The first gameplay details of Lucasarts’ forthcoming Star Wars title The Force Unleashed have started to trickle in after the 2008 CES, and we have to admit it’s sounding pretty bloomin’ special.

Opposable Thumbs had this to report:

"Every time you hit that face button, we want you to feel that power," I'm told as I watch one of the Lucasarts employees show off Force Unleashed. I'm not allowed to do a full preview, but I can say that the game is fast and mean; the force powers do some crazy things, and the play is impacted by the physics in amazing ways.

You try to pick up a StormTrooper and he grabs onto a crate while screaming. You yank up on him with the Force again, and both the 'Trooper and the crate fly into the air. The force powers and the physics get even crazier; if you force push a metal door, it twists and deforms realistically.

Very promising. Of course, Star Wars games have something of a history of sounding great but actually being rather poor when they finally get released, but we’re willing to be positive about this one; the idea of flinging your Wiimote around like a lightsaber takes us back to our childhood when we used to use rolls of cardboard tubing to achieve the same (incredibly gratifying) effect.

In other news, it seems that the dream of an officially licenced Lightsaber from Lucasarts (try saying that ten times as fast) is unlikely, as Nintendo has said it will not endorse such a product due to safety concerns. Of course, this won't prevent a flood of unofficial sabers.