Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Game Review

As mentioned previously, The Force Unleashed 2 has a lot of improvements over its predacessor.  The controls are greatly improved, and the storyline is compelling, but perhaps not as much as the original game.  The Achilles Heel of this game is that it is painfully short… as in you can finish it in 5 hours short.  I thought the gamplay of the original FU was short at about 12 hours, but this is absolutely ridiculous for a full-priced game.

The PSP version of the original Force Unleashed was the only version of the game that received even acceptable reviews, and LucasArts abandoned the PSP version of its sequel right before launch.  Many game-industry analysts speculate that this is due to Sony’s outspoken condemnation of piracy on their handheld platform. Apparently Lucasarts is giving a big ol’ “Eff You, Too” to FU2 on the PSP.  The weirdest thing about this maneuver is that PC games are more notorious for piracy than the PSP.

These Terror Droids get real annoying real quick

The reason I mention the PSP version in this PC review is to illustrate a point.  Studios like to blame poor sales numbers on piracy, but a large part of these financial woes could be that people don’t want to spend $50 for a five-hour experience.  How can a studio expect to make money when every single review of their game advises consumers to just rent it.  No studio can make huge sales numbers when the only copies sold are to GameFly.

PC users may be out of luck when it comes to renting games, but you can easily purchase it from Steam.  Steam is very good about discounting their PC games, so I would definitely wait a few weeks when the price drops.  Eight levels of fun (I refuse to acknowledge the Dagobah scene as a “level”) could be worth $25 or so, but a full-price game should come with a full-price experience.

I really disagreed with many reviewers’ ratings of the original Force Unleashed, as I thought it was a highly underrated, and the price was discounted greatly after about a month.  The Force Unleashed 2 is just as fun (if not moreso) than the original, but my main harping point is its extreme brevity, which greatly impacts the story.   Most gamers won’t be able to get beyond the low price-per-entertainment ratio.

	REPORT CARD : Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 (PC) category rating comments Originality 4 The first FU was groundbreaking for a Star Wars game, and a few improvements have been made. Longevity 1 A five-hour game in three (ok, really two) environments?  We’re talking rental here. Graphics 5 Very good graphics that can benefit from the latest graphics cards.  Major eye candy. Sound 4 By now, Star Wars sounds are canned, but the engineering is very good and positional audio is great.  Sound starts to stutter if your PC can’t handle the load. Fun Factor 3 The improved controls make controlling your Force-enabled character a blast, but it’s way too short, and not really worth a replay. FINAL VERDICT: 3 out of 5 stars