System: Microsoft Xbox 360

Also available for: Sony PlayStations 2 and 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS

Publisher: LucasArts

Reviewer’s rating: ***

ESRB rating: Teen

Game type: Action

Kind of like: “Ninja Gaiden” with magic

Best feature: Using the Force to crush your enemies in imaginative ways can be awesome.

Worst feature: A shocking number of bugs and glitches mar the experience.

The bottom line: For 31 years we’ve waited patiently for technology to reach the point where we can finally have the powers of the Force at our disposal. With “The Force Unleashed,” the payoff is frequently exhilarating — hurling a giant boulder at a pissed off Rancor or whipping an Imperial stormtrooper into the path of an oncoming TIE fighter provides a visceral rush almost unparalleled in the world of interactive entertainment.

Which is why it’s all the more frustrating when the game’s designers unnecessarily re-attach the leash. It comes in the form of a maddeningly imprecise targeting system, frustrating camera angles and level designs that make the best aspects of the Force seem near-useless or, at least, mundane.

Still, “The Force Unleashed” hits more than it misses, and the game’s gripping narrative yarn — about Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, whose surreptitious adventures spark the Rebel Alliance, leading up to “A New Hope” — is the best “Star Wars” story in years, right up to its two possible endings.

The appearance of familiar characters and locales will excite enthusiasts, but even non-fans should appreciate the action — especially in the earlier, more expansive levels where the full might of the Force can truly be unleashed.

The Wii version is a touch more disappointing, mainly because we had such high hopes for wielding the Wiimote-as-lightsaber. In reality, the apprentice’s actions only loosely mimic your own, so in the end you never really feel like you’re “in” the game ... but you’re thoroughly exhausted, anyway.