Developer: LucasArts
# of players: 1 player
Platforms: PS3 360 Wii PC DS
Genre: Action, Adventure
Release: Oct 26, 2010
ESRB: T-Teen, (Violence)
Mean As Hell Rating
6/10
I miss Star Wars: The Force Unleashed! No really I do. After playing through Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II in full I truly realize that this game is merely a shadow of its predecessor. Don't get me wrong, it's not to say that the game is not immediately engaging. It looks beautiful, awesome character animations, and is a decent hack and slash. But it lacks in story, character development and is way too short! I really wanted to like it and I'm not saying it is a bad game, it's just not a great "Star Wars" experience I was hoping for.
So what kind of experience did I get? Repetitive combat and level design, a seemingly half finished story and very little dept. The story starts off interesting enough and uses the "light side" of the force ending as canon(spoilers? maybe.). Starkiller had sacrificed himself by holding off the Emperor long enough for the newly formed Rebel Alliance to escape. Force Unleashed II starts off with Vader training a clone(or not) of Starkiller. Vader can't control the clone because he is flawed like the rest that came before him. The clone can't suppress original memories of Starkiller and escapes from Kamino to look for Juno Eclipse, the love interest from the 1st game.
The messed up thing about the story is that it feels very unfinished or rushed at best. You might even go as far to call the ending a cliffhanger. It just ends at an awkward point where you feel like you've only completed less than half of the game. The game itself is extremely short. You could probably beat this one in a day; maybe 4-6hrs to finish. Less than that if you could skip the unskippable cutscenes. The story is still good in some places but that was the case in the 1st game. Starkiller has no real character, he just starts off promising. The somewhat hyped appearances of Yoda and Boba Fett are lackluster at best. They must have appeared less than 2 minutes in a cut scene that you can't interact with them in. What a waste!
To add insult to injury; there are rumors that The Force Unleashed III may have been put on indefinite hold. So there is a possibility that we may never see the end of this story or that we may have to pay an arm or leg for DLC to see the end of the story we already paid $60 for.On the plus side, even though the combat is repetitive(especially in later levels), it is greatly improved over the original. In fact the overall gameplay is an improvement. No more chunkiness in combat and your enemies are smarter. The stormtroopers with the anti-force bubbles are out also. Replaced with Sith apprentices who must be defeated with some lightsabre skills.
Speaking of lightsabre, it is worth mentioning that sabre itself feels much more powerful then it did in the 1st game. It is able to remove limbs and heads with ease. I also found the force grip much tighter this time around. Other than that, the controls are pretty much the same but a little more responsive. One of the things I had a problem with in the 1st game was the targeting issue. Targeting what you wanted to grab then throw it was almost a lesson in futility. It is not perfect but more often than not, I got Starkiller to do what I wanted.
There are 10 challenges for you to try out once you're done with the campaign, they have leaderboard support. Word of warning; they may be short but they are tough enough to give the best player a run for his money. Hey if you like thrill of a challenge maybe it will make up for the short campaign. Or not.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is step up and a step down from what came before. Like the main protagonist, it inhibits both the light and dark side of the Force. The story leaves something to be desired, and the duration of the game is intolerably short for a full priced game with no form of multiplayer. I just felt like there could have been more to it but at the end I was left violated. If this game was more complete it could have been one of the best sequels ever. I can only recommened it as a rental or if you have to phurchase it, wait til it's $30 or less. Otherwise you're going to be asking for the other half of your money back when you complete it.
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