Listen up, young Padawans. This Thursday is the day you become a Sith, err, man, and take control of LucasArts’ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed demo on either Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. The Tie Fighter factory awaits your raw Force powers.
As if you needed any more incentive or anticipation for Thursday’s event, we’ve snapped a small handfull of screenshots during countless trips through the demo. Roughly half point out some interesting factual information offered before jumping into the Tie Factory. The other half are all about having fun with the game’s incredible use of DMM and Euphoria.
You can view large 720p versions of each screen by clicking the thumbnails at the bottom of this article.
The first screen is the difficulty selection tool where its learn you can play as an Apprentice, Sith Warrior, Sith Lord or a fourth unknown rank. Our money is on Emperor.
The demo opens with Lord Vader assigning you, his new apprentice, a solo “training” mission. In truth the mission is important in regards to extinguishing the Jedi and your character pauses momentarily when given a specific deadly directive from the Dark Lord.
The next “Controller” screen appears before a loading screen and stays up until you press “A” to continue. The controls are quick and easy to learn, especially if you partake in the quick tutorial, so one glimpse should be enough to get going.
In the first couple minutes of the demo a number of small droids including the infamous Power “Gonk” Droid, black Astromechs and Mouse Droids will appear wandering about the hallways you must traverse. They serve no purpose to the mission and can be ignored altogether.
Wait a second. The beauty of DMM is it simulates matter in materials. In theory, if I hack at these droids with my lightsaber, their metal will slice like warm cheese leaving a molten edge where the saber connected. Low and behind the poor Gonk is severed in two.
After a short run through a series of hallways the demo opens up into the actual Tie Fighter facility full of Ties on assembly lines and active Ties flying overhead. The walkway alongside this facility has large angled girders holding it up.
Using the Force Grip, the girder can be slowly bent in any direction. Hmmm… I wonder what happens if I bend the girder outwards into the open space where the Tie Fighters are flying by.
Direct hit, and I even snapped that screenshot on the first try, believe it or not. Easier said than done.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is chock full of fun little quirks like these to discover and we challenge everyone who fires up the demo on Thursday to look for them. When the full game comes out next week please remember the phrase “Bowling for Stormtroopers.”
