Mrxk shot me an email today with the subject: “End of Civilization.” The link, of course, was to the announcement that the Force Unleashed was porting to the Wii. I should be really excited. But I’m not. Let me explain.
The game is a port from the other next-gen system, and while the early descriptions talk about taking advantage of the Wii’s controls, its unclear to what extent. Nothing against Zelda, but I’m looking for quality swordplay, not random controller shaking.
Even if there isn’t hand to hand live action combat, I’m hoping they might come up with some kind of Okami-like scheme where action temporarily pauses while users “draw” moves, then unpauses and translates the drawing into special swordplay sequences. (The SSX Blur snowboarding game for the Wii does something similar with both hands, and it works pretty well).
But, not to kill the excitement, I don’t see this kind of depth happening with a port. Here’s what to watch for: timeline. If this game comes out next summer, or even late next spring, then buy me an adult pacifier. Seriously. But, if you see this game this Christmas, then be weary. It could be the difference between Resident Evil 4 and Tiger Woods 2007. And, trust me, that’s quite a bit of difference. But, oh God, this could be so bad ass…
