S H A D O W O F T H E C O L S S U S ~~How one schizophrenic kid finds love and kills his inner colossus. --------------------------------------- By: Chris Zukowski AKA: kingspam2(at)aol(dot)com --------------------------------------- Shadow of the Colossus: The regular promise of "Art Game" always have always got me interested until I play them. In fact, I have been meaning to play this game for quite a long time. By the end I realized that it is exactly what I expected. Which sounds like a compliment, but it is not. What I expect is fairly two dimensional and when play mechanics such as leveling up, mini- games, and design your own character usually exceeds my expectations. But not this one, it is about as flat as its color palate. If you look at the back of the box you expect to walk around and then kill monsters. That is exactly what you do. Oh you do watch cinematics but that is about it. So here it is, the Shadow of Colossus the guide. Introduction ------- Don't push start! Watch the intro. A bird flies over Yosemite national park. It flaps its wings and passes right by Ashton Kutcher who is riding a black horse. He stops to give a long drawn out gaze telling us that he is either wary from the journey or maybe just listens to a lot of Emo. There is a gap and the horse jumps over. A moon appears and then goes behind a cloud, possibly creating a "Shadow". The kid looks up at the trees and walk by the pond where Smeagol found the one true ring. Rain falls and he walks into a building that is definitely old because some of it is falling down. He emerges onto a bridge. It is dramatic, cost a fortune, and was likely the result of some heavy pork barrel spending. Contents: ------- Title Screen ... (c00) Colossi 1 ...... (c01) Colossi 2 ...... (c02) Colossi 3 ...... (c03) Colossi 4 ...... (c04) Colossi 5 ...... (c05) Colossi 6 ...... (c06) Colossi 7 ...... (c07) Colossi 8 ...... (c08) Colossi 9 ...... (c09) Colossi 10 ..... (c10) Colossi 11 ..... (c11) Colossi 12 ..... (c12) Colossi 13 ..... (c13) Colossi 14 ..... (c14) Colossi 15 ..... (c15) Colossi 16 ..... (c16) Colossi Me ..... (c17) ------- Title screen (c00)------- Select New Game Ashton is still crossing the bridge toward a castle. A gate opens up and he marches right through. He caries a Jawa into this huge castle. The rider continues through a giant spiral staircase. Apparently his tribe makes clothing reusing what they have on hand; in this case, floor runners. This tribe is known for their use of hair defusers to get their hair perfectly feathered. Horse and rider pass by. It actually looks more like he is carrying a mummy than a Jawa. Or a mummified Jawa anyway. Pan up to the architecture and the blinding light that is coming from a large skylight considered an oculus (wikipedia pantheon). The emo kid dismounts from the horse caring the Jawa and places it on a giant altar. He pulls off the blanket and says kazaam "I have turned this mummy Jawa into a girl." A panda mask appears and mumbles from behind a huge cloud of smoke. The smoke means that it is taking place in my mind but I am not sure if this is a flashback or a foreshadowing. The mask talks about such important things as "Intersecting points" and "bringing souls back from the dead". Write this all down it is very important. The panda uses a quasi middle-English diction spiced with "Thous" and "Thy". Any game that uses these means there will probably be some swordplay involved. Shadow men come out of ground. The kid turns around like "what the F" and pulls out a sword like "you better bring it". He points it at them. They blow away and the camera pans up to the oculus again. The oculus talks. Its name is Dormin? The architecture says "Souls that are lost can not be reclaimed." Dormmin, uses more boring talk to give the kid a little tutorial of this land. Defeat colossi and the idols will fall. Doing this will bring back the maiden. The kid stops shoe gazing and looks up at him/it between the hairs of his totally Emo hair cut. Pan up of the valley and into the sky. To find out where to go raise thy sword to the light. The expository cinematic ends (clocking in at just shy of 21 minutes - which is pretty good for a Japanese game). -- Colossi # 1 (c01)-- It turns out that I am controlling the Emo kid, not the horse - darn. Press Triangle to jump on my horse ride out. Once outside, press circle to see my beam. As I press the circle button I can't help but say "by the power of grey skull" The light says go straight south. Continue south and ride up the stairs, start of the cinematic.... cue the oboe, it must signify me. Like peter and the wolf. Follow the on-screen instructions as they do a better way of explaining how to get around this part than I could. The only tricky part is when you get to the ridge that overlooks the valley; there will be a large stone with a hand grip around it. Jump up press R1 to grab a hold of the hand grip and shimmy around to the back side of the stone. Jump backwards and onto the path. When you climb up to the top you can hear the colossus. And you see him walk by. He is impressively big. As he walks he kicks up a lot of dust - if I don't bring him down the EPA will surly regulate the crap out of him. They could make him wear mud flaps at least. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #1: Check his left back foot - that unfortunate patch of hair is your ticket onto this beast. Can you imagine the outright disgustingness if you had hair on the back of your ankle. Jump up and grab a hold of that hair patch. Seriously, yuck. If you have your sword equipped, you will see a faint turquoise symbol that looks like something my Grandma would have hung on her wall. I think she may have bought it at a Santa Fe Indian art fair. Anyway stab it by tapping the X button once to charge your stab. Wait until you grunt then tap X again to stab right in. Next, climb up his leg and right onto his hairy ass (no really he has a hairy ass) [the kids reading this are like he just said ass]. Continue up to the small shelf on his back. You will need to rest here until your pink stamina bladder recharges. Climb up his back to his shoulders. Stand up there again if you need to rest. Move ups to his head. His face is actually kinda cute. At his bald spot there is another Indian Art fair design. Stab it to bring him down. ------------------------------------------- Cinematic: The colossus dying. I feel bad for killing him. He really didn't do anything to me. And I didn't see him doing anything bad to anyone else. Black worms enter up into my being via my chakra points. Hair still looks totally kick. Save screen - I pick slot 1. 1 Defeated. -- Colossi # 2 (c02)-- Cinematic: Bright light screams by 2001 space odyssey style. Shot number 3 of the oculus. Dark guy standing over me. I bet shadow man is thinking the same thing I would be which is "did the strokes play here last night? And what kind of kooky drugs is Julian Casablancas on anyway?" Girl lying on bed. I stand up. If this kid and link were to get in a fight which one's frail arms would give out first? I sheath my sword to visit her (see sexual/condom imagery). Stone breaks. Voices start talking to me. Not sure if they are inside my own head or from spirits. Directions: Seaside cave, it moves slowly. Check. I Climb on my horse and venture outside and the voices are back. "If thou should findist this altar, say a prayer and wounds shall be healed." That is the crappies altar; it looks like Ms. Johnson's 3rd grade class built it. Try out this new feature (circle is the prayer button by the way). This brings you to the save screen. Hold out my sword, it says go north. The landscape is nice and the castle is very castly. Limestone I would imagine. Continue along the land bridge that heads north and don't cross the one that shoots northwest. While crossing the bridge, note the misty crevice below, probably a bit of foreshadowing. There seems to be a large door down there too. Cinematic. The camera pans across the valley that I just said was foreshadowing. That probably means I should go down there and that it really was foreshadowing. As I continue down the path there seems to be some broken architecture. As I descend further into the canyon there is a nice subtle fog effect on the canyon floor. I am sure there was one guy assigned just to fog on this game. I would give him a raise. Continue through the canyon, spiraling in towards that large door we saw before in the cinematic. Cinematic: The Colossus Crashes through the rocks like the Kool-aid guy. Oooh-yah. I wonder how many times that colossus breaks through that wall only to rebuild it so that the next fool that comes down here is shocked to see him break through again. Anyhow, he kind of looks like a train or Optimus Prime. Did I mention that he also has hoofs. Once he has busted through that wall, he just kinda walks around. Based on his entrance, I expected him to charge at me, but no he just ambles about. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #2: Stand right in front of him and he will rear back onto his back legs. He exposes his front hooves (which glow). As with all video games, anything that glows needs to be shot. So shoot them with your arrows. He will fall onto the hoof that was shot. Climb up on his hoof and continue up the rest of his body. Rest on that shoulder if you have to. Work your way across his side to the rump. Walk cross his back and notice the glowing blue Henna design right on the top of his head. Stab it several times. It will disappear. Proceed back to the rump again and note the other blue Henna design. Stab it to bring him down. ------------------------------------------- Cinematic: The colossus dying. Another passive beast (if you ignore breaking through that wall) killed by that damn punk kid. Black worms enter again. I then apparently make the jump to light speed. Save screen: I pick slot 1. 2 Defeated. I am catching an Oedipus theme from killing these huge beasts all for a woman. If you are under 18, you are probably playing this game instead of doing your homework or studying for midterms or something. Keep playing and reading this guide but after you are done, make sure you work on school you will sooner or later read Oedipus Rex. He killed his dad and married his mom and had kids with her too. Many, many subsequent stories will involve killing a father figure. Think Luke Skywalker killing Darth Vader. These Colossi are putting out strong Oedipus vibes. -- Colossi # 3 (c03)-- I wake up, with my head pounding from another one of those black worm benders. Gives you the worst hangovers. There are now two shadow guys standing over me. They must be the dead colossi. Another idol breaks. Shadows are gone and I am up. El Duermo says "a giant canopy soars to the heavens/ anger of the sleeping giant shatters the earth". The earth does not seem that shattered to me. Off to find the next Colossi. Note the two white doves around the girlfriend. Which also correspond to the two giants I killed. The symbolism is getting a little out of hand now. Use the light beam sword and head towards the land bridge that is located to the north west of the castle (When I had to write north west, I just said Never, Eat, Shredded, Wheat). The light continues to point me towards caves. These are the same caves where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. Cinematic: Me looking at the misty pond. Jump off the horse and get into the water. Swim over to the structure and climb up the stone pillar. Jump across the gap use R1 to grab on. Journey down the path. Cinematic: The Colossus is quite large. It is actually a gigantic Cocapelli. Actually he is not, a Cocapelli would carry a giant pan flute that summons the mighty eagle of the North winds. I am quite impressed by this guy - how big he is and all. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #3: Run around him and find the stone platform. Stand on it and wait for him to swing at you. Roll out of the way with R1 and Triangle and he will strike the stone, shattering his arm band in the process. The arm band prevents you from traveling up him. Provoke him into swinging his sword at you again. Dodge out of the way. The sword will lay close to the ground for a short period of time, jump on to it. Run up the sword and climb to the shoulder. Pull yourself onto his head. An icon that looks like Tron is located right on his head. I guess he is just 6 month olds and his soft spot has not yet fully hardened. Stab it until it disappears. The next one is right on his belly button. Get to it by climbing onto his right arm and performing a backwards jump to his midsection. Stab it till he is dead. ------------------------------------------- Cinematic: Death scene. I still don't know what he did that was so "hateful" (Dormin's words). The guy is stuck on top of a platform just doing laps. These colossuses do a lot of wandering. Darkness enters my chest and smoke comes out of my mouth like I just totally cleared one! Dude, that was some good colossus we just smoked. -- Colossi # 4 (c04)-- Cinematic: Light tunnel, 3 shadows hanging over me. I bet they are like "This little turd killed me." "Ya he got me right in the belly button", "well lets spit on him while he lies here sobering up." I get up and listen to what seems like clues from Dormin (but it is actually schizophrenia). Observe the light sword pointing southeast. Follow it. Cinematic at G4. This cinematic looks like it was produced by the tourism board of this land. Continue to the follow the light until you find the tomb entrances. Don't go in them, they are inter connected but go nowhere good. Continue to follow the light. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #4: Colossus rises and looks kinda like a huge Rastafarian version of your horse. Ride back to the tombs that we passed earlier. The tombs are big rip-offs of the bee-hive tombs of Mycenae (see wikipedia). Make sure he follows you. Run into the nearest tomb entrance. Hide in the entrance and wait for him to poke his head down looking for you. Run down the hall to one of the other openings. Sneak up behind him because the colossus does not realize that the tombs serve no purpose other than to trick him (It is not like they are grain storage rooms or catacombs for the fallen.) Jump onto his tail and climb up to his back. That old familiar symbol is there. It actually looks like he decided to get one of those Celtic knot tattoos to commemorate his ancestral clan. Side note: if have not gotten a tattoo yet, do NOT get a Celtic knot tattoo. If you already have one, sorry dude, everyone else thinks it is lame. When the tail symbol disappears, climb up to his head for the second one. ------------------------------------------- Cinematic: Another pathetic looking death of a perfectly oblivious colossus. This one was even lying down; it wasn't like he was killing your family or anything. I am really starting to hate this ragamuffin of kid. -- Colossi # 5 (c05)-- Hold the light beam sword up and follow it east to a canyon. As you descend into the canyon, head towards the ruined bridge. Dismount horse and dive into the water. Submerge (using R1) under the partially exposed, vaulted doorway and swim to the column in order to start the assent. Cinematic: A big, hairy bird flies around and show off the Shadow of Colossus graphical engine. Even the bird's hair looks amazing despite the fact that birds don't have hair. Just feathers. Which is what makes mammals awesome and gives me hope that I will be able to kill this bird fast. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #5: Jump into the water from that convenient hole that someone installed. Swim towards the bird and find a platform that will be in view of the bird. Hold L1 to focus on the colossus and shoot arrows at it. As most birds do when riled the fly around in circles. Swim over to the bridge looking ruins. At this point one of the game designers asked "besides the cool ruins how do we give this scene more gravitas?" the other one said "we will use the music from Harry Potter." The first designer smiled and then silently nodded in approval. When you reach the bridge, climb up on the row of partially submerged stones, the middle one is the best for these next steps. While he flies around in circles, shoot arrows at the colossus. When hit, he will dive bomb you. The moment he gets real close, jump and press R1 to grab onto his wing. Tip: Don't let go of r1 until you are onto his main body. Stab each of the three glowing tattoos that look like some wiccan prayer icon. The spots are located as follows: - Left wing - Tail - Right wing Stab each one until it disappears then progress to the next one. ------------------------------------------- The bird dies in a crumpled mass. I forgot to mention that the bird was endangered and had a nest with four eggs in it which will also die now from neglect. Please enjoy the rest of Shadow of the Colossus. -- Colossi # 6 (c06)- The voices are back and say "kill the one under the table." I am now not killing just Colossuses but also drunks. We are now one third of the way through this game which means it is time for a desert level. When transitioning out of the grassland level and into the desert the sunlight blooms and there is no music. I pretty much see only my horse and hear just its beating hooves. I am going to switch out of irony mode now and say that was one of the coolest effects I have seen in a video game in a long time. I am turning around now to do it again. Pull up to the temple in the rocks. The game's designers totally copied and pasted from the "The Treasury" in Petra, Jordan (search it on Wikipedia). You may have recognized it as the place where they get the grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Jump over the blocks as you descend - note the awkward pounding foot effects they chose. Cinematic: Panning shot of the temple. Purpose of cinematic: This temple is deep and you are small. Walk to the ledge and hold R1. Let go of R1 then press it again to systematically and totally impossibly descend to the bottom. Cinematic: The wall lowers and the Alan Parsons Parson's project song "Sirus" slowly builds. The colossus struts out like he is starting center for the Bulls. It is totally sweet. The colossus actually had a starring roll as Gorax from the 1984 made-for-TV movie "The Ewok Adventure". ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #6: At the far end of the basin is a series of columns. Run towards it, you will need to jump over several of the temporary walls to get there. They are temporary because this Colossus will knock them down. When you get to the columns just hide out there. He bends his head down to look for you. Jump onto his beard and climb to the top of his head. Realize that most of these giants would not be so vulnerable if they just practiced better personal hygiene. He is bald and that spot is once again the weakness. How about that irony, because he had too much facial hair you were able to get access to him and because he has too little scalp hair you are able to stab him in the brain. Some guys never catch a break. Climb down to his lower back and stab him there a few times. He has bad kidneys. He will go down. ------------------------------------------- I sympathize with this colossus more than any of the other ones. He reminds me of most guys: living in a slightly dank pit, a little lacking in grooming, and clumsily kicking over stuff. This giant represents the brutish ways of men. And, in order to find love we have to conquer our inner hairy, clumsy selves and be a bit more rational, sensitive, and clean. If you are playing this game and have not yet shaved/bathed, do so now. Then tell a girl you love her. See you next level. -- Colossi # 7 (c07)-- The voices inside my head (I don't buy for a second that it really is a deity talking to me) make a small and quite stupid fart joke: "a ripple of thunder is in an underground lake." Head North West of the castle towards a mountain pass at 3D. Continue through it to the mouth of the cave which is located at 1D. Cinematic: Panning shots of the lake which is not underground at all. Who would have thought that the voices inside of a schizophrenic would lie? Walk around the stone spiral, which will cause some Fuzion Frenzy/Twisted System flashbacks. You must play that game if you have not already. Cinematic: A giant phallus, I mean serpent colossus surfaces. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #7: Much like the other bosses you fought, the Colossus will swim around in his natural habitat totally oblivious of you. Change that by holding R1 to dive and splash about, it seems to attract him towards you. As he nears he will start to surface. You know you are in business when you see circles of electricity on the top of the water. Avoid those spots but continue swimming along with him because his tail will surface. When it does press R1. You must be on top of his tail to get a hold of him. Once you are securely onto his tail he will start weaving in and out of the water. His strategy is quite dumb because you can not breathe underwater. He should just dive deep and kill you. When his body is above water, let go of R1 and run towards his head. Stop just behind the electricity towers because that is where the kill spots are located. Stab quickly because if he goes under again you will be electrocuted. After sufficient stabbing they will go dark. That glowing symbol looks like it is a drawing by the producer's kid. The graphics guy was probably required to add it to make him happy. Hold R1 when he dives then let go when he breaches again. Repeat the above steps until you have stabbed each electric dorsal fin. When you get to the head there is one more spot. Stab it to finally kill him. ------------------------------------------- Cinematic: Death of the leviathan. While watching this, think about what science could have learned by studying his huge electric generating cells. We probably could have powered cars, houses, or trains with the technology gleamed from those electrical dorsal fins. What a shame. The black magic enters my soul and somehow I get back to castle creepy voices. -- Colossi # 8 (c08)-- Voices: "Trapped within a pail deep in." That doesn't even make sense. It sounds like I am going to be shooting fish in a barrel. I just raised the sword and got the light to shine on it like I was Gandalf in the "Return of the King" riding after those dragons. Gawd that movie is so long but that one part is sweet. Light points me southeast. Found a little cave at G6. Dismount, and walk the narrow bridge to avoid the awkwardness that is trying to steer the horse. Very pretty pond here. When I finish my Colossus genocide and get my girlfriend back to life, I am going to take her here for a picnic. Head around the lake to the big stone temple. When you reach the big room, turn to the phallic column located on the right side. Use your triangle and R1 skills to climb to the top of the large room. Cinematic: The beast is located in the coliseum. Colossus in a coliseum!? Wow, that was a pun I didn't even intend. Seriously though, the real Coliseum is called so because the Roman Emperor Nero built a huge statue of himself right in front of the stadium (which was not even built by Nero). Romans called it the Coliseum after his statue, not the stadium. Run around the interior of the coliseum working your way towards the bottom. Note how the music is extra foreboding. Still wouldn't consider this structure a "pail". The running around and around and the occasional glimpses of the Colossus (who looks like a total badass) is employed to build suspense. It is actually kind of scary. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #8: Stop at about the second or third story of the "pail" and shoot his orange back. Like colossus #2 shoot anything that glows. Note: If he ever fires his orange miasma or electricity at you, run quickly to a new location to shoot at him. When hit, he will run up the wall to try and get you. While he is climbing the wall, run down to the grassy bottom of the bucket. Look up at him clinging to the wall and shoot him in the legs (which also glow) with arrows. He will fall off the wall and come to rest belly-side-up Starting from his tail, climb up onto his exposed stomach, switch to the sword and stab him in the glowing blue symbol. I don't know why they keep getting tattoos where there weak spots are. I really don't like this stabbing him in the soft underbelly. He seems reminds me of my childhood cat who would fall asleep stomach up. I bet this colossus smells like a warm puppy. Repeat the shoot, knock down, belly stab procedure until he is dead. ------------------------------------------- Cinematic: New cinematic style - film grain? I use a sword and ride a horse; did they even have film back then? The girl sits up and I am lying on the floor, colossus idol breaks. Sentimental music. I go up to touch her. No plot advancements from this, but it is a good attempt to remind us that we are not killing just to kill but killing for her. I don't buy it, this kid has black colossus blood allover his hands and soul. -- Colossi # 9 (c09)-- So with Colossus number eight we are now half way through this and on an honest to God killing spree. There really is no turning back now. Voices: Sleeps in a dry lake bed, rude awakening - check. Great it is bad enough I am just killing them, now I do it while their sleeping - real heroic. Gandolf sword says to head North West. On my way over I realized that I could shoot arrows while I ride - awesome! There better be a colossus where I have to shoot it with arrows while on horseback. Continue around to the area is across the chasm. There should be several geysers. Cinematic: New colossus. He is a quadruped with a huge shell. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #9: This colossus shoots laser beams! He just shot my horse with one and knocked the both of us over. This colossus is a total dick! I have no problem killing him. This game should have been called "Shadow of boss 9, he is a dick". After dying three times in a row, I had to use another faq to get the answer (see Alex Eagleson's FAQ on www.gamefaqs.com, thanks). This boss is such a total douche the even his gimmick is lame and hard to accomplish. Lure him over to one of the geysers and when it erupts it will knock him off balance. His feet will turn green, hoot two of those green spots with arrows. If you successfully hit them with arrows, he will roll over. Run around to his belly and R1 + Triangle your way up to the spot where his hard dorsal shell starts. Stop there and just hold on until he rolls over. Pull yourself up and run around to the back of the shell and run up to his head to find that glowing spot. Stab it until he is dead. ------------------------------------------- Boy did I hate that boss. It was hard to find him, he took forever to lure over, and then he had to be positioned just right over them. Let us never speak of him again. -- Colossi # 10 (c10)-- Cinematic: pretty sure it is the same animation of me waking up that was used in all the others. Head off in a western direction. This is a long ride. There is one of those useless healing shrines at B4. Ride into the cave. Cinematic: This next colossus is a Tremor, be sure not to touch the ground. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #10: This colossus is a real power house and will kill you in two hits. Stay on the horse most of the time and ride around real fast. On a side note, you should die once on purpose because his picture on the "Game Over" screen looks laughably lame. It almost looks like a Muppet is wishing you better luck next time. Ride your horse around and around to get the colossus' attention. Slow down a little so that you ride closely ahead of him. Set the horse on auto pilot and then hold L1 to set the camera to the colossus. Pull out the bow and arrow and start shooting at his eyes. When you hit both of them he will roll out of control and hit one of the walls. He will surface and writhe in pain. Climb on to his back and stab at the glowing tattoo. He goes back under the sand. Get back on your horse and repeat the above steps to make him hit the was again. The second spot is further up his back. R1 all the way up his back to reach it. He dies after stabbing the second spot. ------------------------------------------- If we extrapolate the theory that colossuses represent men's problems that need to be conquered before realizing love, what would you say this colossus represents? Our hidden agendas? A roaring physical strength just out of sight? Or, maybe, the way we keep our emotions submerged. You got to shoot us in the friggen eye just to get some emotion out of us and then we end up hitting the wall anyway. Yes, this boss definitely represents our buried feelings. Much like these other colossus, when we defeat them it brings us one step closer to finding love. -- Colossi # 11 (c11)- Wow, I have seen that ring of light 11 times now. I think I actually see the faces of loved ones in the small dots along the edges of it. Dormin talks: "Alter overlooking lake, it keeps the flames alive" (Flames of passion?) Head north out of the castle. Is it just me or is my stamina bubble getting huge. Cross the various land bridges to F1. The lake is down in that crevice. Run down the trail on the eastern edge. While running down the path, pull out your bow in order to get a first person view of the valley/lake below. It is quite impressive. The animation of him running down the path is a bit janky though. Cross the lake and make your way to the large stone temple. Follow the small path that leads up the right side of that temple. Make a leap across the chasm located inside. Cinematic: New colossus is a not so colossal. He actually looks like Gozer from Ghostbusters ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #11: Get ready because killing this colossus is quite lame. Run around to the side of one of the flame pedestals. Triangle and R1 your way up it. Wait there and he will ram it. A flaming stick comes out. You will see it because the camera will follow it as it falls. Jump down and when the coast is clear, select the open hand with the directional pad. Press circle to pick up the flaming stick. What makes this lame is there is no where written that circle is the pick up flaming sticks button. Totally lame design decision if you ask me. If the stick does not have fire burning on it climb back up on one of the pedestals to light it. Jump back down and start swinging it in his face. Don't get too close because he will swipe at you. Slowly push him back to the end of the room where there are some broken columns and a large view of the valley below. When you get him to the edge he will fall off and crack his armor. If that part wasn't tricky enough, here comes the next tricky design decision. You have to jump right on to his back. While he is stunned down bellow, jump down. Make sure you land right on him. If you miss landing on him, he will wake up and you will have to find another higher ground spot in order to jump onto his back. When you finally land on his back, whip out the sword and start stabbing his Moon beam scab. -- Colossi # 12 (c12)- Dolomite talks to me once again to say "A moving bridge to reach a higher ground." I so hope this boss is Stevie Wonder (who is THE colossus of funk). At least it will be easier to run around him then. Super sword points me north but don't listen to it now. You really want to go to the bride at G4, then go to the bridge at G3. Head into the dark forest, but stay close to the right-hand wall and exit at the next opening. Follow the mountain path that leads along the cliff face. Notice the large waterfall, there is a small mountain path here heading north. Jump and grab on to the circular pillar and shimmy almost 360 degrees around to the ledge on the other side. Do not attempt to jump across the waterfall as you will die and have to find this place all over again. I fell into the water and almost threw my dual shock controller through my TV. When you make it around the little dam, jump into the lake when you reach the end of the path. Swim past the large bridge to the little pagodas. Cinematic: The beast rises and looks like....an NFL linebacker. He shoots lasers too. I hate that. I think the game designers added lasers when they realized the colossus wouldn't be that hard. Life lesson for all you reading: adding lasers to anything makes it harder. By the way, the music sounds like the music from the Goonies when Mikey first discovers the treasure map in his dad's attack. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #12: Dive under the water with R1 and while submerged, swim around to his back. Climb up it and onto his head. Strike the molars located on his head to steer him towards one of the stone temples. When close enough, jump off and hide from the lasers behind that giant stone nipple in the middle. He will get frustrated and put his hooves onto the temple roof. When he does, jump towards his stomach. Plunge your sword into the spot on his stomach. After stabbing him about 4 times he will shake you off. You will have to climb back on and steer him over to a different temple again because: 1 - The designers want to pad out the game and... 2 - He destroys the temple you were using before. ------------------------------------------- Cinematic - Him: sinking into the ocean. Me: still holding on as he goes under. God that last one put me in a bad mood. I suggest taking a break before playing the next Colossus because he is actually pretty cool. -- Colossi # 13 (c13)-- Cinematic: Several guys on horseback ride along that huge bridge. They dismount and assemble. The lead horseman suggests that this castle would be a great place to practice their traveling Kabuki show. The others agree because he is wearing a panda mask. I wake up, call my horse, and head out on my commute. Today we are heading south. Proceed to the deserts of E6. Enter the ruins that are located in the desert sands. Cinematic: This colossus seems to have all the leftovers from the designer's concept sketches. Wings? Check!, Big air sacks? Check! Beak, dorsal fins, long tail? Check! Check! Check! The end result kinda looks like a flying piece of dryer lint. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #13: Drive your horse under this beast and use your arrows to shoot out the three sets of bags located under the colossus. He will sink from the sky and drag along the ground. It sounds like you are hurting him by shooting out those gas bags; but if you have ever had too much Indian food, you know and can rest assured that you are doing him a favor. While he is in the dragging butt position, ride your horse up next to him. When you are quite close to his wings, jump off while holding R1 to grab a hold. Get a little R1 Triangle action started to climb up the wings and onto his back. Stab each lighted spot. They are located behind each one of his dorsal sails. After killing each dorsal fin, he will dive straight into the sand sending you off his back and me questioning how the hell this multi ton beast can dive into solid dirt. See "padding by the designers" above. When he re-submerges, you will have to repeat the shooting of the gas bags and the jumping to his wings procedure. ------------------------------------------- This colossus reminds me why I don't understand why we are killing them. I didn't loose any health during the entire course of this battle. Well I guess he was worth killing in order to get this girl back to life. -- Colossi # 14 (c14)-- You know how I know the voices are just a schizophrenic illusion, they never say thank you. I have now killed 13 beasts and all he tells me is how to kill more. I actually feel sorry for the kid at this point. Hold sword up in order to keep up the habit, but you really want to head towards the Geysers of D4. Once here, continue through the channels of D2 When you get to the caves, leave the horse behind and swim across the river. Work your way through the city to see the boss. Cinematic: This boss is totally a copy and paste of boss 11. I think the designers are as tired of this game as I am. In fact, I am just going to re- paste the solutions to the last boss just to get through it. Just kidding, I would never do that to you. Lets toughen up and beat this game. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #14: For the first part of this battle, Climb one of the low boxes, jump to the higher Stonehenge-esqe structure then jump to one of those very tall pillars. Climb to the top. The bull will ram them and make them fall. This really is one of the most passive aggressive boss battles since fighting Bowser in Super Mario 3. After each tower falls over it will land strategically close to the next pilar. Jump from the fallen one to the closes standing pillar. The Colossus will continue to topple each one. Note: It is actually hard to leap from the fallen tower to the next standing tower. Keep with it though. You just have to time the jump and the R1 grab more precisely. Note: If the colossus looses interest during the battle, shoot him with an arrow and he will ram the tower you are standing on again. When the final tower falls through the wall a cinematic will show. After the cinematic, run over to the nearby wall that has obvious hand rails. R1 + Triangle up it and then jump to the roof of the little porch. The beast will ram into the columns bringing the entire structure on top of him and thusly breaking his armor. Run away from him and climb on top of one of those low bridges. When he rams it he will be stunned. From there, jump onto his back and stab that glowing vulva until he dies. ------------------------------------------- Cinematic: Death scene. This colossus really echoes the Bull-leaping frescos of the ancient Minoans. The object was to jump over the bull by vaulting over his horns (check wikipedia http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull-leaping). Lets continue to Colossus 15 - the last boss of the regular season. -- Colossi # 15 (c15)-- Voices: little help as usual, at least the light sword can tell us where to go. My enlarged stamina gland is really pushing the limits of what can be displayed on screen. Sword says head Northeast. This kid listens to a lot of things. Voices tell me what to kill, swords where to go, and glowing tattoos say where to stab. Again, I feel sorry for him. Follow that huge bridge as you travel north. Turn right at about square G1. There you will find the city. Work your way around the city heading north. By the way there is a hill there that will make the horse jump off it. I love making it do that. This city feels more like a college campus. Big open room, must mean the colossus is near. Run to the end of the grand stadium to start the cinematic of a huge colossus. Cinematic: He looks a lot like the first Colossus. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #15: Call his attention by whistling or firing arrows. Run to the lowest part of the wall. You will not be able jump and grab on. Don't worry, because when he gets near you, he will stomp on the foundation which will rise giving you a slight advantage to climb up onto the next level of the stadium. Climb up and fire an arrow at him. He will swing his sword bringing more blocks down to clear your path. Climb up to the next level and continue west to the staircase of the high bridge. Jump from the bridge onto his body. See the weak spot located on the top of his head (ho-hum). Would it be so hard for the designers to put a new place to stab? I am sure the top of the head is soft, but what about the eye. What if we gave one a tracheotomy? We never took one out David and Goliath style. When head spot disappears, climb down to the arm that holds the sword. There will be another spot right on his arm and when you stab it he will drop his sword. Stand in front of him, when he starts his swing, roll out of the way (Hold R1 press triangle). When his fist hits the ground jump at the fist and grab on to his palm hair. Palm Hair? Yes, this guy strokes the "little colossus" quite a bit. But you can't blame the guy, how many female colossi have you killed? Stab the spot located on his hairy palm. ------------------------------------------- Cinematic: I fall to the ground. This will be one of the final times you see this. Back at Dormin castle the entire colossus crew stands over you. They reminisce about the old times and view this more as a reunion. Some ask each other what they have been up to: wandering aimlessly, destroying stuff, and whatever other things that colossi do. -- Colossi # 16: THE BOSS COLLOSSUS (c16)-- My inner voices, "the ritual is nearly over, wish almost granted." "Someone stands in thy way, make haste for time is short" Head south until you hit the wall and veer left to go through the canyon. Navigate through the canyon by staying close to the right wall. When you emerge, check the light again. There is a lizard, and I tried to fry it with my light beam - did nothing but I did ride over and it is crunched. Continue south to the castle. Check the map for help navigating the various cliffs. The pass is at F7. Pull up to the large gate (which looks wicked-cool). Open it by shinning the sword at the main circle. Just make sure you are off the horse, it is very impossible to try to line up the sword and the disk I think this part is supposed to be a pretty weighty and emotional, however there is no emotion. We never see him worried about the woman he brings in. Never questioning what he is doing. He is just a meat puppet we move around in order to kill the colossi. Ride your horse quickly up to the bridge and right up to the gap to get him to jump across. Cinematic: Death of the horse. I am not a horse person but seeing horses die always makes me feel bad. However, I think it is a cheap gimmick to tug at the audiences emotions. The horse dies which probably means there will be shadow of the colossus 2 in which you kill more colossi just to bring your horse back. Walk around the edge of the cliff until you see large blocks in the middle of the path. Jump on them and then jump across to the row of hand ledges. Grab on and R1 Triangle your way up to the path. Run east from here and when obstructed by debris, drop down to the hand ledges. Shimmy past the debris. Pull yourself back up and climb on top of said pile of debris. Climb up the mossy / grassy wall. Continue around the top and head down the hallway. I hear my ps2 turning the disk which probably means it is loading the art for the colossus which is probably just around the next corner. Nope- was loading a huge rain storm Continue to the edge off the hall and climb up the columns with the braids wrapping around them. Cinematic: This is the bad-est colossus of them all. You know he is bad because he has glowing bracelets and he lives on a dark mountain. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #16 He started things off by shooting a hyduken style fireball. Why do end bosses always shoot stuff at you? A: See Shooting lasers makes it harder. The first part of the battle will play out like American Gladiators (specifically like the game Assault which happened to be my personal favorite). But, instead of trying to get to "Turbo", you must make it to "Colossus". Accomplish this by carefully dodging among the provided barriers. From the entryway stairs, head right to find a hole in the ground. Drop down and follow the hallway to the pile of blocks. Climb up them and hide behind the shield. You must dash between the shields as he throws his hydukens. Continue to time your advances, and progress to the right. Jump down the second hole and follow the path around. Climb over and around the natural obstacles. At the end of the next hallway, hide behind the shields. You can see his feet bound there. Being all tied up, he does not seem all that bad. He could even make a pretty good tourist attraction - provided they control those damn lasers. Speaking of tourist attractions, him charging up his fireballs totally sounds like any given Disneyland ride as it leaves the station - specifically Splash Mountain. During the final assault, continue across the next three shields and jump down the hole and you will be at the base of him. Cinematic: Pan up, he looks like a transformer. From here, start your climb up the colossus. I am not going to describe every hand hold. Other FAQs would do a much better job. I am just here for the jokes. The first neon scar is located on his lower back. Stab him and he will move his hand down towards it. Jump and grab a hold of the hand. Notice that his palms are also hairy. I really can't blame this colossus as he is all tied up. You need to do something to pass the time. Stay right inside his palm. He will rotate you around so you can run up his arm. There will be another blue crack on the forearm. Stab it too and he will bring his other hand around. Jump to it. When in the other hand, stab it (even though there is no blue cut). He will bring you up to his face. Press the circle button to hold up the old power of Grey Skull sword and shine the beam at his left shoulder. When you point it in the right spot, there will be an indication of his weakness. Equip the arrow and shoot him where indicated. He will bring the hand you are standing on up to his shoulder. At this point jump to his shoulder. After landing, run around to the top of his head. Climb up onto the helmet. The weak spot is located right in the middle of the helmet. If you were to have a single, super-vulnerable spot, wouldn't that be the one place where a helmet. Anyway, stab it until he is dead. As a side note: the designers will try to pad out this boss battle by making move his head around a lot after each stab. If your stamina prostate is running a little low, run to the back of his shoulders to recharge. Then, get back to the stabbing. ------------------------------------------- Cinematic: Zoom out. The whole structure you climbed up was a stone dress. What a fop. The final set of black snakes jump in... Magic transport back to the castle. The Kabuki soldiers arrive and boy are they going to put on one fabulous performance. The scurry down the deep pit discussing who should provide the opening monologue until one of them mentions how vaginal the spiral hallway is. The pillar explodes - that was totally my bad. The panda mask is removed which cues the pipe organ. Princess sleepy pants disappears proving she had the least memorable role in this entire game. A huge colossus is hunched like he totally spent the night slamming Kirin Saki bombs. I show up, drop my sword, and rise up looking like caca. The theater troop starts lecturing me about how I could never appreciate the fine nuances of their traditional Japanese art. I totally shut them up by performing a perfect reenactment of Thriller. However, I am interrupted to say that I was being used. Whoa, big surprise <> if you have been reading this FAQ. I get shot right in the leg and all of a sudden I have horns. I turn into a demon - which should have happened a lot longer ago. Close up of my demon face. I start speaking in tongues. I totally have a sword in my chest! I proceed to spray black smoke. I turn black and drop to the ground. Every guy in the theater troop is like "holy mother of Crap!??? What the F was that?" I then turn into the Mountain King from Fantasia. In the next scenes, don't worry that you may die and have to repeat the whole end boss over, because you have technically already died. Just play along. ------------------------------------------- Kill Colossus #ME! (c17) You are now a colossus in an ironic turn of events. Turn around and start attacking the little guys. Cinematic: They run up the stairs. General Panda gets the sword and throws it down the vulva looking hole (sexual imagery). A light shines and an atomic blast goes off like the end of every other anime and Japanese game. I get sucked into it. I become a kid. You can control the kid/shadow beast as he is sucked in. Try pushing the jump button, it just makes the whole scene that much more pathetic. The super highway bridge starts breaking. This is going to be a huge bond measure to replace this. We just stopped having to pay tolls too. The Maiden wakes up (remember, this was all for her), gets down to walk, and hears my dead horse. He has a broken leg which means he will be shot even if he does survive all this. God, this game is just cruel to everyone involved. Film stock again and the credits roll. Wow what a game. At least it was not that long which is good. It lacked personality. I understand the need to make things mysterious and open for interpretation, but, it is at the expense of emotional attachment? Even if there is no back story there is never has any emotion in the present. Does he hate the Colossi? Does he fear them? Are they bad? The credits are still rolling and there is someone listed as "Animal system Programming - Kazutomo Sasaki." I think that means that he added those lizards and squirrels you saw running around. More cinematic: The troop is running across the bridge. They all make it. Wow the panda mask guy had a beard. The poor horse hobbles around some more to try and wrench our heartstrings a little more I turn into a baby with horns. If you played ICO you know the horns mean he was a marked boy. Either that or his horns represent his schizophrenia. The girl picks me up in a motherly way. This girl is my mom, I killed my father(s) (the colossi). I totally called the oedipal theme at the second colossus. Cue Vegas lounge music and we all go on a little walk around the castle. Stop making that horse walk. Note the baby deer. Total symbolism there - soak it up. Your guess is as good as mine what this all means though. Just enjoy Kazutomo Sasaki's animals. ------------------ Fin ---------------------- So what did you learn? - Lasers make things harder. - If something glows in general or blue in particular, stab it! - Genocide is for losers. ----------------- Legal -------------------- Copyright 2006 Chris Zukowski This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo S T A R W A R S F O R C E U N L E A S H E D --------------------------------------- zukalous(at)gameintestine(dot)com THIS FAQ CAN ONLY BE POSTED ON THE FOLLOWING SITES: www.gameintestine.com www.gamefaqs.com www.ign.com --------------------------------------- _____________________________________________ | Introduction | If you didn't think that the Skywalker family could get any more bizzare, what with Vader being the galaxy's worst dead-beat dad and Luke and Leia acting just a BIT too friendly with each other, then meet the family's adopted step-brother, Starkiller. The plot of this game follows Starkiller as he transitions from apprentice to master of the force. He plays an important role in the war between the Empire and the Rebellion **CANON** Also, look for the above canon alert to tell you that the information is an important development in the Star Wars universe. This guide was written for both the player who wants hints on beating the game and the person who is curious about the story and how it fits in with the rest of the Star Wars saga. I will tell you what happens as well as how to beat the bosses and solve the puzzles. Read this guide and learn the following: * How the Rebel Alliance formed * How the Apprentice is really a terrorist * How the force can pull down a Star Destroyer * The quality of the Hoth level * What Vader's true personality is like _____________________________________________ | Contents | Kashyyyk ------------------------------ (x00) TIE Factory --------------------------- (x01) Raxus Prime --------------------------- (x02) Felucia ------------------------------- (x03) Betrayal ------------------------------ (x04) I.S.S. Empirical ---------------------- (x05) Cloud City Bespin --------------------- (x06) Imperial Kashyyyk --------------------- (x07) Imperial Felucia ---------------------- (x08) Imperial Raxus Prime ------------------ (x09) Death Star ---------------------------- (x10) Dark Side Ending ---------------------- (x11) Light Side Ending --------------------- (x12) _____________________________________________ | Kashyyyk (x00) | As is the case with the open of any Lucas bacchanalia, the THX screen is always the most impressive auditory experience in the whole work. The game opens with Vader and an entire army invading a forested planet. This is the first time we have seen Darth Vader since he was converted from the brooding Hayden Christensen. The time period is just before the start of the rebellion and as we see in this opening scene, the empire is extending its reach into new star systems. The planet being invaded is Kshyyyk, home to the Wookies. Wookies, with their long beards, predisposition for guns and hanging out in the woods are the galaxy's Grizzley Adams, the mountain men, the down home hicks. Chewbacca always seemed as if he were the lost member of Lynard Skynard or My Morning Jacked who just happens to be good at fixing space ships. When we finally saw Kshyyyk, my thoughts were confirmed - the place is a backwater paradise on par with the Ozzarks. The land provides perfect terrain for jumping ATVs or parking a trailer in a remote spot so no one can get at ya. However, this back-water-utopia comes to an end when the straight-laced, shinny helmeted Empire shows up to ruff up the Wookies. It is like some sort of fascist version of the Dukes of Hazard. Vader is here to kill a Jedi that somehow managed to escape the Jedicide that was incurred at the end of The Revenge of the Sith. Vader strides confidently through the grassy, Smokey Mountain-esque battlefield. He doesn't even seem to be too worried about getting grass or burs stuck in his perfectly polished black suit. In this level you control Darth Vader and you have to kill Wookies that stand in the way. Some may see this as a difficult exercise while others may revel in their Wookie blood lust Either way, the light saber seared hair must smell awful The path is pretty much a straight hallway until you get to a series of bridges where Wookies ambush you. This is a good time to get some achievements. Achievements Frenzy, Sith Frenzy, Sith Lord Frenzy - You get this by killing multiple enemies with your force power. At the bridge, use the force push on the parade of Wookies. Bossk - Kill 200 Wookies. Just stand on the bridge crossing and push Wookies around. Pushed, Force Push Mastery - If you use nothing but force push in this section you can advance towards getting these. As you fight through the rest of the level you should kill 12 of your own Storm Troopers to get Worst Day-Shift Manager Ever. After advancing deeper into the forest you reach a series of huts where the this Jedi was seeking sanctuary. The fight against this hooded enemy can be won by just running up and unleashing a flurry of light saber swings. If you feel like changing it up a bit you can try to use force push a bit. Cut Scene Now inside the Jedi's hut, Vader holds the poor chap and just before his last stab with the light saber, it is pulled out of his hand by a force wielding infant. Realizing the kid's power, Vader takes the boy and kills all imperials who witnessed this impromptu adoption. As Luke and Anakin proved that the best place to find new Jedi (and AAA offensive line for that matter) is in towns located in BFN. The scene transitions through time from the young boy's eyes to the hardened eyes of a steely man. They are on Vader's big, blue ship which, thanks to wookiepedia, I know is named the Executor and that it has a crew of 300,000. Vader has it parked in an undisclosed location while it is being constructed. The man kneeling in front of him, who could be anywhere from 18 to 38, was adopted by Vader when he realized the boy's potential. The boy was raised in secret with the purpose of one day being Vader's personal assassin. Of course, maybe Vader just wanted to have a second shot at being a better dad. Either way the boy's training is complete and Vader sends him off to his first test: to kill a Code-66-surviving and Tie-Fighter-factory-saboteur Jedi named Rom Kota. TO SEE PICTURES OF THESE CHARACTERS: http://www.gameintestine.com/guides/star-wars-force-unleashed/kashyyyk.html Lets take a moment to examine what the heck Vader dressed the boy in. We can't fault him too much, Vader did grow up in the dusty hell hole of Tatoine, raised by a gypsy and softened a bit by a princes who applied makeup with a trowel. The apprentice wears a get up that looks like it was equally inspired by the album cover of Stevie Nicks from Rumors and Michael Jackson from Bad. His ragged clothing hangs loosely culminating with a rather long loin cloth supported by belts that can be counted in the dozens. As the apprentice leaves for his ship, we meet PROXY. Han Solo had Chewie, C3P0 had R2, and in this game, the Apprentice has a sassy robot named Proxy. This droids powers include projecting a hologram around himself to mimic anyone who is in his database. We first learn of Proxy's fantastical shape shifting ability when he attacks the apprentice while disguised as Ewan McGregor's version of Obi Wan (whose in-engine character more closely resembles a light-saber-wielding Christ). The apprentice stabs Obi Wan/Proxy through the heart and Proxy (who wasn't damaged) congratulates him on passing this training mission he programmed for him. En route to his ship, the apprentice meets his new pilot, Juno Eclipse. She is a platinum Blondie decked head to toe in a profession-dommes-quality fascist officer attire. This pilot was hand-picked by Vader to replace the seven other pilots who have died on the apprentices other missions. The newly formed trio of PROXY, the Apprentice, and Juno pile into the apprentice's ship: the "Rogue Shadow" - a name that seems as if it were created by throwing darts at a list of every NEOGAF user name. _____________________________________________ | TIE Factory (x01) | This level is the Apprentice's first solo mission. You can tell too: his force powers are limited to a weak force push, a stumbling force pull and he handles his light saber with an adorably awkward reverse grip. The Tie Fighter factory that he is fighting through (which was featured in the demo) is a quintessential example of early Imperial architecture complete with its impeccably shinny floors, onyx paneling, and lighted joists. The doors are also typical in their hexagonal design. If locked, they can be bypassed by either force pushing through them or force pulling the locking mechanisms along its track. If you ever thought to yourself "that scene from Attack of the Clones in which a scantily clad Natalie Portman platformed her way through a battle droid construction plant would make a wonderful Star Wars-version to a Megaman game," you would be correct, it would. However, this level is not that. In Attack of the Clones you see a complicated process that involves stamping, bolting, welding and casting robots out of metal. Force Unleashed, on the other hand, would have you believe that assembly of a space-worthy Tie Fighter is no more complicated than assembling a 1/25 scale plastic Kenner model: 1) bring wings into position 2) connect the cockpit sphere to the wings. At one point in the factory, you do get the chance to swing some welding lasers around but you never get that chance to run on a conveyor belt or dive under spinning blades - requirements for anysucessful video game factory level. TIPS FOR THOSE PLAYING THE GAME * When you are ambushed in the room with the laser gate, force-pull the refrigerator-sized fuse located in the wall. * When you fall into a dead-end that appears to be an uncompleted hallway with an escape hatch above, force- pull the sliding mechanisms out of the left wall and then pull down the hatch that is above. Double-jump between these two newly positioned platforms to get up to the escape hatch and continue along your way. * When you encounter the AT-ST, kill all the surrounding troopers and then attack the AT-ST by tossing boxes at it and directly attacking it until it's health is reduced enough to start a Quick-Time-Even. How to defeat General Kota General Kota may have hidden himself deep within the factory, but he makes his final stand in the control room. Do factories even need control rooms? Maybe it has to do with Jedi/Sith honor code but, it has been estimated that 90% of all Jedi fights occur in one form of control room or another. Kota, who sports the graying pony tail and goatee of a middle-aged music mogul is described by wookiepedia as "being an elder Human male, Jedi Master and general during the Clone Wars. His lack of faith in the clone troopers allowed the general to escape Order 66" The boss: General Kota * Fight Kota with standard attacks * If Kota goes to control room's balcony and starts to glows green, hide behind any of the consoles on the left and right sides of the room. * When Kota is stunned, pick him up with force pull and slam him against the wall. After General Kota has been reduced to his "give up" level of health, he stops fighting and force-pulls the entire control-room structure (which hangs like a revolving restaurant) off of its boom and into the planet below it. The entire floor turns white as the structure re-enter's the planet's atmosphere. The jedi battle continues uninterrupted however it now has added urgency because somebody must win before the structure hits terra firma. When his health is low enough, Kota locks sabers with the "boy." As they push back and forth, Kota's psychic ability goes wild. He claims he senses good in the apprentice and foresees that Vader will not be the apprentice's mentor for long - Kota will be. Then, with a quick dash, the Apprentice pushes Kota's own saber back into his own eyes (much like the old "why you keep hitting yourself" gag) and sends the old man tumbling out the control room. The apprentice jumps out too but lands in the Rogue Shadow as it zips by. Since when did Jedis turn into indestructible flying supermen? I still prefer my Jedi arthritic. _____________________________________________ | Raxus Prime (x02) | Cut Scene: The apprentice returns to Vader's still in-progress Star Destroyer and tells him the general is dead. Vader sends him off again on another test: kill a Jedi named Kazdan Paratus. Vader tops it off by telling him "oh ya and this Jedi is better than you and you probably won't be able to best him and will die." Vader does promise that if the apprentice happens to survive, then the two of them can work together to defeat the Emperor. It seems that Vader is planning a coupd’état and the apprentice will be playing a primary role. But for now, the apprence must track down Paratus who is hiding on Raxus Prime. PROXY describes the planet as the place where "all droids go to die." Raxus prime is a junk planet that is so full of space craft and droids parts that I tend to think this level was designed by writing an automated script to randomly dump models from Lucas Art's 3D asset database and calling it done. Thelevel's pallet is done up in hues that range from a hoppy India Pale Ale to a malty Nut Brown. Jawas crawl throughout the level- they apparently favor environments that are junky and orange colored. There are also droids that are powered by the foce for some reason. Also there are green guys that look like greebo who fight against those force powered robots. It feels as if the Apprentice has stumbled upon a crazy battle that he has no part of. Before heading planet side, the Apprentice has changed out of his shredded street bum look and instead wrapped himself in a complete set of grungy bedsheets and now resembles the Elephant Man. The first task on the planet's surface is to break through the building sized hyper drive core by smashing things into it: * Locate the jet engines and exploding barrels that are scattered about this opening area (a camera will zoom in on it when you get near one). * Use the newly aquired force lighting and shock each one to send it careening into that hyper drive core. * There are more explosives across the toxic pits so use force pull to lift the submerged junk hop across them. Note: Lighting is a very useful weapon in this game and you will use it in every level. Upgrade it every chance you get. After you punch through the hyper drive core and proceed through the hole, you must engage in some light vertical platforming. You escape out the top of core by tossing a barrel at the upper wall area. From there, the rest of the level involves scrambling over more junk and fighting more Jawas, Force Robots, and Greebo aliens. There are many doors that block the way but they are easy to get through if you understand two key rules to this environment: A) If the wall is glowing blue, pull it open with a force power B) if the wall has cracks in it, pick up an exploding barrel (one is always floating overhead) and throw it at obstruction. The junk piles that apprentice has been scaling for the past hour eventually give way to a slightly more organized scavenger camp that is protected by a shield generator. How to destroy shield generator * You cannot throw anything at through the force field so you need to knock it out by cutting its power supply. * Turn away from the generator and find the elevator that is located in the back of the camp - it is behind a hole in the wall. * Take the elevator down to the next area and find a generic looking machinery that has lighting effects coming off - a key sign that it is all powered up. * Look for the small console that is being electrocuted. Drag it along the slot in the floor. * When the console is properly rotated, the power goes out and you can go back and proceed through the now disabled shield generator. With the generator powered off, the apprentice proceeds out of the camp and back into some Rats of NIMH style rooms of junk. Eventually you are hindered by a giant chasm that you will have to build a bridge to get across. How to cross the junk chasm * In the back of the room, locate the giant engine that is nuzzled up against an airplane wing. Start electrocuting the jet engine until it fires. * The Jet explosion action causes a giant force-junk monster to rise from the heap. To beat it, hide up around the rim of the pit (out of the robots firing range) and throw anything lying around at him. Electrify the stuff a bit for that extra punch. * After the bot is destroyed, go to the high platform that wing is leaning up against (you should be across the gap from the engine). * Force pull on the wing (make sure you are grabbing the wing and not the engine) for a brief time and it will break. * Walk the length of the wing and further down into the cavern. After even more junk scampering, the apprentice locates the rogue Jedi in an replica of the Jedi council constructed entirely out scraps. In what was probably a post-traumatic-stress response to the dismantling of the Jedi, Kazdan Paratus constructed this stage and exact replicas of each member of the Jedi council. He talks to the junk dolls as if they were real and considers it "our beautiful temple" like a Star Wars meets Lord of the RingsSmeagol. Paratus's tiny size and the fact that he walks with the aid of tiny metal spider legs (almost like polio leg braces) just adds to the pathetic air of the room. The level design really compliments the character. This really is an inspired moment in the game. The battle with Paratus is difficult. The little scamp climbs walls, jumps round and throws debris at you. This, I would imagine, would be similarly to fighting a gibbon armed with a light saber. How to defeat Kazdan Paratus * Do not start with an all-out, swords-a-swinging siege on Paratus, this boss will block and counter everything you do. * Instead, block all the time. * You must get your attacks in during after his attacks. Block while he performs a full combo and when he is done, unleash some lighting to stun him. Then, attack with two quick hits or more effectively, a force-throw. * When he jumps off of the platform and starts throwing stuff at you, just jump around and use that dash move. * After key points in the fight, Paratus summons Junk Titans. Fight them off with lightning and laser sword attacks.The Titans, ironically, end up being good for the health they provide. Repeat the above steps. This is a slow battle in which you may never use your light saber. With his last breaths Paratus says "I have failed you" and then explodes in a bolt of lighting which is very different that the cloak poof death of Obi Wan. _____________________________________________ | Felucia (x03) | Note: Be sure to upgrade your Force lighting, it is a very important powers Having killed Paratus, Vader meets with the apprentice, this time in the holographic form of PROXY, to tell him that his next target is the last remaining Jedi on the council - Shaak Ti. If you have only seen the six Star Wars films, you might know Shaak Ti as that Jedi with the Sunburned-Panda-face who fights in the background whenever George Lucas needed to add more explosions. But, if you have kept up with the cartoons, books, comics, cereal boxes, and wall scrolls, Shaak Ti is a nearly mythic figure whose Wookieepedia entry flows with pages upon pages of biography. It is actually longer than the Wikipedia article for president Rutherford B Hayes. One interesting tidbit from Wookiepedia is that she is known for her habit of "frequently stealing up behind a person [sic] before speaking to them or baring her sharp incisors in a grotesque approximation of a human smile, though she was entirely capable of managing a perfectly ordinary smile." One other interesting Shaak Ti fact: She replaced Yaddle on the Jedi Council. The scene moves to Felucia and we watch as Shaak Ti spots the apprentice's ship arrive. Realizing it is an assassin, Shaak Ti prepares by sending her own apprentice, Maris Brood, to hide in the graveyard. Side note about Marius Brood: she looks like a Suicide Girl and according to her Wookieepedia page is the same species as Darth Maul. Felucia is a planet in which gigantic fungus and succulents tower overhead. It seems as if you could smoke, lick, and/or inject anything on this planet to get some form of hazardous mind f#ck. The apprentice arrives planet side and somehow wears something more ridiculous than the Elephant man canvas he was sporting onRaxus Prime. Here, he wears a cross-your-heart straps assemblage that connects to two full-arm sleeves. Puzzlingly, and in spite of the sleeves and straps, he remains totally bare-chested. The result is a inverse vest in which his entire torso is bare but his arms remain covered. The tattered loin cloth, of course, remains. To get to Shaak Ti, you must go through hoards of the planet's natives known as Felucian Warriors - a term that, if heard incorrectly, sounds like a euphemism for sperm. The trick with these warriors is that one of them is a shaman who protects the others with a red halo. You must run past and kill the shaman before you can affect the warriors he is protecting. One thing that does help is to use the force blast to knock everyone down so you can have unobstructed access to the shaman. The level proceeds from the forest into a tripsi-dasical wonderland, which has fanciful names like "fight your way through the mushroom ascent" and incongruous names such as "make your way to the ancient abyss" (as if there are new abysses popping up all the time). When the apprentice makes it to the ancient abyss, he runs into a huge grotto that is filled with warriors who are backed up by three Rancors. You might known Rancors best as the giant beast inJabba's pit from the Return of the Jedi that Luke Skywalker killed with a garage door. For extra pazaz, these Rancors are painted with florecent face paint like a massive Braveheart . This part is extremely tricky and it took me an hour of trial and error to get through it. Here are some tips for those playing: How to beat the rancor pit * Keep each Rancor separated from the others so you can take on one at a time. * Start by running around the first Rancor and killing any of the warriors under his feet. * Don't kill all the warriors in the room, just the ones bothering you and hanging around the target Rancor. You must save the other warriors for later to get health from them. * When the warriors for around your targeted Rancor are gone, run as far away from it as you can and start tossing the exploding flowers that grow along the wall. * Use force lightning whenever you are in close quarters with the Rancor. * When the Rancor's power is low, get in close and perform the quick-time-events required to kill it. * Repeat this until the room is clean. * If you get low on power, run away from the Rancors and kill some of the roaming monsters to harvest their energy. * Look for the tail-like appendages that are wrapped around the cave's columns. If you force pull on the whips, they will spring out and strike anyone who is within range of them. After the Rancor pit, it is a quick jaunt to the ancient abyss and a meditating Shaak Ti. The peppermint faced Jedi says that this pit is a place of sacrifice and that she lured the apprentice here to kill him with the help of the nearby Sarlacc. She then jumps up into the swaying tendrils of the Sarlacc and uses it and her own brand of ShaakFu against the apprentice. How to beat Shaak Ti * Shaak Ti doesn't put up too much defence, so you can fight her with direct combat. * If things do get difficult, force push her, she is very light and will fly across the stage. * If she jumps off screen, be prepared to dodge the huge tentacles flopping around from her pet Jedi Sarlacc. Just look at the top of your screen for a hint of which tentacle will move first. Cut Scene: After a thorough drubbing, Shaak Ti wobbles close to the mouth of her Jedi Sarlacc. Realizing she cannot beat him, Shaak Ti instead resorts to attacking the apprentice with a stern lecture and a very disappointed glance. She says that his powers are wasted because he is just a slave to Vader and that at some time he will be betrayed by Vader. Then she falls into the mouth of the beast and a blue bolt of lighting shoots up. This is the second Jedi to explode into a ball of lighting. It seems as if this is a new way besides, disappearing, falling, or being a corpse for Jedi to die. I don't fully understand how the Jedi decide how they are going to die so I worked up a little chart to hopefully explain it: http://www.gameintestine.com/guides/star-wars-force-unleashed/felucia.html _____________________________________________ | Betrayal: (x04) | Hey there! The content you are about to read is canon. ** CANON ** Now that the he has killed all the remaining Jedi, Vader calls the still dirt- covered apprentice over to his Star Destroyer so they can talk about how they will CONTROL THE GALAXY. The apprentice meets Vader in the ship's command center. Just as the apprentice is about to hear Vader's secret plan to take over the empire, in walks the Emperor and he realizes that the two of them are scheming to kill him. To cover his tracks, Vader runs his laser sword through the apprentice, spins him around the room before finally tossing him through a window and into the void of space. WORST. STEP. DAD. EVER. Happy with Vader's compliance, the Emperor waddles off. Now adrift and unable, for some reason, to force push his way back to the ship, a roaming droid picks the apprentice up and takes him to a medical center. Vader is at the medical facility too and is now conciliatory. He tells the apprentice that they cannot kill the Emperor directory. Instead, the apprentice must go out and form a rebel army to create a diversion. Then, while the Emperor is focused on the rebels, the two of them can attack. So there you go. This is the big plot twist this game was promising. George Lucas has changed the entire way you view the original trilogy. During episodes IV, V, VI Vader was secretly allowing the rebels to build up so he could kill the Emperor himself. This game (since it is cannon) changes my perspective of Vader. I no longer see him as the evil lord but more of a manic depressive, abusive, stage mom.Starwars is really an intergalactic remake of the 1981 film Mommy Dearest. Think about it, Darth Vader adopted the apprentice so that he could advance his career and he dresses the kid in strange clothes. Vader is like the space-aged Joan Crawford. _____________________________________________ | I.S.S. Empirical (x05) | Since Vader commanded him to build a rebel army and to kill the Emperor, the apprentice (now named Starkiller) is on a direct path to the light side and salvation. So much for righteousness being self-determined virtue. As part of his new super-secret mission, Starkiller must sever all ties to anyone who ever knew him so that he can be an even better assassin. That means everyone on this medical ship, including his pilot/obvious love interest, Juno. But he can't just let her go, so Starkiller has to kill all the ships troops and rescue the princess er Juno. Like the stage mother he is, Vader dressed Starkiller in impeccably white, robes and finally gave him a shower. This outfit, as always, includes a loincloth. The ship he is fighting through, just like the Tie Fighter factory, is an example of neo-Empire architecture. The first step is to break out of this medical facility. So, use the Force blast to break the glass and then force pull the nearby blue cylinder up to the ceiling to clear out the choking green smoke. To help Starkiller eliminate all of the enemies, PROXY programs the ship to crash into the nearby star. Easter egg watch - As Starkiller escapes, the warnings over the intercom call him "captive 1138" After battling through room after room of Storm Troopers, Starkiller eventually stumbles upon a very challenging enemy known as an Imperial Purge Trooper. A Purge Trooper looks almost exactly like a Storm Trooper except that it is a gun- metal gray robot that stands 12 feet tall and has a rocket launcher mounted on its shoulder. It may sound cool but its long legs andherky-jerky walk makes it look like a High School metal shop project. How to defeat an Imperial Purge Trooper * Stand outside the room and wait for the two regular Storm Troopers to come out and get you. Kill them. Don't worry, the Turge Trooper cannot fit through the door. * Run into the room and get into close combat with the Purge Trooper so he won't shoot at you with the missiles. * Attack it with lighting to stun it and then hit him with an X, Y, Y sword combo. Starkiller eventually works his way to the command center of the ship where he is met by two more Purge Troopers. To beat these guys you need to get in real close again and shock them and then attack as they try to get up. If they are close enough together, you may be able shock both at the same time. I finally did it after a lot of trial and error can't figure out any easier way to do it. With all the troops destroyed, Starkiller is free to release Juno from her way overly elaborate imprisonment. The imperials could have just locked her in a room. Starkiller caries her out of the ship. Bewildered that he would rescue her and risk being branded a traitor, Starkiller tells her that he is "leaving the Empire behind." Lets just take a moment here to level-set on the philosophy. According to Star Wars, salvation isn't gained by your own choosing. The only reason Starkiller is fighting for the good side is because his master commanded him to. That is not free will. Shouldn't goodness come from your own conscience and not pushed on you? Isn't following whatever moral choices your leader tells you do what sent this galaxy down the fascist path it is in now? Have we not learned that piety must be freely chosen and not forced on you? _____________________________________________ | Cloud City Bespin: (x06) | Cut Scene Now that he is the greatest champion of the light side and a bomb throwing revolutionary, Starkiller starts his quest to find anyone who could help him build a rebel army. Candidate number one is the still not dead General Kota. We last saw the Jedi moments before he was kicked out of a revolving restaurant/Tie factory command center. Since then, Kota has taken up a new side of the force - the drunken one - in a bar located in Lando Calrisian's Cloud City. Kota has dropped his connection with the force after his laser sword hit him in the eyes. I guess the washed-up Jedi is too good to use the force to tell him where everything is or to get a pair of robot eyes. Instead, he is content to bandage up his face with a filthy old rag. The apprentice finds him and as he negotiates a partnership, a unit of Storm Troopers finds them. Before you know it, we have to get Kota out of the bar and into Starkiller's ship. Yes, an escort mission for a drunk and blind old man - at least now there is an excuse for the poor AI. The escape takes the heroes through the Cloud City docks which are teeming with midget men in special mechs during the hours the city looks its best: sundown. The mechs can be brought down with a blast of lighting and a quick smashing of the X,X,Y buttons. An Imperial Shuttle drops in and unloads its pack of Storm Troopers and a single black-clad "shadow guard" which can be bested by force-blasting it and hitting it with lightning. CUT SCENE Kota realizes that Starkiller is serious about bringing revolution after he slaughters an entire city's worth of Storm Troopers. He tells the boy that he has a contact in the Senate who might be interested in this revolution. By deffering the apprentice to a stupid senator, I just lost all hope that we would see an elaborate power-pop backed 80s training montage of the drunken warrior Kota teaching a reluctant Starkiller the true meaning of being a Jedi. _____________________________________________ | Imperial Kashyyyk (x07) | Starkiller, Juno, and the recovering Kota head to Kashyyyk to rescue a captured Princess Leia so that they can give her back to her Senator father and then he will be happy and the rebellion will start. The end. This fight on Kashyyyk is an important homecoming for Starkiller. The last time he was here he was just a boy in what was essentially a backwater trailer park. Now, most of the flora and fauna has been torn down and replaced with an imperial command station. As he wanders the scorched earth, Starkiller pauses at a banner that is marked with the phoenix symbol we all know from thousands of toys and countless bad tattoos as the icon of the rebel alliance. He is even more cautious as he "senses a great darkness." As if you really need the force to tell that a razed village and the smell of burntWookie fur is a bad sign. Then, in a shot-for-shot remake of Luke's subconscious encounter with Vader while on Dagobah, Starkiller walks through some ruins and encounters his deceased, hooded father. The man whispers that he is sorry and disappears into the mist. Then, unlike Luke, Starkiller has the good graces not to chop his head off. Starkiller's mission in this area is to siege the imperial command center. He is held back by dozens of Storm Troopers - some of them wielding flame throwers!!!!!!!! The level is the exact same as the Kashyyyk except that now everything is all burnt. In most cases I would call Copy+Paste but it just seems right that Starkiller should be confronting his charred past and as a player you should want to see what has changed. Good job George Lucas and team. If you are playing you may have noticed that huge, impenetrable imperial wall guarded by an AT-ST with a gatling gun taped to its head and be wondering how to pass it: * The best way is to stand as far away as you can - even if the AT-ST is off screen. Grab a rock, and snake it down the grassy canyon. * Toss the rock, even if you don't know where it is going because the auto lock assumes that you want to throw this rock at the AT-ST * Keep tossing rocks using this blind-throw technique until you are convinced it is dead. After negotiating the rocky cliffs and narrow catwalks of this level, Starkiller reaches the local commander's residence. CommanderOzzik Sturn is a big-game hunter who lines his villa with the trophies he has captured. Among them is Jar Jar Binks frozen in Carbonite. Continuing through the villa, Starkiller eventually finds Princess Leia in nearly unguarded room with a nice view of the lake and a giant imperial machine called a sky hook. It is not clear what the sky hook is but perhaps the empire hopes to rule the galaxy by having Kareem Abdul Jabbar fire protons like artillery from the surface of the Kashyyyk. According to Leia though, after it is completed, the Sky Hook will be used to transport enslaved Wookies off this planet. Suspicious that Starkiller is just an assassin set on killing her, Leia says that a real Jedi would go and dismantle that Sky hook. Fumbling like a teenage boy talking to his crush, Starkiller agrees and runs off to go dismantle it. By the way, if you type "Leia" into Google, the first suggested term is "Leia lingerie". The path to the Sky Hook is through a wooded and, for some reason, wet canyon. Eventually, you transition through to an imperial holding center that is lined with cells containingWookies . Each section is protected by a series of force fields. Make your way through them by using the force pull to yank the plug overhead. After Starkiller emerges from the imperial tunnel, he reaches the base of the Sky Hook. This enormous tower fires a beam of energy into the night sky and it looks like something you would buy in a smoke shop. The structure is buttressed by seven spokes that grip the hillside. At the end of each spoke is a mooring pin that stick out like candles on a 7 year-old's Nazi themed birthday cake. The goal in this mission is to pluck each of these "birthday candles" out to cut power from the Sky Hook. Pulling them is easy. The difficult part is surviving the entire army surrounding the structure. How to dismantle the Sky Hook The trick to beating this area is to forget, temporarily, about pulling out the mooring pins until you have cleared out all the enemies. To kill all of the enemies, you must focus on just one type and do a whole lap around the tower. You should also move swiftly to dodge the missiles fired by the Purge Troopers. Here is a detailed description of the strategy: * Do one lap killing just the snipers camping on each of the spokes and the troopers who are manning the gun turrets. Dodge past the Purge Troopers. * Do a second lap and kill each of the Purge Troopers. Remember, shock them and then press X,X,Y. * When everyone is gone, do another lap and start pulling out the mooring pins. After pulling two or three of the mooring pins, Ozzik Sturn comes out piloting his personal AT-ST and therefore nominating himself as the best fascist driving a mech since Hitler in Wolfenstein 3D. * Take Ozzik out by hiding behind the spokes on the other side of him (make sure there are no mooring pins in the spoke you are hiding behind so you don't get electrocuted). * Jump up and shock him with force lighting until you drain your force power. Then, drop back down behind the wall and wait for your force to recharge. Then, jump back up and do it again. * Repeat this pop and shock approach until his power is totally drained. When he Ozzik is dead, continue along plucking out the mooring pins. When all the pins have been removed, lighting shoots out of the tower like it is going to explode. All the Wookies gather around it and for a moment it looks like a crowd gathered at a Steppenwolf concert. The skyhook area is frustrating but satisfying. I actually liked it because I had to figure out the best way to use each of my force powers to accomplish the task at hand. This area was much like a Halo bathtub problem in that you know what you have to do, you are just horribly out-numbered. The fun comes in carefully discovering a strategy to use your strengths to overcoming your character's disadvantages. Starkiller storms onto his ship fuming at the amount of trouble he had to go through to rescue a stupid princess and demands that Kota tell him who that girl was and what she is going to provide in forming an army. Kota tells him that Leia is the daughter of senator JimmySmits (aka Bail Prestor Organa ). With the Senator on their side, they can have more influence in forming the rebel army. However, the senator has gone missing because he went toFelucia to find Shaak Ti and so, you know, she's dead, and so he probably got eaten by a flower or something. Therefore, Starkiller and Company has to head back toFelucia and find him. We flash over to Felucia and find out real fast what happened to Senator Goatee - he got captured by that intergalactic Hot Topic employee Marius Brood. She is holding him as a bargaining chip in case Vader shows up. _____________________________________________ | Imperial Felucia (x08) | When Starkiller lands, the planet is already in the midst of an Imperial incursion with the local Felucian Warriors. The imperials are hoping to find Jimmy Smits so that he doesn't go off and start a rebellion. As opposed to the last time Starkiller was here, the imperials have really set up camp. There are emplacements and reactors and they have cut down a lot of the mushroom forest. Which, on the good side, means visiting the planet won't give you ring worm or athlete's foot as easily. The most stunning change to the level, though, is the Sarlacc pit. What was once Shaak Ti's kinda weird meditation point has been converted in to an imperial power station that spans the mouth of the tentacled beast. I assume that the Empire has built this setup to tap the Sarlacc for power like some sort of sadistic take on renewable energy. Starkiller seems to be truly disillusioned with the empire's destruction of the planet and with this Sarlacc killing machine - just another sign that he has turned to the light side. Take this lesson to heart kids, drilling in the ANWR is the same as going to the dark side. To proceed, Starkiller has to power up the overhead cranes so that he can use the elevator to descend into the Sarlacc. Do this by using the force lightning on the the three dormant generators that are located at end of each of the cables that run overhead. After all the generators are on, head to the middle of the structure which is an elevator that descends right down the gullet of the beast so you can explore the Sarlacc from the inside. Because of this turn to inner space, I would like to congratulate this level on earning Game Intestine's special award of "digestive track of the game." This level does not disappoint either, it has met or exceeded each of the requirements for the award: cilia, a run through the lungs and multiple sphincters spewing gas. How to get through the Sarlacc stomach * You can proceed through any of the cilia that encircles the hallways. If it grabs a hold of you, use the force blast to scare the little tentacles away. * In narrow passages there are sphincters than will suck you up into them as you pass. To get past them, electrify the little blue thing that looks like a space heater. This electrical generator sparks the sphincter and keeps it clamped shut. Terrific! * The lung section of the Sarlacc is difficult to traverse because as the beast inhales you are pushed to the back of the room. You must find shelter to hide behind during each breath. So, hide behind the pillars on the far left side of the lung chamber. Wait for the breath to pass and then before the next one, trudge upstream to find another hiding spot behind a pillar. When you reach lung's bronchial tubes, a huge blast sucks Starkiller up and shoots him out of what I can only assume is one of theSarlacc's twelve anuses. Starkiller finds the senator in the Rancor graveyard and says that he is here on behalf of General Kota to rescue him. Ms. Brood comes in to stop the escape. Her twin billy club shaped laser swords sit nestled up under her arms like a cop preparing to break up a riot. She doesn't take any chances either and brings with her another Rancor with huge tusks. Marius Brood and the Bull Rancor The fighting arena is a graveyard and is littered with huge bones. If there is sanctity to this graveyard, it is not shown by this Rancor bull because he tears through all the rib cages, flanges and rancor skulls. By now you have mastered all the powers. You have seen how to use the force against sliding door locks and exploding barrels. You would think one of these last term bosses would require you to dance among your force skills like improvised jazz, but not for this boss. This is going to be a slow, health chipping battle in an empty arena. * Stand still and wait for the beast to charge you. * When he gets close, jump twice and use the air dash to get behind him. * Slash at his tail and his back and maybe use lightning. * Ignore Marius Brood as you focus your attacks on the Rancor. When the Rancor is dead, the fight continues with Marius in a nearby ravine. The fight is not too difficult. To defeat her: * Jump around a lot dodging her laser swords the best you can * Use the force blast to push her along the walls and then stab her when she is stunned. Cut Scene: Knowing that she is loosing, Marius stops the fight and pleads to be let go. She blames the planet and the abandonment by Shaak Ti as the reasons she went to the dark side. God theseJedis are a bunch of whiners. Starkiller lets her go so she can be the villain in "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2: The Force Released" in stores November 2010. Senator Jimmy Smits stands up, rubs his wrists (even though he was never tied up) and tells Starkiller that he too knew a Jedi who drifted to the dark side. In case you didn't catch that - he is a referring to Anakin - hint hint foreshadowing. Starkiller says that Marius Brood will not drift to the dark side like Anakin because she will live with the memory of what she has done here. Which is totally not true because kidnapping Jimmy Smits is pretty forgettable. I don't even remember half the movies or TV shows that he has starred in. Anyway, it is not like Maris Brood is really that bad. At worse, she is just High-School-goth bad. Furthermore, this game was given anERSB rating of Teen. That basically means the worst thing anyone can do in this game is what a teenager is going to do. It is not like smoking in the bathroom is the path to the dark side. Cut Scene: A still blinded Kota, a newly freed Senator Jimmy Smits, and a light-side tending Starkiller (who has his face splattered with something that I hope is not Sarlacc feces) meet in a Felucian meadow to discuss the future of the rebellion. Because Starkiller has actually killed a Storm Trooper, he has instant cred. But, before they can start open rebellion, they are going to need weapons and star ships and people. The senator says that he needs to get other senators on board for a coalition of the willing. Kota thinks that they should strike a high-value target to show that the empire is not as strong as everybody thinks it is. Starkiller says I need to think about this... which means he is going to ask Vader what he would do. Back in the Rogue Shadow, Starkiller talks to PROXY who is channeling Vader for advice on striking at the empire. Vader says that empire is building its fleet of Star Destroyers in the ship yards over the planet Maxis Prime. If he can bring down one of the ships, it would send the message that the rebels are looking for. When the plan to attack is agreed upon, Vader cuts the transmission through PROXY and the droid says "I hate being him." Starkiller acknowledges and says "I think he does too." Juno approaches disappointed because she saw Starkiller communicating with Vader again. Realizing that he is still just a servant, she argues that she has taken a stand against the empire and that he should too after all that they have done to him. _____________________________________________ | Imperial Raxus Prime (x09) | The imperial ship yard is a giant wheel that floats above Maxis Prime and makes all the galaxy's Star Destroyers. Here we get to see first-hand how week they make them so that X-wings can eventually shoot them down by just aiming at the command deck. Starkiller, no longer needing that elephant-man get-up he wore the last time he was here, is now donning a full-sized cowboy rain slicker with a metal chest plate that looks like it was snagged from the grill of a '76 Buick. He is also wearing a belt buckle shaped like home plate as if his costume is partially constructed from Chase Field promotion night giveaways The fight on Maxis Prime is almost exactly like the previous time we were here except that again, the empire is more heavily embedded in the planet. There are now AT-STs, Purge Troopers and other fortifications at every corner. The battle through this planet eventually leads to a frontal attack on an imperial hanger against another AT-ST and a couple Purge Troopers. Take them out using the the following methods: How to defeat an Imperial Purge Trooper * Lure the two regular Storm Troopers out of the room and kill them. A Purge Trooper cannot fit through the door. * Run up close to the Purge Trooper so he won't shoot you with missiles * Attack it with lighting to stun him then hit him with an X, Y, Y. Attack the AT-ST by standing far away and force-tossing boxes at it. Then, when it is low get in close and use lightning to shock it until it's health is reduced enough to start a Quick Time event. When he gets to the top of the imperial hanger Starkiller commandeers an imperial drop ship and gives the boot to all of the Storm Troopers on it. As one of the troopers falls to his death he lets out the classic Wilhelm scream. The ship lands on another structure that functions as a tractor beam generator. Of course, like all imperial ships, it must be deactivated by shocking five whats- its (this time they are called tractor conduits). Who knew that back in 1977 when George Lucas directed Alec Guiness to disable the Death Star tractor beam he was designing a major puzzle element that would be featured in every single level of a video game he would spawn 31 years later. That is just one example of the mad genius that is George Lucas. After all of the tractor beams have been disabled, pull out the door-knob- looking things that are behind the force fields before you can proceed out of the room. Starkiller drops down into the next area: a long metallic catwalk over a bottomless pit. * Snipers flank the sides. Toss barrels at them to knock them off. * A huge door that you cannot force push your way through keeps you from proceeding. * To unlock the door, jump down to the two narrower catwalks on either side of the main catwalk and force-pull the levers to the top of their track. If the levers are not budging, use the right stick on your controller to move them up. In the last few levels we have pulled out 7 mooring pins from the Sky Hook, electrocuted the 5 generators of the tractor beam, electrocuted the 3 crane generators over the Sarlacc pit, and now, pulled on the 2 levers to unlock the door. What sort of numerical cryptogram are you sending us George Lucas?!? This could unlock the mysteries of his galaxy if only I could figure out how this all works... You Svengali of level design I have cracked you...these are all prime numbers! After navigating the catwalks, the final area is a landing platform that is decorated with all the standard props that indicate that this is a roof-top: strange water tower looking domes, electrical towers, antennas and things that look like air conditioners. In the background, giant molten orbs are belched up towards the ship yard. It is some pretty cool looking metal machinery. What are we doing here? Well, Starkiller was lured here by Proxy so that the cos-playing robot can practice attacking him with each of hispre -programmed antagonists. This is a training exercise that the Jedi and Droid engage in every once in a while and is supposed to be cute but actually seems kinda kinky. Proxy starts by turning into a force-endowed shadow knight. After defeating that he turns into Marius Brood: Use force blast or force push to defeat her. Then, he turns into Shaak Ti who is surprisingly weak in this battle: Force push her against the wall and then attack her while she is stunned. Proxy's morphing ability makes him a perfect candidate to be a Shang Tsung-like combatant in a new Star Wars fighting game. Finally, after Starkiller passes all of PROXY's other tests, the droid says "I have one module you haven't seen. Someone I have been storing for years." Then he turns into Darth-Fucken-Maul. Add this in with his ability to turn into Vader and occasionally Juno and it confirms that PROXY's main purpose is to provide nerd boners. It does feel strange to get excited about Darth Maul. I mean, if this were 1999 it would be the best part in the whole game. But now, it is about as exciting as news about LouBegga. Darth Maul is quite difficult so here are some tips: * Stay as close as you can at all times. He is much more destructive at range. * Hold block constantly. Let him perform a full combo on you and at the end of it you can use the force repulse. When is is stunned by that, really lay into him with laser sword attacks. After defeating Darth Maul, Starkiller continues on to the giant gun tower that is at the top of the structure. The area is circular and you have to overload 4 rail gun tracks (There goes my prime number theory.) Each track has a generator that you have to electrify. How to bring down the Star Destroyer What I love so much about this game is the many questions it answers about the force including one of the greatest paradoxes: if any object can be controlled by the force, regardless of size, why didn't Obi Wan just force push the Death Star into the nearest black hole? The reason, as this Star Destroyer level answers, is that it would have been incredibly annoying and frustratingly tedious. Here is how the mission plays out: After lighting the four towers, a final molten ball is shot at the ship yard and one of the Star Destroyers breaks free. The craft is heading right for the junk planet. As Starkiller, you begin a space ship sized tug of war where, one side the pilots are trying to right the ship and fly out of range, while on the other side, you are trying to turn the ship towards yourself and pull it into the planet. As cool as it sounds, it feels as if you are helping your friend parallel park. * Destroy the tie fighters first by standing behind one of the two towers. * When a Tie Fighter pass over the tower you are hiding behind, jump twice and shoot lighting at it. Timing is crucial and you will have to practice this move but it is really effective when it works. When the wave of Tie Fighters have been defeated, press right trigger to focus your powers on pulling down the Star Destroyer. * The control sticks appear at the bottom of the screen and indicate which way you have to pull the sticks. The idea is that you are rotating the Star Destroyer so that it points right at you. * Only after you have the Star Destroyer pointed at you can you start pulling it down. * If it takes you too long, a new wave of Tie Fighters will come and you will have to temporarily give up pulling on the Star Destroyer so that you kill the Ties. * During the Tie Fighter ambush, the Star Destroyer will turn itself so that it is no longer pointed right at you. It does not however gain altitude so you are not loosing any progress you made before. CUT SCENE: After getting the Star Destroyer close enough to the planet, it crashes onto the surface and skids through towers of junk. We see a shot of Starkiller from behind. His hands are raised in a death grip and he looks like a crazy bum standing on a street corner conducting an orchestra. The structures collapse all around and send out a huge plume of debris that blanks out the camera in a field of brown like we saw on 9-11. Even the platform Star Killer was standing on is knocked over and crushed by the downed aircraft. Star Killer successfully commandeered an aircraft and crashed it into buildings. You are now no better than a terrorist. Back at the Rogue Shadow, Starkiller meets with Vader again to tell him that his crime against the empire has been completed. Vader tells him that, as expected, the Emperor is displeased that someone crashed one of his ships. However, the Emperor is smart enough not to vow to smoke out terrorists like Starkiller or to accuse him of being part of the axis of evil. Starkiller doesn't talk long though because he fears that if the rebels find out that he is talking to Vader they will think he is a traitor to their traitor cause. ** CANON ** The scene changes to an icy planet that is not Hoth. Jimmy Smits, Princes Leia, Starkiller, a generic old guy, and that lady with the short hair from "A New Hope" who told everyone how to attack the Death Star gather around a table and say "this rebellion has now started." With those words having left their lips, Vader busts through the door like a cop who just got the drug transaction on tape and is sending in the boys. Starkiller, who was Vader's man-on-the-inside is pushed out of the room and is confronted on the edge of an icy cliff. This was all a setup. Vader never intended to kill the Emperor, he was just testing Starkiller to see how easily he would turn against the Empire. Before Vader could kick him off it, Starkiller jumps down the cliff to hide in the icy mists. In the fall, Starkiller was knocked unconscious and he is left huddled in the snow desperately in need of a Tauntaun gut. Juno finds him and brings him back to the Rogue Shadow. After recovering, Starkiller practices Jedi meditation in order to figure out where Vader has taken those rebel dissidents. It seems he has taken them to this thing called the Death Star. A moon sized battle station. _____________________________________________ | Death Star (x10) | The thing that I most cherish about the Death Star is that it's title is its purpose. There is no question that this giant orb and its death ray can blast living hell out of everything. Which is what is so disappointing about Europe's attempt to sugar-coat their death ray with the title Large Hadron Collider. With the help of his perky sidekick, Starkiller ventures off to rescue his friends in the Death Star. Using the ships cloaking ability, they were able to sneak past any patrol ships. Juno parks the Rogue Shadow on an air conditioning duct. Realizing that they will probably never see each other again, Juno grabs him and sweeps him up into her kiss. Starkiller looks at her and thencooly jumps off the ship and into the depths of the Death Star. For a young guy who grew up in a janitor's closet on a Star Destroyer and whose most comforting touch was holding on to Vader's cape like one of Harry Harlow's monkeys, he sure has a pretty smooth reaction to this woman's kiss. Good job keeping your light saber from going off halfway through the exchange. Starkiller crashes into random Death Star Hanger #75 and stands up unfazed as if he is made of liquid metal. He is dressed in a whitehoodie and tails which is wrapped around a black under-suit. The outfit symbolizes Starkiller's inner- conflict between the light side which is covering his formerly dark side past. The hanger is absolutely lousy with Storm Troopers, AT-STs, Purge Troopers, snipers. Shouldn't these guys be helping the construction effort so the Death Star is done in time for BBY 0? The goal of this area is to force-pull the blue grates that are in the middle of the room so you can drop down to the next area. However, there are so many guys that you probably won't have time to do any grate pulling. Therefore, you have to kill them all first. * Because Starkiller is so outnumbered you are going to have to fight like a real Jedi - hiding in corners, stabbing guys in the back and, picking off a guy and then running away. * First, jump up on the giant crates around the edges of the hanger and then jump up to the catwalk where all the snipers are. Run at them and if their lasers turns red, press the dash button as you run towards them to give yourself a better chance. * After all of the snipers are dead, jump down and kill the Storm Troopers behind the gun turrets. * Keep moving around the room and focus on all the other Storm Troopers but ignore the Purge Troopers and AT-STs. * When the Purge Troopers are the only soldiers left, hide in the small rooms that are on either side of the room. Hiding here protects you from missile fire. They will come to find you though so let your force power charge and spring out and hit them with your lighting when they get within range. * When the Purge Troopers are gone, throw the exploding barrels at the AT-STs and run up and shock then slash them. After the first wave is killed, more troopers come up from elevators. You can fight them if you want but there is no save checkpoint here so you should pull back those grates and get out of this room. It is surreal and starkly cool. ******** 9 hours. From this main hanger you proceed through a maze of hallways that are actually the laser tunes for the Death Star's primary weapon. The Death Star is not yet fully operational and there as they test the weapons system. That means you have to break through giant green lenses and jump into alcoves before each laser is test fired. Eventually you get to the laser's focusing rings. These giant interlocking rings resemble the machine that fires Jodi Foster off to meet the space aliens that are shaped like her dad. You don't get to do that though. Instead you have to align them so you can pass through to the rest of the hallway without getting shocked to death. Here is how to get past the rings: * When the laser is not firing you need to align the three spinning contact rings into an open "o" position. After the laser fires, though, the rings will unlock so you will have to act quickly. * Align the camera to the glowing core and press the force grab button and you automatically grab a ring * Push that ring around until it aligns and locks in place. The next inner ring can be grabbed. * Repeat this until each ring is locked in the "o" position. * Jump across the platform to the middle area and duck into the room. The next area is an absolutely amazing array of machinery and layers upon layers of giant laser beams crisscrossing the floating platforms. This is some sort of condensing chamber that focuses all the beams before sending them out of the Death Star. It really is a wonderfully surreal and impossible setting for a level. As far as I am concerned, the ability to explore this space sets video games apart from all other mediums. The goal here is to jump up and across the giant room to the central platform. When you get there, a pack of shadow guards comes out from behind a gigantic door. After beating them, you must position the arm into the 4 o'clock potion using your force-pull to unlock it. Behind the door is a control room just asking to be the setting for a Jedi battle. The Emperor, on his metal throne, is lecturing the traitorous Kota and JimmySmits like a school's strict headmaster when they notice Starkiller infiltrating. The Emperor dispatches Vader to get rid of him. He intercepts his former apprentice in the hallway outside. He starts the fight with a stern talking to. In the speech, Vader says almost exactly what he says in the first trilogy: Vader: "You have learned well but you don't understand the true nature of the dark side" Starkiller: "You have nothing left to teach me" It may sound lame that Vader is reusing the same lines both here and later in Return of the Jedi. But, I think Vader is just trying out some snappy parenting advice anticipating that one day when he will use it on Luke: How to defeat Darth Vader * Sure, Vader is a savant of the force but he is a strategic numskull. The dark lord decides, unwisely, to perch himself in the center of a platform over a bottomless pit. Worse, his position means he is surrounded by toss- able machinery and generic Death Star thing-a-ma-bobs. * Damage him by throwing anything that can be picked up at him. * When his health gets low enough, he jumps off of his perch. Run up and attack him The battle ends with Vader looking like the looser of a cat fight. His robot- limbs are exposed and his once terrifying death cape is reduced to shop rag fodder. His helmet popped off in the fight and his head is the moist, shriveled consistency of finger skin after removing a band aid. The Emperor takes advantage of the chaos and attacks Kota. This is the moment Starkiller has a final choice between the light side and the dark side: He can either protect Kota or finish off the injured Vadertherby letting Kota die. The choice you make here determines which ending you get. _____________________________________________ | Dark Side Ending (x11) | Starkiller runs away to fight Vader. The fight with the crippled Vader is exactly the same as the last battle with him so use the exact same tactics. Cut Scene: The Emperor continues to shock Kota and asks Starkiller to lend a hand and stab this last, remaining Jedi. Starkiller has second thoughts. The Emperor doesn't like this insubordination and throws him out the nearby window and throws his spaceship at him. Oh and JimmySmits is dead too. Having been severely injured by the Rogue Shadow falling on him, the Emperor rebuilds the Apprentice just as he did to for Vader. This time though, he gives Starkiller a shinny stainless steel helmet that is equipped with a metallic version of Princess Leia's head buns. He also gets finger blades like Edward Scissor Hands and parachute pants!?! That Emperor is like a macabre project runway dropout. And that is the end of the game. And don't worry it is not cannon so please go back and play the good ending. _____________________________________________ | Light Side Ending (x12) | Kota is shocked by Vader but Starkiller runs in to put a stop to this triggering a fight with the Emperor. The Emperor: * If he lifts objects with his purple lightning, hide behind one of the consoles on the left and right of the screen until he throws them. Then, run up and force blast his shield away. Attack wildly when is vulnerable. * If he starts charging his hands with purple (but no shield), he is going to start shooting lasers at you. Tap the block button and you will deflect the bolts back at him. He will groan and be stunned for a moment so run up and attack. * If he sends the guards, shoo them away with a force blast. ** CANON ** As you attack, the Emperor says that he should have killed Vader and taken Starkiller as his apprentice to rule at his side. One thing about the Emperor is that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Cut scene: When you finally knock the Emperor's health down to nothing, he says Starkiller was destined to kill him. Would this statement be foreshadowing or a rehash of what he tells Luke in Return of the Jedi? With the Emperor pinned, Starkiller rears back to lay the final blow. Kota holds him back telling him not to strike him down in anger or he will be right where you started and on the way back to the dark side. How do the Jedi's kill anyone then? I think they just pull the rope-a-dope long enough for their opponent to get tired and slip into a nearby abyss. Starkiller listens to Kota and lets the Emperor live. Seizing this opportunity, the old man fires a final bolt at Kota. Starkiller jumps in front to block it and holds off any attack long enough for the rebels to escape the Death Star. Woe the sacrificial lamb. The room explodes with only Vader and the Emperor surviving. The Emperor and a still helmet-less Vader hover over his corpse. Vader promises to hunt down the rebels that he created. The Emperor voices that he knows the alliance will be their undoing. Oh in case you were keeping score: Starkiller's body does not fade. After leaving the Death Star, the rebels scheme in Starkiller's old burned out Wookie hut. Jimmy Smits and the others commit to an alliance and decide that the symbol for their rebellion will be Starkiller's family crest. Juno is bereft but Kota consoles her by saying that the one thing that kept Starkiller on the light side was his love for her. She is pleased.... and sexy. -- END --