LucasArts recently showed off some brand-new footage from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed at an event held in Sydney, Australia, and it certainly looks like the company's holding firm to its promise of delivering the most impressive and visceral uses of the Force ever seen in any game. While we weren't able to get our hands on the title itself, LucasArts reps did unveil some fairly significant new details concerning the game, which is slated for release in September. Beware--we're going to delve a little into spoiler territory in this preview, so if you'd rather not know some plot details, you'd best click away now.

　　Vader and his apprentice. Tough times ahead?

　　In a move that's sure to please Star Wars fans, players will be able to take control of the most famous Sith Lord of them all--Darth Vader--in the opening level of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. After the typical Star Wars intro (complete with bombastic John Williams theme, text scroll, and slow camera pan from space to reveal a planet), we see Lord Vader land an Imperial Shuttle on the planet Kashyyyk, known to geeks around the globe as the home planet of the Wookiees. Vader is apparently on the trail of a lone Jedi Knight, but the Imperials are also on the ground battling against Wookiee insurgents. Early on in this level, Vader strides purposely through the green vista of Kashyyyk, taking on increasing numbers of Wookiees (and when we say stride, we mean it--the baddest Sith of them all apparently does not run, as the developers thought it would be unbecoming of the evil Skywalker). Vader--as befitting his status as the scariest man in the galaxy--brushes away the Wookiees' resistance with ease, using his prodigious Force powers to toss the bulky creatures around as if they were tissue paper. At one point, he comes across a large wooden gate, which proves to be a momentary roadblock as he simply blows it apart with one mighty Force push.

　　The LucasArts rep demoing the game then skipped to the end of this level, showing off the final cinematic of Vader's solo run. Vader, having trapped the Jedi he was hunting for and keeping him in a Force grip, suddenly finds his lightsaber Force pulled away from his hand. He looks to the side and sees a young boy holding the saber--apparently the son of the Jedi. Sensing the boy's potential, Vader casually crushes the throat of the Jedi, before killing a group of Imperial soldiers who have seen the boy. Thus--it seems--is Vader's secret apprentice (the main protagonist of The Force Unleashed) born.

　　The hands-off demo then skipped to the first time players get to control the secret apprentice, which is a mission in which he has to track down General Kota, another Jedi who managed to survive Order 66 at the end of the Clone Wars. This level takes place in the same space station shown in previous demos of The Force Unleashed, although for the first time, LucasArts showed off the end boss battle between Kota and the apprentice. This takes place in a large, circular room, and the powers being thrown around by both combatants looked mighty impressive. Halfway through the fight, Kota uses his Force powers to completely sever the space station in half, causing the section you're fighting in to plummet to the planet below. The fight continues, even more hectic than before, with the added complication that the floor is now damagingly hot thanks to the heat generated as the station falls through the planet's atmosphere. Finishing the fight triggers a God of War-style button-pressing sequence, where players will need to input specific button commands to end Kota with Sith flair. As the LucasArts reps demonstrated, missing the sequence won't be too punishing, as it will simply reset to the beginning of the event for players to try again.

　　This level's closing cinematic also served up a tantalising clue about what may happen in the rest of the story. Before the apprentice deals his final blow, the aged Kota says, rather cryptically, that he can see the young man's future, and all he can see is himself (that is, Kota). Mysterious indeed.

　　What was even more intriguing was the final cinematic at the end of the next level demoed, which takes place on the junk planet of Raxis Prime (big spoiler coming, so watch out). After the apprentice completes his task on Raxis (once again, to track down and kill a rogue Jedi), he returns to Vader's still-in-construction Super Star Destroyer (remember, this game is set between Episodes 3 and 4). Vader tells the apprentice they are ready to finally take on the Emperor himself, but as the apprentice turns away, Vader impales him with his lightsaber, saying that the Emperor's spies followed him to the Super Star Destroyer. The Emperor himself then shuffles out of the shadows, and orders Vader to finish off his apprentice to prove his loyalty once again.

　　Unfortunately, that's where the demo ended, leaving us wanting to know more about what happens next in the game. The game looked extremely good--as it has for a while--and should be an absolute stunner when it finally ships on the PS3 and Xbox 360 later this year. Keep it tuned to GameSpot for more details on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in the coming months.