They should've concentrated on gameplay rather than asking George Lucas' permission on story and making it canon.
The story is pretty complex and if your a Star Wars fan it's an important part of the saga because it's the story of the birth of the rebellion and it was made canon by George Lucas himself. You have to commend the story as it seems backwards to Anakin's story. Starkiller, trained as a Sith later turns to the ways of the Jedi because of events that unfold and his love for a certain pilot... NO! NOT HAN SOLO! Since this is a videogame and if you have watched the trailers, I won't spoil too much by saying that there'll be a fight with Vader. Since I am a Vader fan, the ending is both frustrating since you kick Vader's butt and satisfying because ((CENSORED BECAUSE OF SPOILERS)) However the story isn't anything to brag about because of the short length of the whole game itself. If you don't own an Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PSP, or DS your better off reading the novel based on this game by Sean Williams or the graphic novel by Dark Horse comics.
The game graphics looks pretty OK but the character models of the main characters look pretty crappy. Even Darth Vader's helmet and suit don't look accurate. Some of the effects are nice but nothing to brag about. I'm also pretty dissapointed by the draw distance. Other games in this genre tend to do it better.
The Euphoria and the Digital Molecular Matter engine mostly seem cosmetic not applying to gameplay that much. But their efforts seem underutilized as not all objects break with the realism of DMM. Check out my blog on how I would've used both those engines at http://www.gamespot.com/users/rich_jammer/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25534364&tag=all-about;blog1 . This game could've been done without those engines as the PS2, Wii, etc versions prove.
The character's in the game are what you would expect from Star Wars but the crazy jedi who is a boss on the third stage Raxus Prime is pretty cool and Shaak Ti's apprentice weilds her lightsaber like tonfas. Although it seems they ran out of ideas like the sarlac pit and ranchor which are most famous for being on Tatooine are on Felucia which is odd. Also they added Felucian who didn't appear in episode 3 ROTS and somehow posses force powers. Not to mention that some of the Emperor's guards somehow have force powers too. This shows that they took too many liberties and created alot of plot holes.
Most of the stages are done well like the third stage of Raxus Prime. I would also like to commend the detail in the stages like seeing the bones of dead ranchors and being able to throw thier bones and also the trophy room of the hunter on Kashyyyk. Howver if you played Devil May Cry 4 you would know that they lengthed the game by having you go through all the stages and bosses more than once. TFU does this as well, you go back to a remixed versions of Raxus Prime, Felucia, Kashyyyk, and the Death Star which looks similar to the Tie Fighter construction yard. And thanks to your droid Proxy, you fight earlier bosses twice. I would've forgiven these repeats in stages if the game wasn't so short.
Most objectives seems dull because mostly it's just go here kill this dude and kill all dudes that get in your way. Although some of the missions are cool like avoiding lasers on the Death Star and helping a blind guy through the stage by picking him up with the force. However you'll find yourself lost on some stages cause you don't know how to get through an obstacle or you don't understand the objectives.
The music is mostly the excellent score you'd expect from the movies. Even the new song which is the apprentice's theme is pretty good too. While on voice acting, most of the actors work is done pretty well. It even features Jimmy Smits the actual actor for Bail Organa. Although I have to say that the Emperor and Princess Leia don't sound convincing. Also they used a different voice actor for Shaak Ti to the one I'm more used to from the Cartoon Network cartoon Star Wars Clone Wars (not the new CGI movie/series Star Wars THE Clone Wars) However the performance of Darth Vader's voice actor is really good. He sounds more like the New Hope Vader rather than the Empire Strikes Back or the Return of The Jedi Vader which seems accurate to the time line of the game.
One really annoying thing about The Force unleashed are the load times. In the menu when you go to options there's a load. When you go to extras there's no load but if you access something like art there's a load. When you pause the game there's no load but if you open up the force talents or the lightsaber menu there's a load. Thankfully you don't need to access the menu too often but the menus could have been done with lesser load times.
OK on to gameplay, some basic combos and stuff with meele and force powers which can be upgraded. I would also like to re-state my complaints in my impressions blog. The force grip targeting doesn't always grip on the object or enemy you want to. Sometimes when in an emergency you press the grip button it targets nothing so your left looking like an idiot getting shot at while doing nothing. Also when throwing said objects it doesn't always go where you want it too. Usually you'll find in a battle that you need your force grip to beat enemies but it's so unrealiable you'll usually miss your enemy then run out of things to throw. It's also pretty annoying how the targeting system, both the R1 button and the autoforce throwing aiming aims at boxes sometimes (but too often to be tolerated). Hey I'm here to fight storm troopers not boxes!
In the first stages since your just fighting weak enemies you won't find it too hard to fight back but later on you'll encounter enemies that force powers don't work on and do attacks that knock you to the floor. This can get annoying cause while Starkiller is dancing around on the floor doing the worm enemies can still hurt you and right after you get up you'll get knocked down again, this happens over and over again till you die. Most of my deaths have been because of this. However when you find moves that can kill hard enemies easy the game can get repetitive by spamming these moves over and over again.
Sometimes there are enemies and bosses that you can finish off using God of War like quicktime events. However it's pretty annoying when they do show up cause they surprise you and you end up having to do it twice. Speaking of boss fights most of them seem the same since all you fight are jedi and Sith. However this is both good and bad since the most unique boss fight is the worst. That boss fight is when you fight against a Star Destroyer. It may sound cool but executed poorly. You'll find your self wondering if your fighting the Star Destroyer correctly.
The camera system seems ok only seldem getting stuck behind an object in big areas. The camera does really badly in the small tight corridors especially when you have to go back and forth constantly adjusting the camera. If you want to see how bad the camera is try playing proxy's challenges and try to avoid the flame troopers. Also the camera system seems really crap during boss fights. Switching to a over the head view.
There were quite alot of glitches that I encountered. One instance I fell through a glitched whole in the world and fell through to my doom. The other is that I couldn't see the walls and just saw an endless world. One time I killed an AT-ST by just throwing one rock at it and it just dissintegrated. And the final stupid glitch is during a boss fight the boss got stuck in one animation and wouldn't attack so I had to kill my self to continue. I encountered all these only in my first playthrough.
I have to say that the best part of the game is the force grip. It's so satisfying grabbing a stormtrooper impaling him then tossing him to his doom. Also force gripping a storm trooper then making him into a lighting grenade and using him to blow up his buddies is also pretty fun.
One other nice thing is that you can custimise your saber. Although not as good as the saber customisation of KOTOR or Jedi Knight Jedi Academy but that black light saber does look cool.
There wasn't any multiplayer in the version I played (PS3) but I think the Wii version has multiplayer while other versions have system exclusive game modes. I find it pretty stupid that the 360 and PS3 are identical while the other consoles get console specific exclusives.
Not alot to do when you finish the game once. You can play the game in a harder difficulty, you could do proxy's challenges, you could find all the jedi holocrons, or watch the secret ending. Other than that the only other reason to go back is to get the crytal that turns your saber's color to black.
All-in-all this game's story doesn't make up for it's repetitive levels, stupidly difficult gameplay, bad camera, boring objectives, glitched graphics and a short game overall. Your better off reading the extended story in the novels. Both the Euphoria and the DMM are exciting new technologies but underutilized in this game. Most of the work of Euphoria and DMM are cosmetic. Basically like Obama said about Palin "You can put make-up on a pig but it's still a pig" Or "You can put fancy lights and decorations on Mos Eisley but it's still a hive or summ and villainy."
This game was supposed to have force power which were amped up and super powerful. But that also is pretty underwhelming. If you want to see the force unleashed you should watch Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack creator's version of Star Wars called Star Wars Clone Wars. Check out a sample of his work below http://www.gamespot.com/users/rich_jammer/video_player?id=KyQ1kWGt5bsOujPe