Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comes to the Switch in April, which is great news. It's far from a perfect game, but in its time, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was a major milestone in the progression of Star Wars games thanks to its variety of offensive Force powers, intense melee combat, and lightsaber customization. While it isn't canonical, Force Unleashed's story also offers one interesting possibility for how the Rebellion against the Empire began. What's more, Aspyr and Lucasfilm Games' Force Unleashed port inspires some hope that the Force Unleashed franchise will get a second wind in the coming years, long after a third game got canceled.
However, one has to wonder if a port of the original Wii game is the best way to revive the franchise, or if a Switch remake would have been better. Putting the Wii version on the Switch is great for certain reasons; for instance, the Switch can emulate the Wii version's empowering movement controls. However, The Force Unleashed is well over a decade old, and there's a few significant ways that it hasn't aged well; with only one trailer for the game so far, it's hard to say just how much Aspyr will fix. As such, The Force Unleashed may have been better off getting rebuilt from the ground up.
The Force Unleashed's Shortcomings
Certain parts of The Force Unleashed's Wii version weren't serious issues in their time, but have become unfavorable over time. For one thing, The Force Unleashed is an extremely narrow, linear game. Players move through a strict set of levels with few side paths to explore and no opportunity to replay previous levels without restarting the game. That campaign design is bound to feel claustrophobic compared to modern Star Wars games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. It's also worth acknowledging that the Wii visuals of The Force Unleashed don't hold up too well nowadays. Many of the game's characters have stiff animations and rough-edged, low-detail models that don't look great compared to modern Switch games.
Perhaps most importantly, The Force Unleashed developed something of a reputation among fans and critics for its bugs. Not every Force Unleashed bug was game-breaking, but players still brought up a wide variety of issues, from faulty boss behavior to collectibles failing to register. Ideally, Aspyr will find fixes for the game's issues, but until the game comes out, it's impossible to say how many will slip through the cracks. A full Force Unleashed remake could remedy these issues, opening up level design and polishing the game's performance. Instead, Lucasfilm is just planning a Force Unleashed port.
The Growing Star Wars Game Library
Porting Force Unleashed rather than remaking it is particularly significant because of how competitive the Star Wars space is right now. Respawn Entertainment has multiple Star Wars projects in development, Ubisoft has its own open-world Star Wars title, and Aspyr itself is also working on a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.Force Unleashed will beat these games to the punch since it's releasing so soon, but if it's held back by its original bugs and aging design, then it could quickly be forgotten as new Star Wars games debut in the coming months and years. A full remake could've dodged those risks by giving Force Unleashed a fresh start.
Maybe Disney and Lucasfilm will consider investing in a proper Force Unleashed remake if the port performs well. Star Wars is experiencing a renaissance right now thanks to various new and upcoming Star Wars shows and movies, and that renaissance looks like it'll persist for at least a few more years. That gives Lucasfilm some time to strike while the iron is hot. Opting for a port now instead of a remake certainly makes a later Force Unleashed remake seem less likely, but hopefully Lucasfilm and Disney will see that a remake is what Force Unleashed deserves. As far as Star Wars games go, The Force Unleashed is a classic. It just needs to be brought up to date.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed releases April 20, 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
