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In my head, this review was four paragraphs. In reality, it is significantly longer.

While playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, you can’t help but think to yourself, “Man, it sure is awesome to be awesome,” and, “Screw the Clone Wars. Why don’t they make a movie out of this? Because this? This is awesome.”

I’m prepared to call Force Unleashed one of the best games of the year for two reasons. First, it’s an absolutely beautiful blast to play from start to finish, despite some control issues. Second, and more importantly, the action is driven by an almost shockingly good story.

Said story opens just a few years shy of Episode IV. Darth Vader is out killing Jedi and discovers that one of them has a young son. As it turns out, The Force Is Really Really Strong With This One, and once Vader is done Force Choking the old Jedi in question, he decides to abduct the boy to be trained as his secret apprentice (slaughtering the platoon of Imperial soldiers who witnessed the event, naturally). So that’s you: Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice, the young buck with a monstrously strong connection to the Force and an itchy sabering hand.

In previous Jedi games the Force was a subtle thing. It would allow you to heal your wounds, lift certain objects, get your Force Choke mojo going, and maybe knock people to the ground. The Force Unleashed‘s interpretation of Force powers is decidedly more aggressive. Force Push lets you blast entire hallways of hapless fools clear into next week. Force Lightning, the Sith trademark, can cook a Jawa in under two seconds. Force Grip can be used on everything from boxes of explosives to hapless stormtroopers, and while you could just bang them against a wall or hurl them off a cliff, you could also let them dangle in mid-air while you electrocute them, blast them into the sky, or hurl your lightsaber into them. Preferably all three. If throwing a TIE fighter at a floor full of witless Imperials is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

The fun gameplay is backed up by a story that renews my faith in the Star Wars brand. You start out as Vader’s apprentice, doing his bidding, killing Jedi, plotting against the Emperor, etcetera, but as the game progresses, “apprentice” begins to feel a lot like “slave”. You were abducted as a child, your father murdered right before your eyes by the man you now must call Master. Though the story never makes explicit reference to what must be vast emotional trauma, it makes your character question whether doing the bidding of the Dark Lord of the Sith is really his destiny. Vader himself has been fully restored to his Original Trilogy goodness (or badness, if you will). He is an uncompromising monster, a wholly evil being for whom life is cheap and the commitment to the Dark Side is everything. Now and forever, yes.

All the vocal performances are good, with the notable exception of the woman voicing a young Princess Leia. She simply fails to capture anything resembling Carrie Fisher’s voice. Other than that, things are great. Matt Sloan (yes, that Matt Sloan, of Chad Vader fame) does a commendable job replicating James Earl Jones. He gets really close to the genuine article, and his only sin is not being James Earl Jones. But it’s really Sam Witwer who makes the story what it is. His characterization of the Apprentice is absolutely superb. Every syllable is perfectly communicated, and the performance elevates an already good story into something that I would liked to have seen in a theater.

The game is linear, but it feels huge. Every mission teems with detail, and the environments are enormous. This really makes it feel like you’re part of the Star Wars Universe, and the effect is not to be underestimated. The hardware of the PS3 and Xbox 360 can handle these huge environments, fill them with tons of enemies, and make it all look beautiful. Don’t play this on the Wii or PS2, because it’s much more than a “mild graphical downgrade.” The entire game suffers because of these consoles’ limitations.

On the down side, the controls need work. How did God of War get this so right, and why can’t anyone else? The targeting system in Force Unleashed misfires too often for comfort. There you are, facing down a Rancor, revving up to electrocute the beast, and the targeting system decides that a nearby mushroom would be a better target for your deadly rage. This is the kind of thing that very nearly made me produce actual Force Lightning, my rage crystallized into white-hot tendrils of pure hatred. If your enemies manage to slap you to the ground in the midst of one of your rampages, odds are good that you’ll be staying there for a while. They have an annoying habit of smacking you back down before you can properly defend yourself. Odd bugs also crop up every so often. For instance, enemies mysteriously vanish or become invincible. It doesn’t happen often, but it shouldn’t happen at all.

Bottom line? If you own a PS3 or an Xbox 360 and you have even a mild fondness for Star Wars, get this game.

And now I become a strategy guide. Spoilers ahead.

How to Beat Darth Vader

Okay. At game’s end, you must make your climactic, character-defining choice: fight the Emperor and become the hero of the nascent Rebellion, or fight Vader and replace him as the Emperor’s right hand. The game obviously wants you to make the heroic choice. For one, you just fought Vader in what is probably the best boss battle in the game. The Emperor also appears to be the only choice available, since Vader is hidden away in a corner. The Emperor fight produces the ending that’s consistent with canon. Most tellingly, the Emperor has a diverse set of attacks that show a lot of forethought. In contrast, Vader has simply been made invincible.

You really want to kill Darth Vader, once and for all? Good luck. Force Lightning? Useless. Force Push? No damage. Your other, fancier Force powers? Nope. This means that the only way to damage Vader is through the lightsaber, which is fine, but Vader blocks just about everything you hit him with. The fight is infuriating. I must have lost a dozen times before I figured out the way to win.

Like I said, Force Push does no damage whatsoever. However, unlike most other bosses who are simply immune to Push, it will usually stagger Vader for the briefest of windows. The window of vulnerability is minuscule, but it’s there. So, simply hammer Vader with Force Push, advancing on him as you do so. Once he’s within striking distance of your saber, Push him once more for the stagger and immediately let loose with your combo of choice. It feels cheap to take down the Dark Lord of the Sith with what feels like a trick, but God damnit, it works.