By Juan Aguilar / Inscape Editor
By Juan Aguilar / Inscape Editor
A game that was supposed to be the continuation of one of the greatest “Star Wars ” games ever made, fell just short of mediocre.
Starkiller, who was the secret apprentice of Darth Vader, comes back again as the rebellious puppet of his evil master in “The Force Unleashed II.”
After being stabbed and killed by Vader’s light saber in the first game, Starkiller is revived in the form of a clone, or so Darth Vader says.
The “clone” of Starkiller was experiencing memories of his supposed predecessor and a loved one, Juno Eclipse, making him question everything about himself.
Of course, the heartless Darth Vader made him repress those memories because he was created to destroy what the original Starkiller created, which was the Rebel Alliance.
The poor clone couldn’t do it and being at Vader’s disposal, he better hope he breaks away because Vader is more than willing to kill him again.
Perhaps the clone of Starkiller indeed, he stunned Darth Vader with his force lightning, blasted the wall open with a force push and jumped to freefall down the Kamino tower, giving way to the beginning of the clone’s short journey.
Now, let’s begin by referring to the clone as Starkiller to avoid any further confusion.
Starkiller seeks to discover the truths leading up to his existence as his memories provide him with vivid images of a past that might not be his own.
Because this is the sequel, it’s only natural for the game developers to improve the movement and abilities of the main character. They did this, and they did it brilliantly.
The movements of Starkiller were much more fluid and easier to control, making him the most versatile Jedi of the entire “Star Wars” franchise.
And because one light saber wasn’t enough, two definitely did the trick.
Giving Starkiller two light sabers to slice and dice through the squadron of stormtroopers couldn’t look any more awesome as he combines saber skills with force powers to obliterate anyone in his way.
His arsenal of force powers are basically the same as the first game, but with the addition of Jedi Mind Trick which came in handy from time to time, and it made for some interesting and rather funny suicide attempts from the stormtroopers.
One of the coolest perks of having the force, especially for this game, is having the ability to lift multiple objects and electrocute them with lightning to throw them at enemies for the ultimate crushing.
This was much easier to use and control as opposed to the first game.
The game developers also wanted to emphasize on the importance of each force power, as sets of enemies with high caliber abilities weren’t vulnerable to the same force power.
As the game progresses, Starkiller encounters enemies that are more powerful than the average stormtrooper, allowing the player to use strategy and technique to get rid of them.
For example, some enemies can only be made weak by being electrocuted and others can deflect any force power and are good for an intense light saber match up.
The bigger enemies, such as the AT-ST and the AT-MP, required a little more time and concentration to defeat them because they could do some serious damage.
Once a significant amount of damage has been done to those big robots, the player can choose to finish it off with a cinematic button-command mode, which show Starkiller doing some insanely acrobatic moves and using the robots’ own weapon against itself.
There were times when Starkiller would be up against a horde of enemies. In that situation, the game developers provided options.
The player could use Starkiller’s surroundings as destructive weapons, or use stormtroopers as lightning grenades to clear a group of other enemies, or even charge his force repulse to send a shocking wave that will disintegrate all surrounding enemies into dust.
And to heighten the intensity, the player can choose to unleash the games new feature, Force Fury, which needless to say, is the most destructive and colossal way to wipe out a multitude of enemies.
Unfortunately, perhaps before most people knew it, the game was over.
After dealing with all that amazing game play and movie-like in-game cinematics that were nothing short of perfect, the story that accompanied the coolest and most beautiful looking game ever was far too weak.
It felt like there was a lot missing, such as the progress of the Rebel Alliance or the dark relationship between Darth Vader and Starkiller.
It’s basically just about Starkiller trying to save his girlfriend, and even that journey alone wasn’t as good as it could’ve been.
Even though the game play was most intriguing throughout the game, it began to get repetitive.
The button-command modes were often the same and got boring the third time around.
Even the boss battles were extremely repetitive and rather easy, and there were only three throughout the entire game.
Even after all the cool stuff that Starkiller could do in “The Force Unleashed II,” it seems the game developers lacked the enthusiasm to make it better and longer.
Overall, this game failed to meet expectations. Lazy storytelling and game development resulted in “The Force Unleashed II” being perhaps the biggest disappointed in “Star Wars” history.
