GameFawx Reviews: Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2

The world of Star Wars is a world we all know of today. I myself am a huge fan of the entire series, I even liked the prequels. So I was very excited when I heard a sequel was being made to 2008s Force Unleashed. After actually playing TFU 2, I am very disappointed.

TFU 2 starts off shortly after the light side events of its predecessor with Darth Vader going to the clone labs to find the main character, "StarKiller", still alive and in shackles. You are informed you are a clone, and a failed one as well. You quickly break out of the lab and the game begins. This is a good setup for a story, a quest to find your missing friends and find out if you are a clone or if you were lied to. Sadly, this is as far as it goes with the plot. As you play the game, none of those questions are awnsered. Just when I had gotten to a point where I thought the game was about to go into detail of the story and really take off, the credits began to roll. I was so shocked at the sudden stop, I felt like the game wasn't finished. Now it's a pity that this idea wasn't expanded upon, considering how TFU 1 ended, and how 2 began I would have liked to get at least some kind of awnser to how the character survived, but again throughout the entire game you get nothing. Some people might argue this is a setup for a part 3, but this is the third time I've played a game where it just suddenly stopped and the reaction has never been good.

Now the gameplay hasn't changed much from the last one. Controls and camera are the same, so no problems there. To change things up this time, your given a second lightsaber and a ability to enter a "Rage Mode" where your power is doubled and you unlock more advanced attacks. This however is brought down by the lack of enemies in the game. Your first encounters with each types can be a little rough, but once you learn the patterns, its becomes routine and rather boring. Even on hard mode, I was having very little trouble with the enemies this time around. I must say, I like the addition of realistic lightsabers this time, with limbs and parts getting sliced off with each cut. This feature hasn't been seen since 1994's Jedi Outcast.

Now I have to talk about the levels, in TFU 1, each level was easily labeled with the changing of the players clothing. Most players will use the same base when identifing the levels in TFU 2, and using that base there are only 4 levels, and one is so short, it might as well have been a cutscene. However, there are move levels then that since each one is broken into sub-sections, each ending with some kind of boss battle. Now thankfully there isn't any boss fights like the second boss in TFU 1, but trouble is, there aren't any fights like the second boss in TFU 1. There were virtually no challenge to any of these bosses in the game what-so-ever. Only one gives a headache, but thats only because you spend 3/4 of the time dodging attacks. Also like I mentioned above, there is one level that is beyond short: the Degobah level. It lasts all of 5 minutes, at most. Now some people have argued that there isn't anything to do on Degabah and thats why its so short. My reply to that is, 1993's Super Empire Strikes Back for the SNES had more then this level.

Speaking of length, this is what caught by surprise the most. I finished the game in just under 6 hours, on hard. I'm guessing easy can be done in about 4 hours for a skilled player. This is the biggest let down of the whole game. TFU 1 was at least twice as long, and the harder modes really tested your skill as a player. In todays market, paying 60+ dollars for a game that short is unacceptable. Anything under 5 and most people dont even bother with it, ever.

All in all, Force Unleahsed 2 feels like one step forward and two steps back. They added alot of stuff to make it different from TFU 1, but took out alot of stuff to really appeal to the more hardcore players. Which is why, on my scale, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 rates a 4 out of 10. Just below average. Not a bad game, but could have been better. This is a weekend rental at most, and thats IF your not playing something else that came out on the same day.

I'll see you on the next posting of GameFawx.