No one would call Star Wars games rare or infrequent, but Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is special. Its story, set between the two Star Wars trilogies and crafted with the help of George Lucas, gives the game a higher level of importance than most others. While some may say this is the most significant release since Revenge of the Sith came out, we can think of a better parallel: Shadows of the Empire.
While many young fans may not have even been born when it was released, we can assure them that Shadows of the Empire was a big deal to the Star Wars faithful in 1996. It featured a video game, action figures, a comic series and a novel that all tied into a story set between Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, something that had until that point had never been done. Shadows of the Empire paved the way for the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition release the next year, and ultimately convinced George Lucas that there was demand for Episode I: The Phantom Menace. While it's unlikely that George Lucas will be convinced to do more Star Wars than the current Clone Wars TV series [And some people would consider that a good thing! - Ed.], The Force Unleashed shows that's there's still a lot of demand for Star Wars mythology.
Go forth, my apprentice.
According to the NPD, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed occupied the first, fifth, ninth and fourteenth best selling slots overall for the month of September. This made it the fourth best selling title on Wii, third best selling title on PS2 and the best selling title on the PS3, PSP and Xbox 360 platforms. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed sold over 1.15 million copies in the U.S. between the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii versions of the title alone during the September period.
The game's success has been truly meteoric, and LucasArts reported worldwide sales of 1.5 million units of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in only five days. This gave the game the heady title of "fastest selling Star Wars title ever." With well over 4.3 million copies of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed already shipped, LucasArts is planning more good news for the title in less than a week.
"The record-setting sales of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed shows the undiminished power of Star Wars and its popularity across all media types, including video games," said Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts in a release. "We're blown away by the response to the game."
You don't know the power of the Dark Side!
The basic concept of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has been described by the team at LucasArts as "kicking someone's ass with the Force;" a crude approximation, but accurate. To put it in comparative gaming terms, The Force Unleashed is like a Star Wars analog for God of War. Starkiller, the game's protagonist, uses elaborate lightsaber combos, powerful Force abilities and even engages in the odd quick-time event for larger enemies (like slicing an AT-ST in half, to use a particularly cool example) making for a truly modern 3D action game in the Star Wars universe.
Drawing many people to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, however, is the story. Featuring a collection of characters both familiar (Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Bail Organa) and new (Starkiller, Juno Eclipse, Rahm Kota), the story deals with hunting down rogue Jedi and ultimately forming the Rebel Alliance. Consultations with George Lucas and his staff made sure the game filled the gap in established cannon properly.
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