We’ve seen Disney bring a new generation of Star Wars to our galaxy over the past decade. Despite this, many fans have a bad feeling about this current timeline, with the lukewarm reception of The Acolyte, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, and the several announced Star Wars projects from Taika Waititi, Jon Favreau, and Shawn Levy. If there’s one thing that we cling to in this franchise, it’s the original Star Wars projects like Episodes IV to VI. And for those who believe that Disney’s Star Wars should shoot for the stars of yesteryear, then look no further than Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
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It’s shocking to realize that this Star Wars game came out in 2008, which was years before The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm. To this end, the reason why this gaming series didn’t continue was because it was scrapped following the purchase. We’ve seen Disney do spin-off series’ of different characters already seen within the universe, but what’s interesting about The Force Unleashed is that it created an origin story within its established trilogy.
While this series is considered non-canon, the depiction of the Star Wars franchise is represented incredibly well in The Force Unleashed. Drenched in secrecy, Darth Vader assigns his trained apprentice Galen Marek, aka Starkiller, to mask his force-user abilities in his mission to hunt down any surviving Jedi after the Great Jedi Purge. For any Star Wars fans, this is a non-canon story initiating the structure of the Rebel Alliance, which we later discover is Darth Vader’s way of overthrowing the hierarchy and getting rid of the Emperor.
With the espionage thriller aspects intact, players are thrown into an action-adventure game that gives the Star Wars Jedi series a run for its credits. For a game released for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Wii, the physics-based lightsaber gameplay still holds up nicely. Sure, the graphics are a bit blocky, but for a title that came out two decades ago, there was a lot of success seen within this installment. As you could’ve guessed, the game was praised for its story, soundtrack, and voice acting, which was led by Star Wars Rebels and Days Gone voice actor Sam Witwer.
Any game based within the Star Wars series is exciting to jump into, especially if you get the chance to wield a lightsaber. Seeing how The Force Unleashed came out three years after Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, it’s no surprise that fans clung to this game as a testament to the original trilogy’s momentum. Force Unleashed didn’t feel pushed onto us as a way to expand on the continuous stories told within the universe, it provided players a chance to be brought into a story made just for gamers to indulge in. If we’ve learned anything from Star Wars gaming fans, it’s that original stories are always a great way of introducing or bringing back players into a galaxy bursting with opportunities to explore.
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It’s obvious to point out that we’ve all wanted to play the villain, especially in the Star Wars universe. Starkiller’s origin story throughout Force Unleased feels fluid with his journey from killing Jedi to questioning his moral standards of whether or not his actions are done on his behalf rather than above him. The depth to which the game goes when it comes to diving into the mindset of a trained Sith apprentice is worthy of such praise. The lightsaber-throwing and force-wielding abilities are an interesting compromise given how we learn to control them throughout the game, even though it’s sadistically fun attacking stormtroopers and Jedi without a moral compass.
Growing up, The Force Unleashed made me fall in love with the Star Wars franchise, as it seems to be apparent with many other fans. Perhaps it’s a bit dark nowadays, but isn’t that a better reason to bring this game back to the spotlight? If we want to give original Star Wars stories a fresh coat of paint without taking away their foundation, the best approach to revitalizing the good old days is by celebrating a title that wasn’t held back by story limitations or continuity errors but instead represented a different perspective on the franchise.
