Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on the DS is an interesting beast. LucasArts had a playable version of the game running at its recent media day, and they were careful to point out that the DS version was being developed as an original game. It's not a port; it's not coming from the same team as the current-gen or PSP versions. It is its own product. And having seen the game's refreshingly simple but powerful control scheme in motion, we think that the time and effort LucasArts is pouring into the DS version of The Force Unleashed could really pay off.
You Don't Understand the Power...
The DS graphics look bearable, which is more than we usually even hope for from the handheld. Much as we love it, 3D action titles are not its strength. But as we saw the Secret Apprentice run around both the planet Felucia and the interior of his ship, the Rogue Shadow, everything was crisp enough to easily follow the action. Colors were a bit too unclear to make targeting outlines easy to see, but that's just a matter of balancing the thickness and brightness of the targeting outlines.
When playing the actual game, as opposed to the various mini-events on the Rogue Shadow, the controls divide the touch pad into six sections. Each one can be tapped to generate an iconic effect, including Force Grip, Force Lightning, a lightsaber slash, a jump and Force Push. More interestingly, as you level-up your Force abilities, you'll be able to generate long combos through natural combinations of these abilities. Want to jump and slam your lightsaber into someone? That's the jump touchpad initially, followed by dragging your stylus down to the centrally located lightsaber icon. The control scheme also uses the d-pad to move and the shoulder button to block, creating an overall interface that is utterly unique for the DS.
In addition, the DS will also feature saber and Force locks when you fight other Force users. On the bottom screen, your foe's saber icon will spin and stabilize while you try to hold your saber icon perpendicular to it, representing the struggle to win the lock. Again, it's a neat system to represent the grandiose spectacles that the HD-gen games will feature. There will also be Force moments to let you perform truly, bizarrely powerful feats, such as lifting a skyhook into Kashyyk's orbital space via the Force. These moments consist of an animation on the top screen and you dragging balls of "force energy" into a central point as quickly as you can on the touch screen.
Normally, massive multi-platform launches leave every platform but the HD-gen versions in the lurch. This time, LucasArts is really reaching out to make sure that every platform gets a unique experience that's worth playing, while ensuring that each platform also covers the same compelling experience. It's an interesting experiment, and we're eager to see the proof in the pudding of the DS version of The Force Unleashed.
