Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II There's something magical about Star Wars, but it's not what you might think. It's not the simple yarn of good versus evil spun against a backdrop of galactic war. Nor is it the juxtaposition of blasters and hyperspace with, to quote Han Solo, “hokey religions and ancient weapons". Star Wars: Force Unleashed II Careful not …
I don't care if the sequel is more of the same, the original was superb for any Star Wars fan. These games may not have the style or panache of top tier console titles but spending a few hours slicing up enemies with a lightsabre on the Wii is pure joy. Maybe the Wii has the edge due to the controls but all the same, there's nothing in this review that a) makes it sound as bad a 45% and B) makes it sound like it would be anything less than as much fun as the original.
I spent so much time looking forward to this...but once again game developers/producers have succumbed to the ever-extending trend towards 'the sequel should be, like, more of the same, but, like, y'know, more ACCESSIBLE'.
Unfortunately 'accessible' is just a code-word for shorter, prettier, dumber, less story and repetitive MMO-tedium gameplay.
I was bitterly disappointed with the game, expecting that by the end of my first session I'd be finishing Chapter 1 or 2 of an awesome story, and that what I had played was just the warmup and practice for an in-depth action mystery....then the game ended.
5 hours.....5 MEASELY tedious hours fighting the same sets of enemies in different configurations and numbers. Where was the VARIETY...where was ANYTHING? The characters are just weak, Starkiller just spends all his time sounding p*ssed off and Koda is just a windy tossbag with an attitude problem.
Weirdly enough, I think I'd like to see the return of X-Wing and Tie Fighter, but with proper missions and some real story.
Most reviews are saying 5-6 hours and they often mention that there's not much disparity of location styles nor enemies. I highly suspect that the DLC will be along soon, which serves to add in the levels and the longevity that the game ought to have had in the first place. I bet most games these days have their DLC levels developed pretty much alongside the main game and they plan which levels to include and which to hold back from the outset. There's no way I'm paying full price for this. I'll wait until I can get the game and the DLC for £40.
Agreed, why buy it at all though? They are clearly playing you for a sucker.
If a game is full price then I bloody well expect it to last and contain the veriaty and richness that a £40 price tag indicates.
Publishers like EA are still experimenting with DLC, if you don't buy it, they will stop with the bullshit....eventually.
They would like to release half a game for £40 and then charge everyone again for DLC which should have been in the initial release.
I follow two simple rules when buying games.
1, Don't buy games until you have played a demo that lasts more than 5 mins.
2, Don't buy games that have DLC soon after release because you can bet the core game will be lacking.
If you don't buy it, it doesnt matter how ruthessly perfect their business model is.
started playing tie fighter again on the pc. the grpahics are really dated , but by christ is the gameplay fantastic. even 15 years later it still feels like actually being a tiefighter pilot, and the sense of satisfaction from killing the rebel scum is still there. i can only dream of the way it would look if it was remade. id even take a graphic overhall, and release as a psn/xbl title.
that or remake almost any of the dark forces series.
Fabulous game - nothing like being in a one-hit-wonder for concentrating the mind.
Those Y-Wings were fairly easy, X-Wings not so, and when you fell afoul of the Imperial Secret Service TIE Interceptors it really had you sweating. I became rather good at the game; nearly called it a sim then; I would gather an audience of family and friends who complained I was cheating by using the force when I would spiral madly about the screen and perform single shot kills on opponents who were not even on screen when I hit the fire button but would swing into the sights just as the blaster bolt reached the right distance.
I may have to hunt the disk out now...
another fact is that us pc gamers have had amazing titles in the past that were designed by gamers, but now they are all being dumb downed for the kids console market and they have to meet their shareholders expectations so titles are rushed, thus depth & story suffers, its a sad decade for gamers as corporations now churn out their cruddy titles by the bucket load.
"now they are all being dumb downed for the kids console market and they have to meet their shareholders expectations so titles are rushed"
I believe the culmination of this line of business resulted in E.T. for the Atari 2600 back in the 80's. The console market died a quick death, not to be resurrected for about a decade.
Finished it in 5 hours (on normal), and I'm not what you would call a hardcore gamer at all. The story was very "meh" compared to the first, and nothing compared to epics like KOTOR. The levelling system was simplified beyond belief (upgrade force powers only, combos are available from the off), and combat was nothing more than button-mashing, leaving no need for tactics, even when swamped with a dozen or more enemy "elite" with force powers of their own. Boss battles were "do this, repeat twice, battle over".
At the end (Light side), there was an obvious "cliffhanger", which made me say "meh, whatever" (won't spoil it for anyone who wants to play) with leads to a 3rd in the series.
NPCs were irritating, especially Kota and Vader. Starkiller was even more so, just repeating "I have to find Juno!!!!" over and over until you wanted to get yourself killed just to shut him up.
This could have been amazing, and there are improvements, such as lightsabres cutting enemies, rather than being a glowy-stick battering them to death. But overall, I was disappointed.
There is one usually forgotten title in the Star Wars game franchise which have killed almost as much of my commute journey time 10 years back as Civ. It is "Rebellion".
It is very reasonable RTS with two player mode and some very cool ideas. In fact probably one of the very few RTSes to provide a space combat universe that both makes some sense and poses some strategy challenges instead of the usual endless farming.
It also proves your observation that in Star Wars games land for every high there is a BIG low. The sequel to it adds a horrendous land combat mode which makes it a complete disaster.
@SKiNFreak: Actually, TFE1 was horrible on the Wii. Levels were cut down from the PS3 version. Physics was simplified.
Here is a decent review of TFE1 on the Wii (spoiler: it's bad):
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/251-Star-Wars-The-Force-Unleashed
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