Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Preview

The Wii version has plenty of exclusive stuff, including the head to head Duel Mode.

The Wii version has five missions and three locations in the single-player story that aren't in the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. But what interests us most about the Wii version of The Force Unleashed is the Duel Mode, which feels like more of a beat-em-up viewed via an arena cam than an action adventure. Here you pick from a comprehensive list of Jedi and Sith from across all the Star Wars universe, spanning all of the movies and more, and go head to head with your opponent, moving about, collecting power ups, using lightsaber attacks and Force powers to reduce his or her life and win the round. I tried the handy Darth Maul as well as Luke Skywaker from The Empire Strikes Back, complete with mechanical arm. It rekindles memories of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, also on Wii, and is actually quite a bit of fun, once you get used to the controls and work out the moves.

There are 27 different character skins, a good portion of which will be different Secret Apprentice costumes and secret characters unlocked through the single player campaign. On the downside, apart from some statistical differences there won't be many differences between the characters. Darth Maul doesn't have a double-ended lightsaber, for example, nor will there be any dual lightsaber wielding. And no Yoda!

"We had to make some choices," explains Dan Wasson, producer on the Wii, PS2, PSP and DS versions of the game. "And basically anything that wasn't going to be the same size and shape of the Apprentice, it's like we don't have two lightsaber styles, because we didn't want to do it half-assed, we didn't want to have it in there as an afterthought. Given the time we had and the fact that we had to get it done we decided we had to focus on making the controls feel great with the lightsaber and the Nunchuck and make sure we could fit everything on the screen.

"We tried some stuff, like how would we do two-handed, part of it was how would we make the Wii Remote responsive. We didn't try to recognise too many directions, we didn't try to do anything too ornate. For one it gets tiring and repetitive, so we wanted to make it possible to do with simple motions. We didn't want to get crazy. When people are swinging, they might swing like this and think they're swinging up but they're not. We said, right, we didn't want that false positive, like you got something but it doesn't feel like what you did. We wanted to make it feel accurate."

We're looking forward to this - a Wii must have?

And you won't be able to take the Duel Mode online either, which is somewhat of a disappointment. "That would be really cool," admits Dan. "Maybe if we do a sequel or something we will try and make something like that. But it was pretty tough to get two people on the screen at one time and having all the particles and physics."

Already Force Unleashed on Wii is shaping up well. The Duel Mode is fun and the single-player experience looks like an impressive effort on the console. And there's plenty of time between now and September for Krome to polish it into oblivion. Obviously the 360 and PS3 versions of the game will act as LucasArts' flagships, and the more hardcore Star Wars fans will no doubt prefer those, but that doesn't stop the Wii version looking like a good bet and a decent laugh with mates after alcohol-fuelled Star Wars debates down the pub.

And already Dan is hoping for the chance to do another Star Wars game on the Wii. "This doesn't come out till September. This game has to come out, do well. I hope they give me another chance." This may be a tad premature, but we hope so too.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is due out on Nintendo Wii on 19 September 2008.