Finally, the Wii Lightsaber game is announced!

Concept art for the Xbox 360 version of Force Unleashed

Ever since Nintendo unveiled the Wii and its funky remote, gamers have been dreaming of Wiimote-controlled lightsaber battles. It's been a long time coming, but LucasArts finally revealed its Wii lightsaber game: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

We've known about Force Unleashed for a few months now; the game has been scheduled to hit virtually every major platform for some time, and its absence on the Wii's upcoming titles list didn't go unnoticed. Now it's finally been announced for the Wii, and a few new details have come out about the game. The Wii version of Force Unleashed will be more focused on lightsaber combat than the other consoles' versions, and include a two-player duel mode so two Wiimote-wielding warriors can get their Jedi combat on.

Geeks flailing about with Wiimotes as if they were lightsabers. I sense a disturbance in the Force, as if a million flat-screen TVs cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

[natejohnstone]

wow, maybe I should get a Wii

I was planning to pick up a PS3 this holiday season, but honestly this is a huge pull towards the Wii...

[DarkHawke]

Killer app, much?

This is something I fantasized about when I first heard of the Wii-mote interface, but can it really be true? Can it [i]really[/i] work as well as one would hope? To work right, the game would have to match your Wii-mote saber moves [b]exactly[/b], complete with sound effects, and your opponent's hits on your saber should trigger a rumble in the Wii-mote (wow, first time I've ever written THAT "word," let alone three times in a paragraph!). The Wii-mote (four!) does have rumble, right? And though there's added lightsaber content for the Wii, it shouldn't feel tacked on. The combat should be as realistic as possible and you should have to get good at saber fighting to progress, and not have some other way to get through the same obstacles (though if properly executed, an Indiana Jones-style solution could be fun as well!).

If its done well, this could sell Wiis like [b]nothing[/b] before. I've been fairly non-plussed by ALL the current-gen gaming systems, largely 'cause I've moved on to PC gaming, but this has the potential to be the ultimate fanboy wet dream. Imagine crossing sabers with, say, Darth Vader or Darth Maul, or if you're of a dark-side bent, Obi-Wan or Luke? I'm fully prepared for this to turn out lame and/or nowhere near as involving as I'd like, but the potential is tremendously exciting. Kinda wish they'd gone with HD output, since this fairly cries out for serious resolution on as big a screen as you can find!

[echoelman]

Jedi Swordplay on the Wii? Um...no.

Has anyone played Red Steel on the Wii? Perhaps I should jog everyone's memory:

THE SWORDPLAY IS TERRIBLE.

And Red Steel isn't the only Wii game where melee combat leaves a lot to be desired. Take a look at the upcoming Dragon Quest Swords and Samurai Warriors Katana. Both require the player to swing in a SPECIFIC motion in order for your character to perform a SPECIFIC attack. So it basically amounts to a jabbing motion and vertical, sideways, and diagonal slashes - something that was accomplished on the right analog stick with the High Frequency Blade in Metal Gear Solid 2. This is exactly what plagued Red Steel, among its numerous other flaws, though Dragon Quest and Samurai Warriors might be more responsive, because let's face it: Red Steel could barely translate your motions to the right motions onscreen.

The problem here is that developers are programming the game to read specific motions from the player because there will ALWAYS be a very slight but noticeable delay between your entire motion and the onscreen results. Every unique slash and jab is just being converted into a set of a few onscreen motions. Unfortunately for the Wii, this is basically an inefficient way of pushing buttons on a normal controller. Not to mention that you look like an idiot while you're doing it.

One last thing to note: the PS3 and 360 versions of this Star Wars game are named "The Force Unleashed" because it uses a revolutionary physics engine to allow for satisfying (and sometimes hilarious) uses of the Force to pick up enemies/objects and cast them aside like toys, among many other physics-based attacks. I doubt the Wii has the processing power to replicate this engine, so the whole philosophy of the title is lost. Bummer.

Anyone thinking of plunking down $300 for this game and a Wii might as well just buy the PS2 version.

[DarkHawke]

Thanks for the input!

Did not know that there was a previous sword-wielding Wii game, or that it came up short. The idiot-look thing, well, isn't that part and parcel of using the Wii-mote? It's always gonna look yet more dicky than if you were using a regular controller, but the compensating factor should be that you have a more realistic gameplay experience. If that isn't the case, however, then yeah, there's nothing to excuse flailing one's arms around and looking like a tool! I'll wait to see what we actually get before plunking down my three bills, as you advise against. Back to CoH/V till then, I guess!

[00animallover00]

Thats sooo cool