The first thing to say about the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of The Force Unleashed is that they’re both fun to play. Each offers lovely big dollops of Force- and Lightsabre-wielding fun over increasingly large environments against a healthy variety of enemies and end-of-level bosses. But there are definitely a couple of slight differences worth running by you.

First of all, the PS3 version's camera seems strangely slightly less helpful than the Xbox 360's, perhaps because of the way the PS3 game tends to restrict your view more than the Xbox 360 version. We'll cover this in more detail in the graphics section, but suffice it to say here that the Xbox 360's more consistent presentation of a wider area on screen helps reduce the number of camera-related problems you experience while you're playing. Plus it helps you tackle large play areas with more purpose and less confusion, since you generally feel slightly more aware of which bad guys are where.

Another key point, again in the Xbox 360 version's favour, concerns gamerpoints. While the Xbox 360 achievements on offer aren't for the most as imaginative as they could have been, there are still a few, such as decent rewards for using different attack techniques, and big rewards for finishing the game on higher difficulty settings, that genuinely encourage you to approach the game in a more comprehensive and varied way.

If you're not bothered by Xbox achievement points, then we guess this point won't matter to you. But then even if you're not bothered about how big your gamerscore is, we'd strongly encourage you to look at The Force Unleashed's gamerpoints anyway, as they might well help you get more from the game.

It’s a real pity LucasArts has no plans to introduce Trophies for the PS3 version.

The differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of The Force Unleashed are surprisingly considerable – and for the most part, they work in favour of Bill Gates’ machine.

Particularly striking is how much sharper and more detailed the Xbox 360 version is versus the PS3 version. A great example of what we’re talking about can be seen in the first room in the Tie Fighter Factory – the game’s first ‘proper’ level after the Darth Vader prologue. Comparing the metallic floor of the room as shown by each console, the Xbox version has much more foreground texturing and sharpness. So much so, in fact, that while the Xbox’s floor looks extremely realistic and metallic, the PS3’s floor looks more like a strangely smooth pool of water.

The Xbox 360’s extra sharpness and detail also helps it deliver a more accurate sense of perspective, as the floor can gradually lose resolution as it disappears off down the corridor in front of you. With the PS3, the reduction in foreground resolution and texturing means there’s less scope for the game to use sharpness variations to help create an illusion of depth.

Another graphical difference in the Xbox 360’s favour, which we alluded to in the gameplay section, concerns the game’s perspective. Using the opening room on the Tie Factory level as an example again, it’s really quite intriguing how more of the environment appears to be visible onscreen with the Xbox version than the PS3 version. Turning right to look through the window at the factory beyond, for instance, the Xbox 360 image shows a clearly wider view of the room than the PS3 version, even with your character standing in exactly the same place.

Why this difference in perspective should exist is hard to define. Perhaps the PS3 version can’t handle as much data onscreen at once as the Xbox version? What ever the reason, though, it’s a really significant difference, because it seems to slightly increase the instances on the PS3 version of the camera position problems that are arguably the game’s most consistent irritation.

The Xbox 360 doesn’t have things all its own way, though. For while both versions of the game occasionally suffer with some pretty distracting horizontal shearing as you pan round your environment, the Xbox 360 version definitely suffers with it more often. Maybe this is the price Xbox owners have to pay for the extra sharpness of their version.

Even after walking round our surround sound speakers listening to each one in turn for minutes at a time (sad, we know), we failed to spot any truly significant differences between the PS3 and Xbox 360’s sound quality. Which means both deliver a suitably cinematic soundtrack with good voice acting and an excellent score. Neither version of the game features any sort of online play. More's the pity.

	16/20
	16/20
	16/20
	N/A
	80%

	15/20
	14/20
	16/20
	N/A
	76%

For the purposes of this deathmatch, the metallic setting of the opening room of the Tie Factory level provides a perfect demonstration of the differences between the PS3 and Xbox 360 games in terms of their sharpness and perspective handling.

As for illustrating the horizontal shearing problem, for some reason the opening Darth Vader level provides probably the game's most consistent evidence of the phenomenon in action.