Yep, that venerable institution of light saber-fueled geekery, is back with another new ep. But times have changed since George Lucas tricked us into getting super-excited over that first prequel movie. I even waited in line for a whole day (on assignment, and on mushrooms, but still…I waited). Point is, our sweet naivety was taken long ago by a drunken Jar Jar Binks.

Gamers have been treated as shabbily as moviegoers, with plenty of uninspired Star Wars games clogging up the damn hyperdrive. Personally, I still think that way old, vector-drawn Star Wars game in the sit-down arcade cabinet, with its simplistic yet effective Death Star runs, was perhaps the finest transfer of the original films in videogame form. (According to the Killer List of Videogames, it was also the 4th most popular arcade game ever!)

Bioware, of course, made a couple cool RPGs called Knights of the Old Republic, but they succeeded largely because they were so far back in Lucas’ timeline that it didn’t feel like a cheap rehash of movie scenes (unlike Lego Stars Wars, which was a fun rehashing of movie scenes).

But LucasArts saw the potential in forging a new plot path and, after considereing a third KotOR, settled on The Force Unleashed, which is essentially episode 3.5.

The setting is between the two trilogies—George does so love filling in his blanks—and begins with you playing Vader himself. The Dark Lord is just going about his business killing Jedi refugees when he comes across an Anakin-esque kid whom he takes as his secret apprentice.

The Darth level is just a short intro (if you wanna kick more ass as Vader, try Soul Caliber IV for PS3 which has him as a special fighter) and from there on you play as the apprentice known as Starkiller. Your initial goal is to complete Emperor Palpatine’s Jedi purge, but Vader also eventually intends to use you to overthrow the big boss.

The ambitious nature of the game, and the fact that its story is considered cannon, has seen a spike in expectations and hype. The Xbox Live demo even broke download records. But early reviews have been middling.

Still, I actually had a good time despite the fact that it’s a somewhat standard hack-and-slasher prettied up with a Lucas license. That’s because they freaking totally nailed the Force. Even when the fighting gets repetitive I never ever tired of using my quasi-spiritual midichlorian mojo to blast my way though a metal door, electrocute Storm Troopers or pluck a Tie Fighter out of the air.

It won’t bring back those hours I spent waiting in line to see Phantom Menace, but perhaps the franchise remains a, shall we say, force to be reckoned with.