Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Game Review

There is a decent variation of gameplay within the levels.  The main gameplay is running around a large interior, encountering and dispatching various enemies.  There are a few “falling” sequences, in which you’re falling down towards a planet and must get through obstacles by using various Force powers, and these parts of the level are pretty fun.  Another part of some of the levels is a rail-type sequence, where you’re on top of a vehicle and must prevent its destruction.  Of course, there are two major Boss battles, which have their own type of gameplay: defeat a part of the boss, progress to the next part, repeat…

One of the big Boss Battles

Even though there are gameplay variations in each level, there are only three different environments.  One of these is on Dagobah, which you really can’t call a level besides the fact there are a few hidden cubes to be found.  You literally walk through the swamp no more than two minutes before you are led to a cutscene with Yoda, which then takes you off the planet and onto the next level.

Look! You’re on Dagobah (for about two minutes)

Gone are the days of stormtroopers wearing anti-lightsaber armor (a major issue I had with FU1), but now there are enemies that require different ways in dealing with them.   Stormtroopers can be easily dispatched with one swipe, but the problem is getting to them, as they are usually behind cover or at the end of many other enemies.  Flying stormtroopers can easily avoid ranged attacks, so you usually just fry them with lightning and let their jetpacks go haywire.  There is another type of “bounty hunter” character which has a special electronic suit that allows them to disappear and move around the room,and they’re too quick to reach even by dashing.  You must short-circuit their suits with Force Lightning and then take them out.

Stealthy power-suit ninja: taste my lightning!

You will encounter two different types of Sith enemies… ones with lightsabers, and those without (who will block all of your force powers, and as such are only succeptible to lightsaber attacks).  Both of these types of Sith can be easily wiped out by using the X+A grapple attack, which plants your lightsaber right in their six-pack.  This is such a powerful combo that you’ll use it all the time, and the scripted animation gets really old really quick.

Interact with the environment: power up fuses and rip open doors

You’ll run into some mini-bosses as well, usually in the form of droids, AT-STs and other mechanical beasties.  The strategies differ for each type, but becomes tiresome after a few of the same encounters.  After a mini-boss is weakened then you can employ a finishing move by running up to it and pressing the “A” button.  The finishing moves are scripted sequences that require timed key presses, and there is absolutely no variation in the animation.  It would have been nice if Lucasarts had several different badass moves to break things up a bit, but as it stands, you’ll only be impressed the first few times they’re pulled off.