There is much to be said about being the first to do something. Do you want the accolades for being there before anyone else; in a ways untested, untried and unfounded? Or is it better to wait, on the chance you might get it wrong, so the person who comes after you (and invariably gets it right) can't steal all the thunder?

LucasArts have seemingly gone for the former with no regard for the latter. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the first videogame to use DMM technology (Digital Molecular Matter), the second to use Euphoria (see GTAIV) and the gazillionth to use Havok. But they are the first to utilise all three.

So what does all this mean? Well, in case you’ve been living under a rock, Star wars: The Force Unleashed gives players the ability to use The Force as a budding young Sith under the guidance of Darth Vadar, unauthorised by (and unbeknownst to) the Emperor, between Star Wars Episodes III and IV; fleshing out and bridging the gap between arguably the most important two movies of the Star Wars saga (if none of that makes sense, please go and watch the Star Wars saga, then return here).

It’s a safe bet then that Star Wars fans and aficionados are looking at this title with the strongest microscope you can find (probably borrowed from Trekkies, who have an equally stringent view of the handling of their preferred lore).

I’m not one of the guys lugging around this microscope, but I’ll most certainly tell you that I’m one of the millions of people who absolutely abhor Lucas’ handling of Episodes I, II and III. Despite the core story being awesome, his fleshing out of it left me wanting him silenced. Still, as I said, the core to the universe that is Star Wars at large is timeless and utterly appealing so I can’t help but get a little bit excited when there’s a chance for it to come alive, just that little bit more. That said, I’ve been pretty excited about The Force Unleashed since it was announced, so when Activision (LucasArts distributor for Australia) invited me out for some early hands-on time, I couldn’t get out to their offices fast enough.

So, with four levels to play through in the preview build provided, I started up the game and stepped into the semi-robotic boots of one Darth Vadar.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed begins with Vadar landing on a war-torn Kashyyk – home to the Wookies. However, he is not here to participate in the feuding, rather he’s here to wipe out one of the last known Jedi alive, who it is revealed has been hiding a child with massive force potential. Vadar kills the Jedi and takes the boy in secrecy as his own apprentice, not even revealing to the Emperor that he exists. Thus the life of Jedi hunter and sith apprentice, Starkiller, begins with you at the helm.

The cool thing about the game’s intro is you actually get to play as Darth Vadar, meaning you have a pretty full manifest of Force powers in your palms, right from the get-go. Now, while LucasArts have been quick to tout their use of technologies such as DMM, Euphoria and Havok, it’s prudent I point out the experience isn’t overly different from playing a regular game without these tools. I say this because while they’re there to play with, you’re still fighting invisible walls and a vast majority of the immediate environment can't be interacted with, in the sense of destroying everything via DMM - this is still a very linear game with a set story to tell. The combined technologies then are secondary to the overall experience.

What this does is split the game in two. On the one hand you have an important piece of Star Wars narrative to tell, something fans are going to eat up, and on the other you have a tech demo. Don’t get me wrong, the sensation of being able to fling Storm Troopers around with Force Lift is utterly engaging, but it doesn’t overly shift gameplay into dynamic realms.

There are plenty of moments in the game where you will utilise the technologies to solve puzzles, beat bosses and so on, but they’re so few and far between it seems a bit arbitrary (on a functional "unleashed" level).

After Kashyyk, we fast forward time and Starkiller is a young teen about to be sent on his first mission. Immediately there’s some Star Wars familiarity here as we’re also introduced to his whacky robotic sidekick and a potential love interest in his new pilot. It kind of detracts from the idea that Starkiller is being trained with the power of the Dark Side, but for potential narrative purposes, I can see why he is being more humanised than you would expect.

Aboard a huge space station - where rebels are fighting and Storm Troopers and TIE Fighters are being constructed - you’ll progress through, taking out both sides – a secret apprentice of the one and only Darth Vadar has no room for prejudice, everyone is a victim here.

This is when things begin to get interesting in a story-telling sense: You’re an incredibly powerful young Sith doing the dirtiest work for one of the meanest cats in the galaxy; all of a sudden you’ll realise, after three terrible films and a potentially terrible television series looming on the horizon, Star Wars is cool again. And in videogame form, no less.

After all, Jedi are meant to be the light in the galaxy yet here you are, switching off these last remaining lights, one at a time. It really is very, very cool. But enough gushing, there are Storm Troopers to Force Lift and metal bay doors to Force Push.

Despite the confined nature of using your Force Powers, I can’t deny the fun of it all and thanks to the mechanics behind the game, most of the actions you perform are fairly unique. Using DMM, Havok and Euphoria has, at least, removed annoying gameplay scripting and opened up gameplay opportunities in what may have otherwise been a fairly standard game (from an interaction sense).

Utilising these tools opens up the interesting and creative death scenario options ten-fold. Instead of just hacking through a Storm Trooper with your Lightsabre why not pick him up and hurl him towards a window? If there’re more Troopers by the window, it’s likely they’ll get sucked out into the vacuum of space as well. And that’s just one scenario.

For the uninitiated, DMM is a tool that recreates matter in games. So glass when constructed using DMM will break and shatter as it would in real life. Wood splinters, metal buckles and brick crumble all in the same fashion that it would in real life - based on matter, force and mass. Euphoria, on the other hand, imbues game characters with a virtual skeleton and an algorithm for survival, meaning any unsuspecting NPC you grab using The Force, will not only flail about in a far more realistic fashion than Ragdoll Physics could ever create, they will also do whatever they can to survive – even if that means reaching out and grabbing hold of the poor sap standing near them (they’ll even reach out and grab crates or anything else within grasp).

Combining these two technologies with the robust physics of the Havok physics engine have created a reasonably fun world to play within, albeit annoyingly confined to what LucasArts strictly want you to interact with and not interact with. That said, it does set up a formula for play to progress through levels as you would in any other game.

From the space station to the polluted rubbish world of Raxus Prime (replete with angry Jawas packing heat) and then Felucia, an all-new alien world with native Rancors, the four levels I played through showed plenty of promise. But as I’ve maintained throughout, thanks to a fairly confined story, the game itself is pretty linear, which is a shame given the potential of the three technologies here.

Beyond the hyped engine, there are some other cool elements at play here. Starkiller can change his costumes as the game progresses, and you can also gather Lightsabre crystals to change the colour of your weapon. There’s also a skill tree using spheres that allows you to learn new combos, abilities and powers. Blue Power Spheres are used to enhance your alignment with The Force (thankfully there’s no mention of midi-chlorians), Red Combo Spheres are used to unlock new combos while Yellow Talent Spheres do exactly what you think they might. It’s also not overly easy to power yourself up too much in the early throws of the game, which is a good thing, but by the time I’d reached Felucia I was combining a handful of Force abilities (for attacking) and taking out the trash in style!

Star Wars fans are likely going to pick this up no matter what, but at this stage I can honestly say things are looking up in the world of Star Wars gaming, which up until now - barring the awesome LEGO series - has been largely crapola. Bridging the gap between Episodes III and IV was a good idea and creating a powerful character like Starkiller and centering his events around the budding rise to power of Darth Vadar just screams the sort of Star Wars drama we’ve all come to love.

The game’s engine is more than sound and in parts looks absolutely stunning. The option and ability to interact with more of the environment with your "unleashed" Force powers would have been welcome. I can understand why LucasArts have pulled the reins on your freedom, though I don’t agree.

If you need more convincing of what the game has to offer, you can check out all available media locally from our Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game page, otherwise, mark your calendars for September 17 when the game launches here in Australia.