Too good to be true? If it were only a press release promising these things, gamers would have doubted every word. But we got a glimpse of Euphoria’s potential via an Indiana Jones tech demo. Presumably developed as a test for a future Indy game, the non-playable demo showed unprecedented interactivity among the characters.

Before Indy could wrap his whip around a finished product though, Euphoria was picked to dress up the spaced-out warriors from a galaxy far, far away in a game that would be known as The Force Unleashed. The concept rolled right off the tongue: what if you could play as the ultimate Sith Lord, a man powerful enough to take down a Tie Fighter with his bare hands? Such a game could be unstoppable and undoubtedly worthy of The Force Unleashed title.

But while the idea sounds as fresh and exciting as Star Wars games come, the finished product paints a much different picture. To unleash the Force from its previous iterations (space shooters, beat-‘em-ups, first-person shooters, RPGs, strategy games and a strange fighter for PSone), the developers must have studied the work of other game designers. The Force Unleashed needed a levitation mechanic – for that, the developers turned to a little-known action game from Midway called Psi-Ops. Unleashed needed to be drenched in action, thus calling upon the help of God of War and Devil May Cry. It also needed to be easy enough for every player to follow. OnStar wasn’t available, but the game uses a mini map and arrow system that will suffice.

Moments of Coolness

If nothing else, Unleashed deserves credit – real credit, not the republic credits that aren’t accepted on Tatooine – for creating scenarios, or at the very least a brief situation, where the location, lead character (the secret apprentice, who you control), enemy or movie sequence draws a smirk, smile, or bit of emotion within the player. Throwing helpless Stormtroopers into a deadly force field (with your Force-controlled levitation) is just plain cool.

Watching Darth Vader recruit his new apprentice invokes the bit of emotion that’s held within all Star Wars fans. It’s a great scene that borrows the Order 66 music from Episode III, bringing a greater level of sorrow to the screen. If it were any longer than a few minutes, you’d have to dim the lights, grab popcorn, and embrace a spiritual version of the seventh Star Wars movie that George Lucas will never make.

Devil May Curse

You can’t measure a game solely for its cool factor, which is unfortunate for Unleashed. In between the brief moments of “oohs” and “ahhhs,” players are faced with killer droids and alien assassins – hundreds of them. It’s one battle after the next while travelling through levels that don’t know the meaning of the term “non-linear.”

Unleashed had a great opportunity to take these battles and overwhelm the player with layers of depth. But somewhere in between the beginning stages of development (when creating the most powerful Sith Lord mechanics was all that mattered) and the final stages (when the finished product must look as good as those too-cool-for-words teaser trailers), the game fell short.

In any 10 or 15-minute period, players could be entertained by Unleashed. As previously mentioned, those moments of coolness go a long way. But above that, you’ll first deal with the reality that this game is nowhere near the level of promise that surrounded it. Blame the demos, blame the media for getting a little too excited, blame whoever you want. At the end of the day, Euphoria doesn’t do much more than enhance specific areas of graphic content.

The gameplay – that world-changing creation that would redefine Star Wars game development – isn’t nearly as cool when you’re the one holding the controller. The secret apprentice doesn’t move as fluidly as you’ll expect. His double-jump and hover move (in which he jumps twice and flies forward) is hard to manage, as are his normal jump movements, causing unnecessary problems when trying to cross the game’s many platforms.

Enemies are a dime a dozen (a nickel in some cases). They’ll fire a laser gun, throw objects at the secret apprentice, or attack with a lightsaber or lightsaber-type weapon. Most enemies don’t have to be defeated – you can simply run past them, reach the goal, and continue the quest. Among those that need a slaughtering, many are cheap, some are annoying, and a few are laughable. The laughter doesn’t come from their weak battle tactics but from the ugly appearance they were given: these are not the kinds of creatures you would have seen in Episodes I through VI. They’re generic creature/robotic designs that will make you feel like you’re trapped in a bad Star Trek knock-off.

Psi-Oops

While battling (or running away from) hordes of enemies, players will also go to war with a series of environment glitches, uninteresting level designs, repetitive mission goals, and a camera that wants to play a game of swivel. It stays in place most of the time but when near a wall or some other object, or after Force-attacking an enemy, the camera may swing down, face the front of the secret apprentice (when it should be facing his back), or point toward the interfering object.

Unleashed is not alone in its flaws. Every issue mentioned plagues dozens of games each year. But there is one more thing that has to be addressed, and it’s a big one: the Force mechanics are severely underwhelming.

If you’ve played Psi-Ops, you already know what to expect, mistakes and all. It makes sense that LucasArts would turn to Midway’s undervalued gem for inspiration. BioShock did it last year and hardly anyone noticed! However, Psi-Ops is old. Unleashed could have built upon its levitation mechanics – picking up and throwing just about anything – with groundbreaking results. But it didn’t take that opportunity, instead creating an action-heavy title that plays like more of the same.

As a huge Star Wars fan and anticipator of The Force Unleashed, I wanted nothing more than to love and be in awe of this game. But every time it did something lovely, it did several other things that were the complete opposite. It's worth playing (not worth owning) for the cool factor it achieves, but you'd be wise to try and forget the hype and contain your anticipation before diving in.