Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (video game)

"This game is about kicking ass with the Force."

- Haden Blackman, in the March 2007 issue of Game Informer

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a Star Wars video game that takes place between the films Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Being the centerpiece of the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed multimedia project, the game was released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii as well as the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS and the iPhone. Thus, LucasArts worked in conjunction with Industrial Light & Magic, Pixelux Entertainment, and NaturalMotion to create a next-gen Star Wars experience. The game showcases Digital Molecular Matter (DMM), an extremely detailed and realistic material physics engine developed by Pixelux, and euphoria, a realistic bio-mechanical A.I. engine by NaturalMotion. The Force Unleashed was originally slated for release in November 2007 but was delayed to the spring of 2008 and later delayed again to that summer. The final version of the game was released on September 16, 2008. A demo was made available on Xbox LIVE and Playstation Network for download on August 21, 2008. New DLC and a PC/Mac version with exclusive content was announced at Comic-Con International 2009, with the DLC released on Xbox Live Marketplace on August 28, 2009. A sequel is currently in production.

Attack on Kashyyyk


Darth Vader accompanies the Imperial Fleet in invading the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, because rumors abound that there is a rogue Jedi who is fighting in defense of the Wookiees. After battling his way through an army of vicious Wookiees, Vader eventually makes his way to a small hut, home of the rogue Jedi Kento Marek. Kento, in an attempt to protect the planet and his young son, Galen, from Vader's grasp, engages the Sith Lord. Kento, not surprisingly, loses the duel and is then killed by a Force choke by Vader. During the battle however, it becomes apparent that the young son is powerful in the ways of the Force. Powerful enough that, rather than allow his officers and stormtroopers to kill the young boy, Vader murders them to protect the boy. Now in Vader's hands, the young boy is taught in the ways of the Sith, is raised as Vader's secret apprentice, sent on dangerous missions by his dark master in order to test his abilities, and given the codename of "Starkiller".

The Search for Kota
For his first mission, Galen is sent out to the Nar Shaddaa shipyard to locate and kill an ex-Jedi General named Rahm Kota. Before taking off for his mission, Galen is introduced to his new pilot of the Rogue Shadow, Juno Eclipse. The two, along with PROXY, took off for the shipyard, and ran into a space battle immediately after dropping out of hyperspace. Galen is dropped off within the TIE Fighter Construction Facility where Kota is hiding, and fights his way through Rebels and Stormtroopers alike. When Galen finally reached Kota, the two fought and Galen eventually emerged victorious, sending Kota hurtling towards the planet and leaving him for dead. Before returning to his master, Galen took Kota's lightsaber per Vader's orders.

Mission to Raxus Prime


After defeating Kota, Galen's next mission was to the junk-world of Raxus Prime where he was to find and kill the insane Jedi, Kazdan Paratus. He fights through the hoards of Rodian scavengers and junk droids before he reached the tower of the makeshift Jedi Temple Paratus constructed. The crazed Jedi Master, determined to protect the mannequins of fallen Jedi Masters, fights against Galen, who eventually defeats him.

The Last of the Jedi Masters
Before they could confront the Emperor, Vader tells Galen that he must defeat someone more powerful than the other Jedi, Shaak Ti. On Felucia, she is training an army of Felucian Force-users. When she spots the Rogue Shadow, she tells her Zabrak Padawan Maris Brood to hide while she lures the assassin to the place of sacrifice, the mega sarlacc's nest. But even her strength and communion with the sarlacc are no match for Galen. Before she dies, Shaak Ti warns him that the Sith always betray one another.

"Death"


Galen returns to the Executor, where he learns that the Emperor's fleet had arrived. But Vader had not lured him - his spies had followed Galen from Raxus. Without warning, Vader stabs Galen in the chest as Palpatine tells him to kill his apprentice. The Emperor, watching the former apprentice's supposed death through PROXY, enjoys seeing Galen getting beat up, saying, "Yes, Lord Vader! Kill him! Kill him!" After thrashing the powerful Dark Jedi around, despite his pleas that they could defeat him together, Vader throws Galen out the window. Vader later dispatched a droid to recover his body.

Empirical
Galen later wakes up on Vader's science vessel, the Empirical, his wounds treated and healed. Through PROXY, Vader tells Galen to distract the Emperor's spies by gathering the Empire's enemies. After cutting his transmission, PROXY tells Galen that he had programmed the Empirical to crash into the nearby sun. Despite the holodroid's pleas, Galen saves Juno, who was imprisoned and branded a traitor.

Mission to the Jedi Temple


After Marek’s master, Darth Vader, killed and resurrected him, Starkiller felt compelled by the Force to visit the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Winding through the temple to the High Council quarter's, the Sith apprentice made his way to the lobby of the High Council Tower. Here he blasted an ancient Jedi statue, using it as a bridge allowing him to reach the council Chambers. Here Marek faced Jedi trials, tests designed to challenge the force users' abilities. After passing these Starkiller gazed upon his next adversary; a Sith Stalker. Using the Force and other techniques to subdue the Sith phantom, Marek eventually defeated the Sith. Before leaving however, the Sith was revealed to be none other than Galen Marek himself.

Tracking Kota
Remembering that Kota said he'd be in his future, Galen tracks him from Nar Shaddaa to Ziost eventually finding him — blind, doubtful of the Empire's fall, and drunk in the vapor room on Cloud City. Galen urges the former General to help him, as they escape the Imperials looking for them.

Contact on Kashyyyk


Kota said he had a contact who had been feeding him information on Imperial targets but he required that Galen find something on Kashyyyk. Galen goes down to the planet, where he finds an old hut which seems vaguely familiar. He encounters a vision, in which his father said he never wanted this for him. Galen then rescue Princess Leia Organa, who was being kept prisoner by Captain Ozzik Sturn. She refuses to leave until the skyhook is destroyed. Galen goes on to destroy the skyhook and kills Ozzik Sturn who attempts to kill Galen in his personal AT-KT.

Return to Felucia
Kota said that because he was of no use to Bail Organa, he went looking for Shaak Ti. Galen then returns to Felucia, where the Empire had been battling its inhabitants, who have turned to the dark side, and studying the Sarlacc. Galen is able to locate Bail, who was being held prisoner by Maris, who plans to use to buy leniency from the Empire. Galen defeated Maris and her pet bull rancor, holding her at his mercy. She pleads him to let her go, promising to turn her back on the dark side. Galen lets her go mentioning that she will have to live with her choices for the rest of her life.

Back to Raxus


Organa says that to rally other dissidents, they need to show that the Empire is weak. Vader suggests destroying the Star Destroyer construction yard over Raxus Prime. PROXY finally attempts to fulfill his programming by killing Galen on this planet but Galen defeats him. But after using the ore cannon to destroy the construction yard, one of the Destroyers came crashing down through the atmosphere. Kota tells Galen to use the Force to bring the destroyer crashing down. After he does so, PROXY is found and regretfully informs Galen that he no longer recalls his primary function.

The Corellian Treaty
On Corellia, Bail, Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis gather to form a Rebellion to take down the Empire. But as soon as the Alliance is declared, the Empire strikes, capturing the Senators and Kota. Vader then reveals to Galen that he had been using him and that he had never intended to kill Palpatine with him. He attempts to end his apprentice but PROXY, disguised as Obi-Wan Kenobi, saves him, at the cost of his life. Galen, whom Vader presumed dead, was picked up by Juno. He realizes that Vader only wanted to draw out the Empire's enemies.

Rescuing the Rebels


Through the Force and his knowledge that the rebels were going to be executed by Palpatine, Galen and Juno go to the Death Star to rescue Kota, Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis, and Bail Organa. After being discovered by Palpatine, Vader is sent to take care of Galen. They duel, leaving Vader injured and with damaged armor. Kota, after a failed attempt to attack the Emperor, is struck with Force lightning, and Galen intervenes. He defeats Palpatine in a duel, but decides not to kill him; Palpatine, as in his duel with Windu, is feigning defeat. To save the Alliance from Palpatine as they escape, Galen sacrifices himself. Later, the Alliance is formed formally, and they decide to use Galen's family crest as their symbol.

PS2, Wii, and PSP versions
These versions are slightly different as they include some additional levels in the Jedi Temple and on Cloud City. The biggest difference is the location of Rahm Kota, who is found on Nar Shaddaa instead of Bespin.

First Mission to the Jedi Temple
After Starkiller defeated Rahm Kota at the TIE fighter construction facility, Darth Vader sent his apprentice to the ruins of the Jedi Temple in order to prepare for his next mission. Within it, his presence activated the Holocron of the long-dead Sith Lord, Darth Desolous. Leeching off of Marek's fear, Desolous began his attack, wielding a cortosis shield and a red lightsaber. Starkiller successfully fended off the Sith's lightsaber blows and used Force lightning to send the Sith reeling. Near defeat, Desolous made a final attempt at destroying Marek, and failed. Starkiller then used the Force to hurl Desolous' Sith Holocron towards the main statue at the top of the hall, and up along the statue’s surface. The Holocron was then cast down from the statue’s face and hurled into the stone floor. With a final pull of the Force, the main statue came crumbling down on the hologram of the ancient Sith Lord, defeating him and ending the Trials program.

Second Mission to the Jedi Temple
After Starkiller assassinated the deranged Jedi master Kazdan Paratus on Raxus Prime, Darth Vader sent his apprentice to the Jedi Temple once more. While Darth Sidious had ordered the library's protection during Operation: Knightfall, the Jedi protecting the four main wings of the Archives brought down the ceiling in the central atrium and a few of the archive's wings. It was within one of the damaged wings that Starkiller encountered an incarnation of the ancient Sith Lady, Darth Phobos. Engaging each other in lightsaber combat, Phobos often changed her appearance to that of one of the few people Starkiller cared for, Captain Juno Eclipse, believing that would hold him back. However, the young Sith apprentice was unrestrained by the illusion, and savagely battled the Sith apparition. Hurling busts and holobooks around towards his opponent, Starkiller eventually pushed the Sith illusionist through four bookcases. Wounded, Phobos once again attempted her disguise in order to spare her defeat. Not fooled by the image before him, Starkiller stabbed Phobos through her back.

Third Mission to the Jedi Temple
After Marek’s master, Darth Vader, killed and resurrected him, Starkiller felt compelled by the Force to return to the Temple a final time to finish the Trials. Winding through the High Council quarter, the Sith apprentice made his way to the lobby of the High Council Tower and entered the ancient turbolift that would transport him to the summit chamber. When the turbolift stopped and emptied into the Council Chambers, Starkiller gazed upon his next adversary; a robed Jedi, yet another opponent selected from the Trials program's memory bank. Using the Force and other techniques to subdue the Jedi phantom, Marek eventually pulled the Trials' ghost down and impaled him with his saber. Before the program cut out, the Jedi revealed itself to be Kento Marek, Galen's father.

Rescue of Garm Bel Iblis
After destroying the shipyard above Raxus Prime, Marek traveled to Cloud City, where he heard that senator Bel Iblis was present in. With his assistance along with Bail Organa's, there would be enough people to help in the creation of a resistance against the Galactic Empire's rule. Upon reaching Cloud City, which was still under construction at the time, Marek encountered the administrator of the floating platform, which was Lobot. He informed the cyborg that master Rahm Kota had sent him to meet with the senator. However, Lobot informed him that the senator was unavailable, as he attempted to negotiate with a criminal gang led by Chop'aa Notimo, who's mercenaries were assaulting the city. Mounting the Basilisk war droid, Chop'aa fought Marek and after a long battle the droid was defeated when Galen used the Force to send it crashing into the ground. From the flames, Notimo's helmet rolled out and he came charging at Starkiller ready to kill him. After a lengthy battle, Galen slashed his lightsaber across Chop'aa, thus killing him. Now that Chop'aa was dead, Starkiller came before Bel Iblis and told him that he was safe. Galen attempted to inform Garm that Rahm Kota sent him, but Bel Iblis was already aware of this and knew of his plans for a rebellion. When Starkiller asked the senator if he was with them, Garm replied by stating that he had spoke out against the Emperor too many times, which resulted in Palpatine issuing death warrants against him and his family. He then said that he was of course going to join Marek and told him to meet him with Bail Organa in order to discuss their next move.

Nintendo DS and cellphone versions
The Nintendo DS version, developed by N-space, follows the plot of the Playstation 3's and Xbox 360's versions very closely. However, it doesn't include Garm Bel Iblis and Mon Mothma. Other differences include Ozzik Sturn piloting an AT-RT instead of an AT-KT, and Wookiees attacking Starkiller on Kashyyyk as opposed to aiding him.

The cellphone version, The Force Unleashed Mobile, developed by THQ Wireless, does not allow the player to control Starkiller's movements. Instead, he must weave the patterns of numbers appearing above the enemies' heads to make them disappear. Starkiller can also use Force push, Force drain, Mind trick, telekinesis and Force lightning by weaving certain patterns. The plot loosely follows that of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions with some major differences. Rahm Kota is completely absent from the plot after his first encounter with Starkiller. Instead, after Starkiller is resurrected, Vader immediately dispatches him to Kashyyyk to liberate Organa. Having been rescued, the Princess sends Starkiller to liberate several Wookiees, one of whom is a local leader. After he completes his objective, Organa dispatches Starkiller to infiltrate an Imperial prison and set free more Wookiees. Inside the prison, Starkiller faces off against an Imperial commander equipped with a lightwhip and kills him. Later, instead of sending Starkiller to Raxus Prime in order to show the Empire's weakness, Vader sends him to destroy the TIE fighter construction facility above Nar Shaddaa where he confronted Kota.

THQ developed two more versions of the game; one for the N-Gage service for Nokia smartphones and another for Apple iPhone. Both versions utilize the same combat system as the mobile game, but have 3-D graphics. In the N-Gage version, Starkiller rescues Organa from a group of escorting stormtroopers in the forest of Kashyyyk. Not willing to leave while the planet's population is enslaved, Organa sends Starkiller to liberate Wookiees from a nearby prison compound. After he has set the slaves free, Starkiller faces off against an electrostaff-wielding Sturn inside the prison. The captain is also assisted by two AT-STs. Starkiller, however, manages to push the AT-STs out of the prison building and closes the doors through which they have come. When Sturn charges him with the electrostaff, Starkiller kills him with a discharge of Force lightning. Additionally, in the N-Gage version, Starkiller's initiation to the status of Vader's apprentice takes place on the Death Star instead of the Executor.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition
At the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, LucasArts announced an Ultimate Sith Edition expansion for The Force Unleashed, available only to the 360, PS3, PC, and Mac platforms. It includes all of the missions from the original game, plus one bonus mission in the Jedi Temple and two bonus missions surrounding the events of Galen Marek after he became Palpatine's apprentice in the Dark Side ending of the game. Of those three missions, two can be downloaded to the PS3 and XBox360 versions of the original game. The alternate story continues in the Ultimate Sith Edition of the game. In this non-canon form, Marek is often referred to by fans as "Darth Stalker" due to his position as Sidious' new Sith Apprentice and the name of his armor, but in game, he is referred to a "Lord Starkiller".

The first mission in this new setting consists of Marek being sent to Tatooine to find information regarding the stolen Death Star plans. Carving his way through numerous Jawas and Tusken Raiders, Marek breaks into Jabba's palace and cuts down numberous thugs in an effort to gain a meeting with the crime lord. His destructive spree impresses Jabba, and he agrees to meet with Marek. Marek inquires about two droids; a protocol droid and an astromech droid; who are thought to hold the plans. Jabba initially denies any knowledge of these droids, but a foolish blunder on the part of his current translator droid gives away his deception.

Enraged by this latest development, Jabba drops Marek into the Rancor pit. However, Marek kills the Rancor and escapes through the palace incinerator, encountering a salvaged and hobbled PROXY along the way. PROXY helps Marek bypass the garbage disposal security, allowing him to escape to the Palace hangar, where he is confronted by Boba Fett, who is looking to collect on the bounty on Marek's head. The two engage in a lengthy battle, but Marek ultimately prevails when he telekinetically throws one of Fett's rockets back at him, apparently killing the bounty hunter. Following the information inadvertently revealed by Jabba's translator, Marek travels to Mos Eisley and storms in on Docking Bay 94 just as the droids, accompanied by Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are boarding the Millennium Falcon. Kenobi remains in the bay to confront Marek, who is gleeful at the thought of finally destroying the "real Obi-Wan Kenobi", having spent a great deal of his training under Vader battling PROXY's combat module of the Jedi.



After a lengthy lightsaber duel with Kenobi, Marek finally cuts down the Jedi. However, before he can board the Falcon, he is suddenly attacked by Kenobi's Force ghost. After another lengthy duel, Marek manages to vanquish the spirit, just as the Millennium Falcon is taking off. Leaping onto the hull, he manages to plant a tracking node before falling off.

Although Marek was successful in planting the homing device on the hull of the Millennium Falcon, the Death Star was still destroyed by the Rebels. After the battle, the ghost of Obi-Wan began tutoring Luke in the ways of the Force. Years later Marek tracked down Luke Skywalker and the rest of the Rebels to Hoth. After dispatching a snowspeeder with his lightsaber and exiting his AT-AT, Marek began his attack on Echo Base. Captain Keenah - who was to act as Marek's attack group liaison - planned an infiltration route for the dark lord to enter Echo Base via ice caverns adjacent to the base. The caverns were infested with wampas, who Marek dispatched with ease. As ice columns the Sith had been jumping across started to collapse, Captain Keenah contacted Marek on his comlink to inform him of the cavern's instability and admitted that the most likely cause was the walker invasion force. Although the captain claimed the mistake to be unintentional and Marek was unharmed from the experience, the dark lord reached out with the Force to strangle the captain for his failure. Lieutenant Marson was next in line as Starkiller's liaison and attempted to aid the Sith throughout the rest of the invasion.

The ice caverns adjoined to the Rebel base and presumably to prevent wampa and other attacks from the cave, the Rebels had set up a sentry auto turret defense. The defense was inadequate to Marek. After Marek destroyed a generator, shutting down the door shield, Rebel troops came to investigate the disturbance, but were utterly outclassed. Marek continued to push his way into the base violently slaughtering all Rebels as well as many wampas which entered the base during the battle. Lieutenant Marson contacted Starkiller about the presence of a group of Rebels ahead of his location that likely had an officer with them - he was not incorrect, and Marek had finally found the young force-user he was after. Upon confronting Luke alone, Starkiller revealed the truth about Luke's father in an attempt to infuriate and confuse him, although he denied it. Despite the surrounding turmoil of the invasion, Luke kept his cool in the lightsaber and force duel that followed. Luke even tried to turn Marek away from the dark side by telling him he could sense the good in him, but his attempts in all respects failed and Luke was forced to let two wampas out of containment to cover his escape. This did not distract Marek for long, and Starkiller continued to make his way through the base to trap Skywalker.

When Marek disabled the force field generator protecting the Millennium Falcon in the Echo Base hangar, the blast doors were closed to protect the ship as well as Princess Leia. Starkiller attempted to force open the doors with the Force, but Skywalker was waiting for him and Force pushed him away, stepped through, and resealed the doors behind him. Luke claimed he would not run away from Starkiller or his own destiny. Another duel ensued, this time as the hangar was engulfed in fighting between Rebel and Imperial soldiers. Starkiller overpowered and continued to humiliate Luke, drawing Luke toward the Dark Side. As snowtroopers ran up to capture Skywalker, he tapped into the passionate forces of the Dark Side to defeat them and was reinvigorated for battle against Starkiller. Skywalker began using red Force lightning, wild lightsaber attacks, and boasting that even though Obi-Wan could not defeat Marek, he could. Although Luke's powers were very aggressive and damaging, Starkiller absorbed his opponent's powerful lightning into his lightsaber and launched it back at him throughout the battle and bested him in lightsaber combat. Marek threw Luke into the path of an outbound T-47 Snowspeeder. As Marek readied for a final stab, the blast doors protecting the Millennium Falcon opened behind him and the ship shot off through the hangar, ready to escape the planet. Starkiller reacted quickly and withdrew from his attack to catch the ship with the force. Marek told Luke that he could only save his friends with the power of the Dark Side of the Force and the now-fallen Jedi quickly obliged by shooting force lightning out again. After blocking the attack with his lightsaber, Marek stripped Luke of his own and used it to cut off its former bearer's right hand. Although Luke had succeeded in distracting Marek with the attack, allowing the Millennium Falcon to escape, he was beaten and had embraced the power of the Dark Side. When Marek next spoke to the now yellow-eyed Luke, he addressed him as his apprentice.

Music
The music was composed by Mark Griskey, who also scored Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. It was recorded at Skywalker Sound on September 23 and 24 and was released as a promotional album available for listening here.

When asked in an interview about whether or not he thought the soundtrack would be released for sales, Griskey replied, "I can always be hopeful! I don't have much control there. That's really up to the legal and PR folks to decide."

Voice cast

 * Sam Witwer – Galen Marek, Emperor Palpatine
 * Matt Sloan – Darth Vader
 * David W. Collins – PROXY
 * Nathalie Cox – Juno Eclipse
 * Cully Fredrickson – Rahm Kota
 * Jimmy Smits – Bail Prestor Organa
 * Tom Kane – Ozzik Sturn, Kento Marek, Lobot, Imperial Officer
 * Catherine Taber – Princess Leia
 * Zeb Drees – Galen Marek (child)
 * Kari Wahlgren – Aayla Secura
 * Adrienne Wilkinson – Maris Brood
 * Susan Eisenberg – Shaak Ti
 * Larry Drake – Kazdan Paratus
 * Kristoffer Tabori – Darth Desolous, Garm Bel Iblis, Kleef
 * Lex Lang – Various Stormtroopers
 * Steven Jay Blum – Various Stormtroopers
 * Dee Bradley Baker – Boba Fett

The Force Unleashed Databank
The game also has an in-game encyclopedia. As players advance through the game, entries on various objects and characters become unlocked. It is similar in function to the encyclopedia found in the video game Star Wars: Rebellion.

Entries

 * TIE Fighter
 * TIE Fighter Construction Facility
 * Imperial Senate Sentinel
 * MAAT
 * Executor
 * Darth Vader
 * The Secret Apprentice
 * Emperor Palpatine
 * Wookiee
 * Kashyyyk
 * Rahm Kota
 * Kota's Militia
 * AT-ST
 * Stormtrooper
 * Imperial Navy commando
 * Imperial medic
 * Imperial heavy trooper
 * Imperial Jump Trooper
 * Shadow trooper
 * Shadow Guard
 * Maris Brood
 * Shaak Ti
 * Sarlacc
 * Rancor
 * Bull Rancor
 * Felucia
 * Raxus Prime
 * PROXY
 * Juno Eclipse
 * Felucian Shaman
 * Felucian warrior
 * Rodian heavy defender
 * Rogue Shadow
 * Imperial Ore Facility
 * Jedi Temple
 * Junk Jedi Temple
 * Jedi Trials
 * Darth Vader
 * Darth Desolous
 * Darth Phobos
 * Purge trooper
 * Heavy Tactical Fighting Unit
 * Chop'aa Notimo
 * Kleef
 * Cloud City
 * Lobot
 * Bail Organa
 * Princess Leia
 * Garm Bel Iblis
 * Mon Mothma
 * Death Star
 * Empirical

Alternate Dark Side Ending
Instead of saving Kota, Galen defeats Vader, fatally skewering him with two lightsabers, to replace him at Palpatine's side. His final test is to strike down the incapacitated Kota, but Galen instead attempts to kill the Emperor, who has anticipated his attack and blocks it. Palpatine defeats Galen easily and brings the Rogue Shadow down on top of everyone in the room, killing all but Galen and the Emperor himself. The final scene shows Galen, resting on a table, in a mechanical suit, paralleling Anakin Skywalker's transformation in Revenge of the Sith. In late 2009, Lucasarts developed two levels that go along with this ending.

Platform differences

 * The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions are essentially the same. They both feature Ronin, a game engine developed by LucasArts. It integrates the physics engines Havok, euphoria, and Digital Molecular Matter. It should be noted that while the Wii and PS2 versions will also feature Ronin-like engines, they do not contain these modules.


 * The Wii, PS2, and PSP versions were developed by Australian developer Krome Studios, but each version is slightly different. They will all have characters and locations not featured on the other consoles, such as a bar on Nar Shaddaa and the ruins of the Jedi Temple.


 * The Wii's control scheme allows players to "wield" a lightsaber with the Wii Remote and use Force powers by moving the Nunchuk. The game also features a two-player duel mode with nine arenas and 27 characters to choose from.


 * The physics engine featured in the PS2 means that rag-doll effects, enemies flying across the screen, and destructible environments can be more prominent in the game.


 * The PSP version features three quick play modes – Order 66, Force Duel, and Historic Missions – but it is unclear if the game will support three or four players in Ad Hoc mode, as several official sources conflict.


 * The DS version was developed by n-space and features a touch-screen combo system and a four-player death match mode.


 * The iPhone version was developed by THQ Wireless. This version is controlled by pre-determined movements on the touch screen that must match what is shown for successful attacks with the Force. The playable character moves to areas on his own while the player simply has to destroy the obstacles in the way, enemies and non-organic alike.


 * In the first mission (TIE Fighter Construction Facility) the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions have Galen Marek fighting an AT-CT. In the others versions (PSP, PS2 and Wii) this is an AT-ST which is captured by a soldier of Kota's Militia.

Havok
Havok is a system also used in the famous Halo series; it allows the game to know the dimensions of objects and how they would work against each other.

Euphoria
The use of euphoria, delevloped by NaturalMotion, gives characters advanced bio-mechanical AI, allowing characters to realistically respond to changes in the environment.

"Well, you probably Force pushed a stormtrooper or two as Kyle Katarn in a Jedi Knight game, right? Imagine if that stormtrooper was able to stop his progress by grabbing onto a railing and then proceeded to grab a gun beside him and fire back at Kyle&mdash;all this because his biomechanical AI simply knew that that's the best thing for him to do. That's euphoria in action."

- Haden Blackman

Digital Molecular Matter
DMM creates truly interactive environments that behave as they do in real life. Materials in games usually break in predetermined ways. DMM calculates the breakpoint in real-time. It simulates what would happen to a material when broken, shattered, cut into two, snapped, splintered, pushed, squeezed, etc. It was developed by Pixelus and exclusive to LucasArts until September 2008.

"Now, imagine that Kyle pushes another stormtrooper into a building with so much force that you'd expect the stormtrooper to make a permanent dent in the wall. That happens with DMM, and no matter how many times you throw that stormtrooper into that wall, it will look different every single time, and still always look authentic. In fact, if you hit him hard enough and the building is dilapidated enough, the whole thing might collapse on the stormtrooper, because DMM also takes into account the actual physical mass of an object and the ways in which objects are constructed. Even with euphoria in place, there's no getting up from that!"

- Haden Blackman

Industrial Light & Magic
ILM partnered with LucasArts to deliver movie-quality special effects in real-time for the game.

"In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the team is striving to raise the bar to deliver movie-quality effects. As much as possible, we want gamers to feel as if they are living the adventure unfolding before their controller, and with the added processing power of the next-gen platforms it is now possible to bring movie-quality effects and lighting to games. One of the advantages that we have at LucasArts is that we're a part of the same company, Lucasfilm, which owns Industrial Light and Magic (just in case you didn't already know). And for the first time in the histories of the two companies, LucasArts and ILM are teaming up to co-develop tools that will enable Star Wars: The Force Unleashed to feature polished effects, the likes of which have only been hinted at in previous games."

- Brett Rector

Sequel
On December 12 at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, LucasArts revealed The Force Unleashed II with a teaser trailer showing Galen Marek, battling a huge creature in some sort of arena. From the voice over on the trailer, Vader and Yoda can be heard. Only the title, time period and main character have been confirmed.

Official sites

 * Official home of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed website on Yahoo!
 * StarWars.com official discussion thread
 * StarWars.com official discussion thread

Non-official sites

 * Unofficial Force Unleashed Website
 * Force Unleashed on SWGames, the Star Wars Gaming wiki
 * IGN Article
 * IGN Interview
 * IGN Concept Art
 * Concept Art
 * CVG exclusive
 * Action figure gallery
 * Slashdot GDC Article
 * Interview with Haden Blackman
 * Slashdot GDC Article
 * Interview with Haden Blackman

The Force Unleashed (Videospiel) es:Star Wars: El Poder de la Fuerza (videojuego) it:Star Wars: Il Potere della Forza nl:Star Wars: The Force Unleashed fi:Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (videopeli)