Remember all that stuff that happened between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope that was not explained in the movies? LucasArts has not left behind those fans who were left staring at the plot holes in the broad and colorful wall that is the Star Wars films. LucasArts executives have also stated the game, when played and completed, will lead to a significant alteration in the way Star Wars fans view the series in general.

In an interview with the Associated Press yesterday, Haden Blackman, who heads the work on The Force Unleashed at LucasArts, explained just how the game will make such an important impact:

"One revelation in particular really impacts the rest of the saga as a whole. It goes way beyond filling in gaps. We try to make a bridge on every level. The story has a real implications on Episode IV. In some ways, without the apprentice, Episode IV couldn’t happen."

Throughout the development process, according to Blackman, George Lucas himself has been offering advice and support to the team as they have worked on composing the storyline of the game. Blackman had said that the development team had “pitched a number of different story ideas and concepts to [Lucas]” and together, they selected the best ideas that the team put on the table. Blackman continued by saying that Lucas gave them plenty of room, but often took the final decision on the way characters would appear in the game.

"As we worked on The Force Unleashed, he encouraged us to create new characters as well use existing characters. He told us, ’If you’re going to use Vader, that’s fine, but here’s how you can use him.’"

The game will offer players a wide variety of environments to play through and with a variety of characters. In the first episode, for instance, players will take the role of Darth Vader as he moves through the forested Wookie home planet of Kashyyyk. In later levels, however, the player will assume the role of Darth Vader’s apprentice and will make their way through a TIE fighter plant, the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and the planet of Felcuia. Despite all this high powered excitement, however, the team at LucasArts “left some openings for a sequel” so that “the concept of The Force Unleashed could be taken in any direction.” If all goes well, LucasArts “could potentially do a Force Unleashed game set in a different Star Wars time period with a new storyline.”

With all this careful work, it seems that The Force Unleashed is shaping up to be quite an exciting game and with the promise of future tiles in The Force Unleashed line, we Star Wars fans seem to have a lot to look forward to. We’ll find out just how important a title the game is when it is released on September 16th.