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Star Wars: Jedi Unleashed
Hasbro (starwars.hasbro.com)
2-5 players, ages 8 and up, about $10
Review by John Palagyi
Star Wars: Jedi Unleashed is one of four movie tie in games that came out
when “Attack of the Clones” did. The others are Star Wars: Epic Duels
(see elsewhere this issue), Star Wars Life and Star Wars Stratego.
Jedi Unleashed is aimed squarely at the children’s market and as such is
the simplest of the four games.
Jedi Unleashed recreates the massive battle between the Jedi and the Geonosians
(and their droids) at the end of the movie. Each player receives a
team of Jedi which they control. The object is to defeat the most enemy
before Yoda arrives and ends the game. On your turn you may move one
of your Jedi and attack any adjacent Geonosians/droids, then you may move
one of the Geonosians/droids and attack another player’s Jedi. As long
as you have adjacent enemies and can roll a hit on the die, the Jedi may
attack. One blow is sufficient to defeat a Geonosian or droid, but
it takes two successive blows to defeat Jango Fett or Count Dooku.
It also takes two consecutive or cumulative blows to defeat a Jedi.
If a Jedi takes a single hit, his card is turned “wounded” side up to keep
track of his health. Jango Fett and Count Dooku can defeat a Jedi with
just one blow. Defeated enemies are placed on the Jedi’s card.
Surviving Jedi are scored according to the number of enemies on their cards
at the end of the game. Geonosians/droids count one point each and
Fett/Dooku two points each. Ties are broken by adding in your non-surviving
Jedi. A miss by a Jedi moves Yoda one step closer to the planet and
the game’s end. Should a player’s Jedi all be defeated, they can reenter
the game by taking up the leftover Jedi that were not used at the start.
Good if you are the first one out, but if you are second, well it’s good
that the game only lasts 15-20 minutes.
The advanced version includes the Reek, a monster your Jedi can try to climb
atop and then go rampaging about on. The Reek moves randomly by die
roll and will stomp any one creature (even a friendly one if that is the
only one there) in the zone it moves to. The Reek moves instead of
a player’s Geonosian/droid movement.
This game is fun if rolling dice and little strategy or tactics is what you
are looking for. At half the price of “Clash of the Gladiators”, this
was my choice for a light move/roll/repeat slugfest.
This review originally appeared in issue
18 of Counter Magazine.
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