Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
With 10 times more Unleashed Forceiness...
Posted October 26, 2010
A couple years ago, I recall being sucked into The Force Unleashed and its enthralling story around the events that occurred between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. A little backstory for those that didn't play it (spoiler alert): Darth Vader finds a young boy (named Starkiller) with Force powers and secretly grooms him as his dark side apprentice. After Vader sends the boy out to set a trap for the resistance to the Empire, Starkiller falls in love and eventually gives his life for what becomes the Rebel Alliance. You could also choose a darker path, allow the Alliance to be killed and essentially become the new Vader, but Force Unleashed 2 assumes that you went the route of the light side and perished. LucasArts even had followup DLC (ridiculously short) that allowed you to hunt down Obi-Wan on Tattooine, if you chose that dark side ending.
As Force Unleashed II kicks off (available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii / DS and PC), Vader has been experimenting with cloning Starkiller and you are his most recent creation. After Vader decides you are too unstable of a clone, Starkiller (who sees visions now) makes a grand escape from Vader's clutches and escapes Kamino to track down his memories of the past; lost love perhaps. The main problem with LucasArts approach to the follow-up is a lack of respect for the canon and a general bombastic, shallow feel to storytelling. Starkiller is amped up with more midichlorians than Yoda, Vader and Luke Skywalker combined, but is about as deep as a whiney Ewok with mild brain damage. LucasArts throws a couple cameos at us with appearances by Yoda and Boba Fett, but they vanish as quickly as they appear. The narrative teases you with the possibility of experiencing amazing moments, but never pays off. Even the ending is a painstakingly tedious affair and it makes me wonder who at LucasArts actually green lit this story. (And if he / she still works there)
Opposite from the direction of the narrative from one game to the next, the actual gameplay has improved to a degree. Starkiller has a ridiculous amount of control over the Force and it's immediately evident from his first leap into the abyss. Any Jedi that has the ability to make Tie Fighters explode from Force Lightning while making a crazed free fall through an extremely dangerous Empire station is a certified badass. Force powers seem effortless for Starkiller and they can be upgraded during levels with the XP gained from killing Stormtroopers and other enemies. There are also a couple new Force powers in the mix, Mind Trick and Force Fury. Mind Trick forces enemies to fall to their deaths of steep ledges or start firing on their fellow troopers. It also offers the occasional chuckle when you can tell the Trooper is trying to fight it. Force Fury covers Starkiller in a purple lightning haze and offers health boosts while you lay waste to some of the bigger enemies in the game.
Starkiller also has two lightsabers at his disposal this time around, another effort at ramping up his offensive capabilities. Enemy AI has improved slightly, but Starkiller seems like he can zip around quicker now to take out the minions. Larger enemies are taken down with instanced button presses (or mouse clicks if you are on the PC). The control scheme continues to lack the fluidity of true lightsaber control. Lightsaber fighting animations often go a half second too long and you lose a bit of health in the process from blaster fire. Also, the general lack of targeting is often more of a detriment than helpful, especially when Starkiller is swinging his sabers wildly in the air over the troopers standing right below him. Firing off Force powers is also hurt by the lack of targeting as you have to face the enemy to use something like Force Push; unless you build up the power by holding down the button.
One improvement over the previous title is the much more frequent checkpoint system. Player death isn't punished as greatly as the first title as you typically are only bounced back 30 seconds previous to your current position. Beyond the collectibles that you can snag in the main game, you can also play through the challenge levels to unlock most crystals to change the color of your saber and different costumes for Starkiller. Identical to the previous game, there are no multiplayer modes to sink your teeth into.
On normal difficulty, you are looking at about 4 to 5 hours to play though the entire campaign; perhaps 6 to 8 on the hardest difficulties. The Force Unleashed II is some sort of odd hybrid between great $15 DLC and a poor $60 feature length game; LucasArts believing in the latter if the bloated console price is any indication. Add in the lackluster narrative, lack of multiplayer and general repetitive combat to get something that should probably be rented rather than purchased. If you are a fanatic of the Star Wars universe or excited to check out the new force powers, consider renting the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. Otherwise, you will probably enjoy recent action-adventure releases like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (if you are on consoles) or Fallout:New Vegas (on PCs and consoles) more than Force Unleashed II.
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As Force Unleashed II kicks off (available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii / DS and PC), Vader has been experimenting with cloning Starkiller and you are his most recent creation. After Vader decides you are too unstable of a clone, Starkiller (who sees visions now) makes a grand escape from Vader's clutches and escapes Kamino to track down his memories of the past; lost love perhaps. The main problem with LucasArts approach to the follow-up is a lack of respect for the canon and a general bombastic, shallow feel to storytelling. Starkiller is amped up with more midichlorians than Yoda, Vader and Luke Skywalker combined, but is about as deep as a whiney Ewok with mild brain damage. LucasArts throws a couple cameos at us with appearances by Yoda and Boba Fett, but they vanish as quickly as they appear. The narrative teases you with the possibility of experiencing amazing moments, but never pays off. Even the ending is a painstakingly tedious affair and it makes me wonder who at LucasArts actually green lit this story. (And if he / she still works there)
Opposite from the direction of the narrative from one game to the next, the actual gameplay has improved to a degree. Starkiller has a ridiculous amount of control over the Force and it's immediately evident from his first leap into the abyss. Any Jedi that has the ability to make Tie Fighters explode from Force Lightning while making a crazed free fall through an extremely dangerous Empire station is a certified badass. Force powers seem effortless for Starkiller and they can be upgraded during levels with the XP gained from killing Stormtroopers and other enemies. There are also a couple new Force powers in the mix, Mind Trick and Force Fury. Mind Trick forces enemies to fall to their deaths of steep ledges or start firing on their fellow troopers. It also offers the occasional chuckle when you can tell the Trooper is trying to fight it. Force Fury covers Starkiller in a purple lightning haze and offers health boosts while you lay waste to some of the bigger enemies in the game.
Starkiller also has two lightsabers at his disposal this time around, another effort at ramping up his offensive capabilities. Enemy AI has improved slightly, but Starkiller seems like he can zip around quicker now to take out the minions. Larger enemies are taken down with instanced button presses (or mouse clicks if you are on the PC). The control scheme continues to lack the fluidity of true lightsaber control. Lightsaber fighting animations often go a half second too long and you lose a bit of health in the process from blaster fire. Also, the general lack of targeting is often more of a detriment than helpful, especially when Starkiller is swinging his sabers wildly in the air over the troopers standing right below him. Firing off Force powers is also hurt by the lack of targeting as you have to face the enemy to use something like Force Push; unless you build up the power by holding down the button.
One improvement over the previous title is the much more frequent checkpoint system. Player death isn't punished as greatly as the first title as you typically are only bounced back 30 seconds previous to your current position. Beyond the collectibles that you can snag in the main game, you can also play through the challenge levels to unlock most crystals to change the color of your saber and different costumes for Starkiller. Identical to the previous game, there are no multiplayer modes to sink your teeth into.
Graphics
- Visually, the game is really detailed and scales fairly well dependent on your system capabilities. You can tell some serious work went into detailing the level backdrops, character textures and the various lighting effects for the Force animations. The weather effects are darn amazing as well. This is a game that will make your system chug along though, if you turned on too many special effects at a high resolution. I ran the game at 1080p resolution on an i7 Core computer with a beefy video card and still ran into choppy slowdown issues from time to time.
Audio
- The audio work is just as good at the previous game. You've got plenty of instances of John William's influence score popping up through the missions as well as the familiar slash of the lightsaber burning through Stroomtrooper flesh. The voiceovers work just as well as the previous game, but Starkiller whines more often than not. Darth Vader is still a terrifying bastard though.
Conclusion
On normal difficulty, you are looking at about 4 to 5 hours to play though the entire campaign; perhaps 6 to 8 on the hardest difficulties. The Force Unleashed II is some sort of odd hybrid between great $15 DLC and a poor $60 feature length game; LucasArts believing in the latter if the bloated console price is any indication. Add in the lackluster narrative, lack of multiplayer and general repetitive combat to get something that should probably be rented rather than purchased. If you are a fanatic of the Star Wars universe or excited to check out the new force powers, consider renting the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. Otherwise, you will probably enjoy recent action-adventure releases like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (if you are on consoles) or Fallout:New Vegas (on PCs and consoles) more than Force Unleashed II.
Discuss This Game on Our Official VGT Forum