Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2

If I were to sum up Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2 in a few words it would be: Short but Sweet. God, remember when wielding a lightsaber and cutting a stormtrooper in half was cool? Well now you get to wield TWO lightsabers (hence the II title of the game), for DOUBLE the fun! God I pity those stormtroopers, they're like lambs for the slaughter...

The Force Unleashed II is the sequel to the hit game The Force Unleashed, a game lauded for its storytelling and epic combat. These games quite literally put you into the shoes of the ultimate Jedi badass, Starkiller (or Galen Marek, but Vader gave him a much cooler name).

Poor kid, although many Star Wars fans would have died to be brought up by Vader:

So, for people who didn't play the first AWESOME game, Starkiller kick-started the Rebel Alliance, beat the CRAP out of Vader and nearly killed the Emperor in one fell swoop before he sadly landed in a coffin, or more bluntly put: he died. So when the sequel to this great game was announced I, along with many other people thought about how the heck they could/should continue the Series with the main character having snuffed it at the end of the previous one! I admit that when they announced that he was going to be cloned it was a ingenious idea, but it did feel a little shoehorned in JUST because the first game was such a success. 

So, the story for The Force Unleashed II is basically summed down to this: Starkiller escapes from Vaders clutches, searches out his old buddie Kota, goes to see his girlfriend but finds out that she was captured by Boba Fett (why do so many people LOVE Boba Fett?) and sent to Vader, goes to rescue her and captures Vader THE END. Pretty basic, but the voice acting is truly top notch and the dialogue is up to scratch as well so you can't fault it that much. Cutscenes do feel far and inbetween though, and add an hour of repetitive gameplay between each of them seems to make it feel even LONGER. I like how they've implemented characters like Boba Fett and Yoda but they are a bit pointless (Yoda has one long speech and thats it, big woop). The storytelling is by far the best thing about the game though hands down, and on a 2nd playthrough it really shines even more. Shame it was so short lived though...

Yes, the gameplay does get boring after a while, which is odd seen as you're tearing up mile long ships IN HALF or doing really epic things with your Force Powers for most of it (another gripe: if I can tear mile long spaceships in two, what threat does Vader pose?). I think alot of it is due to the fact that you're almost TOO much of a badass, as I drifted through this game without even dying ONCE (okay, I did fall from high platforms alot but that was due mainly to my errors, not damage that the enemys had inflicted on me) and an army of Stormtroopers that would just get decimated in seconds, almost as if they were mere obstacles for the player to CRUSH. Sure you can slice em' up with your Lightsaber or blast with your Force lightning, blow them away, mindwash the buggers and even propel them towards other objects but doing the same thing over and OVER again just got way to old, far too fast. Sure they try to spice things up by having some certain enemys impervious to lightsaber attacks but vunerable to your force powers (or the opposite) but again, after endless waves of enemys being thrown at you it becomes a little bit tedious, and you only really play it to advance the Story. This is why I would advise you play this game in short snippets, to stop it from becoming too boring (I did this on my 2nd playthrough and found it IMMENSLY more enjoyable, but it is still far too tedious at times). The highlight to the gameplay is BY FAR the awesome power you feel at the end of each Boss-fight/level. You will feel like greatest Badass the galaxy has ever known by the end of it (Vader, again gets battered down to an inch away from death).

Now presentation wise this game is SUPERB, looking miles ahead from the first game (and even that looked pretty cool) and the facial animation is...dare I say it...life-like, really capturing those emotions. The enviroments are really well designed as well (shame there's so few of them to gawp at!) and at times it felt like you were watching a movie! Again, its another great looking game. Every years technology really is leaps and bounds ahead of the previous one, and I can't wait to see what games will look like in two years time!

 
So overall the game is a fun experience, but is let quite down by repetitive (if empowering and awesome for 20min) combat and a really short experience. The game took me around 6-7 Hours to beat it, and when compared to games like Red Dead Redemption or Mass Effect that are the same price but over 30 hours in content value, it doesn't really hold a candle to them. I do praise the Story still, and even if it is half as short (and not really as good) as the first game it still sets the bar for game storytelling. Again I say that games are STILL ignored for the potential that they hold, both immersively and Story wise, which just pains me. It doesn't however, wet my appetite in any way for the inevitable sequel, which seems to be building up to something really BIG (Vader controlled clone army of Jedi's, anyone?) and it had better be continued because some SERIOUS plot points are never resolved by the end (we have yet to know whether he really IS a clone or perhaps he's just the original Starkiller but brainwashed). I was actually quite lukewarm after my first playthrough, almost disliking it but after a 2nd go I really do think its better than what most reviewers make it out to be...ultimately though it is just someone else's opinion. FORCE OUT!

                                                  Come on, THATS JUST COOL!