Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

I know the story to this game is hot garbage, so much so you'd think it was something Disney came up with until you realise it was released before the company bought Lucas films and forever ruined the Ip with the sequel trilogy and whatever is meant to pass for entertainment on Disney+. Thankfully the rest of the game is enjoyable thanks to refining the gameplay of the first game as well as retaining the characters charm from the original.

My other problem is that the main campaign is a tad short as while its story makes the phantom menace look like a new hope, the levels and combat more than make up for this with how well they work off of each other. Enemies are more intelligent this time around and even have some variants that react to your force powers that makes the combat more engaging than before, speaking of there's a ton of new powers for star killer to experiment with in this game that I wish were given more opportunities to exploit as they were a ton of fun to use during gameplay. There's also an additional mode where you can complete minigames similar to the first game except they are separate from the main campaign. I guess I should go more into the story as it's at least hilariously awful, it sees our hero be revived by Darth Vader (who says Disney began the trend of not letting characters stay dead in this universe?) As a clone on kamino (I guess sometimes before the base was destroyed) only to escape and reconnect with his pilot from the first game as well as complete his alliance with the rebels. Don't even get me started on the bad ending which thankfully isn't cannon otherwise it might very well be worse than the latest season of the Mandalorian or the Ahsoka show.

So yeah, we have an over hated game that's gated pure for its short length and hilariously awful story. Definitely far from the best Star Wars game, however still worth playing provided you don't take the story seriously.

The game opens on Kamino, the cloning facility. Darth Vader is assuring clone Starkiller that his flashbacks are just memories of the real Starkiller. After remembering that he was betrayed by Vader, Starkiller flees and seeks out Juno Eclipse; his former pilot and lover. There's not much depth to this version of Starkiller. He doesn't care about anyone else, and only fights for the Rebels indirectly because he is determined to find Juno.

There was a lot to dislike in the first game. I encountered many bugs, was frustrated with the inconsistent difficulty, the auto-targeting was poor, and elements of the story was silly. In this sequel, only some of these negatives have been addressed.

The first thing to notice is the massive improvement in presentation. The graphics are much sharper and detailed, the cutscenes are better, with a more cinematic approach in general. The animations are improved, and you can chop Stormtooper's appendages off.

The auto-targeting is much better, and the difficulty is more consistent. Starkiller starts off with quite a lot of powers that he had in the first game, with others unlocking as you progress. By defeating enemies, you gain points which can increase the strength of the ability. You no longer level-up; just spend the points when you have accrued the appropriate amount. Starkiller now duel wields lightsabres and has a new ability; Mind Trick which causes enemies to fight for you, or to kill themselves. There's a couple of grapple finishing moves which are useful against most enemies. In fact, it's very overpowered. There's a type of enemy that resists Force powers, and another that resists lightsabres. Both are weak against the unblockable grapple!

There's not a huge variety of enemy types, so you will be fighting the same enemies throughout the game; it just throws different combinations at you. There's a lot of mechs to fight, which you take down by deflecting their projectiles, or Force Grab them and return to sender. They are then concluded with a basic Quick Time Event, and the finishing move is the same every time so soon grows tiresome.

There's a few boss fights which usually last a bit longer than expected. The final boss fight is very easy and is drawn out for an unnecessary length of time.

The map has been removed but now you can tap a button for Force Sense if you do get lost.

There's not many levels within the game, and you find yourself spending a long time in the few featured locales, even returning to some areas. There's a really bizarre trip to Dagobah which just seems like fan-service shoehorned in. You just collect a few Holocrons, see Yoda, watch a cut-scene then you are out of there.

The Holocrons are collectible objects that either increase your Health, Max Force, or give you a lightsaber crystal. These crystals can be switched out in the menu which give you different effects such as extra health/force/experience etc.

Overall, the game manages to be too short and too long at the same time. It only lasts for around 5 hours, but wasn't long enough for the story to develop. However, there's repetition and tedious parts which means the game feels like it drags.