GC'07: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Q&A Feature

Set a few years before Luke Skywalker jammed a couple of proton torpedoes down the Death Star's exhaust pipe, The Force Unleashed is described by LucasArts as the next canon chapter in the Star Wars saga. Following the exploits of Darth Vader's 'Secret Apprentice', the game is being developed with middleware from Naturalmotion (the physics driven animation system Euphoria) and Digital Molecular Matter from Pixelux Entertainment to deliver what LucasArts will be a compelling and immersive Star Wars experience.

Despite being pencilled in for a Spring 2008 release, little has been shown off from the game, and LucasArts weren't prepared to unveil much more at Leipzig Game Convention. Instead, TVG sat in on a (very) short question and answer session with Julio Torres, producer of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, to discuss the game. He began by explaining a little more about the teaser trailer for The Force Unleashed...

(Torres)...Up to the point where the Apprentice brings down the Star Destroyer and Darth Vader's voice is heard is all CGI. The rest of all is actual gameplay, so when we were putting together all the shots the simulation gameplay experience that we've spent years trying to make happen started to come across. As the producer or director for that, we had to say 'Cut!" because like a real actor, a character didn't do exactly what you'd want because Euphoria would kick in.

So instead of grabbing a crate, they'd grab another trooper or not anything at all and just go crazy - what was interesting to me was that the experience of the virtual world was no different than trying to make something in the real world because the unpredictability was coming across. The cool thing about that is the replayability for someone who likes to play the game over or try that level again, or go into a room for a different experience, they'll be able to do that and play it differently every single time. That's one of the goals for the game...

TVG: Since the whole idea rests with the Force being unleashed, where the Apprentice can bring down whole Star Destroyers or take on entire squadrons of Stormtroopers with what appears to be relative ease, where exactly will the challenge come from in the game? That's a really good question because it [the challenge] has to do with the environments and the opponents that you're gonna be fighting. Suffice to say that there are still Jedi who are not dead, Order 66 is still going on - there are still Jedi out there who probably have equal or more power than you. You're not the only one 'Unleashed', and you're gonna have to deal with that. That's not where the balance comes from - you're not a god, you just have an incredible amount of power in the world, but you'll have opponents worthy of your time.

TVG: And will there be established characters from the saga in the game?

Yes, there'll be plenty of very recognisable characters from Darth Vader to Princess Leia and some that I'm not at liberty to discuss right now.

TVG: When does it take place between Episode III and Episode IV?

You know, George [Lucas] has asked us to keep it a little bit grey so far as the exact year. Suffice to say that Darth Vader found the Apprentice 'teen' years after Episode III, and we're pretty much ending this a few years before Episode IV - so there's a small window where we can play.

TVG: Obviously, you've got to keep this canon since it's the 'next chapter' in the Star Wars saga - how does it play into the Star Wars TV series, which is filming right now?

It's a totally different story, and The Force Unleashed and the TV series are not connected. This is really a very unique story that allows us to connect Episode III to IV, that's really the goal that George has had with this. And the Apprentice has done that in the best way possible, but as you probably know - or as you can imagine - there's no secret Apprentice in Episode IV. So obviously, something is gonna happen, but we have a canon ending and another one that is not necessarily canon.

We told you it was a short chat - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is scheduled for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 during Spring 2008. Additional versions are also in development for PlayStation2, PSP and Nintendo DS. Our thanks to Julio Torres at LucasArts.