State Restored - Star Wars: The Fore Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Released September 16th, 2008

Pros: 

Unique and mature story

Variety of force powers

DLC explored alternate timeline with canon

characters

Force upgrade abilities

Multiple Endings (Darkside/Lightside)

Play as Vader!

Cons: 

Turns into hack'n slash

DLC was not available on all platforms

Physics engine varied from platform to platform

Not a very good force upgrade system

Starkillers grunts and moans

Star Wars: TFU

Gameplay

May the Fourth be with you! Mando here and this is State Restored. In today's load state we take a look back at Star Wars: The Force unleashed. Get your lightsaber ready as we hit lightspeed for this review.  Press Y to load. Here. we. Go.

 Synopsis:

Darth Vader's secret apprentice, known as Starkiller, is sent on a mission to hunt and kill the few remaining Jedi. But a cruel twist of fate, the manipulation of his master and the guidance of a Jedi leads him on a path that will forever change the galaxy. (Credit)

If you are going to make a Star Wars game it better be done right. As a fan of the film series I expect at least a nod or cameo of the characters I've come to love. Star Wars:TFU got at least this right. I haven't played a Star Wars game that was as immersive as this one. Star Wars:TFU sets you in the role of  Starkiller (AKA Galen Marek) Darth Vader's secret apprentice. After the bad ass opening where you get to play as Vader himself  you set out on your mission to destroy the remaining Jedi in the galaxy. Sith will be Sith though and you are betrayed, sending you on your true journey. Continue to walk the path of the Darkside or crossover to the Lightside.

Gameplay

Playing as a sith apprentice was fun to a point. Using abilities such as force lighting and saber throw really gave you the idea of what it was like to control a powerful Jedi. Also being able to upgrade these powers was a great touch. You could see how powerful Starkiller actually was as you unlocked new combos and force abilities (Force choke followed by saber throw was awesome). The problem here was...repetitiveness. The game simply becomes a typical hack 'n' slash even after gaining some of the cooler force abilities. They try to mix it up a bit and add some QTE's and finishers but it does get old after a while.

You do however visit some familiar places during your missions. Felucia, Coruscant, Cloud City, Kashyyyk (and in the Wii version you visit the Jedi temple as seen in episode 3) are all very well done. There is a lot of familiarity when you visit, mostly because you've seen the movies a time or two.

Graphics

If you've played the game on different consoles the graphics will differ. I owned the Wii and Xbox 360 versions and you could easily tell a difference. There also was a negative impact on gameplay as such. The physics engine for the Wii made some stormtroopers fly around the screen like a ragdoll sometimes even glitching them. Other versions made using the force push and repulse seem flawless. 

Controls

The Wii version stood out amongst it's more powerful competitors with it's control scheme, giving the player more direct control of Starkiller and his abilities. Using the Wiimote as the lightsaber and the nunchuck to control force abilities really gave you those powers you really wanted as a kid.

Playing on the Xbox360 pushing buttons to control force powers was just as impressive, maybe more so. While you could control Starkillers force powers with the Wiimote using force lighting to start a tie fighter engine was pretty damn cool and only on the next gen consoles at the time could you do this. 

DLC

I never got to purchase any DLC for this game but there was a version released called The Ultimate Sith Edition, where you play as Starkiller if he joined the Darkside. The tagline for the this version was "What if the Darkside won?" Starkiller is the Emperor's Sith assassin and is dispatched on a few missions where we see such canon characters as Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Luke Skywalker himself. Each mission see's a victory for the Darkside crushing the rebel alliance. There's some kind of pleasure in punting a jawa into the side of  a sandcrawler. Good times. 

Although a bit outdated this game is still fun to play. If you want a good Star Wars game to experience this is definitely one of them. Even after having to listen to Starkiller sound like smugglers are packing his prison purse everytime he takes damage. 

Proxy. Press Y to load this save. 

What are your thoughts? Do you love this game? Do you hate my opinion? Do you wish Han would've used ANY OTHER measurement than parsecs? Leave a comment at savedstateheros.blogspot.com, hit us up on twitter @savedstateheros, or send an email  to saved

stateheros@gmail.com

Hang with me next time as we press Y to load another state.

State Restored - Rap Jam Vol. 1

Rap Jam Volume One

Released January 

Pros: 

Play as 10 well known Rap artists

Play in Five Major Cities(Chicago, L.A., Houston, N.Y., and Atlanta)

I got nothing

This game is a dumpster fire

Cons: 

Developed by Motown Games, and Mandingo Entertainment?

No Rap Jams at all

No actual representation of rap artists other than pixel images in selection screen

No player indicators

No game music while playing

No intro to controls

Can't distinguish characters on court. All clones

I could go on but I'll stop here.

RAP JAM Vol.1
Game Play

Hey gamer's. Mando here and this is State Restored. Today's load state: Rap Jam Vol. One. Time to hoop it up on these streets as generic as a pair of knock off Jordans. Press Y to load! Here. We. Go.

Synopsis: 

Rap Jam Volume 1 is (an attempt) a basketball game where you can pick from up to 10 different hip hop artists like Flava Flav, Queen Latifah, Coolio, Yo-Yo, and more. Game modes include tournament and exhibition. In tournament mode you play for a chance to win a whopping 500$ and a chance to appear in a rap video.

  I’m not really sure how to approach a review on this game because it's just so damn disrespectful. Let's start with the gaping hole left behind from the software developers. MANDINGO entertainment. It’s ok you can say it. Enunciate. MAN-DIN-GO entertainment. And I’m pretty sure Motown games might be associated with the music label of the same name. 

Even though it has the name of volume one there were never any sequels and I can’t tell you how happy I am about this. It’s like they tried to fit every 90’s urban stereotype into one cartridge. Just look at the box art. It doesn’t even represent the game itself! Every opportunity to have any of the hip hop artists on the cover and you choose graffiti and some clip art chalk sketched ballers to put on the cover? What the fuck man? Queen Latifah was literally a Motown artist!

The game-play is a joke here. You can choose some popular hip hop artists at the character selection screen or choose some rando generic characters like Lynda or Jason or MixG. I spelled that correctly by the way. This is pretty pointless though as none of the characters have stats so they are all the same. You would think that Flava Flav couldn’t dunk because of the weight of his clock or that Sticky Fingaz would have crazy aggression but no. In the spirit of other arcade style basketball games like NBA Jam you can foul with no punishment by pushing the other players on the court to get control of the ball. 

(The women of Rap Jam Vol 1. From left to right Keisha, Lynda, Yuka, and Maria. Why does Maria look like she smoked Mcdonald's?}

Every character can jump like fifty feet in the air and you goaltend like a motherfucker. I swear I was snatching the ball right out of the rim and the game was like “Cool go you!” There are zero player markers in this game so you better pay attention or you’ll get confused as to who you are. “Why do I have to pay attention, you ask?” Because every fucking character looks exactly the same! The only way you can tell who is on your team and who isn’t is by the colors you are wearing but that’s it! Again refer to the urban stereotype comment. 

Did I mention that there is no music in game? Except for the shitty menu music. Listen to this bullshit.
What is this Fisher Price my first funk piano? Once you get past the menu and character selection screen all there is, is the sound of ball dribbling, grunts, and the crowds' jeers and cheers.
You named a game Rap Jam and there is no Rap and no Jam. This is what happens when you spend all your money on licensing and nothing on content.

Calling foul on this game and deleting this save. 

What are your thoughts? Do you love this game? Do you hate my opinion? Do you wish Starter pullovers would make a comeback? Leave a comment at savedstateheros.blogspot.com, hit me up on twitter @savedstateheros, or send an email  to savedstateheros@gmail.com

Hang with me next time as we press Y to load another state.

State Restored - Countdown Vampires

Countdown Vampires.

Released August 21st, 2000

Pro’s: Different approach to survival horror genre at the time. Multiple endings possible, Didn't have to enter menu for changing weapons/reloading, play as a vampire.

Cons: Horrible game controls, Crappy camera angles, half translated, Story is weak, Multiple endings are weak, Vampire gameplay is just pathetic, Voice acting is garbage, who brings a cat to a casino?

Countdown Vampires Gameplay 

Cheats

Hey gamers, Mando here, and this is State Restored. Today's load State: Countdown Vampires. Grab your toilet paper as we get ready to dive into this turd. Press Y to load! Here we go!

So here’s a quick plot synopsis:

Sea Rim City Police Homicide Detective Keith J. Snyder had a problem which involved his previous partner, Wesley Simmons, so he was assigned, as a disciplinary measure, to be a bodyguard for several VIPs who were key to the inauguration of a new horror-themed casino, the Desert Moon. The problems began when a fire broke out and a mysterious black liquid started to pour out of the fire sprinklers, turning the vast majority of the people into vampires that proceeded to devour the remaining survivors. Now Keith must find his way out of the casino and also try and save as many people as he can.

Countdown Vampires is everything other survival horror games didn't want but BANDAI did packaged with vampires, “white water” and a cat in a casino. Did you see that intro cutscene? Why the fuck is a cat in a casino? Oh and let's not forget shirtless heros with tribal tattoos who sound like they might graduate into puberty and closet lesbians with big boobs. Yeah bro. Way to sell the game!

So we find our hero Keith J. Snyder (Keeeeith) a homicide detective working as a guard for the VIP’s at the hotel casino. The casino actually has a name that is pretty cool (Desert Moon and it is a horror themed casino that I know I would attend) but you wouldn’t know that if you didn’t read the game insert. Let’s not rely on Keith to give us any important info. We’ll just let the players figure that out.  Thrown into one of the many cluster-fucks that is this game, a fire starts on a very elevated stripper stage. The two catsuit women gyrating around get doused with black water and then suddenly become vampires, killing people at random. 

It is then up to Keith to figure out what is going on at the casino hotel. You are then given three minutes to exit the casino area as a fire protocol has been initiated. GTFO now! Pork-chop sandwiches! I fumbled around this part of the game dying and starting over and over as I could not find the proper exit. Not to mention the shitty camera angles that never seem to point you in the right direction, all while trying to avoid killing (and sometimes killing) the people turned vampire. They sound like drunk hyenas when they take damage. 

What the heck is gonna to happen!? 

After you escape the casino floor the game starts even though it feels like you’ve survived a horror already just by doing that. Keith then finds the lifeless body of… did they even give that security guard a name?! *Le facepalm* Wait a second. Black officer type guy dies in the beginning of the game locked in a room while helping the protagonist to further his goals? Did they just… did they just steal the same plot element from Resident Evil 2?! 

At this point in the game it becomes the memo,key,and gun hunt we are all used too. Sprinkle in some mysterious puzzles and you have the formula for survival horror. But it isn’t good. I can remember a few times where I found an item and actually had no idea what it was used for. Not because I couldn’t figure out where it went or if it was part of a puzzle. It was because that part of the game hadn’t been translated!!!! 

I stopped playing here. All my hopes for a kick ass vampire game were extinguished as if someone sprinkled “white water” on them. This game could’ve been pretty damn great. For one thing they used vampires as enemies when so many other survival horror games were focused on zombies. Not to mention the ability to switch weapons AND reload your gun without having to enter the menu screen to do so. I’m looking at you Chris, Claire, Leon, Harry, and Aya.
Also the fact that you use an anesthesia gun to subdue the vampires was innovative. They would wake up and come after you again if you didn't pour the white water on them. The re-release of Resident Evil on the GameCube later introduced this game play element but you had to burn the zombies to keep them dead and find fuel to do this also. The multiple endings were a bonus but not unlike the other survival horror games out at the time.
The difference is the endings are supposed to add to the characters stories and not leave you asking more questions. For example, “Who the fuck is Claudia?” “Why are you looking for your sister in a casino?” “You have a sister?” "Is she stronger than you?” “Do your female coworkers make you go through a spank machine before allowing you to get your check?” “WHO. THE FUCK. IS CLAUDIA?!”

Keith meets a variety of characters on his journey to uncover what is really happening.

• Misato Hayakawa a waitress at the Desert Moon casino is constantly searching for her lost sister and is obsessed with Gells the antagonist.
• The man in black who explains some prophecy about Gells.
• Alicia S. Tiller who is chairman of the Desert Moon casino and is somehow also a scientist? FML on this one.
• Gells the antagonist (and I also believe is the fucking cat in the intro) who is somehow connected to Misato
• Mira Swish another detective from the Plata Losa police but only appears in the special playthrough. (we’ll get into that momentarily) She is also there as a guard for the VIP’s
• Sheck Gardner another pimped out officer from Plata Losa SWAT. He’s there for backup? I know he gives Keith the thumbs up at one point. Well Done!
• Jules Doors who is ALSO from Plata Losa providing backup for Sheck who is providing backup for Mira and Keith. Sigh. (Is it just me or are you also craving some Mexican shrimp dish when you hear that? Plata Losa. Yum)

• Frederico Castero I know I’ve heard his name but i swear I don’t remember seeing him. I think he worked with Keith? I don’t know does it really matter at this point?

The game is two discs (one disc too long in my opinion) and on the second disc you can play as a vampire! Never got around to figuring out how he becomes a vampire because I wanted to experience some type of thrilling gameplay. In the beginning where it asks you to input your name if you enter Prince for the first name and Darkness for the last name (super original guys) you play the game as Keith vampire with a powered up electric glove and punch moves. He does have a really cool health bar. It's his tribal tattoo. At least they got some use out of it other than making him look like a shirtless douche. Apparently this is where the countdown begins as you have twenty minutes to kill humans. WTH. To bad all your enemies have machine guns and do more damage to you than you to them.

Another added bonus is if you beat the game in under 8 hours (Holy fucking shitballs, god why?) you get to play through the special story where you get to meet some of the characters mentioned above. So basically you have to defeat Gells twice to unlock this horseshit. There is also a chance for you to uncover the identity of the man in black. SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!  It’s Keith’s fucking sister. What a twist! I guess he’s been looking for her this whole time? Also Mira finds Claudia who then tell’s Keith that Mira is going to help her “find herself” as they walk off into the night head on shoulder style. Let us know how your first scissoring session is dude.

This game is complete garbage. Its half translated in some areas, the tank controls are not good at all and the story is weak AF. It does offer multiple endings but after watching them still adds nothing to replay value whatsoever. I actually bought this game and was hyped about it but when I sat down to play it I was not remotely interested in beating it. 

If you’re into collecting shiny expensive PlayStation jewel cases the game is actually selling as a collectors item for around 119 dollars. Clearly meant to be left in the packaging and stared at. I’m pressing N on this one then deleting this state faster than Keith realizes he missed an opportunity for a threesome.

What are your thoughts? Do you love this game? Do you hate my opinion? Do you wish cats could be in casinos? Leave a comment here or hit me up on twitter or email .

Hang with me next time as we press Y to load another state.