Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Broken"

In its very good moments this is everything you could want from a Star Wars game. Weaving elegantly between enemies, lightsaber flashing though dizzying arcs-a slash across a Stormtrooper's chest an impaling thurst into a Rodian...The sense of power is really brilliant. You enter a room and you are sure that you are going to kill everyone that is in your way. No wonder the dark side is so secutive. Once you've toasted Jawas with lightning or used the Force to push opponents on walls it's hard not to get a taste from it.

Playing as Vader's secret apprentice Starkiller, hunting Jedi, works very well as a plot. The wistle stop tour of cameos also doesn't jar as much as you might think. The only thing that's hard to stomach is that it doesn't so much rewrite the story as tear out pages and eat them. Especially as events clearly make Starkiller the most powerful Jedi ever and the crucial pivot responsible for everything in Episodes IV, V, VI.

Your core powers are built around lightsaber combos lightning and Force manipulation. It's initially simplystic hack 'n' slash stuff but level up and things get interesting. New combos and powers increase your options and you can moix them up-finishing a furry of blows with a flare of electricity or a devastating Force blast. The combat is similar with DMC4. It includes combination of lightning and moves that decimate the opposition.

Though the game stops short of Nero's acrobatic brilliance. Around the first 6 hours you will have unlocked all the best moves so just when you feel the fighting is about to reveal hidden depths it stalls. You can still power up abilities but the variety stops. One redeeming ability is the one that undos all your leveling up at any point and reassign your collected XP from scratch.

What's hard to understand is that having given you abilities LA seems hell bent on stopping you from using them. When you pass some stages most opponents will easily avoid all your special attacks and powers. This leaves you feeling impotent or worse like your abilities aren't so special after all. That infrustrating because when you're allowed to cut loose with your skills it's brilliant. When you make good combinations you gain self confidence and get excited. But most of the time you will be facing a huge amount of foes and when you try to hit someone the others will hit you from behind or shoot you from distance.

The Boss Fights need special mention. Every single one is broken. It is a horrible mess. To make matters worse countless button-press mini games appear to make you grab your head.

All in all it is a good game but sometimes desparating. It deserves your attention.

Graphics:8
Sound:8
Gameplay:7
Controls:8
Lasting appeal:7