Force Without Reins
Find out what happens when that pesky Light Side of the Force doesn't get in the way.
Published: January 28, 2008
C'mon, admit it, you've always wanted to know what it would look like to watch a Jedi just freak out and start using the full power of the Force instead of practicing all that goodie-two-shoes restraint. Sure, we got to see Anakin flip his lid a little and slice up some innocent folks, but that was off screen. What if you could actually see a Force-powered badass literally tear a door open, the metal peeling and rending itself apart under the sheer strain of a little Midichlorian-assisted might?
This is the premise behind LucasArts' The Force Unleashed universe, and though the stars of the world are undoubtedly the video games -- which will hit every single console and handheld out there -- there are comics, books, action figures and even new LEGO sets that will help bridge the gap between the original trilogy and the newer prequel trilogy.
Oh yes, the game helps write the history between Episode III and Episode IV, and it's cannon, blessed by the hand of George Lucas himself. Excited yet? Good, 'cause it only gets better: you're Darth Vader's secret apprentice, and the Force is indeed very, very strong in this one.
Before delving into our first look at the next-gen version of the game, it's probably a good idea to talk about the underlying technology that's going into it. You may remember a while back that LucasArts started getting cozy with a couple of middleware providers -- namely Pixelux, creators of Digital Molecular Matter, which allows real-world materials to be plunked into games to allow them to bend, shatter, splinter and crack with true-to-life accuracy, and NaturalMotion, the folks behind euphoria, a technology that gives every single character in the game their own personality. In the case of euphoria, only 2K (specifically Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto IV) are using the tech, and in the case of DMM, LucasArts has the exclusive license (in fact, Pixelux shares offices with the Force Unleashed team).
LucasArts was careful to highlight just how powerful these two tools were in fleshing out a world that not only looked true to the Star Wars mythos, but actually behaved as a living, breathing world should. Though they didn't go into a ton of detail about the Force powers you'd have at your disposal, a couple of standby powers were shown off to hammer home just how advanced the world would be. Lifting a storm trooper into the air with Force Grip made them flail around wildly, actually grabbing onto nearby objects like crates (which made it harder to lift them) or even other troopers (which sent the flailing pair whipping around with dynamic physics).
Combined with the now-familiar use of the Havok physics engine, picking up enemies or objects and tossing them around felt like a HD version of Midway's tragically underappreciated Psi-Ops (or the even less played Second Sight from TimeSplitters creators Free Radical), which is definitely a good thing.
The use of DMM was even more pronounced. That example we talked about at the start of the preview, with the Force literally tearing feet-thick metal open like it was wafer-thin tin foil wasn't just a what-if scenario, it was demonstrated for us. Afterward, a little Force Push action slammed the incredibly heavy doors back into the place so that following storm troopers wouldn't have a way in. The tech still has a ways to go, as evidenced by the fact that the rent metal didn't quite look... well, bent up enough, but it's more than promising.
This is the premise behind LucasArts' The Force Unleashed universe, and though the stars of the world are undoubtedly the video games -- which will hit every single console and handheld out there -- there are comics, books, action figures and even new LEGO sets that will help bridge the gap between the original trilogy and the newer prequel trilogy.
Oh yes, the game helps write the history between Episode III and Episode IV, and it's cannon, blessed by the hand of George Lucas himself. Excited yet? Good, 'cause it only gets better: you're Darth Vader's secret apprentice, and the Force is indeed very, very strong in this one.
Before delving into our first look at the next-gen version of the game, it's probably a good idea to talk about the underlying technology that's going into it. You may remember a while back that LucasArts started getting cozy with a couple of middleware providers -- namely Pixelux, creators of Digital Molecular Matter, which allows real-world materials to be plunked into games to allow them to bend, shatter, splinter and crack with true-to-life accuracy, and NaturalMotion, the folks behind euphoria, a technology that gives every single character in the game their own personality. In the case of euphoria, only 2K (specifically Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto IV) are using the tech, and in the case of DMM, LucasArts has the exclusive license (in fact, Pixelux shares offices with the Force Unleashed team).
LucasArts was careful to highlight just how powerful these two tools were in fleshing out a world that not only looked true to the Star Wars mythos, but actually behaved as a living, breathing world should. Though they didn't go into a ton of detail about the Force powers you'd have at your disposal, a couple of standby powers were shown off to hammer home just how advanced the world would be. Lifting a storm trooper into the air with Force Grip made them flail around wildly, actually grabbing onto nearby objects like crates (which made it harder to lift them) or even other troopers (which sent the flailing pair whipping around with dynamic physics).
Combined with the now-familiar use of the Havok physics engine, picking up enemies or objects and tossing them around felt like a HD version of Midway's tragically underappreciated Psi-Ops (or the even less played Second Sight from TimeSplitters creators Free Radical), which is definitely a good thing.
The use of DMM was even more pronounced. That example we talked about at the start of the preview, with the Force literally tearing feet-thick metal open like it was wafer-thin tin foil wasn't just a what-if scenario, it was demonstrated for us. Afterward, a little Force Push action slammed the incredibly heavy doors back into the place so that following storm troopers wouldn't have a way in. The tech still has a ways to go, as evidenced by the fact that the rent metal didn't quite look... well, bent up enough, but it's more than promising.
