I finally completed Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on the Wii today.

Surprisingly, that amounted to only 8 hours of game time, even though I started playing it just before Christmas.

Still, it was fun. The Star Wars fanboy in me loved having the WiiMote in my hand buzzing and crackling away as I swing it to direct my characters lightsaber, and the game was challenging enough. The graphics are incredible – from the sweeping vistas to the character models. You take in several worlds and locations on your journeys, including Bespin (without Lando).

All that said – the 8 hours of gameplay is probably just long enough. Your progress through the game pretty much consists of you rattling the WiiMote and alternately pressing the Z anc C buttons on the nunchuk. The game designers also recycle locations (upto three times in the instance of the Jedi Academy on Coruscant), which makes for some deja-vu.

And, at times, progress is only really made by entering a room full of stormtroopers, hacking a couple down before the rest kill you, and then doing it all over again until you clear that obstacle.

Ironically, I found I had the easiest fights against the boss(es) at the end of the game than the ones at each of the other locations. I also had a harder time against some of the normal level fodder than the bosses.

And, about two-thirds of the way through the game, your character gets his crowning moment of awesome – but its all in a cut-scene, so you feel a little cheated at not having any direct input into that event. But it is awesome.

The game does have a multiplayer aspect – but I’ve yet to venture into there (I’ve been using the storyline game to unlock items and character models like Luke Skywalker)

If you like Star Wars, and you find this on discount, then I’d recommend it – otherwise, think about something else.