Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II review (PS3) ★★★

Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
UK Certification 16+ | UK RRP £49.99 | Region PAL | Publisher LucasArts

And so two years after the first entry in the Star Wars video game franchise that is The Force Unleashed, the sequel arrives in the form of... The Force Unleashed II. So it's not the most creative of titles, but then again the game itself isn't the most poignant with the boundaries of its storytelling.

In The Force Unleashed II, you take control of a man who will be a familiar face if you've ever played the original game - but that's not to say he's the real Starkiller, after his apparent demise. No, Darth Vader has manufactured a clone of his former apprentice in order to assassinate the leaders of the Rebel Alliance, firstly General Kota, but his Starkiller copy is haunted by flashbacks and visions of the future that set him on a path to find Captain Juno Eclipse, the object of his affection from the first game. Fleeing Vader, the Jedi clone joins forces with the general as the Rebels task to put an end to the Empire, while 'Starkiller 2' only cares about finding his one true love.

The game is incredibly short and it only takes about five hours to play through the story, and that's on the medium difficulty, which isn't particularly challenging. There are the odd moments where you'll be waging a war of attrition and end up dying multiple times, but you'll quickly find a way around the opposition, such as using the right Force powers to take down specific enemies, and then you'll be ploughing through your foe once more. You begin as a pretty much unstoppable Empire killing machine as you battle through wave after wave of Stormtroopers, huge, rocket-firing robots and the like, and upgrading your Force powers as you rack up the points only makes you that much more of an unstoppable Empire killing machine. You could be in a cramped space surrounded by fifty or so Stormtroopers and wipe them all out in a matter of seconds as you fly around the screen with your lightsabers. Yes, you have two of the sci-fi swords this time.

There are a multitude of improvements over the first game and graphically it's one of the best I've ever played. There are only a few levels, all of which are pretty lengthy in comparison to most games these days, and they're all stunningly expansive. The unique architecture of the Star Wars universe looks nothing short of amazing. Focusing on combat, the Mind Trick Force power has been added which enables you to fool enemies into either throwing themselves off the nearest ledge, or teaming up with you to attack their own allies. It's a clever addition and a lot of fun.

The main menu has a direct link to the PlayStation Store so we can only hope that there will be downloadable content released that expand upon the single player experience, Challenge Maps, costumes and lightsaber crystals aside.

While I did enjoy playing The Force Unleashed II, it really could have been something more. The lack of a strong story is immensely damaging to a Star Wars game and so that is one of its main drawbacks, although the drama of the final battle is really quite something. All the boss battles are nothing short of epic for that matter. Once you breeze through the campaign you unlock the Unleashed difficulty and a number of bonus costumes that allow you to become other characters from the game, only as skins mind you, but all you've got left to do is play ten uninspired Challenge Maps, which have you facing off against the Empire in time trials and various other story-separate missions. In just two days you could quite easily collect all the trophies or complete the achievements, depending on your console, and unlock absolutely everything if you're a 100% fiend, which is exactly the reason why I would recommend The Force Unleashed II as a rental. It has no re-playability, no multiplayer modes, and I see no pros for buying it when you can play it to death for a fiver at Blockbuster.

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is also available on the Xbox 360, Wii and DS, and in a Collector's Edition (below, UK RRP £59.99) which features three exclusive Challenge Mode maps, a concept Starkiller character skin by Ralph McQuarrie, exclusive yellow lightsaber crystal (available via download), and a Starkiller Mimbot 2GB USB flash drive that's pre-loaded with the full game script, five desktop themes for PC and Mac, and an interactive digital art book with producer's commentary.