In honour of Father’s Day, we celebrate dads in video games: from the good to the bad to the “Luke, I am your father kind,” that don’t fulfil any fatherly duties beyond lopping off a limb. Join us now in separating the Bill Cosbys from the Darth Vaders.

Fathers in… Role-Playing Games
Much like mothers, fathers in role-playing games often are killed early in order to inspire the hero to leave home and avenge dear daddy (and mummy) and the rest of their destroyed village. However, there are some dads who stick around. When they do, they’re usually playable support characters their son or daughter’s active fighting party, or they show up in flashbacks and hallucinations to offer pep talks and parental criticism. Here are a few of these fatherly figures:

Jecht, Final Fantasy X – Father of Tidus: He’s an alcoholic all-star blitzball player who insults his son to toughen him up. Instead, he winds up alienating him. Only after son and father find out they’re dead do they make up with a manly high-five.

Kaim, Lost Odyssey – Father of Liram: Kaim believes his daughter is dead, but when he rediscovers her as an old, sick woman, he gets around to some parental duties like making funeral arrangements and babysitting the grandkids.

Pankraz, Dragon Quest V – Father of The Hero: Pankraz travels the world with his son and eventually sacrifices himself to save The Hero from monsters. Alas, he can’t save his son from being sold into slavery from beyond the grave.

Walter, Suikoden Tactics – Father of Kyril: Walter goes into exile to protect his lover and bastard son but decides to keep Mommy’s identity a secret. He gets turned into a fish monster and attacks Kyril before another party member puts him out of his misery.

James, Fallout 3 – Father of You: Daddy dearest ditches you in Vault 101 and goes to find a cure for irradiated water. When you finally catch up with him, he sends you on a deadly quest and then bites it in the name of science. And, uh, saving you – that too.

Uriel Septim VII, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – Father of Martin: Had several legitimate sons to stock the throne with heirs, but wisely kept a child out of wedlock just in case a Daedra Lord killed all of his other kids. Instead of fostering the boy to a vassal or something noble, Septim stuck Martin in the church to keep him out of trouble.

Best Dad… Pankraz, because, while he couldn’t keep his son from being sold into slavery, he didn’t hesitate to take on a horde of monsters to save him.

Worst Dad… Uriel Septim VII, because, really, it was bad enough for Martin to be born a bastard – even worse to have Daedra Lords come after you because of some dude you’ve never even met. Thanks for nothing, Dad!

Fathers in… Fighting Games
Fighting games have a high volume of fathers. Apparently, popping out a few kids is the thing to do after winning world martial arts tournaments. But no father in any fighting game seems to have thought the decision to become a father and a world martial arts champion at the same time all the way through: Either you’re abandoning the kid at a young age so they invariably follow in your footsteps just to find you. Or – worse – you actively train them in your fighting style so they can grow up, follow in your footsteps and then kick your arse.

Raphael Sorel, Soulcalibur series – Foster father of Amy: Raphael got kicked out of his own family for killing some crazy noble and found the orphaned Amy wandering the streets of some French town. He took her in, raised her, trained her and went completely crazy trying to create a perfect world for her.

Frederick Schtauffen, Soulcalibur series – Father of Siegfried: Frederick left his infant son to go fight in the Crusades. While he was gone, Siegfried fell in with a bad crowd and wound up beheading his own father in a misguided act of patriotism.

Seong Han-myeong, Soulcalibur series – Father of Mi-na and wannabe foster father to Hwang: Teaches both children how to kick some serious arse, but winds up favouring Hwang with family heirlooms. When Hwang refuses Han-myeong’s offer to adopt him, he tries to marry Mi-na to Hwang. Mi-na runs away.

Cervantes de Leon, Soulcalibur series – Father of Ivy: Somehow fathered the hottest thing in the Soul series and then tried to devour her when she comes looking for his sword, Soul Edge.

Heihachi Mishima, Tekken series – Father of Kazuya: Throws his son off a cliff to toughed him up, throws him down a volcano out of spite and basically does nothing but try to destroy his son for the entire Tekken series.

Kazuya Mishima, Tekken series – Father of Jin: He may not have thrown his son off any cliffs, but Kazuya’s revenge aspiration against his own father eventually turns his son against him. Also, it turns his son into a flying demon thing.

Marshall Law, Tekken series – Father of Forest: Law sees more of the insides of restaurants than he does of his own son, but he stops at nothing to pay the hospital bills when Forest wrecks his motorcycle.

Lau Chan, Virua Fighter – Father of Pai: Abandons his daughter to fight in the World Fighting Tournament and has the nerve to act surprised when she devotes her martial arts career to kicking his arse.

Bass Armstrong, Dead or Alive series – Father of Tina: Two words sum up his entire parenting technique– over and protective.

Fame Douglas, Dead or Alive series – Father of Helena: Fame knocks up a world-famous opera singer and then doesn’t marry her; but he does leave his daughter his effed up company, DOATEC, after being assassinated. Thanks, Daddy!

Raidou, Dead or Alive series – Father of Ayane: Raped her mother. ‘Nuff said.

Dhalsim, Street Fighter – Father of Datta: Dhalsim serves as a father to his entire village by entering the World Warrior tournament to raise money for them.

Best Dad… Bass, because he loves his daughter too much to let her dress like a slut – unlike Cervantes.

Worst Dad… Heihachi, because he throws his son off a cliff and into a volcano; and he imprisons his grandson. Somebody call Child Protective Services!

Fathers in… Action Adventure and Survival Horror Games
It’s hard to feel warm and fuzzy about fathers in these types of games because they’re almost always an antagonist. Even the well-meaning Dads who just want to protect their offspring usually wind up doing the opposite by turning evil, letting work consume them or by losing the family farm to a rival rancher. But, even if they’re real jerks, they’re still fathers and they deserve their due on this day.

Joe Hayabusa, Ninja Gaiden – Father of Ryu: Leads an entire ninja clan and raises a badass ninja son.

William Birkin, Resident Evil 2 – Father of Sherry: The guy’s got no time for parenting – he’s so married to his work he becomes the last boss.

Mr. Burnside, Resident Evil: Code Veronica – Father of Steve: Not only did he raise his son to be a whiny loser, but Mr. Burnside also thought it’d be a great idea to steal from the Umbrella Corporation, thus getting his wife shot full of holes and landing him and his son on a zombie-infested prison camp island. Great going, old man.

Harry Mason, Silent Hill and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories – Adoptive father of Cheryl and possibly Alessa, depending on which ending you get: Harry probably shouldn’t have picked up a strange child on the side of the road, but damned if he doesn’t do his best to hang onto her – even when the monsters start showing up to kill him.

Dr. Tenma, Astro Boy – Father of Astro Boy and Tobio: Like a lot of Dads, Tenma was married to his work until the day his nine-year-old son Tobio died in a car accident. Then, he turned his work into his son, created Astro Boy as the son that would never die. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t age, either – so Tenma sold him to a robot salesman.

King Zora XVI, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Father of Princess Ruto: He loves his daughter, but is too fat and lazy to go save her when she goes missing inside a giant fish monster.

Talon, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Father of Malon: Talon is a narcoleptic rancher who makes a good living for himself and his daughter on Lon Lon Ranch; but unfortunately, he has poor taste in employees. Pro tip: don’t hire somebody with the hots for your daughter.

Deku King, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – Father of Deku Princess: Overprotective doesn’t quite sum it up – this is a guy who tortures small animals when his child goes missing instead of looking for her himself.

Bowser, Super Mario Bros. series – Father of Bowser Jr. and seven other Koopalings: He lets his kids run wild with pirate ships and magic zappy wands. Not exactly parent of the year material.

Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong series – Father of Donkey Kong Jr.: He’d rather hang out with his nephew, Diddy Kong, than his own son. What does that say about his fatherly reputation?

Kratos, God of War series – Father of Calliope: He’s away from home a lot, fighting wars and when he does come back, he kills his kid in a God-induced rage. She goes to heaven and he tries to visit, but that would kind of break the world, so he leaves her be.

Kento Marek, The Force Unleashed – Father of Galen, aka Starkiller, aka Vader’s Secret Apprentice: He escapes the Jedi purges with his wife and young son and hides out on Kashyyyk. Vader shows up, kills him and takes his son to train/raise.

Dr. Light, Mega Man series – Father of Mega Man: Okay, so he didn’t provide Mega Man chromosomes; but Dr. Light built him and raised him. So he’s like both father and mother to Mega Man.

Nate Harlow, Red Dead Revolver – Father of Red: If nothing else, the old man sure taught his son to shoot.

King of All Cosmos, Katamari Damacy – Father of The Prince: His binge drinking wiped out the world, and he sent his son to clean up the mess. What a role model.

The Mourning King, Prince of Persia – Father of Elika: He makes a deal with the dark god Ahriman to resurrect his daughter, sends his men to capture her and then unleashes pure evil by destroying the Tree of Life.

Best Dad… Harry Mason, because he could have adopted some other orphan, but no – he went through Silent Hill for his Cheryl. That’s a dad who cares.

Worst Dad… Steve Burnside’s dad, because, while Kratos might’ve killed his kid, too, at least his daughter went to heaven instead of a zombie-infested prison camp island.

Fathers in… Shooters
Dads are the stars of shooters. Even if they’re not the main character, they very often drive the plot even from beyond the grave. This is probably because a lot of cultures have a manly mythos of the son surpassing the father and it’s bled right into the manliest of video games. Even with all that testosterone, there’s room for really great dads. And some really awful ones, too.

Eli Vance, Half-Life series – Father of Alyx: Eli lived the simple life of a scientist at Black Mesa Research Facility with his wife and young daughter. Then things explode as they often do in the profession and his wife dies. He eventually falls in love with another woman, but to his dying day, he never stops loving his daughter.

James McCloud, Star Fox series – Father of Fox: Clearly James did something right in parenting Fox; he inspired such filial piety that his son hallucinates him during boss fights.

Andrew Ryan, BioShock – Father of Jack: Andrew had Jack out of wedlock with stripper/dancer Jasmine Jolene and didn’t get to spend any time parenting him. mummy Dearest sold the embryo off to Andrew’s enemy. Ryan Sr. might make a big fuss about a man choosing; but, the truth is, you can’t choose your children.

Big Daddies, BioShock series – Father of Little Sisters: Big Daddies have no blood relation to Little Sisters and probably no soul, either. But they do what all good daddies do: protect the bejesus out of their babies with power tools.

Roy Campbell, Metal Gear Solid series – Father of Meryl: He lies to his daughter and says he’s her uncle for most of her life, but then relents and calls her his “pride and joy” at the most inopportune moment. Later, he gives her away at her wedding.

Jack Raiden, Metal Gear Solid series – Father of Rose’s son: To his credit, Raiden probably would have been a great dad if his wife had lied and said she miscarried the baby. But, since she did lie and tell him that, he let himself be turned into a high-tech version of a Ken doll and now his son is really going to have daddy issues despite his parents getting back together.

Big Boss, Metal Gear Solid series – Father of Liquid and Solid Snake: Daddy must be so proud of his clone sons. One of them is a chain smoker with a terminal illness and the other one keeps trying to bring about a nuclear holocaust. He probably should have spent more time raising them instead of trying to kill one or both of them.

Adam Fenix, Gears of War series – Father of Marcus: Supposedly he’s some kind of genius and like James McCloud he must’ve done something awesome to inspire filial piety that borders on insanity. His son winds up in prison for abandoning his post to save Fenix Sr. during an alien invasion.

Sam Fisher, Splinter Cell series – Father of Sarah: Sam is so devastated by his daughter’s death he spends an entire game avenging her. Drunk drivers and assassins beware a bereaved father, especially one who’s a secret agent.

Best Dad… Eli Vance, because he loves his baby girl without smothering her independent spirit.

Worst Dad… Big Boss, because one lousy man-hug does not make up for the sheer number of times he tried to kill his son.

(Dis)Honorable Mentions
Shinnok, Mortal Kombat – He’s only Raiden and Shao Kahn’s dad in that awful movie, Annihilation, so he doesn’t count as a video game dad.
Homer Simpson, Don Corleone, Darth Vader – They’ve all got a presence in video games, sure, but their status as good or bad fathers comes from the shows and films they’re from, not from the games they appear in.
You, Fable II, The Sims games and Harvest Moon games – Just as with mums, even if you play as an upstanding paragon of parental vigilance as a dad, you’re going to be guilty of neglect at least half of the time.

That does it for dads this year. Think we missed somebody important? Drop a line in the comments. And don’t forget to call your dad on Father’s Day!

Ex-LucasArts producers Isa Anne Stamos signed up with Berkeley, CA game developer MindFuse Games today to work on their “advanced-casual MMOG” Gatheryn.

I don’t know much about Gatheryn or what an advanced-casual massively multiplayer online game is supposed to be. But I gather (get it?) from the screenshots that it’s set in a steampunk fantasy world with zeppelins. The press release says gamers will enter a world of “adventure, mystery and romance,” and play familiar puzzle and action games to advance the story and earn stuff.

Stamos comes in as Game Studio Director for MindFuse, focusing on Gatheryn’s production and design . As a veteran of the Star Wars franchise – including The Force Unleashed – she sounds like she’s got the skill set to get the game from development to launch.

Clearly MindFuse thinks so too,going from the press release:

“Isa will be instrumental in the creation of the epic world of Gatheryn,” said Joseph Walters, Chief Executive Officer and Lead Designer of MindFuse Games. “Isa’s outstanding track record as a producer is self-evident when you look at games like the The Force Unleashed, and Gatheryn players will appreciate all she is contributing to the game.”

Well, at least somebody can get a job these dark days. More power to you, madam.

LucasArts’ reasoning was that the variety of gaming PC setups out there, plus the limitations of lower-end configurations, would make it difficult to create a version of SW:TFU that everyone enjoyed. Stude, in an interview teased on Videogamer.com, called that an “uneducated” excuse and added “LucasArts hasn’t made a good game in a long time.”

Said Stude:

“In the last several years there have been at least 100 million PCs sold that have the capabilities or better of an Xbox 360. It’s ridiculous to say that there’s not enough audience for that game potentially and that it falls into this enthusiast extreme category when ported over to the PC. That’s an uneducated response.”

But wait, there’s more:

“I think you probably got plenty of feedback and opinions from your readers and my personal opinion is if they’re making games for the Wii, Xbox and PS3 they’re scaling their experience to meet all three of those platforms. They’re good on the Wii, better on the Xbox 360 and the best on the PS3. There’s no argument that they could give not to be able to support good better and best on the PC.”

Oh he’s not done yet. Hey, what the fuck you looking at, Wii? Yeah, you. /gives titty-twister.

“LucasArts hasn’t made a good PC game in a long time,” he said. “That’s my opinion. They make some pretty good games for the Wii, you know those little sticks you wave in the air, that seems like a natural fit for a lightsaber game, sure. But I think the last good PC game they made was probably Jedi Knight 2, and even their strategy games weren’t that great. So I can understand why they would make that call.”

And the coup de grace for the makers of Star Wars: STFU or GTFO or whatever your name is:

“They’re not really creating product within LucasArts themselves. They’re going at it job shopping their IP. That may be a little controversial for me to say, but that’s what I see. There’s no development team necessarily within LucasArts any more, they’ve basically turned into an intellectual property machine and supporting the PC, why should they? It really doesn’t fit their property.

Damn. Tell us how you really feel, Randy.

LucasArts Slammed for No PC Force Unleashed [Videogamer.com, via GamerCenter Online]

But what interested me more were the cut force powers.

“We implemented more force powers than we shipped with,” Blackman told me. “We removed some because of consumer feed back. There were too many in the game and (the force) started getting watered down.

“We do have other ones we could go back to look at.”

While Blackman declined to list out the cut force powers, I did manage to get him to talk about one of the cut powers he particularly liked.

“We had this plague power where you could infect enemies and they would get sick and lose health over time,” he said. The plague power, which showed up in a different form in the final game as a crystal power-up for the light saber, also spread. When an infected enemy got near their cohorts they would catch the killing disease too.

The problem was it moved a little too slowly for the pacing of the game, Blackman said.

“The Force Unleashed is such a visceral, fast-paced time, that it wasn’t that effective.”

Speaking of not that effective, I also asking Blackman about the sometimes problematic targeting system in the game. (No, I didn’t mention my son crying. LucasArts already emailed me to apologize.)

Turns out he was surprised that so many reviews mentioned the sometimes touchy targeting.

“Targeting wasn’t an issue that came up when we did focus testing,” he said. “The other thing I was really surprised about, the story was strong, and reviews have said that, but we haven’t seen a lift in scores.”

“Maybe that means stories aren’t important to reviewers.”

Personally, I think that’s more an issue of the current state of review systems, rather than a statement about the the importance reviewers put on story in a game. Or at least I hope that’s what the issue is.

Blackman pointed out that the average rating on Amazon is higher than the Meta Critic score, which he found gratifying.

“We worked really, really hard on all aspects of the game,” he said. “On bridging the gap between those trilogies. At the end of the day I hope we provided a good, satisfying experience.”

Now that the game has shipped, Blackman and some of the team are concentrating on the downloadable content.

“Everybody working on the DLC is someone from the core team,” he said. “Everybody worked on The Force Unleashed. It’s all being produced internally.

Blackman brought this up, he says, in part because of the rumours still floating around that LucasArts is no longer doing internal development.

“We absolutely are,” he said. “This is the continuation of The Force Unleashed team while we plan our next game.”

“We are doing internal development and have projects in the works. I’m hoping more (of my team) will roll onto my next product, which will more than likely be a Star Wars game.”

As for the remaining 850 handsets, this is a good time to check and see if your phone needs upgrading. If yours isn’t one of the 850 you obviously need to step up to a newer model, unless that military field phone is part of your whole campy, retro vibe.

THQ WIRELESS UNLEASHES THE FORCE TO HANDSETS WORLDWIDE

Star Wars®: The Force UnleashedT available for download on iPhone, N-Gage and feature phone handsets

LightsaberT Unleashed now available to fans via the iTunes App Store

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. – September 29, 2008 – THQ Wireless Inc., a subsidiary of THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI), today announced Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is now available for download on more than 850 handsets globally, including the iPhoneTM, iPod® touch and N-Gage devices. The game casts players as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed offers truly cinematic action in breathtaking 3D visuals. Players will assist Darth Vader in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi – and face decisions that could change the course of their destiny. The game introduces the CellWeaverT mobile control system (created by THQ Wireless’ development studio, Universomo) where players can form sequence patterns through the phone’s keypad allowing them to feel and use the Force.

The LightsaberT Unleashed, available for free today on the iTunes® App Store, offers features directly from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, including: · Multiple lightsaber colours and hilts that correspond to the main characters in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, including Darth Vader, The Secret Apprentice and more · All-new music from the game · Hidden treats, including character dialogue directly from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

The release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed mobile game coincides with the worldwide debut of the LucasArts videogame which is now available on the Xbox®360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Nintendo WiiT and Nintendo DST, PLAYSTATION®2 and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment systems and PSP®.

THQ Wireless’ growing line of successful Star Wars titles span several genres including the side-scrolling Revenge of the Sith, space shooter Battle Above Coruscant, first person shooter Battlefront Mobile, and action titles like LEGO Star Wars Mobile and LEGO Star Wars II Mobile.

Never say never. George [Lucas] has looked to tell new Star Wars stories through the games and with the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe, and then he has also shown a willingness to let the characters come into the films.

Kinda wish they would’ve made The Force Unleashed as the third movie, Episode III as the second movie and Episode II as the first movie. Episode I could’ve done with a good shitcanning.

Will ‘Force Unleashed’ be the next ‘Star Wars’ film? [LA Times via The Escapist via Go Nintendo] [Pic]

G4 X-Play
This is a surprisingly adult take on Star Wars, and uncompromisingly depicts a very dark Galaxy Far Far Away, as befits the time period. The early part of the narrative deals with Vader sending Starkiller to hunt down survivors of the Jedi-exterminating Order 66, but events quickly unfold that change the course of galactic history. The Force Unleashed makes some very interesting things canon, both in terms of the storyline and the characters and elements it uses. You also get to see Vader acting like the merciless villain that Anakin never really was, even in Episode III.

TeamXbox
in some places the execution is really off, making the game terribly frustrating in some moments and downright dull in others. Sometimes you’ll be left scratching your head at why something it the way it is in the game. While it does the Star Wars universe better than you’ve seen in a long time, especially since it lets you actually play as Vader in the first level, things like boss and puzzle designs feel sort of lacking. The fact that the game seems so awesome at first just makes the later frustrations of the game that much more disappointing.

1UP
The Force Unleashed’s leveling system fails to make much of an impact to overall combat outside of some improvements (new attack combos and Force upgrades) to the Apprentice’s preexisting repertoire of moves. Admittedly, some later abilities prove useful — especially defensive upgrades that allow you to deflect rapid laser fire back toward turrets and other enemies. This aspect of the game also gives some justification for hanging around and killing enemies to get experience, as opposed to just blowing by them, which — oddly enough — is something you can do quite often. Kinda makes the battle with three Rancors later on a little less dramatic.

GamingTrend
All of that negativity shouldn’t put you off of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The fact of the matter is, this is one of the better Star Wars titles out there. While some elements of the plot are somewhat overused or contrived, it doesn’t change the fact some of the plot moments are well worth seeing. I enjoyed the game from beginning to end, despite some of the more frustrating moments and technical glitches. There are a few choices that you’ll have to make at the very end of the game, but somewhat like Bioshock, they are in fact limited to the very end.

Kotaku
…that’s what The Force Unleashed does throughout on a much smaller level, it gives you a chance to glimpse some of the moments and things behind what become keystones of the epic battle between Rebellion and Empire…The Force Unleashed is most definitely a flawed game, but with the help of some amazing acting, a deep plot and rampant force kills is sure to please most Star Wars fans. Ahh, the Force is inconsistent in this one…

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, packed with new AI and physics technology and a story written by Haden Blackman, certainly has potential, but is The Force with this game?

Loved
Epic Story: More than anything, it was Star Wars: The Force Unleashed’s story that kept me going through the game. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the game’s story wasn’t just emotionally evocative and engaging, but vital to fans of the history of Star Wars. There are moments in the game that are genuinely breath-taking, relationships I cared more about than in any of the first three episodes and a linchpin moment that helps to hook the original classic movies to the abortive modern trilogy. I’ve actually gone back and re-watched the cut-scenes again. That’s not just a first, it’s something so beyond the pale for me as to be likely a first and last.

The Force is With You: Who doesn’t love the idea of being able to move shit around with your mind? The force implementation (when the targeting works) is the best I’ve seen to date. In the later levels I can run through an area lousy with Stormtroopers and fling them willy-nilly without breaking stride, just like I always imagine it should be. Frankly, they could have made this game be a bunch of monkeys running around with the force and I would have loved it.

Art Direction: Right up there with the deep, engaging plot is the art direction. The game forgoes the unnatural creations of the modern anti-classics – plastic, soulless beings like Jar Jar – and instead reaches deep down into the crevices of George Lucas’ dried out husk of a soul to find a menagerie of beings that don’t just fit it, but add to the alien feel of the game. Exploding plants, bug-like creatures imbued with the force, mega-Stormtroopers; and it all looks so beautiful.

Voice Acting: There are plenty of games out there with good voice acting – Metal Gear Solid 4, Gears of War, etc, etc – but it still surprises me when I run across another. High among the talent is Sam Witwer, who nails the ethos of the Secret Apprentice.

Fun Combo System: The Force? Fantastic. Electrocuting, choking, throwing a light saber? Also wonderful. Combining them into grisly combos? Unforgettable. My favourites among the list of devilish force combos include impaling a struggling enemy with your lightsaber after you’ve floated him over a high drop and a whirling lightsaber Sith combo that ends with a force ground pound that lifts everyone in the area slowly up into the air.

Digital Molecular Matter: Pixelux’s physics engine was introduced to the game to make things react as they should in the real world — for example, when a berserk Jedi comes rampaging through an area. And it really adds to the power of the game. DMM really shines when you’re forced to blow down a wall or door, or when you rend hunks of metal from the surrounding scenery. It really gives the punch needed to convey the power of the force that you wield.

Hated
Glitches: Endless falls, getting stuck on the scenery, suddenly invulnerable enemies, these are a few of my least favourite things. While the glitches that crop up in the game are pretty infrequent, when they do happen they almost always require having to start back at your last save. Unforgivable.

Boss Battle That Made My Son Cry: There is in The Force Unleashed one particular boss battle of sorts involving a Star Destroyer that isn’t just onerous, it’s broken. This one fight manages to coalesce everything wrong with the game into one dark and painfully long moment. The battle involves lots of hiding, running, force use, and a mini-game that requires you to follow the on-screen thumbstick manipulation directions to a T. The problem is that those on-screen directions can, on occasion, be just plain wrong. The level became so frustrating that on one particularly long play through of more than a hour, which had me within minutes of winning, I died and my son, feverish to get on with the game, broke down and started crying. That’s a first.

Poor Targeting System: The Force and its derivatives are often the most addictive part of The Force Unleashed. But getting a force lock-on and then getting things to go where you want isn’t entirely flawless. At times you can grab anything with a flick of a trigger, but other times it’s just impossible to do a force grab. And because of the dual thumbstick controls of an object being held by the force, throwing it where you want to is as much art as it is science… in a bad way.

Too Much Euphoria is a Bad Thing: Lots of attention was given to Euphoria, the advanced AI for the game, before its release. And in many ways it adds a level of detail much needed when grabbing people and flinging them to their death over and over again. Stormtroopers struggle, call for help, run at or away from you. All good. But do we really need the Emperor’s elite guard tripping over wreckage in mid combat, or Stormtroopers hiding away behind containers in epic battles? Sure it’s real, but maybe a bit too real.

What makes The Force Unleashed such a pleasant surprise to play isn’t really the gameplay, but how it taps into the wealth of existing Star Wars lore and history. There is, in the game, a level that has you playing through the Death Star. The gameplay and the puzzles you have to solve to get through this portion of the game are fun in their own right. But what makes this level so amazing is how it also manages to give you a sort of behind the scenes tour of an object so iconic to Star Wars. You play through this thing and learn how it works, see how it works. And that’s what The Force Unleashed does throughout on a much smaller level, it gives you a chance to glimpse some of the moments and things behind what become keystones of the epic battle between Rebellion and Empire.

The Force Unleashed is most definitely a flawed game, but with the help of some amazing acting, a deep plot and rampant force kills is sure to please most Star Wars fans.

The Force Unleashed, developed and published by LucasArts and released on Sept. 16 for the DS, Playstation 2, PS3, PS, Wii and Xbox 360. Retails for $48 to $50. Reviewed on Playstation 3. Played through campaign mode, tinkered with saber customization.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

“We can make this happen,” Haden told them, and it looks like he was right.

The Force Unleashed making-of book details Haden and his team’s long struggle to get this game made. There were tons of other concept ideas that got axed, a billion technical hurdles and all kinds of unforeseen nightmares to get past. I asked Haden which scrapped idea was his favourite and he immediately said he liked the idea where you would have been playing as a Wookiee.

The idea would have had you running about like a semi-feral beast, kicking arse and being a Wookiee (y’know, ripping peoples’ arms off when you lose). George Lucas put the kibosh on the idea, saying that not only are Wookiees not quite like the team had envisioned them – but people probably wouldn’t have wanted to play as a Wookiee. Because how attached can you really get to character that doesn’t have speech?

Haden also liked an idea that allowed the player to commune with Qui Gon’s spirit, thus filling in some of the gaps in the prequel’s back story; but this idea was also tossed out and Haden had to come up with something else.

Read the making of book for the whole story – me, I had to move on if I wanted to get all my questions asked in the 10 minutes I had to interview Haden.

I asked what colour lightsaber Haden would want (to buy time while I frantically searched for where I’d written my list of questions). Haden – like me – would want to rock a purple lightsaber. And it’s got nothing to do with Mace Windu; he just likes the colour. I’d a like a purple one, too – but that’s just because Jaina Solo wields one in the Expanded Universe (EU) books. (Oh, and there’s an unlockable black lightsaber in the game – look for it!)

Haden has actually read a lot of the EU books – though he stopped short of the New Jedi Order series. An author of Star Wars graphic novels himself, he has great respect for the stories outside those covered in the movies. I asked if we might see a game set in the Legacy of the Force series, or some other post-episode VI timeline and Haden nodded, “We’ll see.”

Building on the original source material is important, though – Haden couldn’t stress that enough when it came to creating levels for the Force Unleashed. One of the easiest levels to design (at least in terms of art) was the TIE Fighter factory level on the count of already having tons of source material for what TIE Fighters look like. The hardest level to work with by far was the Raxus Prime junkyard. In the words of one of his team members, Haden described the level as both organic and inorganic – a lot of angular rusty metal and also a living ecosystem that sports moments of beauty. (For gameplay, the early levels were hardest, because the Secret Apprentice’s powers were limited – and later on, it got easier because his powers were more badass which allowed for more of the “playground” feel.)

Haden wrapped up our interview with an admonishment that The Force Unleashed is supposed to be an accessible, mainstream game. He’s concerned that hardcore gaming outlets are marking the game down because the combat “isn’t complex enough.” He really hopes that all his work has paid off in creating an experience the everyman will enjoy. But overall, the man is proud of his work, and he glowed with pleasure as he waltzed out of the room to take his place on the main stage.

His work on Force Unleashed is done.

…

So. Now what?

George gave us a history lesson about what the major characters in the Saga were doing in that time frame, and offered feedback and suggestions about the plot and characters.

Is it wise to actually go around and tell people that? Pssst, we consulted with George Lucas for this game. That’s right, the George Lucas that turned the Force from a mystic energy into some cell-based midichlorian-communicating mumbo jumbo. And the same George Lucas who let stormtroopers kill Jedi\.

Certainly there are oodles of smart, talented people at LucasArts. Let’s play up those folks, ‘mkay?

Star Wars lives on through games [Reuters]