Oh, sequels. Why do you have to be so disappointing? We’ve all seen the tragedy that befalls the second installment in many of the series we know and love.
For every Empire Strikes Back or Godfather II, there’s a ton of Matrix Reloadeds, Spider-Man 3s, and Caddyshack IIs. While it is most prevalent in movies, this trend does occasionally lend itself to gaming as well, and unfortunately, that’s where we find the new Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.
The folks at LucasArts tried their best to make this one go the way of the aforementioned Empire Strikes Back, looking to bridge what will undoubtedly be a gaming trilogy with drama, love, and darkness. Heck, they even brought in Boba Fett and Yoda! Not that you get to do anything with them, but hey, they’re in the game, right? That leads to the first of the game’s mistakes: misusing series icons.
Boba Fett’s there, but do you think there’s a battle against him on Kamino a la his “father” Jango and Obi-Wan in Attack of the Clones? (Another terrible sequel, by the way.) Well, guess again. The Mandalorian-armored bounty hunter is merely there for appearances sake. Oh, and you can unlock a playable costume that allows you to run around as a lightsaber-wielding Fett, which is pretty cool, but doesn’t do much to justify his inclusion in the story.
And then there’s Yoda. Everyone’s favorite 800-something-year-old muppet Jedi master returns as Starkiller makes a side trip to Dagobah. Time for some training, right? Get his mind in focus, strengthen the Light Side within him, and get ready to face Vader again? Um, no. Yoda’s standing outside a cave. Just hangin’. That’s it. Starkiller never even finds out his name. And then he’s gone.
It seems that the main theme of TFUII is unfulfilled promises. You are taken in by treats such as fast and fluid action sequences (until it starts getting a tad glitchy in the last few levels), the breathtaking scenery, and cut-scenes that are incredibly detailed, excellently voiced, and wonderfully animated (even if you do revert back to the default costume for the cut-scenes; Halo: Reach has spoiled me). But for all that it has going for it, the game has such a silly storyline, annoying boss battles, and lack of the “wow” factor that the first one held, leaving much to be desired.
There’s also a Challenge Mode included, which has you facing different trials designed to test your varied Force skills. There are races against the clock, endurance tests against waves of AT-STs and AT-MPs (a new addition in the game), and other battle scenarios. They add a little variety to the action, but get old pretty fast. They’re handy for Achievement-hounds, though, as you can pick up a few quite easily.
The first Force Unleashed was such a shock to Star Wars gamers that it almost held the promise of a gaming equivalent of the original trilogy. Though we’d seen most of this before, it hadn’t been done so well and in such a cool way, and the story was actually interesting. But instead of matching ESB’s dark and foreboding middle act, we’re left with AOTC‘s confusing and lackluster filler (not to mention the terrible writing both sequels share).
While you can clearly see the set up for a third act, the finale of TFUII (the Light Side ending - which I’m assuming is the one the canon will follow) is a total “WTF?!?” moment, and not in a good way. More like, “This would never happen in the Star Wars universe.” Again, frustration ensues. And the Dark Side ending simply sucks. No spoilers, but you have been warned.
The Force Unleashed II held so much promise, yet leaves too much to be desired. A short campaign (6 or so hours on Normal), incomprehensible story, and very little in the way of answers (I still don’t know if the Starkiller you play as is a clone or the real thing) combine to leave gamers with a frustrating, unsatisfying piece of eye candy. Much like the prequels.
