Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was, well, unleashed on every platform known to man. With the iPhone gaming scene catching fire, it’s only natural that the new title would drop over onto Apple’s little device. This handheld edition takes a different approach to the title, moving away from the action/adventure style of every other version and going with a game where you just draw on the iPhone touchscreen.
Graphically, the game is impressive for the platform. The artistic backgrounds look fantastic, although you provide a stark contrast to the block-ish character models. Animations are great though, especially when you’re throwing enemies around with your Force powers. From a sound perspective, The Force Unleashed is just okay. The background music fits in with the genre, but there is zero voice over in the game. I guess that’s what we’re going to have to expect from iPhone titles.
The story follows a similar pattern to the console versions. You play as Darth Vader’s apprentice trying to eliminate the Jedi, but here the leader of the Jedi movement is the Emperor. Weird, I know. The story doesn’t play a huge role in this version of The Force Unleashed since everything is delivered in bite-sized portions throughout the game (which is great for a mobile game).
The first thing you’ll notice when firing up The Force Unleashed is that you do not control any movements for your character. All walking around and such is controlled for you. You get to do all the fun things: using your Force powers to obliterate your enemies. Starting off the game, only Force Grip is available to you. Each Force power is performed by drawing a particular shape on the screen. With Force Grip, you make crossed-circle shape to pick up an enemy then swipe left, right, or down to throw them. As you progress through the game, more Force powers become available to you, such as Force Push, Pull, Lightening, Jedi Mind Tricks, Heal, etc. You can only have one offensive maneuver equipped at a time, but these change be easily changed. By swiping two fingers up, you enable Push, swiping two fingers down enables Pull, and tapping both fingers on the screen brings you back to Force Grip. As you play through, you’re Force meter increases so you can use more powers without draining your energy. The only other major control used is to deflect blaster fire with your light saber by swiping in one of four diagonal directions as indicated on the screen.
The controls may seem minimalistic, but they work very well and the game is fun to play. However, you’ll only get about 90 minutes of total gameplay out of The Force Unleashed, unless you have the desire to go back and play again (starting without your acquired Force powers). For $10, it may not be enough for you to justify the cost. If you’re a big Star Wars fan, give this one a go. If not, hold out for the next big iPhone game.
Overall: 7 out of 10
