Any fan of the Star Wars universe was hard as a diamond in an ice storm when we first got a glimpse of the trailer for TFU. After many jaw-dropping videos and demonstrations, we finally get a chance to play as Starkiller, Vader’s secret apprentice.  The premise of the game is simple. You have every kind of force power at your disposal and you have to carry out missions for your master no matter what. The demo is a great look at what the game could be but I felt left short on their promise to deliver a huge demo experience.

Without spoiling much of the 10 or so minutes it takes to play through it, you are granted several force powers and are upgraded once. This leads us all to believe that force powers will be instantly upgraded the farther in the game you progress. There also seems to be a deep combo system with the lightsaber attacks when mixed with your force powers. Try doing a simple three hit combo and press the button for force lightning. Pwnage isn’t the word. The demo takes place on a remote base so there is not much level design but we have seen images of other planets which would surely be more detailed and they have looked terrific.

Now, the letdowns. There is no saber to saber combat in the demo and this is very disappointing. Every trailer has shown you going sword to sword with another Jedi or Sith and there is none of that here. The stormtroopers are extremely easy to kill. Almost too easy and I did play the demo on the hardest setting. Once you get the hang of force pushing objects across the screen, the stormtroopers stand no chance. Lastly, we were lead to believe that there was to be exclusive demo content not found in the full game. We get ten minutes and have to stop at a checkpoint. Unless this level was removed from the final release, I cannot see how this can possibly be construed as exclusive.

That being said, I am still very excited for this game. Although the demo was a letdown, it gives us a glimpse, albeit a small one at what could be the best Star Wars game in years. LucasArts games always have an immersive story and I can’t see doing Vader’s bidding as anything but addicting and gratifying at the same time. Hunting down rogue Jedi and bringing back their lightsabers as trophies is what we have all been waiting for. We will get that chance next month; I just thought we would get it last week.