Star Wars: The Force Unleashed/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: In the second game, BOBA FETT returns. Too bad he doesn't do anything and is not even in a fight...except in the Wii version.
    • The lead designer said that they are working closely with the ESRB board to see what they can get away with while still retaining a T rating (meaning a lightsaber is going to have more realistic damage this time).
    • Two words: Stormtrooper Decapitation.
  • Awesome Music: The fact that the original soundtrack for this game is not available for purchase is downright criminal.
    • One specific example from the game itself occurs at the beginning of the final confrontation. The scene begins with the apprentice charging down a corridor on the Death Star toward the throne room where the rebels are, but suddenly he halts as the door at the end of the hall opens and Darth Vader marches through. The apprentice visibly steels himself for the battle ahead as the two draw their lightsabers and slow-walk toward each other. The main theme blaring in the background makes it a truly epic moment, and arguably makes this specific moment the game's Money Making Shot.
  • Complete Monster: The Emperor seems to get off on watching people suffer and die.

(Evil Laugh) "Yes! Kill him, Lord Vader!"

    • Starkiller in the Endor DLC in the second game, although it's non-canon. The guy kills Han and Chewie, after all.
    • Darth Phobos. You definitely know she qualifies if even the Sith were horrified at her actions and pulled an Enemy Mine with the Jedi, their worst enemies, just to take her down.
  • Cutscene Incompetence: Although you reduce Palpatine's lifebar to zero in the final battle, this does not prevent him from killing Galen in about ten seconds in the cutscene. It's possibly justified by the fact that Palpatine is a very powerful Sith Lord. It'd just be stupid for you to actually kill him. Not to mention that as a canonical prequel (for the Light Side ending, like every Star Wars game) neither Vader nor Palpatine could die. The lifebar is just a gameplay mechanic.
    • It's hardly like Palpatine hasn't pulled this one off in the movies. Remember how Mace Windu died? Hell, remember the 'I'm unarmed' routine he pulled on Luke onboard the DS2? Palpatine loves to take a knee and grovel "helplessly" before an opponent when he's on the ropes, then sucker-punch them the instant they relax their guard. Depleting his life bar only means you took Palpatine to the point where he felt that plan fake surrender was necessary, not that you actually exhausted him.
  • Demonic Spiders: Imperial Purge Troopers in the first game and their insanely precise shoulder-mounted homing lasers. Their shots are unblockable, are harder to dodge than anything any boss will throw at you and will easily perform nigh-immediate 180 degree turns to hit you in the ass in the event that you do somehow manage to duck under or jump over one of them successfully. Oh, and when (no, not if -- when) the shot hits you, it will take about 20% off your health and knock you down. If you dared to jump in an attempt to dodge it, the knock back effect will last long enough for him to shoot it at you again, this time without any chance at all for you to avoid it. If you manage to get close to them, however, they're easier to kill, at least if you fighting them alone. Now imagine, if you will, facing off against FOUR of these bastards at a time, each one at a different range. It gets a tad hard to get through something like that. And, yes, it does happen. More than once.
    • More literal examples with the Terror Droids in the sequel, and the assassins that accompany them. They Teleport Spam so that you can't hit them and have to come up with creative ways to kill them, such as going Force Fury or blowing out a window or something. Not to mention that they've got attacks that can paralyze you and frequently close in for melee while teleporting away from you when you try to counterattack.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Dark Side Maris Brood.
    • As well as Darth Phobos (especially when she impersonates Juno).
  • Foe Yay: When he defeats her, Maris Brood actually seems to be more trying to seduce Galen into sparing her life, than about being genuine that she'll turn from the Dark Side if he lets her live. Made more explicit in the comic adaptation.
  • God Mode Sue: One common criticism leveled at the main character (extending to his clones) is that he is perhaps too powerful. Perhaps personified best in the DLC levels where he performs such feats as... killing Obi-Wan Kenobi's ghost in the Tatooine level, overpowering Chewbacca (someone capable of tearing a human apart) with his bare hands without the use of force abilities on Endor, and then showing that even a fully trained Jedi version of Leia is absolutely no match for him.
  • Game Breaker: Force Lighting. It can make nearly every boss fight piss-easy, at least on normal difficulty.
  • Goddamn Bats: In the Wii game, any enemy using a jet pack. They can't be thrown, have an impossible-to-block flamethrower(for close range), encourage you to whack them with your saber (in which case they blast you with a flamethrower), have tons of hit points, and can attack you while you electrocute them. Luckily, you can quickly kill them by dangling them over a ledge and impaling them.
    • In the PS3/360 version you can short out their jetpacks with lightning for an extra helping of Video Game Cruelty Potential. Its Goddamn Bats are the Scout Troopers, imperials with sniper rifles that outrange Galen's force powers.
    • Don't forget the Lightsaber Training Droids in the Jedi Temple.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: One of the DLC packs that came with the second game was a "Maulkiller" skin. Around two years later, Sam Witwer is voicing a resurrected Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
  • Ho Yay: Not too particularly tangible in this game, but the way some Mooks grab onto each other when you are throwing them around with the Force seems a little suggestive at times.
  • Large Ham: The Emperor, after capturing the Rebel Alliance, gloats about how they'll be tortured and that they have lost and whatnot.
    • Made stranger when you learn that the Emperor is voiced by Sam Witwer, aka Starkiller. He does an amazing impression of Palpatine.

The Emperor: Yes! Kill him, Lord Vader!

    • The passion that Kota puts into every word he speaks in the sequel makes each line burst at the seams.

"Abandon ship! ABANDON SHIP!"

Emperor: You will give me the names of your friends and your allies. Andthenyouwilldie.

  • Nightmare Fuel: Facing Starkiller's Evil Counterpart in the Jedi Temple, with his animalistic screeches and roars. And the aftermath where Starkiller briefly hallucinates that he's become him.

Dark Apprentice: You will never escape me.

    • In the Dark Side Ending, Emperor Palpatine turning Starkiller into a cyborg, as Starkiller screams in terror and agony.
    • The second game has more examples, being Darker and Edgier.
      • Starkiller's clone explores the Dark Side Cave of Dagobah, where he encounters many other clones that are entangled by vines and eerily calling out for help.
      • The first time you're on the Salvation; it's dark, you're mostly alone, and your comlink occasionally broadcasts Rebel soldiers as they're being butchered by unseen forces. They don't call them 'Terror Troopers' for nothing. The fact that you are up against the most ruthless bounty hunter in the galaxy doesn't help even though you don't even fight him at all.
      • On Kamino as you walk through a hallway, you're occasionally haunted by Juno and Kota's voices berating you. Oh and throw in a few surprise attacks from an imaginary Darth Vader.
      • In the Dark Side Ending, Vader's true apprentice just looks at Juno's dead body with absolute contempt before moving on, even though he's also a clone of Starkiller. Not to mention that he was hiding there the whole time and was able to WTFPWN Starkiller and Kota.
  • Nightmare Retardant: The uncanny-looking Starkiller clones? Creepy. The fact that they sound like they have Down Syndrome? Not so much.
  • Older Than They Think: The developers spent a lot of time talking about the game's materials system in pre-release interviews like they were the first ones to implement such a thing. They were late by four years, and ironically, one of the criticisms of the game found in many reviews is that the system is ultimately underused to the point of being barely noticable.
    • This was very noticeable when comparing how much the same Euphoria engine impacted nearly every aspect of GTA IV. Not helped by the fact most people had been enjoying Niko's exploits months before The Force Unleashed came out.
  • Player Punch: In The Force Unleashed II: DLC Edition's Endor mission, the Dark Apprentice (That's the player character) kills Chewie and Han.
  • Porting Disaster: The company responsible for the PC port did the absolute minimum necessary to have the game run on a computer. The system requirements are ridiculously high, the graphics and controls have to be changed before launching the game (and even then the graphics options are limited to screen resolution) and the game itself is riddled with bugs and prone to CTDs. Oh, and game data is duplicated for each level, making the full game to take 27 GB of disk space. It's a direct port and nothing more.
    • To be fair, the game will recognize a 360 controller and a high-end rig can easily powerhouse through the lack of optimization; there's simply no effort put into making the game scale down at all.
    • The second game did much better, although in that case it was developed alongside other console versions and not just blindly ported.
  • That One Boss: Kazdan Paratus nearly always blocks all of your moves except Force Lightning, and, if you play on difficulty above normal, starts blocking Force Lightning too, if it is used repeatedly. He has hard to block light-lance attacks and can hit for about 70% of your life if he catches one of the objects lying around in his Force Push.
    • He's not as bad in the Wii version, though, despite having a double-bladed lightsaber instead of his usual weapon. Taking his place however is the ghost/hologram of Galen's father, Kento, who not only blocks just about every attack you throw at him, but also seems to move and react twice as fast as you.
    • On higher difficulties like Sith Master most of the bosses of this game fall under this category, unless you know the "trick" to kill them, as many reviewers have stated.
    • Chalk up the Gorog, whose fight never seems to end.
    • What about the Terror Walker? While relatively easy to beat one-on-one, it summons so many Terror Droids and Assassins to help that you can't really focus on it, allowing it to keep stepping on you as you take damage everywhere.
  • That One Level: The hangar in the Death Star (PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 version) isn't called the Hangar of Death for nothing. Filled with snipers, Elite Mooks, and AT-ST's on all sides with you in the middle.
    • There's also the bit where you pull a Star Destroyer out of orbit.
  • Uncanny Valley: The Wii, PlayStation 2 and PSP version's character models are unable to produce any emotion whatsoever.
  • What an Idiot!: Darth Phobos dropping her Juno disguise in the middle of the battle.
  • The Woobie: Starkiller's entire life qualifies, but most definitely the scene in the sequel where he starts hallucinating that Juno and Kota are rejecting him.

Juno's voice: Who are you?
Starkiller: Juno, it's me!
Juno's voice: You are a monster, a thing.
Starkilller: (sounding like he's about to cry) Juno, please!
Kota's voice: You are Vader's puppet. Just a body filled with the memories of a dead man.

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