Gaming on the Cheap – Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2

Recently, GameStop held a sale on pre-owned games and I picked up a few titles I missed out on during the last console generation. And with that comes the next installment of “Gaming on the Cheap” featuring “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2.”

Released in 2010, Force Unleashed 2, players again take control of Starkiller, Darth Vader’s secret apprentice in events leading up to the original Star Wars trilogy. A third person action/adventure game, Force Unleashed 2 expands on the story of Starkiller, revealing early  in the game that this Starkiller is actually a clone of the original game’s protagonist.

I played the first Force Unleashed game briefly and when I booted up the sequel, I immediately noticed that the visuals of this second title are light years better than the original. The character design and lighting add lots of depth and visual flair to the action. The sound design is pitch-perfect Star Wars as well. Starkiller’s Force powers are also incredibly powerful and the game’s engine is capable of some really fun destruction in the environments. But all the areas of the game’s engine have been upgraded, making Starkiller’s lightsaber combos look devastating and watching Stormtroopers get flung about like ragdolls never gets old.

Force Unleashed 2 plays really well too. Character movement is smooth and transitioning between fighting numerous enemies is very fluid – though the in-game lock-on feature doesn’t work very well. Starkiller has tons of Force powers to take advantage of and it’s great that he isn’t forced to relearn all his powers as the game progresses – you can Force grip a TIE fighter out of the sky pretty much from the get-go. While there are only a handful of different enemy types, each require a different strategy to defeat. There are also some cool boss fights along the way but none really stand out.

While Force Unleashed 2 is a fun beat-em-up, it’s very short and the overall story is typical Star Wars fodder. The story of Starkiller’s clone turning on Vader and returning to his former allies pretty boring and would’ve been much cooler if it focused more on Starkiller’s internal drama of whether or not he was actually a clone (Vader tells him he’s a clone, but General Kota doesn’t believe it). The voice acting also is nothing special. Starkiller isn’t bad but General Kota will get on your nerves quickly.

Overall, Force Unleashed 2 is a fun game to pass the time – especially if you’re a Star Wars fan. There are a few big boss battles and fun set pieces but there isn’t anything that really makes it stand out. Since this game came out several years ago, you should be able to pick up it pretty cheap from most anywhere. But with little on the horizon in terms of next gen games, now is a great time to catch up on older games, like Force Unleashed 2.