Customer Reviews

Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ok. I bought this for $39.95 at the Apple Store because I wanted to play the Hoth, Tatooine and Jedi Temple levels. I played the game originally on the Playstation 3, and liked it very much, but I did not buy the Sith edition which had the other levels (did not know this otherwise I would have both the Sith edition for PS3). Everywhere I look the PS3 Sith version is being scalped by crooks on eBay for $100+. So I decided to get it for my Mac and try to play the extra levels and get the story that way for only $39.95 +tx. I also have an Xbox 360, but the Xbox360 version is not much cheaper than the PS3 crooked version.

Ok. Performance. The graphics on the Mac (or computer version), is noticeably sharper and cleaner than the console version (PS3). It's pretty clear that the console version graphics are probably less detailed and "beautiful" so that it will work at a decent frame rate. But I did like the PS3 version and I thought the graphics were also good there. The Macintosh I have is a 2010 21.5" iMac. It has a 512MB Radeon 5670 graphics (decent but not great), 8GB DDR3 1333Mhz (more than enough), and a 3.6 GHz Core i5 processor (fastest dual core out there) with a 1 TB hard drive, running MacOS 10.6.4. I play the game at 1920x1080 resolution which is the native resolution of the iMac screen (21.5"). If I play at lower resolutions it just crops in on the left and right or top and bottom. I have checked the High Detail box in the start up window of the game, which I guess means max settings--adjusting the game settings is really poor since you don't really get to change anything other than resolution, unlike StarCraft II which allows you to change almost every aspect of graphics and game performance settings. The initial level in snow outside the cave before fighting the snow beasts slows down a bit but does not get jumpy. It looks very slightly like a gentle slow motion kinda thing. Once inside the cave the slow motion is gone and it's very smooth and responsive. If I try to run the game at 11280x1024 that same snow part is faster and has no "slow motion" affect. I ran it full screen and in window mode and the result was the same. There was a 25GB or so game install from the 2 disks inside which seems on the VERY large side considering StarCraft II is only about 9-10GB.

I ran Activity Monitor with the game in windowed mode and as my iMac has both hyper threading and turbo boost, I could see VERY clearly that the CPU was not working very hard. It was probably pushing 20-30% maybe 40% of the bars and never went beyond that. So where is the slow down? Real simple. The graphics card. While the Radeon 5670 with 512MB is a decent card, it is really not meant as a gamer card--for that matter neither is this iMac, but it's decent as a midrange system. There are/were better ATI systems than that. I suspect the 2010 iMac 27" with the 5750 1GB card would have done a much better job, but I could not afford a 27" iMac and I got this iMac from a friend for a used 3 moth price of $1500, who upgraded to a MacPro. But still I think it's a pretty good iMac over all, and even though it plays StarCraft II really well in mostly HIGH settings, SWFU bogs down a bit. Clearly a quad core iMac might be a better option than my dual core, but I suspect the real issue is the video card, which in my iMac is good but not great.

My only conclusion is that the game is probably not coded as well as it could be and not optimized perfectly for the Mac, MacOS X and a Radeon 5670 or only 512MB of dedicated video memory. But it still plays fine...enough...and I get the extra levels I wanted to play for only $40 instead of 2X-3X that.

I would have preferred the Playstation 3 Sith edition. If I can find a PS3 version of the Sith edition for cheap I will get it and sell/donate/toss the Mac version.

It's not a bad game, sure not perfect, but it's fun, sounds great, has super graphics and once you learn the game controls it's very manageable. Interestingly, the console version is easier to control than the computer version. There is a 360 controller option but I have not figured out how the set that up. Sure there are better games out there but for $40 on a midrange iMac 2010, it's a good game.

I picked up this game expecting a good LucasArts game. I was very disappointed.

While the game can be fun at times, the playability is really not up to what I'd expect and most of the challenges are just flat out annoying. The character has to have a lot of things like overly dramatic light sabre slashes that (if you happen to be facing the wrong direction) will make your character fall off into an abyss, long after you've killed your opponent. And when your character gets hit by an enemy, there is so much cinematic physical action, that it can literally take forever for your character to get back on his feet--meanwhile, your enemies are re-loading and hitting you again. This kind of play which puts all the eggs into the basket of neat-o cinematic action sequences really leaves the gaming experience a marathon of frustration and jerky gameplay.

And let's not forget to mention that you'll need the latest and greatest (specialized) hardware to play this game. I ran this game on my brand new MacBook Pro 17" and had to run it at 800x600 resolution, just to get decent playability. I'd have loved to play at native 1920x1200 resolution, but that nearly killed my system and the game was entirely unplayable.

I have a brand new iMac 21.5", and the game runs VERY SLOWLY on any but the 800x600 resolution. If you go to [...], they specifically state that their ported version does not support the nVidia GeForce 8400m that is standard with the iMac. The graphics are great at the higher resolutions, but you play at a snail's pace (a friend has the XBOX version, and it is 10x faster than the fastest on this version).

I read multiple reviews saying that the PC version of this game was awful. Then I thought... why would Aspyr wait so long after the release of the PC to release Star Wars the Force Unleashed for the Mac? I think, that despite the frame rate drops 3-4 times a level for a good minute at a time, this game has some pretty solid moments. The only part that I found was incredibly difficult was pulling down the Star Destroyer (going slow is the trick). I have an ATI Radeon 2600 HD pro, and it runs smoothly most of the time on the 1280x800 pixel setting.
Graphics wise this game is phenomenal. The environments are absolutely beautiful, and the Jedi Temple bonus level is gorgeous. Another favorite graphics wise was Raxus Prime. The gameplay is fantastic, and I was surprised how well the keyboard and mouse worked with this game. I was considering getting an XBox 360 controller, but not anymore. And the Havok physics engine works great with this game... I love watching stormtroopers randomly go wherever after I send them flying.
Overall, despite the fact that the frame rate drops, this is a solid game, and I highly recommend it.

Great game. The only problem I have with this game is how large the install of this game is on my hard drive. If you are on the fence about this game, check your hard drive and make sure you have enough space to cover 25 gigs. I don't exactly remember the specific amount, but if you can cover 25 gigs, this game is definitely a must play.

As an iMAC owner who likes to game I was thrilled to see more games become available for the MAC. I usually switch over to my windows 7 bootcamp partition for most games so am thrilled when i don't have too. I have the 21 1/2 iMAC 2010 and I thought the game played beautifully even in the 800x600 screen config. The game was a little sluggish at 1024x798 or what ever it was. As a huge fan of KOTOR I also enjoyed the storyline of this game.I wasn't sure how they were going to integrate a new story into the movies but i have to say i liked it. Not nearly as much dialog as KOTOR but that was fine. Coming of Dragon Age it was a nice change of pace.Lots of mindless fighting.

Ok, here is my One main complaint. The box says you can use an xbox 360 wired controller but I could never get it to work on my mac partition. Yes, i downloaded the driver from that tattiebogle site and i selected xbox360 in the drop down. By the time i was comfortable with WASD the game was almost over. Xbox controller does work great with SWTFU II on my Windows 7 partition on my mac though. Hope this helps any other mac gamers out there.

I bought this game for my nephew and he loved it! It came very quickly and was a huge hit.

I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but of the movies mostly and only two games. The other being Battlefront 2 and of course this. I have the standard version for PS2 and that was definitely enjoyable (read my other review on that item). I only like the FIRST Force Unleashed (I can't stand the second one. Only the Yoda scene is good). I got this game a few days ago and boy does it rock! The things I love most about this game is the effects with the sound, graphics, and game play. The story line is of course great, but the game play does it all, plus the extra Sith levels which re-imagines the original trilogy if Vader was killed and Starkiller becomes the Emperors apprentice. The only real minor gripes is that sometimes the gameplay might lag/slow down. It'll have the Matrix bullet time effect when fighting tons of enemies at once. For the most part, it'll run great. Even on the newest Macs, it'll do that because of the cutting edge graphics and technology in the game. The other two things that will frustrate the players is bringing down the Star Destroyer at the end of the Imperial Raxus Prime level. You better get that right, or you're going to die and it'll take even more forever than it already does. The last minor gripe is the very beginning of the Death Star level. You immediately get ambushed with no warning by a bunch of bad guys and I mean a bunch of bad guys and you have no time to react! You either destroy the glowing blue floor or spend time fighting them off. So with all of that, I give this a 9.75 of 10. I am very pleased with this. Also just in case you were wondering, this is exactly the same as the PC, XBox 360, and PS3 versions. Definitely is and always will be one of my top favorite games.

I was always a fan of Star Wars - like many of you out there, I guess. Lately, I'm a bit overwhelmed by amount of things being pumped out with this topic and I honestly start to dislike it. It's like a cash cow that Mr. Lucas is going to suck dry. Pun intended.

This game itself is a beautiful example of current attitude from people making stuff based on SW mythology - quick, unfinished product. Lets see what makes it such:

PROs:
1) Excellent story - you're going to enjoy development of the story and main character will definitely become a favorite quickly. Even it's robot has a charm that will make you smile quite often.

2) Characters - well developed in best tradition of SW. No wonder 2nd book and game are coming out

3) Epic fights - once you get more powers you'' find yourself pulling some pretty awesome moves. Go ahead and enjoy yourself, little padawan :)

4) Replay value - (SPOILER!) new costumes general mayhem you cause with your powers (Force lightning anyone) add to replay value. It's really cool to bring one walker down on your own. Rancor burger to go, please!

CONs:

1) Graphics - you simply can't pump up graphic to enjoy all the eye candy of force powers - unless you have MEAN machine

2) Buggy as Hell - biggest letdown of them all. With Core 2 Duo E8600, 4 Gb memory, Radeon 4850 and Win 7 64 bit this game runs like a snail. It's really annoyign how slow it is even in 1024x768. Look, I can play Crysis on this machine, for Pete's sake! Typical unfinished and terrible console port - and that brings us to con no.3...

3) Console port - Look, I know you sleep with your XBox 360 controller and your PS3 gets flowers every weekend, but I'm a PC guy. If I pay money for a piece of software, I expect it to work reasonably well. And no, I don't use controller, I like my keyboard/mouse combo quite well, thankyouverymuch. Snap out of it people - PC guys PAY for their software too. Put some effort into it, will ya?

Final thought: A game with great potential but ruined by lame console port. It even has more stuff than console version but still it's hard to run on any decent PC. I'm building a new rig which should consist of i7-950, 8 Gb DDR3 1333 and Radeon 6870 - if this thing doesn't run this game decently, I swear I'll burn all my SW books, movies and games :)

I can't recommend this game. The force powers are fun, and the story-line, though little more than a weak thread connecting the action sequences, is interesting, the game itself is riddled with problems. Oh, I don't mean technical problems. My computer is pretty good and I have no trouble playing it at all. The problem is in the gameplay and design itself.

Problem 1: Every time I load the game, I have to sit through multiple flashy screens advertising the makers. Most games, I can skip through these. Here, the first couple, I can't. It's boring. It's self-congratulatory. I don't like it.

Problem 2: It's a platform game. That's okay. Some people like platform games. But sometimes I feel like I'm playing Super Mario Brothers, only with awesome graphics. That's not a big deal. Lots of people like Super Mario. It's just not what I was looking for in this game. I expected something more. I wanted to play Star Wars, and every time I have to do a "Super Mario" routine, it breaks the spell. I know: weak argument. That's why it's at the beginning of the list, not the end.

Problem 3: Saving. I get bored easily. I hate doing the same thing over and over again. Hence, I like to save. I like the game to go forward, not spin its wheels. Here, the time between save points is occasionally pretty long. Saving makes absolutely no difference. When I start, I don't start where I saved from. I start from the beginning of THAT SECTION of the level. That sometimes means fighting the same bozos I fought before. I find that boring.

Problem 4: The menus. Why can't I use the mouse on the menus? Instead, I have to use enter, delete, [ and ] and up and down and escape. The keys are all over the place. It's clunky and inefficient. It's bad designing. Didn't these guys ever play their own game? Probably the designers never used the menus because they probably just turned on all the cheat codes and coasted through.

Problem 5: Too many useless options. There are a fair number of things you can do with your lightsaber and there are a good number of force tricks you can use: the problem is, I can't remember all the complicated keystrokes necessary to use most of them. I'd rather more of these use ONE key to activate it rather than two or three or four. There's not a huge difference between some of them either.

Problem 6: Boss Fight Camera. Throughout the game, in most fights, the camera follows pretty much where I look. It's easy to see what I'm attacking. However, in the fights with the big bosses, the game turns into a 2D Fight Game! I can still run left and right and forward and backward, but I feel like I'm playing a cheap arcade fighting game. It's very difficult to aim, judge angles, etc. It's annoying.

Problem 7: Boss Fight Codes. During the Boss fights, I'm not allowed to fight. Instead, I'm relegated to pushing the buttons the GAME tells me to push. Right-Click NOW! Q NOW! E NOW! Space NOW! What is this? "Typing of the Dead"? I can't even enjoy watching the boss die because I'm too busy watching what key to press, because OH YEAH! If I don't press that key, I can't win the fight. STUPID. Utterly, totally stupid. Bad game designing. Tell you what, Mr. Game Designer, why not take it step further and just come on over to my place and play it for me while I sit on the sofa, drink my beer and watch? That might be an improvement actually because A: I could actually SEE the boss die, and B: I could have a beer!

Problem 8: SPOILER.


Nothing matters. I can't choose to be good. I can't choose to be bad. Apparently, at the end of the game (I can't say. I'm not quite there yet), I'll have a "choice" to make. Personally, I think it would be cool to make that choice much earlier in the game and have the game change as I go. I know, I know, this is a "platformer" not an RPG, but it COULD be an RPG! With all the Gigs of graphics on this monster, you'd think they could spare ONE MORE GIG for a real storyline! And the storyline they've got: c'mon. I won't give it away, but really! Let's put this in perspective: would the US government not only fund Al Qaeda but actually CREATE Al Qaeda just so they could "know who their enemies are"? Okay, I said I wasn't going to give it away, and I did anyway. Sorry. D**** you, wikipedia!

Now: there are some good points.
Graphics. It has outstanding graphics.

Force powers. I love how I can pick things up and go "bowling for stormtroopers" with it by force throwing it. I love how I can use the force to pick people up and throw them. I love being able to blow down doors. Have terrain that is destructible and "useable" is a great feature that I wish a lot more games would have. Many, many years ago, the amazing X-Com series had destructible terrain and I've never understood why more games can't use it if X-com had it 15 years ago.

Conclusion:
This game has some fun moments and some very amazing and novel features, not to mention some really cool graphics. However, as far as gameplay goes: I found the now 7 year old Jedi Academy loads more fun to play.

Addendum:
I've almost reached the end ... but I can't finish the game because every time I come close to beating Darth Vader, the game crashes. Do not buy this game. My system can MORE than handle this game, so it's not a question of specs. This game is flawed.