A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.....

Star Wars fans haven't really had that much to shout about with this generation of consoles. Lego games aside, all we've really had is the terrible spin-off of the Clone Wars animated series last year and, back in 2008, the game whose sequel we're here to talk about....The Force Unleashed.

The Force Unleashed introduced us to a largely unexplored part of the Star Wars saga. Here we took in the foundation of the Rebel Alliance and the events that took place between Episodes III and IV. We also got to know Darth Vader's secret apprentice....or Starkiller to his friends.

While the story was engrossing and felt appropriately epic and in keeping with the transitional tone between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the game itself was deeply flawed. Plagued by glitches and repetetive gameplay, there are moments in The Force Unleashed where the game is totally broken. Whole levels disappear and you're left exploring an bland expansive wasteland, or all of a sudden you'll find yourself falling for eternity. Most people overlooked this as the story itself was extremely rewarding.

So here we are two years later and the sequel is upon us.



Starkiller returns (or does he?) to wreak more havoc on the Empire and pretty much anyone and anything else who happens to get in the way.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is just more of the same. Sadly this time the story is nowhere near as engaging as it is reduced to little more than Starkiller searching for the woman he loves. Yes. Basically the plot is little more than a retread of Super Mario Bros. Starkiller is Mario and Juno is the princess. Guess that means Darth Vader is Bowser. The disappointing story pretty much removes everything the first game had going for it. It doesn't engage. It doesn't have the same epic feeling of the original.

The gameplay hasn't improved either. It's the same button mashing hack and slash gameplay. Kill a few Stormtroopers, a door opens, move to the next area, rinse and repeat. Occasionally this is broken up with a boss fight, which once you work out what to do are a pushover. The addition of a second lightsaber is little more than cosmetic and makes no difference to the game at all. You can still upgrade your attacks and your force powers, but again this makes little to no difference.

Speaking of force powers, there is one new addition in this area. The jedi mind-trick. This supposedly causes enemies to either leap to their doom or fight each other. Supposedly. It very rarely works.

The game is also woefully short. A run through on either of the lower difficulties will take you at worst about 4 hours and ends rather abruptly. Just as the game starts to redeem itself and you begin to actually like it, you're riding an elevator to the final boss fight. The developers do try to add some replay value by unlocking a harder difficulty after one playthrough and a few skill challenges to unlock as you play, but there is no real incentive to replay this game straight away.



The Force Unleashed II is however a very nice looking game. The setting looks like star Wars as we visit places like Kamino and Dagobah (with an extremely brief cameo from a certain little green Jedi) which should all be familiar to those who have seen the movies. The levels look massive, play relatively smoothly and do not suffer the same glitches that almost killed the original. The sound design is also top notch with musical cues from the movies dotted throughout and the familiar sounds of spaceships, lightsabers and blasters all adding to the slightly lacking Star Wars atmosphere.

Overall, what could have been a classic ends up as a massive disappointment. None of the criticism levelled at the last game appears to be taken on board. Yes the glitches have gone, but just as everything starts to come together it's all over. The Force Unleashed II doesn't feel like a sequel and more like an expansion pack. Something which is happening more and more.

5/10