The Force Unleashed is a third-person action game in which the player's character's weapons are the Force and a lightsaber. Developers treated the main character's lightsaber like another Force power, and wanted to ensure "something visceral and cool" happened with each button-push. The game has a combo system for stringing lightsaber attacks and for combining lightsaber attacks with Force powers. Experience points earned by killing enemies and finding artifacts can be used to increase Starkiller's powers and traits. The gameplay is intended to be easy to learn; the development team included "horrible" gamers to help ensure the game's accessibility. Players can casually run and gun through the game, but the game rewards those who take a stealthy, more tactical approach. The game includes enemies that are easy to overcome; game difficulty arises from presenting these enemies in large numbers that can wear down the player's character. Additionally, enemies learn from the player's character's attacks; using the same attack on different characters can sometimes lead to the player's character doing less damage. The enemies, which number over 50, have various strengths and weaknesses; developers faced the difficulty of effectively placing them throughout the game's varied environments.
The Nintendo versions of the game exclusively allow players to use motion controls to control Starkiller's attacks and participate in multiplayer battles. The Wii version uses the Wii Remote to execute lightsaber attacks and the Nunchuk to wield Force powers, and allows two players to fight each other as any of the various Jedi and Sith from the Star Wars universe in one-on-one multiplayer duels. The Nintendo DS version utilizes the touchscreen to execute attacks, where single actions can be executed by tapping a certain region of the screen (with each region corresponding to a particular action, such as jumping or Force pushing), while more advanced attacks can be performed by dragging the stylus across neighboring regions of the screen. Its multiplayer mode allows up to four players who have copies of the game to fight each other.
Plot
Set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the game begins with Darth Vader being sent by Emperor Palpatine, his Sith Master and ruler of the Galactic Empire, to hunt down a Jedi Knight named Kento Marek, who survived the Great Jedi Purge and is hiding on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. This starts the first level, with the player assuming the role of Vader as he fights his way through the Wookiees during the Imperial invasion of Kashyyyk. After finding and defeating Marek in battle, Vader snaps his neck and discovers his young son, Galen Marek, who is strong with the Force. Vader raises him to become his apprentice, unbeknownst to the Emperor.
Years later, upon reaching adulthood, Galen (referred to by Vader as "Starkiller", and the protagonist) completes his training. Vader sends him to kill a select group of surviving Jedi throughout the galaxy as a final test before his ultimate goal: assassinating the Emperor so Vader can fulfill his desire to rule the Empire. Starkiller travels between missions aboard his personal ship, the Rogue Shadow, developing a close relationship with his crew, consisting of lightsaber training droid PROXY and Imperial pilot Juno Eclipse. Starkiller's first target is aging Jedi Master Rahm Kota, a former general in the Clone Wars and the leader of his own militia, who has become an anti-Imperial insurgent. Kota and his troops attack a TIE fighter shipyard in order to lure out Vader but are surprised when Starkiller arrives instead, fighting his way through both Kota's men and Imperial Stormtroopers (who do not know of Starkiller's existence and, thus, attack him) to reach the command center, where Kota is waiting. During their fight, Kota's mastery of the Force allows him to see various visions of Starkiller's future before being blinded by his opponent's lightsaber and falling to the planet Nar Shaddaa below.
Starkiller is next sent to kill an insane outcast Jedi Master named Kazdan Paratus on the waste planet Raxus Prime, who has animated pieces of metal to create a legion of droids and uses them to guard his own replica of the Jedi Temple and Council, which Paratus, in his madness, believes to be real and seeks to protect at all costs. After fighting his way through Paratus' droids, Jawas, and Rodian scavengers, Starkiller eventually battles Paratus inside the "Jedi Council" room and kills him. Starkiller's final target is former Jedi Council member Shaak Ti, who is hiding on the planet Felucia. Shaak Ti influences the local fauna to slow down Starkiller and has her Felucian warrior allies attack him, but he overcomes these obstacles and battles her at a Sarlacc pit. Defeated, Ti warns Starkiller that Sith always betray one another and then jumps into the Sarlacc, killing herself and becoming one with the Force.
His mission to hunt down the Jedi complete, Starkiller returns to Vader to fulfill their ultimate goal and kill the Emperor. However, once the Emperor arrives, Vader betrays Starkiller, just as Shaak Ti predicted, and kills him to prove his loyalty to his master, but later secretly dispatches droids to retrieve and revive him, believing that Starkiller still has his uses. After Starkiller recovers, Vader sends him to foster a rebellion among those who resist the Empire, explaining that this is all part of a master plan to destabilize the Empire and create the conditions necessary to depose the Emperor. Despite being ordered by Vader to sever all ties to his past, Starkiller rescues Juno, who has been arrested and branded a traitor to the Empire, and they both escape aboard the Rogue Shadow alongside PROXY. Looking for allies to recruit into the rebellion, Starkiller arrives on Nar Shaddaa and locates Kota, now reduced to alcoholism. After escaping from the Imperial forces looking for them, as well as defeating a "Shadow Guard" (a Force-sensitive Sith Warrior serving the Emperor), Starkiller and Kota begin their quest to recruit prominent imperial dissidents into the rebellion, starting with Princess Leia Organa on Kashyyyk, now occupied by Imperial forces who have enslaved the Wookiees. While on Kashyyyk, Starkiller has a vision of his father's ghost in his old home, and proceeds to defeat the Imperial forces, eliminate their commander, Captain Ozzik Sturn, and liberate the Wookiees by destroying the Imperial holding facilities. Grateful, Princess Leia agrees to join the rebellion.
