Force Unleashed 2

Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2, the follow up to the successful original game from 2008, finally lands on the Xbox 360, the PS3, and the Wii.  But is it worth your hard earned cash?

The first in the series, The Force Unleashed, pitted players as the apprentice to the Dark Lord, being sent on missions and making choices aligning you to the Light Side or the Dark Side.  In-game decisions showed where your loyalties were, allowing you to help either Rebel soldiers or Stormtroopers.  And while the decisions had an impact on the game, they weren't defining enough to revolutionize the experience, thought it certainly asked you to play through multiple times if you were interested enough in the alternate endings.

The Force Unleashed 2 picks up roughly right where the first one left off, only this time around you learn that the apprentice Starkiller has disappeared after helping the Rebels.  Darth Vader is attempting to clone Jedis, and you begin the game as a clone of Starkiller, who isn't exactly sure that he is a clone.  Stuck with the memories of the real Starkiller, he's unsure of what is real and what isn't.  He escapes Vader's chambers to seek out his lost love, Juno Eclipse.  The rest of the story line hinges on Starkiller trying to find/rescue Juno, and his unending run-ins with Vader's troopers along the way.

The Story -

Story-wise, The Force Unleashed 2 is much more interesting than the first.  I found myself trying to decipher along the way whether or not Starkiller was indeed a clone, if he'd find Juno alive, and wondering exact how the game would end as it takes place between Episode 3 and Episode 4.  We know Vader can't die, but at the same time the story is open about Starkiller's future, especially with him potentially being a clone. 

The clone drama here can be a bit frustrating at time, as you're playing a character who may or may not be a 'worthless' clone.  On the one hand, you don't want to die and you want to care about what happens to Starkiller.  On the other hand, he may just be a clone and not worth caring much for anyway. 

As the story progressed, my only disappointment was in the Jedi General Rahm Koto, who serves this storyline little outside of yelling at you via comlinks.  The character always seems to be yelling, never has any knowledge worth actually supplying, and overall comes off as a giant waste of time.  He's there to help new gamers to the franchise, I suppose, but he mostly just got on my nerves.

Gameplay -

The Force Unleashed 2 is very similar to its original in terms of controls.  The force powers from the first game return here, but in addition to the original powers (lightning, push, grip, lightsaber throw, etc) a few new ones have been added.  The biggest of these is Mind Trick, which allows you to convince enemy troops that they are on your side, forcing them to help you fight against their allies.  It can be handy, cute at times even, but overall the other abilities are just simply better.  Why have a Stormtrooper attack another trooper with a blaster pistol when you can just Force Push them to death?

Also new here is the Force Fury, which is essentially just an attack meter that once filled allows you to unleash a ridiculous onslaught of Jedi damage to all enemies.  The meter takes a while to fill, and I found it only particularly useful against larger enemies that would take you longer to defeat anyway (AT-STs, drones, etc).  It might not be particularly useful, but it sure looks pretty when you use it.

The force abilities here aren't anything special, and my biggest complain would be just how ridiculously powerful Repulse and Grip are.  Between these two abilities, you'll rarely even need your lightsabers.  And while that's cool, it also makes the game a bit easy to walkthrough.  Even on Hard, I found that a maxed out Repulse fries nearby enemies, making it incredibly tough for Stormtroopers and the like to get near you. 

Enemy AI isn't exactly intelligent here, with most of the enemies just doing the same thing repeatedly, regardless of what it is you're doing to them.  This is especially true in terms of the bigger villains, like the AT-STs, which are only difficult to defeat because they require more hits with less force power usage.  Otherwise, stormtroopers are as mindless as they should be but a little too easy to defeat.

Graphics -

The graphics of Force Unleashed 2 are simply spectacular.  The cutscenes look incredibly fantastic, and the ingame graphics are consistently beautiful.  Starkiller's lightsabers glow with a very nice shine, and even in environments where there are tons of interaction between multiple objects, very little blurring or loss of detail occurs.  The best example of this is during 'falling' levels, where Starkiller is freefalling through debris and enemy danger.  The falling aspect looks fantastic, and the gameplay certainly benefits from such detail.

The biggest strength in the graphics occurs with the main bosses.  The Gorog, as ridiculous as he is to fight, looks absolutely amazing.  His arms flailing desperately around the screen is both impactful and delightful.  This boss fight took me over an hour to beat, while playing on Hard, and as frustrating as he is to play against I couldn't help but enjoy the time as the graphics during the fight are simply incredible. 

The cutscenes look fantastic as well, servicing the game almost more than the actual gameplay.  They're near movie quality, especially some of the details involved (as annoying as Koto is, he looks amazing in detail).  The end boss fight against Darth Vader, once Starkiller becomes truly enraged, looks stunning.  So many colors are taking place on the screen at the same time that it's impossible not to get wrapped up in the visuals.

Extras -

One of the best aspects to The Force Unleashed 2 is the replay ability.  Playing back through the game a second time, you keep your force powers that you've enhanced, along with any points you haven't used.  On top of that, you can change your costume among many different ones you've unlocked along the way.  There's nothing cooler than playing through the game a second time, with max force powers and as Boba Fett.

There are also challenges that you can unlock, and the ability to replay any level you choose on whichever difficulty setting you'd prefer.  That's always a nice touch, as it gives gamers a chance to replay particular parts they enjoyed or just want to show to friends.

Overall -

The Force Unleashed 2 is not a great game.  Its visuals are pretty amazing, its controls are solid, and its story is certainly interesting.  Its shortcomings come in the overall time of the game, taking nearly 6-7hours to complete even on Hard.  There isn't a whole lot of difficulty, and the game feels very simplistic.  Overall, if you're looking for a very solid rental look no further.  If you're hoping for a game that revolutionizes the first, you're going to be disappointed.  While the game offers up a fun time with great visuals, it's far from perfect.  Still, gamers expecting more of the same and wanting to know how the story goes won't be disappointed.  Just don't set your expectations too high.