9-21-08
***Warning! May contain Spoilers!***
Real life got in the way of playing this game for a bit, but I spent most of the day yesterday playing through the rest of the game I started the day I got it. Personally, I really enjoyed the game. It's been getting a lot of criticism, but for me I noticed some things and just let it go. Perhaps it's my love for Star Wars that blinds me to such problems, but I'm glad I was because I enjoyed the game overall.
The first issue I noticed on my 360 version was that there were little hiccups throughout the game; the game would just stop for about a second. It's similar to when an achievement is unlocked on almost any game. It wasn't that frequent but enough to notice and wonder what the deal was.
I read the other day that the environments look great when you first start a level but become boring and uninspired after you start going through them; or something close to that... I found that the environments were great throughout. I sometimes wonder what people really want from a game. I wonder if they even know what they want from a game. I can't imagine how they would have made the areas better; they had a definite look and feel to Star Wars, especially the original trilogy.
The major issue I've been hearing about is the targeting. I certainly had some issues with the targeting. Trying to lock onto a crate or an unfortunate Storm Trooper can be difficult when they are right next to each other. Essentially, you have to point your character in the direction of the person or item you wish to interact with. So if you want to grab a crate to chuck at a enemy far away while you destroy the Trooper right in front of you with your Lightsaber, you may have a hard time if the Trooper is in front of the crate. While this annoyed me from time to time, can someone explain to me a different way to do the targeting? My other beef with the targeting is once you have a hold of said crate, you have to aim it at the target. This is actually where I had the most annoyance. I don't how many times I had something to throw, thought I was pushing the right direction and the item went flying toward something else. I would have maybe liked to see a new targeting reticle on a target that the item was "pointed" at. My targeting issues came to a head, at least for me, during what should have been one of the coolest moments in the game. Pulling the Star Destroyer down. What a great idea to implement in this game. I felt the whole idea behind this game was to take the Force to next level. Pulling down a Star Destroyer was a perfect idea for this. However, what a pain in the ass. The reoccurring waves of TIE Fighters that allow the SD to get back on course make it a pain. And while they give you stuff to throw at the TIEs, it almost always went flying off toward these random towers on each side of you. With a little practice and timing you eventually can kill the waves of TIEs quick enough where the SD doesn't get back onto course. I understand making a challenge in a game, but let's not take the super cool moment and make it frustrating.
I've only beat it once, and I choose the light side ending. I'm on my second time through the game to grab the Holocron pick ups and do secondary objectives that I missed. I plan to do the dark side ending this time around. I know I could just play part of the game to get the other ending, but as I have to get the pick ups and stuff, and I did actually pay for a game to play, I'll just get there again.
All in all, a fun game. It has it's faults, but then again, what game doesn't? I would certainly recommend this game to any Star Wars fans out there. It tells a good story and its just fun wielding the Force like you can in this game.
