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We've got the world exclusive first look at LucasArts' latest endeavor into geekdom's holiest of universes. The Force Unleashed puts you in the role of Darth Vader's secret apprentice, and tasks you with assisting the Dark Lord in his crusade to purge the Jedi from the galaxy. Check out our interview with Haden Blackman, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed's project lead.

Game Informer: Does the apprentice have a name yet?

Haden Blackman: He does not. At least, not one that we’re releasing. He will have a name as a character in the game, and that is tied to the story.

GI: So it’s not going to be one of those things where the player enters in the name and everyone just calls him “Apprentice� throughout the game.

Blackman: Yeah, he’s established as a character in the continuity and will have a name in the novel and the comics and the game.

GI: From what I’ve seen, it’s cool that Stormtroopers and the Felucians are so susceptible to your Force powers. How do you plan to deal with more complicated enemies later on?

Blackman: There’s a wide variety and range of characters. We show the Stormtroopers because they’re kind of like the fodder unit—the one shot, one kill in some cases unit. The Felucians are actually a little bit tougher. They have more hit points and they have some Force sensitivity, so they’re a little bit more resistant to some of your Force powers. They’ve got a lightsaber-like weapon, a weapon that can block your lightsaber. When you play the game right now, going through an environment that’s filled with Stormtroopers as opposed to going through an environment that’s filled with Felucians is a very different experience, and you have to have very different tactics, just based on those simple changes that we made. Other enemies will have ranged-combat attacks or favor ranged or not. Some enemies will be support units for other units, so we’re looking at that. There will be Jedi. There will be larger units. So we have AT-STs and Rancors and other large units that will also help mix up the gameplay. Those are the types of things you need to take out through the course of a larger, longer battle. We’re really cognizant of that, and we don’t want the game to be just you running through a hallway, Force pushing guys and killing them all with one shot. That would be fun in moments, and that will be fun for portions of the game—against Stormtroopers, hopefully that will always be fun—but we really have to balance it. So even within the Imperials, we have the basic fodder unit, but there are many other types of Imperial units that you’ll fight that are much tougher and will take more strategy and more use of the environment and exploiting the environment and exploiting the strengths and weaknesses of the enemies you fight.

GI: You’re playing as Darth Vader’s apprentice, so I’m assuming you’re not a great guy. Most notably in Knights of the Old Republic, there have been Star Wars games that have dealt with the morality aspect. You’ve talked about the fact that there are going to be multiple endings. Does the morality figure into it, or do you embrace the fact that you’re a bad guy?

Blackman: It absolutely figures into it. We can’t go into too much detail on it, but morality—because it’s part of Star Wars—and a lot of common themes in Star Wars resurface in the story of the game. It’s also about player choice, too. There’s a definite morality in the game, but the player can choose to go different directions—and that ultimately impacts and affects the endings.

GI: You said you can’t go too much into it, but how often would you say the player is confronted with choices like that?

Blackman: I can say that the notion of morality and the struggle with the dark side versus the light side and good versus evil is pretty much prevalent and constant throughout almost the entire game. There’s a little bit in the beginning where you’re getting your feet wet and figuring how to play the game and we’re teaching you the basic mechanics and you’re kind of reveling in the fact that you’re Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. Fairly early in the game, we introduce that concept in the story and through some of the things that happen in the story.

GI: Speaking of the story, as Darth Vader’s apprentice are you essentially going out on assassination missions looking for remaining Jedi?

Blackman: Yes. You’re hunting Jedi. Again, it’s a story with many twists and turns, and the role that you start out in is not necessarily the role that you play throughout the entire game and where you end up. I’d say it’s definitely not where you end up. Yes, as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, you’re spending time hunting Jedi.

GI: The phrase “secret apprentice� comes up very frequently. Is it addressed how Vader is hiding the fact that he has this guy out there?

Blackman: Yes, we talk about it, and it figures into mission objectives and into the storyline, and we stress that there’s only a handful of folks—Juno knows you exist, Vader knows you exist, your droid sidekick knows you exist—and that’s about it. And Vader is adamant about keeping it that way, because he has plans for you. And there are mission objectives related to that in the game.

GI: Presumably, this guy isn’t around by the time Empire Strikes Back rolls around.

Blackman: Maybe, maybe not.

GI: OK. That answers my question.

Blackman: Again, there are multiple endings, and we’re working with licensing to determine which is the right one from a continuity standpoint. But, we have endings that cover the gamut. He might be around, but we just don’t know where he is…yet.

GI: So it’s not a sure thing that he’s going to die at some point?

Blackman: Right.


GI: There have been games that used telekinetic powers, but not the Force, like Psi-Ops and Destroy All Humans. Can you give us a rough idea how it works here?

Blackman: We’re big believers in usability testing, so nothing I say is set in stone. We haven’t started all of our usability testing yet—we’ve started some, but we’ll be doing it until we ship the game, because we want to get the controls right. Our feeling though, is that we want to make the game as accessible as possible. The way we’re designing the game, we’re ensuring that, depending on the difficulty setting, you can play the entire game with just your face buttons. We’ve got lightsaber attacks and Force powers and movement stuff basically mapped to the face buttons, and it’s the combination of those that allow you to do different maneuvers. You’ve got Force power combos, and lightsaber combos and lightsaber and Force power combos. I’m really excited about Force power combos—combining push with lightning. If you use grip and pick a guy up and hit him with Force lightning, he becomes basically like a bomb. You slam him to the ground and he explodes and causes damage to everybody. We want a free camera, so people can look around as much as they want to and player movement. Grip will likely be mapped to one of the shoulders. Advanced Force powers will be accessed through a trigger, but those are not required, they’re advanced powers. They’re things that we expect a lot of players to learn because they’ll be easy to access, but if you want to stick with lightsaber, Force lightning and Force push, you can get away with that.

GI: So each power will be mapped to its own place?

Blackman: Everything’s mapped to its own thing. And we have charge-up by holding down. And then the combos, which to me are where a ton of the excitement comes from—figuring out new ways to use the Force and the Force with the lightsaber. You know, “What’s a lightsaber, Force lightning combo look like?� We have some really cool ideas and have come up with some really cool things. Hopefully, people will be excited about that, because they’ll be seeing things that they’ve never seen before.

GI: Can you give some more examples of the ways that you can use the powers together?

Blackman: Yes. There’s a lightning push, where it charges up a guy and you send him back like a bomb. There’s a push lightning where you yank a guy back with telekinesis and basically shock a guy in place and he can’t move and he’s locked down for a little bit. There’s the lightsaber throw. We have combos that combine the lightsaber throw with lightning, the lightsaber throw with push. There’s one where you basically do some lightsaber attacks and you send the guy like you’re hitting a softball and he just goes flying. Stuff like that. The repulse is an advanced power. There are about two dozen combos when you factor in all the variations. The honest truth is that I’m not a very good gamer. I play a ton of games, but I’m not very good at them. (Laughs) The team kicks my ass all the time in any first-person shooter we’ve got. I want to make sure there’s a good range. The combos I can master, which are the two, three button press combos, and we’ll have a handful of more advanced combos—the four, five or six button press combos that really advanced guys can master. It’ll make them feel more powerful and will allow them to beat the game on different difficulty settings more easily. For me, playing through, if I just get through and master the two or three button combos, I’ll be really happy. It’s layered, but at its core it’s all about the accessibility and ease of use. From the moment you step into the game, you feel like a badass Jedi—or in this case, a badass secret apprentice—but using the Force push feels awesome from the first time you use it and it feels really easy. I hit one button and I do it.

GI: Speaking of getting your ass kicked by other people, can you give any more information about multiplayer components?

Blackman: There will be a multiplayer component. (Laughs) It’s up and running. We’re really focused on this idea of Jedi versus Jedi combat. We think we have some really unique twists and turns in multiplayer—some new features that people haven’t seen before that give multiplayer more tactical depth, for those people who want it and want to set up games using those features. But we’re not ready to talk about those features yet. Obviously, all the simulation-based stuff we feature in the single-player game we want to carry over into the multiplayer. The environments will be interactive and destructible. Just like you’ll be able to pick up a Felucian and slam him into a wall and cause damage to him, or knock a column over on a bunch of guys and crush them—you’ll be able to do those same types of things, with different effects, because you’re not fighting a Felucian, you’re fighting a Jedi. We’ll have those same types of things in multiplayer.

GI: With Jedi versus Jedi stuff, the game is set in an era where Jedi aren’t as common as they used to be. There have been other games where they’re all over the place. How common are force-using enemies going to be? Will they be reserved for boss fights?

Blackman: We have Jedi characters that you’ll fight and will be involved with throughout the course of the story. There are several of those that you’ll encounter. There are also other Force-sensitive and Force-wielding characters in the game that aren’t necessarily Jedi or Sith that are working with one of those two groups, or they have abilities because they’re aliens or through technology that allows them to not necessarily mimic, but defend against or attack and in some cases emulate Force attacks as well. So the Felucians are Force sensitive. Their planet is, because it’s so overgrown—it’s replete with the living Force—they’re Force sensitive and are able to tap into it. They’re able to do some things using the Force that you might not expect. They have weapons that aren’t lightsabers per se—and they’re not as powerful as a lightsaber—but they put up a fight against a lightsaber and allow them to deflect. We’re taking a page from Episode III, with Grevious’ bodyguards and those electric staves that they can use. Clearly, not every enemy is going to have stuff like that, but we’re looking at Jedi characters, characters that are allied with Jedi and Sith and might be Force sensitive, and then characters who use technology as another counter. We’re looking at that range in terms of the context and the explanation as to why they can do what they can do. It’s not a game filled with Stormtroopers that can’t defend themselves. Although they will definitely be there, because it’s really fun.


GI: It’s obvious you won’t be able to Force push a boss over and have that be that. How are you approaching those?

Blackman: We have systems in place to balance that. We basically approached it, because we have a multiplayer component, the same way we’re thinking about multiplayer. We don’t want you, when you’re playing multiplayer, to just get spammed by Force push and have that be it. We don’t want our Jedi characters that you’re battling to have that same thing happen. So we have mechanics in place, a system that allows that to balance out, so you can take advantage of your Force powers when there’s tactical significance to win. Boss fight is a hard term for me, because we’re not building traditional boss fights in the sense that there’s a puzzle to solve or there’s one way to defeat enemies. Because of the simulation-based technology that we’re investing in, there may be many ways to defeat an enemy in an environment. Different enemies have different strengths and weaknesses, so you want to keep that in mind when you’re fighting them. You want to try to exploit their weaknesses whenever possible. A Jedi is not going to be invulnerable until he does something special that leaves him exhausted for 15 seconds, and that’s when you run up and whack him. We’re not building the game like that. There is a system in place that you enjoy as well that helps protect you from being spammed or griefed by Force push, that protects the player character in the single-player game, protects these Jedi characters and protects you in multiplayer—but can be circumvented, so I can still get the satisfying payoff. If I’m playing Julio, I can still Force push him to defeat him, but it’s after we’ve battled for a significant period of time.

GI: Can you elaborate on that?

Blackman: It’s a mechanic in the game that we’re coming up with that the player won’t have to actively do much to initiate. The Rancor example is a good one, because he’s a sub-boss or big enemy or whatever. With him, it’s just his sheer size. I can’t Force push a Rancor and knock him over. But I can hit him with lightning and that does some damage to him. Really, one of the tactics that works really well with him is to pick up stuff in the environment and throw it at him, because you’re hitting him with a big rock that does a lot of damage and it stuns him a little bit and he’s groggy—but it’s you initiating that. And, the Rancor also attacks by grabbing things and throwing it at you, so the more of those things that you can pick up and throw at him first, the less ammunition he has. It’s that kind of balance. In terms of a Jedi, the Jedi has his lightsaber, so he can block a lot of things with his lightsaber. There’s also a convention that we’ve come up with for the Force, where because everybody in the game is so strong with the Force and imbued with the Force, a Force push doesn’t have the same effect, initially on me, as it would on a Stormtrooper. You even see that with the Felucians. The impact of a Force push is dampened in some cases based on their sensitivity to the Force. But, that’s finite. It’s almost like a Force shield. When Julio and I are fighting and we Force push a bunch of times, it may deplete my force shield, but it’s going to deplete his force energy. Ultimately, he might get me to a place where he hits me, and if my Force shield is completely gone, I might feel that full brunt of the Force. It’s that mechanic. The whole idea of a Force shield is that we want you to use them in combat and have the opportunity for them to actually pay off as well as they did in the single-player game against a Stormtrooper. Again, if Julio and I are fighting and I keep Force pushing him or I keep doing things to him that depletes his Force shield and he doesn’t fight back, ultimately there’s going to be a point where I can Force push him and he’s going to feel the full brunt of that. But it doesn’t happen the first time I Force push him necessarily, like it will with a Stormtrooper. That’s the system. Does that make sense?

GI: That is much more helpful.

Blackman: It’s that balance. It goes back to why we have this idea of Force energy. It’s that balance. We have multiplayer components in the game, so we always have to keep that in mind—we don’t want to give that short shrift. Ideally, we’re building systems that make sense in both parts of the game—multiplayer and single player, so you’re not learning new core mechanics when you go into multiplayer. Even in the single player, that mechanic will exist. It’s that tradeoff between, “I know I can deplete Julio’s Force shield very quickly if I use Force lightning on him, but that’s going to deplete my Force energy as well, and that will leave me vulnerable to his counterattacks.�

GI: If all Vader is doing is having this guy go out and assassinate Jedi, that doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that he would need to keep a secret from the Emperor.

Blackman: He’s a secret apprentice for a reason—and this is something that we discussed with George at length. Vader has his own agenda, and that’s all I can say. There are many twists and turns throughout the story.

GI: Is it tied at all to why he tries to recruit Luke later in Empire Strikes Back?

Blackman: I think when you’re done playing the game and experiencing the story as the next chapter in the Star Wars saga, you’re going to have a deeper understanding of the original trilogy. Just like when you saw the prequels it gave you a greater understanding of some of the events in the original trilogy, I think you’ll have a deeper understanding of the classic films—and especially Vader and what he’s all about.


Game Informer: Do you get to play as Darth Vader at any point?

Blackman: There’s a pat answer for this, but I haven’t memorized it. Darth Vader plays a prominent role in the game, and that’s all we can say at this point.

GI: That’s better than “No comment,� I guess. How does the main character end up as Vader’s apprentice?

Blackman: That is revealed in the story—I mean, we’re not giving that away now, but it is definitely revealed in the story, and it will be included in the novel and the comic and all that stuff, too. Fans and players will know how you ended up in that role.

GI: Is that explained before you start playing as that character in the game, or do you pick up the first level and you’re this guy and you don’t know how he got there?

Blackman: It is explained, but I don’t want to give away how or where yet. And it will likely be explained from different angles in the different media, which is kind of interesting.

GI: How so?

Blackman: It’s all the same story, and it’s all the same facts, but there might be different points of view explored and different information—additional information—additional backstory in the game and in the comic or in the novel. If you experience all three—you read the novel, you read the comic, you play the game—you’re going to have an even greater understanding of the depth of the characters and know more about the backstory. There are going to be side things and comments that are different in all three. It’s kind of cool. I’m excited about the different points of view that we can explore in the other media.

GI: This probably ties into the name, “Force Unleashed.� There have been other games focusing on being a Jedi—using Force powers in an action setting. In those games, you also had Force push and all that stuff. I was hoping you could explain how using the Force in this game is going to feel different from those games.

Blackman: Absolutely. Again, not to disparage any of the other games we’ve done before, because we’ve done some really great Jedi games, but because of the concept of the Force that we’re going with and the fundamental core of the idea of the Force Unleashed, we’re able to explore different applications for the Force. So, the combos, as an example. We’re also able to reinterpret all the Force powers. So Force push in the movies and some of the other games might knock a guy over and might send him back a few feet. When a Stormtrooper gets hit with Force push in the Force Unleashed, it’s like he’s been hit by a cannonball. He goes flying backward, he shatters through a column, through a glass window, or whatever. So I think that visceral impact, that payoff, is going to be so much more intense, so much more unleashed. That’s why we headed in that direction. That’s a big deal, and I think the notion of extrapolating that into actual gameplay mechanics, like the Force combos, is really exciting, and it’s not something that we’ve ever really done before. Not many games do anything like that. I think that’s great. And I think the idea of the simulation-based gameplay is not something that we’ve had in any of our previous games. You might be able to use the Force to initiate a scripted event in a past game—knock over a column or something in a scripted event—but in our case, it’s all driven by simulation when you’re doing things in an environment, they’re reacting unpredictably and in different ways every time. It’s all simulation driven. And we’ll have some big setpiece moments, absolutely. Those big setpiece moments, I can’t say too much about them—you may have seen some concept art on them—those big setpiece moments will be bigger than anything you have seen before in the game.

GI: Are you going to see guys cutting AT-ATs in half?

Blackman: Potentially. (Laughs) No comment. There will be some big over-the-top moments like that, where the whole notion of size doesn’t matter. We’re trying to get that notion across through the game.

GI: Has it been challenging, as you’re putting together levels, to build them in such a way to make sure that there are always columns to throw guys into or things to push them off of or that sort of thing?

Blackman: It’s something we have to consider, and we definitely have to rethink the way we build not just levels but gameplay. One of the things we’re always talking about on the design team is not being afraid to let go and let the simulation take over. That’s scary, because you’re losing control in a way. We’re worried about things like if I script a door breaking, I know that door is going to break. When we’re testing it, if it doesn’t break we know we have a problem with the script. If it’s all relying on simulation and you’re not sure how the player’s approaching it and could do something to essentially make it so that door is impassible—bring a girder down in front of it or something like that—that can become very problematic. So we have to think about how we arrange these things and whether or not we need fail-safes for critical path elements. In general, what we’ve really tried to do is embrace this idea of letting the simulation do a lot of the work and not be afraid of losing control and let the simulation take over. There’s also, because DMM is based around real-world physics properties and the way physical materials behave in the real world and we’re dealing with Star Wars, which isn’t the real world, there have been challenges associated with that. How do we get something that’s being impacted by something like a Force push, which doesn’t exist in the real world? That’s been challenging, but fun and exciting. But we also have to build things architecturally sound, which has been really interesting. In a game right now, if I want a piece of glass that breaks, it’s just an art swap. I can put a piece of glass and put it against the wall and I hit it with an R2 unit or a Force push or whatever and I just do an art swap. With DMM, because it’s based on real-world physics and real-world properties, if that glass isn’t stabilized by something, it’ll fall over. Now, we’re thinking about, “OK, I need to put that glass in a frame of some kind.� That’s another opportunity for us, because we can make this frame out of metal, so if I hit it on the side it bends a little bit and just cracks that corner. If I hit it straight in the middle, the glass blows out, but the frame’s intact. I think, for the design team, it’s been an exciting challenge, but we now have to start by thinking these elements are architecturally sound to really take advantage of both DMM and Euphoria.


GI: That’s interesting to know, but it leads me to another question. Maybe this is beating a dead horse, but the Euphoria engine allows enemies to behave more realistically in certain situations—they need to keep their balance, so they try to grasp for something. It’s cool to see glass break where you want, but I was hoping you could go into how those effects are going to play important roles in the gameplay itself.

Blackman: A lot of it has to do with how we set up the environment—and the tactics that are involved from a player’s standpoint. Let’s say you’re on Raxis Prime, and you come to a big area where there are a bunch of enemies scavenging off a starship, and they’re on some scaffolding. If you’re at full health, you might just run in there and attack them head on with your lightsaber or Force push or whatever. If you’re not, if you’re a little bit weakened or you don’t trust your lightsaber skills or your button mashing, another valid way to approach that would be to rip down the scaffolding and have all those guys collapse. The payoff there is that you’re watching the guys fall, and they may hang onto things, and some of them might even be able to pull themselves back up and they’re still a threat. There is tactical significance, from a gameplay standpoint, it’s not just the aesthetic, but the aesthetic has a huge payoff. Every time I see a Stormtrooper grab hold of another Stormtrooper, it still takes my breath away. Those are the types of things where you’re always going to be seeing something new. From a payoff perspective, the fact that you’re always going to be seeing something new is going to encourage you to explore these areas and try different approaches—and hopefully go back and replay areas. Replayability will hopefully be a huge factor. You know, “When I went to that area before, I kind of blew through it,� or “I took those guys out by rolling a Tie Fighter cockpit at them. I wonder what happens if, instead, I take out that whole gantry or throw something else up at them or I grab an elevator?� There’s all sorts of new things out there. It really is—and I know this is such a buzzword, and I almost hate to use it—there is a lot of emergent gameplay that comes out. Ultimately, the player is trying to survive and get from point a to point b, so we know we have to do setups that we can approach from multiple different ways depending on the type of player that you are. If you really want to go head-to-head, you can, but if you want to think about it a little bit before you approach the situation, there are certainly opportunities to take out large groups of people, taking advantage of the simulation. We want, every time you approach a group of guys or you get into a fight, I really want the player to be thinking, “OK, how am I going to kick these guys’ asses with the Force?� while they leverage the environment to do that. Am I just going to run in there and use Force repulse, which slams them against the walls and does added damage? Am I going to pick up this column over here and use the Force to clobber them all with it? Will I pick up this exploding barrel and throw it into their midst? Am I going to pick up one of the guys and lure a Rancor closer and have the Rancor attack him? In a given situation, you could literally have all of those choices. Our goal is that we take—we’re using Havok as our physics system—so we take Havok and DMM and Euphoria and those are all seamlessly integrated, and they’re all working just to provide an amazing experience for the player. We’re always thinking, “How can we best leverage all three of these technologies?� but it’s never “How do make this a really cool DMM moment?� it’s always “How do we make this a really cool Force Unleashed moment,� and how Havok, DMM and Euphoria all play into that. Sometimes, it’s more heavily skewed toward one of the three, but in general, it’s always “How we make it a really cool moment for the player?�

GI: How do you level up? I think about it in terms of a Force push being a Force push.

Blackman: I don’t want to get too specific, but we’re looking at a lot of different things. Increased damage would be one easy one. We’re looking at when you first start out the game, not all of your powers are chargeable. So you can do Force push, but you can’t do the charged Force push until you rank it up. That’s an example. Being able to affect more guys with it, and unlocking new combos—those are big areas of it. Again, part of it is that accessibility thing. We don’t want to overload you with combos. You’ll have a couple at the beginning, and then you unlock more—and you choose which ones you want to unlock—as you go along. So guys like me, who may never really feel comfortable with the five button press combo, I don’t have to. I can put my experience, my Force points, into other things. I can improve the powers themselves. Those guys who do want to do that, they want to master those things, can. We’re appealing to both sets.

GI: That made me think of something else. Let’s say you’re making a Superman game. One of the problems when you’re making a Superman game is it doesn’t make any sense to have a little robot punching Superman and depleting his life—he’s Superman. We’ve seen, in movies and games and stuff, we’ve seen Jedi take on some pretty ridiculous odds. How do you make the game challenging for players while still holding to the mythology of the might of the Jedi?

Blackman: Looking back at the films, they’re Jedi, and we’re definitely looking at this as a sort of Jedi superhero, but that doesn’t mean that he’s invulnerable or immortal. For me, a lot of the trick is coming up with cool, compelling enemies that are believable as threats. So, not having a little robot run up to you and doing a lot of damage to you, necessarily. R2 is not going to zap you and do a lot of damage. A Rancor, that’s something that you believe could mess up a Jedi. Or, sheer numbers, too. That’s something we saw in the films—in the Geonosis arena, a lot of Jedi got killed there because they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. There are things like numbers, the types of weapons that they use, there are environmental threats. Star Wars does a lot of that, where you have the carbon-freezing chamber, you have the death falls in Empire, you have the lava in Episode III. So we can play with that a little bit, but really we’re focusing on having cool, compelling enemies that feel like they are threatening and scary in some cases. I guarantee, when these Falucians are done and they come out of the fog and they have their skin all glowing—because they’re going to have this iridescent paint on them—they have all these guttural noises. They’re going to be pretty scary. That’s definitely a consideration whenever we make a Star Wars game.

GI: Given that you’re a Jedi and practically anything is possible, have you given any consideration to Xbox Live achievements at this point?

Blackman: We’re talking about it, and we’re definitely going to have them—it’s a requirement. I’d like to do as many as we possibly can.

GI: Beyond just, “You beat level 1�?

Blackman: Totally. What I would love to do, because of the simulation-based gameplay, experimentation is fun and cool, and we want to encourage experimentation, it may be something like you defeat a group using a different tactic that we’ve discovered internally. It would be awesome if we could try something that’s never been done before. The example of taking a Tie Fighter cockpit and rolling it down a hallway and killing a bunch of guys, that’s stuff you don’t need to do necessarily if you have your lightsaber and Force powers, because you could probably beat those guys by engaging with them, but you’re going to end up with more health if you roll that cockpit down the hallway and maybe unlock an achievement. So yeah, we’re talking about that. There will be multiplayer achievements, too. We’ll have a range of unlockables, too. Some customization-oriented stuff and some that deal with things related to multiplayer. We want to reward experimentation and having fun. So if you discover something that’s really fun to do in the game and you do it a couple times, you’ll probably get an achievement.

GI: The meter that you have, you use a big Force power, and it recharges fairly quickly, right?

Blackman: Yeah. We have to balance all that, but right now the thought is that it recharges really quickly, and the different Force powers take up a different amount.

GI: I ask because I’m having bad Psi-Ops flashbacks, where it didn’t regenerate. It just went down and stayed down.

Blackman: No, ours will regenerate.

GI: The blaster-bolt deflection, was that just something that was going on in the testbed, or are you planning to keep it in the final version?

Blackman: It’s a natural, innate ability that the Jedi seem to have, so we wanted to give it to the player. It’s not something you have to activate, it just happens. So if I stand there, I’ll deflect. As I mentioned earlier, a percentage of shots will get through, so you can’t just stand there and make a sandwich and come back. But, it is something that you can improve over time. So at the beginning, you might have a 25% or 50% deflection rate, then you can improve that over time. We also want you to be able to reflect, too. You’re deflecting some percentage of the blaster bolts, and some percentage of those are actually being reflected back at the enemy. We have to balance that. From day one, I told the team that I don’t want you to think about things that the Jedi seem to do innately, so even opening a door. There will be some doors that you’ll have to figure out how to go around or blow through, but if it’s just a regular door that you go up to and anyone can walk through, a Jedi doesn’t go push a button—he waves his hand and walks through. It’s little touches like that we wanted to make sure we’d get into the game so every step of the way you’d be like, “I didn’t even have to push a button. I’m a Jedi.�

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