Thus an epiphany: “When I read that, it felt to me like it could also describe Darth Vader. He has no real allies or friends, no one to turn to. Even his master disdains him. A few years before we started working on The Force Unleashed, I was in a meeting with George Lucas where he told us that the Emperor views Vader as ‘broken’ after his defeat in Episode III. I wanted players to walk away seeing Vader as both evil and tragic.”

Lee also played the Star Wars prequels’ villainous Count Dooku, so he understands a thing or two about tragic bad guys.

”No Disintegrations.” Disguised as a Tusken Raider, Galen infiltrates Jabba’s palace only to encounter a familiar foe.

Redemption

The Force Unleashed takes place after the events of the final prequel, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and before the opening of the original movie, Episode IV: A New Hope (also known simply as Star Wars). Darth Vader leads an invasion of the planet Kashyyyk, where Jedi Knight Kento Marek has been discovered in hiding. Vader kills Kento but finds the man’s young son, Galen, and takes him under wing as a secret apprentice code-named “Starkiller.”

“I wanted players to walk away seeing Vader as both evil and tragic.”

- Haden Blackman, project lead

The storyline builds on Vader’s loneliness and the Emperor’s disdain for him as you guide Galen through a series of secret missions. Assisted by the droid PROXY and his pilot, Juno Eclipse, Galen travels the galaxy hunting down hidden Jedi and growing his powerful Force abilities in preparation for Vader’s ultimate mission: helping the Sith Lord defeat the Emperor before his master decides he’s expendable. No Dark Jedi can ever be fully trusted, however, and this tale ultimately tests the loyalties of all its characters, even PROXY.

A Shocking Development. When Galen takes Vader’s place, he dons eerily-similar intimidating armor.

“I’m a huge believer that every story needs to be built around a strong central theme,” Blackman comments. “Ours was obviously redemption, which George encouraged us to use since it’s so integral to the Star Wars saga.”

That theme pays off by the end when you decide between good and evil fates for Galen. “We knew from the outset that we wanted to have multiple endings to give the redemption theme more meaning,” Blackman says. “I was pretty adamant that the evil ending couldn’t be one where you end up sitting on a throne of blood and bone, ruling the galaxy. We really wanted to show the consequences of making the evil choice.”

Insignificant Next to the Power of the Force. Galen easily dispenses of this stormtrooper, but some enemies pose a tougher fight.

A New Look at an Old Story

The evil ending feeds into two of the three bonus levels added for the Ultimate Sith Edition, as Galen takes Vader’s place at the Emperor’s side and sets out to defeat the remaining Jedi, including Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker. “Initially, we didn’t have any plans to continue from the evil ending, but as we were brainstorming options, we hit upon the idea of exploring a ‘What if?’,” Blackman explains. “We got really excited about this idea because it lets us travel to familiar locations — Hoth and Tatooine — and become involved with events from the original saga.”

“We wanted to focus on blowing out the Force powers, making them really over the top. All of the powers are designed to be visceral and combat-ready.”

- Haden Blackman, project lead

Reexamination of what we know and love also applies to the Force powers Galen, Vader, and other characters possess. In keeping with the title, Blackman recalls, “we wanted to focus on blowing out the Force powers, making them really over the top. All of the powers are designed to be visceral and combat-ready. We also added the concept of combining Force powers with lightsaber attacks — you can charge up your lightsaber with lightning, for example.”

Welcome Wagon. You’ll encounter several Rancors when you visit Felucia.

He adds: “We purposely supported a few different play styles. If you’re a button-masher who likes to get in close with your lightsaber, you can be successful doing that. And if you want to hang back and act as a sniper, you can do that too: learn to use Force Grip to pick up objects and throw them at enemies, make liberal use of the charged lightsaber throw, and unlock the lightning grenade combo, which lets you charge up a gripped enemy, who will explode when you throw him.”

Fleshing Out the Tale

Lucas signed off on those over-the-top Force powers along with The Force Unleashed’s overall storyline. “During our meetings with him,” Blackman relates, “he gave us a lot of very general story advice, such as encouraging us to include a strong love interest (Juno Eclipse) and a comic sidekick (PROXY). He did have very specific guidelines on how we could use Princess Leia, but other than that, he basically gave us the freedom to tell the story we wanted to tell.”

This Rodian Definitely Shoots First. During your mission to the planet-sized junkyard known as Raxus Prime, you’ll run into plenty of Rodian mercenaries.

That narrative went through two years of evolution before voice actors were brought in. “Just hearing and seeing the actors go through the script really brought the story alive for me for the first time,” Blackman says. “A highlight for all of us was working with Jimmy Smits (Bail Organa in the movies and in The Force Unleashed). Sam Witwer (Galen) and I are huge Star Wars fans and were standing next to each other when Jimmy delivered a speech that basically forms the Rebel Alliance in the game.

“We had very visceral reactions, and the hair stood up on our arms. I don’t think our story’s importance to the overall Star Wars saga had really sunk in until that moment.”

If you liked this game, check out:

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