LucusArts has announced Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a new video game in the Star Wars saga which takes place in the largely unexplored time between episodes III and IV of the film series (Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars film, A New Hope). In the game, players will take on the role of Darth Vader’s "secret apprentice" and aid the dark master in his quest to rid the galaxy of the Jedi and coalesce the new-born Empire.
LucasArts plans to get the game to retailers in November 2007; in the meantime, the company has launched a production diary which will offer weekly updates on the game’s development and production. The game will be LucasArts first internally-developed title for next-generation console systems, and its launch will be accompanied by a toy line from Hasbro and publishing from Dark Horse, Del Re, and Palace Press.
During the game, players will gain and enhance for core Force powers—push, grip, repulse, and lightning—and combine them for ultra-destructive combinations. Game action will take place on the Wookie homeworld, the floral planet Felucia (with its Force-sensitive inhabitants), the junk planet Raxus Prime, and an Imperial TIE fighter construction facility. Decisions made by the players will effect the outcome of the game, which will embed several alternate endings, some of which will "rock" Star Wars continuity as it’s commonly known.
LucasArts plans to built The Force Unleashed using new technologies, such as Pixelux’s Digital Molecular Matter, the euphoria behaviorial simulation engine by NaturalMotion, and the Havoc physics systems to create massively destructible environments with appropriate physical properties, so glass breaks like glass, wood breaks like wood, and fantastical space-age materials dent like…well, like stuff you’d see in movies.
No word on console availability or pricing…but we bet when the end of 2007 rolls around, you’ll definitely know this game is coming.
