My quick impressions of the Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed:

I've played about three hours of the game so far.

Good

• Nice graphics, but definately not using the Wii to its full graphical potential.
• Physics engine is quite good. It's nothing that hasn't been done before on last gen consoles, but it works well with this game. There's lots of things that can be manipulated with the Force too.
• The Wii Remote works fantastic as a Lightsaber! It's not as good a true 1:1 motion, but this is the next best thing, IMO. Doing sword swipes from left-to-right, right-to-left, up-to-down, down-to-up, and forward thrust all work perfectly. I don't recall a single time that the game didn't correctly register my movements. Also, the Wii remote speaker and rumble work brilliantly together in conveying the illusion that you are holding a powerful Jedi Lightsaber. For instance, when your character is just standing completely still and have the lightsaber out, you can feel a very soft purr of the rumble in your hand as if you can actually feel the energy of powering it. Swinging the remote makes the tradmark lightsaber sound effects, and are really cool (I jacked the volume up to full)! It's the best use of the Wii remote speaker I've heard yet! The rumble intensifies with each swing too, even when you don't make contact with anything, and really shakes when you do. I'm very impressed with out well this works.
• Motions with the Nunchuck also work very well. Doing quick forward flicks with the Nunchuck does the Force Push everytime without fail.
• Music is awsome, but nothing Star Wars fans haven't heard before.

Bad

• Graphics could be better
• Load times are a little too long
• Unskippable cutscenes suck (I don't care about the story, I just want to cut fools, dammit!)
• Selecting particular objects or enemies to pick up with the Force can be a frustrating at times.
• Camera sucks. It's fine in large open areas, but freaks out in close quarters too much.

I'm enjoying the game quite a bit. It's not as good as it could've been, but it's definately a fun rental. I may write a full review once I've finished playing the game later this weekend.

EDIT: I just discovered that cutscenes can be skipped by pressing the minus button on the Wii remote. My rental copy didn't come with a manual, and I never thought to try that button. *slaps forehead*

Done with the updates for now

archangel3371 said:

I'd think of some way to get you guys back but I'm not knowledgeable on what you can and can't do in AC games, yet.

You can steal all our women folk.

darthhomer said:

I would be - game seems fun from what I hear, and I've always loved the crossover tag battle games. It's awesome because Capcom are doing something different with their character roster. Instead of having it primarly Street Fighter, then some Darkstalkers, and then a handful of 'niche' characters - we've got three SF characters, one Darkstalkers character, and the rest? All niche (characters from Onimusha, Lost Planet, Rival Schools & Megaman Legends). I'm praying that Dante, Viewtiful Joe or Phoenix Wright get confirmed.

Granted, the game won't be as deep as SF4 is (and trust me, even though it harkens back to SF2, there's some depth in there), but for fun, the game seems worth it.

As for Tatsunoko, they're a legendary Japanese animation studio. We're talking as legendary as Sunrise, Ghibli - but they're not as well known in the west as those two. They've worked on Battle of the PLanets, Speed Racer and were one of the companies involved in Evangelion (aside from Gainax, Production IG and a few other studios). Though don't ask whether or not you'll get to play as Unit 01 - don't think they own the rights.

Now buy the damn game so we can finally get Marvel vs Capcom 3.

Ehhhhhhh. Maybe. I hear that only one new character over the arcade version is being added and that licencing issues will preven the game even being released in the west.

punk rebel ecks said:

"No Punk Nintendo won't have another conference!" "Punk you have no proof of Nintendo having another conference!" "E3 is horrible Nintendo must only care about the casual market now!" "There won't be a conference around TGS Punk!"

AhHAHAHAHAHA! I called it all.

I don't think I put it in those terms gloater

I said something like: it will probably be for low level stuff like last year, when they had stuff like battalion wars and wii fit. Though given their ass bad E3, maybe they will pull out the stops.

Raven and Dvader, thanks for the updates. I'm thinking if these games come down a cheap price in the future I may try them out.

iga_bobovic said:

ravenprose said:

• The Wii Remote works fantastic as a Lightsaber! It's not as good a true 1:1 motion, but this is the next best thing,  

• Unskippable cutscenes suck (I don't care about the story, I just want to cut fools, dammit!)

Like I said before, true 1:1 motion will not give you the Star Wars like fighting experience. A real sword fight last an average of 2 seconds.  Compromises have to be made.

Secondly: you mean that are people who actually care about the story in Star Wars

I didn't mean true sword fighting when I mentioned 1:1 motion. I simply meant that there is a slight hesitation from when you make a motion to when that motion is acted out on-screen.

UBISOFT BOSS INTERVIEW (see thursdays updates)

Bitz and piecez

GameDaily BIZ: Considering the latest developments from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, what's excited you from the big three?

Yves Guillemot: We think using the Balance Board and this new [MotionPlus] controller they are creating, the motion will give a lot more sensations to consumers and it's really a way to get more and more immersed in the games we play. That, for me, is revolutionary.

For Microsoft, the fact that they are now not only considering one customer, the hardcore gamer, but making sure they can have smaller games and that they have avatars, it's something that is interesting. Because I believe we want to have a life on the Internet, and so being able to push your avatar to become somebody well known is all very interesting.

Regarding Sony, PlayStation Home for us just being able to go into an open world with your avatar and meet other people... It's a dream for me, I think. It's so important to travel all over and meet different people, creators or gamers, that will understand who you are and what you've done, so you can select the people you want to speak with more. The idea of Home is great.

BIZ: Getting back to the Microsoft Avatars for a minute, do you really think this will help the company better reach that casual audience?

YG: Nintendo had a great idea, Microsoft is taking it to another level. It's exciting for us because it will give gamers the ability to be important in this interactive world. The fact that you can add your face and be a person that is close to you and it will take all your data (what you've been playing, achievements), for me it's very interesting. The industry has always been like this. We always watch what other people are doing and take the best of it. That's what I love about this industry... what's good is to take it and do something better with it.

BIZ: So will Ubisoft be incorporating the Avatars into its games for Xbox 360?

YG: We'll see what will happen there. What we need to make sure is that it's not just a Microsoft world, but also a Ubisoft world where we are around. We just need to make sure that it's going to be possible.

BIZ: Regarding Wii MotionPlus, how long did Ubisoft know about it and when will we see games from Ubisoft that make use of it?

YG: Nintendo has been working on that for a long time, trying to see how they could improve the precision. We knew for a long time they were working on that, so it's not a big surprise for us. We'll start seeing something in September/October. We already have games that can take advantage of it.

BIZ: The strategy's worked for Nintendo, but do you think they're losing touch with the hardcore base?

YG: I don't think that because the quality of the games on their machine is still very high. The gamers can have great fun with what's coming on the machine. It's just a question of games. When the games are great to play, they play them. You'll always have some people who are unhappy, but I don't think they'll lose those [hardcore] guys.

BIZ: Even from a third-party perspective, Ubisoft isn't exactly bringing hardcore games to the Wii. Tom Clancy titles, for example, are nowhere to be found on Wii.

YG: Tom Clancy will appear at one point. We need to make sure they [look good]. We have engines that were created for the next-generation consoles. We had to re-engineer a certain number of engines to be sure we could use the quality of the machine. Even without the [high-end] graphics, the experience can still be very interesting. ... To make sure we can create good enough products [on Wii] or products better than Nintendo's takes time. That's why you don't see many products, but you will see more and more in the future.

darthhomer said:

Just beat the DS version of Force Unleashed.

Storyline? Good.

Gameplay? Average.

Overall, it's what Lucasarts would have done if they made a PS1 game.

Hope you didn't buy it.

edgecrusher said:

The Ubisoft guy sounds like he puts way too much importance on Avatars.

I've yet to see anyone buy a games console based on whether it had avatars or not. In fact some of my friends who have 360 were none too pleased when they saw what's coming. Interestingly, most people don't mind Home on PS3 because it has a more natural look I guess....but many people seem to think the 360 stuff looks, well, ghey.

I have heard that some 360 owners dont like it, but from what I hear it's optional. Seeing as how I have no hard drive and no xbox live -damn wired internet- it doesn't affect me at all. I do find it, well I can't really find the word so I'll say hinky, that Yves Guillemot seems to be estactically overjoyed with the thought of an industry that rips everyone else. That's not a celebratory point in my book.

edgecrusher said:

Supposedly you can get 20 gigs dirt cheap now. I heard a rumor about $25 hdd's. You should look around. Maybe you can import one for cheaper.

$120 over here. Same for a wireless dongle. I'm just a cheapass. The only reason I use wii online is because it's free and easy.

The PS3 is beating the Wii and 360 in that Timesplitter's 4 poll. Didn't see that one coming. But then again Timesplitter's did start on PS2 so I guess it makes sense.

Wii is just behind.

Lol, we have impressions from the Wii, PS3 (which is also 360) and DS versions of TFU.  Now that is great reporting Insert Coin.

edgecrusher said:

The PS3 is beating the Wii and 360 in that Timesplitter's 4 poll. Didn't see that one coming. But then again Timesplitter's did start on PS2 so I guess it makes sense.

Wii is just behind.

PS3 36%

Wii 33%

360 25%

So that means a cross platform 360/PS3 game with a combined 61%.