Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Review

Star Wars is an icon in the media industry. In fact, it's so big that it has garnered a huge cult following. The main love for Star Wars comes from the rich lore it has built up over the last three decades and while Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 tries to add to that already abundant lore, it fails to offer up anything tangible for the fans of the series.

 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 has us back in the shoes of Starkiller, a man who sacrificed himself in the previous title to save the Rebellion and its efforts. Upon your return to playing as Starkiller, you'll be thrown back into a story which leads straight back to the Rebellion and Starkiller's old flame, Juno. It's your job to save Juno and once again bring down Darth Vader and his attacks on the rebellion.

It's unfortunate to see that the game has gone downhill drastically. It's rare to visit a planet, instead I was stuck in corridors for hours on end trying to get the hell out and see something new. Couple that with the intense frame rate issues, texture pop-in and the fact that the game is a serious button-masher and it's a recipe for disaster.

It doesn't help that every force move Starkiller has pretty much overpowers everything else in-game. Using force grab seems to be able to destroy TIE fighters with no difficulty at all and force detonation just wipes enemies out without a second thought. Don't forget that mind control can also be used to make enemies fight each other or make them suicide to their deaths. It's all over-the-top and while it's fun the first few times, I grew tired of using force moves about a quarter into the game.

There are also enemies where you must press specific buttons to get a take them down. Now, this isn't new in games but it's usage here is boring as hell. Considering you'll see the same enemies in each level, it would have been nice for the developers to mix it up a bit instead of leaving us to watch the same animation over and over again.

The boss fights are epic in scale but are jarring in battle. The fact that each boss is easy but it takes upwards of 12 minutes to defeat them is just borderline insane. They drag on like a broken record and in the end I just felt completely drained of my interest in the game as a whole.

There are some customisation options available to mess with and use to ones advantage. Firstly, you will collect XP which in turn can be used to power up Starkiller's lightsabers and force powers. You can upgrade each by adding up to a maximum of 3 points and each point costs more XP than the last. This will make the effects on either the weapons or force powers much stronger.

There's also a variety of lightsabers available to choose from and use which offer different statistics and effects. I opted to use two separate colour lightsabers leading to two unique effects to use whilst in battle and the effects can help with regeneration of health, force energy replenishment and much more.

The Force Unleashed 2 looks fantastic. The character's can express themselves well and the planets I visited on my travels were diverse and interesting. The main issue was the mass corridor-play that encompassed most of the game which lead to it all feeling rather claustrophobic.

The framerate jogs like crazy, especially when there's more than 6 enemies on the floor or it's a large boss fight. Also, the fact that I can walk up to an item in the world only for it to disappear is craziness. I've heard of texture pop-in for items that aren't near you but when you're close to them... well, that's new to me and there's a lot of that going on in the game.

The voice acting was terrific. I loved every moment of it and it goes to show that even a moderately respectable game can be saved by its voice actors and story. Along with all my favourite Star Wars music and sounds playing throughout the game, it was a match made in heaven. The zing from the lightsabers get's me every time and it's a true rush to slice enemies up for another glorious listen.

I'll admit that my time with The Force Unleashed 2 has dented my expectations for the series. While there's a lot that could work out as a whole, going forward, I just didn't feel that this game was worth my time.

With the game running in at a six hour play-through and no real replay value I feel that it's a game that should probably be missed out on unless you're truly a die-hard for collecting Star Wars game series.

There is a demo on the XBOX 360 if you'd like to give it a go before making that final purchase. Make sure to check it out before committing to that all important purchase.