Not getting this game for the PSP is the biggest mistake you will ever make. PSP gaming at its best.
I was really worried about this game. I had been waiting over a year for it to come out, so obviously, i wanted it to be really good. Then the reviews starting rolling out. An 80, a 75, a 40 and so on. That really got me mad since i was waiting for this game to be the "must own" star wars game.
I got it anyways since i had already pre-ordered it from gamestop. I put it in to my PSP and then boom. My opinion totally changed. This is the best PSP i have ever played. If your worrying over the reviews, please dont! Get this game, at least try it out. If you dont you will regret it.
Anyways, on to the game itself. The story mode is decently long, timing in at about 10 hours if you get at least some of the holocrons, lightsaber colors, hilts, force orbs, and health orbs. If you want to collect all of the unlockables it will probably take around 12 hours to finish the game. So its not that short.
Basically the game works kind of like Jedi Knight/God of War. You go through each level killing the bad guys (and good guys if you want), picking up unlockables, and generally pwning all that exists. There are tons of cutscenes that further the story. The psp version has a cool extra thing though. That is, between levels you can hang out in your ship. Its kind of like KOTOR, where you can change your clothes, customize your lightsaber, check out unlockables, and when your ready, go to the nav computer and choose the next level. A really nice touch.
Graphically, the game is astounding. Its right up there with games like God of War and Wipeout Pulse. You notice this most when you are in big open spaces like the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Cloud City, Nar Shaada bar, etc. The view distance goes out forever, using the KOTOR method of having some beautiful backdropes that look like part of the level. Character and level detail are sharp and the costumes you unlock are all highly detailed.
The sound is as always in a Star Wars game, excellent. For example when you jump up and then land on metal grating, it sound like landing on metal grating. Everything sounds very good, and the lightsaber slicing through Storm-troopers is something that absolutely must be experienced first hand.
The story is also very good. I wont give away much, but it follows the same story as the PS3 and 360 version with twists such as going to the Jedi Temple and such.
The PSP version also has the most modes! There is something called "Force Unleashed" on the main menu. Clicking on it will take you into another menu where you can choose between three modes. The first one is called Force Duels. This is a jedi battle with an AI bot. You choose your jedi/sith character and level and then it puts you into the battle. There is Order 66 where you choose your character and level and then you have to fight off each wave of enemies and they get harder and harder.
Then finally there is historic missions. There are 5 missions for you to take on, such as the CIS ship in episode 3 where you get to fight Dooku at the end, Luke and the Sarlaac pit, Mace Windu at the Geonosis Colosseum, and so on. These are really fun and greatly add value to an already great game.
Now to the problems. Load times are fairly long. They are not as long as Battlefront 2, but longer then Renegade Squadron. At least during loading the screen is you going through hyperspace. Sometimes there is also glitches where you get stuck, though rare, these are annoying. After a while it automatically kicks you out of the glitch, so thats good. And there is no online multiplayer. There is ad-hoc, but lets be honest here, nobody plays that. Its not a huge deal, but it really feels like a lost opportunity.
All in all this is a great PSP buy. The action is addicting and fun, and the game has tons of unlockables and great modes. The problems are not as big of a deal as they sound, and they happen rarely. The only thing that would have made this game better was online multiplayer. This game is recommended to anyone who loves Star Wars, Action, and PSP gaming.