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This entry in the Star Wars saga casts players as Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice”, unveiling new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy. The expansive story, created under direction from George Lucas, is set during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. In it, players will assist the iconic villain in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi — and face decisions that could change the course of their destiny.

This re-release Ultimate Sith Edition is a special new version of the game that will show gamers the deepest, darkest side of the Force in a story that puts them on a collision course with Luke Skywalker himself. The exclusive “Infinities” storyline set up in the Tatooine mission follows the Secret Apprentice as he is sent to the planet Hoth on a crusade to crush the Rebellion once and for all. While on Hoth, players face Luke Skywalker himself while visiting iconic locations seen in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. The additional content in this package also includes two levels set on Coruscant and Tatooine previously available via direct download.

Genre: Action

Publisher: LucasArts

Developer: LucasArts

Online Play:

Local Play:

October 15, 2009 –
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released last year and went on to sell in record-setting numbers for LucasArts. If you were one of the few people that didn’t either buy the game or play the demo, you can check out our full review right here.

For those people who still want more (or didn’t get in on the action the first time around), the Ultimate Sith Edition is on its way to store shelves in the next couple weeks. The package includes what seems to be all of the previously released costume packs (I like playing as C3PO, lightsaber and all), the already-available Jedi Temple Mission Pack, a new Tatooine level (which will also be available as DLC for the original release) and the exclusive new Hoth level.

Click the image to see videos from the Ultimate Sith Edition.If you haven’t played the Jedi Temple level, it’s essentially a side mission where the Secret Apprentice goes to confront his inner demons. If you remember Luke’s journey into the cave from The Empire Strikes Back, it’s sort of the same thing here, except that you have to run through the temple itself first, which obviously involves plenty of killing and so forth.

The new Tatooine level has you start out near some Jawas, which are always fun to kill. After making it past their encampment, you have to work your way inside until you eventually confront Jabba. This bit of the story takes place after the original game and happens at the same time as the opening to A New Hope. The Empire has learned that R2-D2 has the plans for the Death Star, so the apprentice is sent to find him (the Empire thinks Jabba has info on them). After Jabba’s droid blabs his mouth and reveals that they’re in Mos Eisley, the apprentice is dropped into the rancor pit ala Luke in Return of the Jedi.

If you’ve played the original game, you’ve already taken on a handful of rancors, and not much has changed here. This battle is particularly easy on the default difficulty though as there’s an invincibility cube in the room. Grabbing that lets you slice and dice the beast quickly enough that there really isn’t much of a fight. After he’s dead, you simply work your way back out of Jabba’s palace and then wind up at Mos Eisley.

When you get here, Boba Fett shows up to take you back to Jabba. The battle against him is pretty simple since you start fully powered, so an abuse of Force lightning puts him down pretty quickly. As soon as he’s dead, you wind up in the landing pad where the Millennium Falcon awaits Solo, Skywalker and everyone else, but Obi-Wan shows up to stop you. Like Boba Fett, he’s pretty easy on the default difficulty, though you have to fight both his “human” form as well as his ghostly Jedi form after you kill him once. After that’s over, the Secret Apprentice puts a homing device on the Falcon and the credits roll.

The new Hoth level is largely the same. You start out in the battle from the beginning of Empire and work your way through the Rebel base, taking on a few wompas in the process. The base is pretty accurately represented here and looks like what you’d expect it to. Given that it’s basically one big ice tunnel, there really aren’t any standout sections in it worth mentioning, though you can see the AT-ATs taking on the Rebels from time to time through various windows, which is a cool touch.

Like his father before him, Boba Fett goes down pretty easily.I’ll leave some of the details about the battle with Luke out of this preview, though he does put up a much better fight than either Boba Fett or Obi-Wan. After you’re finished with him, the credits roll again.

That’s pretty much the bulk of the expanded content in the Ultimate Sith Edition, though the packaging does include a fair bit of goodies, like an art book for example. We don’t have all that stuff in hand yet, but at least that gives you something to look forward to in our full review in the very near future.

October 15, 2009 –
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was released last year and went on to sell in record-setting numbers for LucasArts. If you were one of the few people that didn’t either buy the game or play the demo, you can check out our full review right here.

For those people who still want more (or didn’t get in on the action the first time around), the Ultimate Sith Edition is on its way to store shelves in the next couple weeks. The package includes what seems to be all of the previously released costume packs (I like playing as C3PO, lightsaber and all), the already-available Jedi Temple Mission Pack, a new Tatooine level (which will also be available as DLC for the original release) and the exclusive new Hoth level.

Click the image to see videos from the Ultimate Sith Edition.If you haven’t played the Jedi Temple level, it’s essentially a side mission where the Secret Apprentice goes to confront his inner demons. If you remember Luke’s journey into the cave from The Empire Strikes Back, it’s sort of the same thing here, except that you have to run through the temple itself first, which obviously involves plenty of killing and so forth.

The new Tatooine level has you start out near some Jawas, which are always fun to kill. After making it past their encampment, you have to work your way inside until you eventually confront Jabba. This bit of the story takes place after the original game and happens at the same time as the opening to A New Hope. The Empire has learned that R2-D2 has the plans for the Death Star, so the apprentice is sent to find him (the Empire thinks Jabba has info on them). After Jabba’s droid blabs his mouth and reveals that they’re in Mos Eisley, the apprentice is dropped into the rancor pit ala Luke in Return of the Jedi.

If you’ve played the original game, you’ve already taken on a handful of rancors, and not much has changed here. This battle is particularly easy on the default difficulty though as there’s an invincibility cube in the room. Grabbing that lets you slice and dice the beast quickly enough that there really isn’t much of a fight. After he’s dead, you simply work your way back out of Jabba’s palace and then wind up at Mos Eisley.

When you get here, Boba Fett shows up to take you back to Jabba. The battle against him is pretty simple since you start fully powered, so an abuse of Force lightning puts him down pretty quickly. As soon as he’s dead, you wind up in the landing pad where the Millennium Falcon awaits Solo, Skywalker and everyone else, but Obi-Wan shows up to stop you. Like Boba Fett, he’s pretty easy on the default difficulty, though you have to fight both his “human” form as well as his ghostly Jedi form after you kill him once. After that’s over, the Secret Apprentice puts a homing device on the Falcon and the credits roll.

The new Hoth level is largely the same. You start out in the battle from the beginning of Empire and work your way through the Rebel base, taking on a few wompas in the process. The base is pretty accurately represented here and looks like what you’d expect it to. Given that it’s basically one big ice tunnel, there really aren’t any standout sections in it worth mentioning, though you can see the AT-ATs taking on the Rebels from time to time through various windows, which is a cool touch.

Like his father before him, Boba Fett goes down pretty easily.I’ll leave some of the details about the battle with Luke out of this preview, though he does put up a much better fight than either Boba Fett or Obi-Wan. After you’re finished with him, the credits roll again.

That’s pretty much the bulk of the expanded content in the Ultimate Sith Edition, though the packaging does include a fair bit of goodies, like an art book for example. We don’t have all that stuff in hand yet, but at least that gives you something to look forward to in our full review in the very near future.

November 2, 2009 –
It took LucasArts longer than it expected to put the finishing touches on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, but when it was finally released last year it went on to put up huge numbers for the company – record setting numbers in fact, and considering the success of previous Star Wars titles, that’s no small feat. Given that it might be a while before we see a direct sequel, assuming one is even in development (and you have to assume that it is), we’re now seeing the release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – Ultimate Sith Edition.

Essentially, this is the collector’s edition that we didn’t see last year, coupled with all of the available downloadable content and a brand-new exclusive level. For the retail price you’ll get the original game, the Jedi Academy, Tatooine and Hoth levels, all of the downloadable skins, a collector’s card and a nice tin case to hold it all in.

Click the image to watch our full video review.In terms of the tangible stuff, the collector’s tin is really just the metal case that a lot of other special editions ship in, which, while cool and nice, isn’t anything new. The collector’s card is just a thick piece of paper with some artwork on it and is hardly worth collecting. In fact, there’s a paper pamphlet that shows what all of the cards look like, and that’s probably enough for most everyone out there.

Now, before I get into the actual details of what’s in store for you, let me point out that most of this content is also available for the original release of The Force Unleashed. The Jedi Academy level has been out for some time, as have been the downloadable skins. The new Tatooine level will be available as a download as well, leaving Hoth as the only exclusive gameplay element. So while this is also being targeted at existing fans of the game, its ideal customer is someone who didn’t pick up the game in the first place and wants everything in one shot.

The base Force Unleashed experience is the main star of the show, and nothing has changed. The code looks to be completely untouched, for better or for worse. If you haven’t played the game or want to know our thoughts on the original experience, be sure you check out our original Star Wars: The Force Unleashed review. In short, it’s still a fun, if somewhat flawed, experience that gives you a great set of Force powers to play with.

Obi-Wan is a pushover.In terms of the additional content, what you’re getting here is an extension of the base game, something that simply adds more content to the experience but doesn’t actually change (or even fix) anything. What’s sort of nice is that each of the three additional levels are standalone options, so you don’t need to play through the game in order to get to them. The downside to this is that none of your powers or anything carry over, nor does anything that you earn carry back into the main game. However, that largely doesn’t matter as you start almost fully powered-up for each of these levels anyway.

I won’t spend too much time talking about the Jedi Academy level as it’s been available as DLC for some time, but it’s a pretty decent bonus level that has you wandering through the academy in order to get to a personal test of sorts. It doesn’t seem to fit into any specific part of the secret apprentice’s story and instead acts as a random side mission that he goes on for himself, which is nice as you don’t need to know what’s happened in the base game to appreciate it. There’s a small bit of simple puzzle solving towards the end that helps break up the pace a little bit, and while it won’t tax your noggin, it’s a nice change from all of the killing.

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