, it seems like it will be novel enough for a look but I dont really see the replay value in it yet.

DeV.

molloyjh

Vegeta wrote: »

Oh christ the lock on system sucks donkey balls

I liked the powers and the saber style, holding the thing like he does is cool too

Just really hated the lock on system, found it crap, tried it in toggle and hold and both were sh1t. There was no accuracy to attacking, it was shear brute force (no pun intended) all the way. Try to lock an enemy and half of the time you'd lock onto the chest/box/conveniently placed throwable object beside him and either shock, throw or grab that instead. Of course the box would still explode or fly through the air killing the guy but I felt I was not in complete control of the combat, it was not as fluid as I thought it should be.

Inability to move (even a very slow walk would do) while blocking, couldn't cycle through lockable objects, enemies, it seemed like luck who or what would be locked onto. These are just 2 things off the top of my head which annoyed me.

I did love the force powers and style of the movement/fighting, I just felt I couldn't apply them to the enemy as creatively as I would have liked

Would not buy this game as to me this type of game is all about the combat and it was not good enough to justify a purchase

To be hinest I didn't have much trouble with the lock on mechanism. Sure there are the odd occasions where I'd pick up a box rather than the man, but more often than not it was ok. Just takes a bit of getting used to is all.

And you have to remember aswell that these are your basic powers at the start of the game and you build up your abilities as you go, so there may well be a greater level that allows you do some of the things you want, like move and force grip at the same time.

Mr. K

Hmm, it might be worth waiting for reviews. The lock on system isn't great, it caught me out a few times. Not being able to move and block at the same was annoying, but he might gain that ability later.

Julez

Mr. K wrote: »

Not being able to move and block at the same was annoying

Vegeta mentioned this aswel, so annoying!! Drove me mad!!
I wonder if as you get on you deflect more of their bullets right back at them!

Vegeta

Mr. K wrote: »

Hmm, it might be worth waiting for reviews. The lock on system isn't great, it caught me out a few times. Not being able to move and block at the same was annoying, but he might gain that ability later.

Very good point.

Don't get me wrong now, it is fun.

I am crap with words so forgive my inability to convey it correctly, the force powers are awesome and the saber skills are also cool. I just felt I could not use the tools given as I would desire due to the lock system.

I know I say this a lot but Crackdown got the third person combat system nailed.

I really like the Hold(or toggle) and Cycle versions of lock on. Hold one button and press another button to cycle through the nearby lockable objects/characters. At least that way you could structure attacks a little better

I think GTA IV got this way wrong too.

Compare this game and another third person such as Ninja Gaiden II. In Ninja Gaiden you can be very inventive with the list of moves and really you can let your imagination run wild with it. This demo on the other hand I found the opposite, great set of moves but the implementation is not nearly as fluid

Mr K makes a valid point though the powers will improve as the game goes on