Fantastic story marred by limitations and bugs
The Force Unleashed has the added benefit of being considered canon, which is rare for a video game.Where TFU really shines is the story. It really is worth picking up just for this contribution to the Star Wars mythos. Has any other character been introduced who so immediately had a major impact on what we all agree is the greatness of Star Wars (Eps IV through VI)? Plus it gets the *feel* right. The original trilogy movies all hinged on the redemption of a character (Han, Lando, Anakin), this is where Eps I-III faltered.
TFU plays decently well as a game. The powers and combos are very satisfying. Floating up and curling into a ball and then exploding with power - I can't get enough of that. However, I definitely have tended to use just a few powers (electricity) and combos (sith strike) and have been able to beat almost everyone thusly.
The biggest gripe I have with TFU is how constrained I've felt a lot of the time. This is especially noticeable during boss battles, when I have consistently felt cheated by not being able to use the whole arena. The worlds in general *look* expansive but are quite limited and linear. Areas that look enticing to explore are consistently off limits, to the point that I've died several times because I thought I could hop explore something and instead dropped into the abyss.
On top of the gameplay elements, there are lots of random bugs that don't impact gameplay but just feel sloppy, whether it's the missing Starkiller in some of the load screens (leaving just the starburst behind him), odd sound editing, weird load times (why do things like force upgrades have load times?), or a few serious game crashes.
As a game, TFU is definitely average. If it didn't have the benefit of the license behind it, I doubt it would be making any waves in the gaming community. But as a contribution to the Star Wars universe, it's very, very satisfying.