The Star Wars franchise has had it fair share in good and bad games over the years when it comes to gaming, The Force Unleashed was one of those games that people will either love it or hate it when see this game on consoles but you don't hear much about the game when being played on a handheld console. After playing through the PSP version of The Force Unleashed it does try and be a decent Star Wars game especially on the PSP where past games have got mixed-reviews when releasing games on the PSP.
Story takes place between Episode III and IV where The Galactic Empire has overthrown the Old Republic and now holds countless worlds in the grip of fear. A number of Jedi knights have been defeated and a number of remaining Jedi have all gone into hiding; after Darth Vader invades the planet of Kashyyk and defeating a Jedi on that planet Vader finds out that the Jedi had a son so Vader rescues the son and trains him to become his secret apprentice. Here is where you play the role of Starkiller who is Darth Vader's secret apprentice who is tasked on hunting down Jedi while killing rebels and Imperials alike in order to hide his existence from the Emperor who doesn't know anything about Starkiller.
What may put the odd people off straight away as soon as you start playing The Force Unleashed is that graphics and visuals that might not be impressive as the console versions if you compare the PSP version to the PS3 version there is a massive difference. But the visuals for the PSP version still look impressive especially for a game that was released in 2008 where more and more games got more detailed and polished on the PSP. Each of the planets you visit are very well detailed from the environments to the character designs, but like most PSP games the camera system can be really fiddly and will have a mind of its own when it comes to gameplay when moving Starkiller around.
Many people have often complained that the gameplay might be a little similar to the likes of the God of War series okay yes that part is sort of true. You will be hacking and slashing enemies with your lightsaber by using the Square button and also holding down Square to block attacks from enemies, you can use both Triangle and Circle button to use Force powers by with pushing blocks and objects at enemies or using lightning powers to shock enemies. You can also use the X button to jump and the R button to quickly dash or dodge enemy attacks, you'll have two coloured bars one of is the Red bar for Health and the Blue bar for Force Powers.
You can also upgrade your Force powers and Jedi skills as well including changing into different costumes and changing different coloured lightsabers as well. The odd bosses you encounter you will have to press certain buttons in order to defeat them and also getting to the next checkpoint you need to head to next. It can take at least six hours or depending on if you want to try and collect everything which only unlocks artwork and playable characters for the multiplayer if you know anyone else who has this game on them where you can play up to 2 -4 players at once.
If you don't have a PSP you can download this from the PSN store and be able to play it on the PS Vita, it may feel like a short game but does offer some good challenges, a decent story and also surprisingly good voice acting on top. It's worth checking out if you are fan of the Star Wars franchise but like I've already said it's one of those games that you'll either love it or hate it when it comes to The Force Unleashed.