Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Attack of the Clones
For a games publisher, the ending to the original Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was tantamount to painting yourself into a corner: the silly developers killed off their main character with a grandiose explosion for the game's finale, and it was through him the audience identified with the burgeoning brand. Oops.
The original Force Unleashed went on to shift millions of copies, became the most lucrative Star Wars videogame of all time and reigned in lofty piles of cash unseen since the conclusion of the prequel trilogy. It even managed to scoop an award from the Writers Guild of America for the tidy storyline the developers would now, ironically, have to unpick for the sequel.
But it's okay, you see, as they've found a way to bring Starkiller back to life (right in time for the biannual top-up of George Lucas' money pool) that certainly isn't hackneyed or frustrating at all: the new secret apprentice is a clone of the original secret apprentice, OR IS HE and so forth. Okay, so I lied about it not being hackneyed. But it does the job.
Still, it's hardly uncommon to find a bit of clich in your Star Wars, and it's not like they haven't already set a universe-wide precedent with regards to cloning. The memories of the new Starkiller are all screwy, though, so he's reverted back to his mopey old self in time to smash through a variety of levels with his grumpy and technically impressive physics powers, dutifully provided to the developers by three different middleware solutions.
We find new-Starkiller shackled in a dingy basement by Darth Vader at the start of the game, so it's a safe bet to conclude he's not a secret apprentice anymore. Which is fine: he won't have to spend his days making the odd cup of tea, doing the photocopying and tending to the Berkshire arm of Vader's real estate empire. It's an arrangement that also works for the player, allowing them to get stuck into the meatier chunks of gameplay much sooner.
One of the most pressing problems with the original game is that, for a sizeable chunk of its lengthy duration, making the tea would have probably been more exciting. After a glorious opening level as Darth Vader, where you toyed with stormtroopers like a cat with spiders and enjoyed many fwoosh, vroom and craaaack noises, the game then took all your lovely powers away and forced you to trudge around for hours and hours to get them all back. Being an apprentice totally sucks.
That doesn't seem like it's a problem with the sequel, as Starkiller promptly escapes from his murky confines and lays waste to the entire facility with a mixture of tried-and-tested force powers and some impressive lightsaber skills. Plenty of development time has clearly been spent on advancing the combat, and all the extra attention seems to have paid dividends.
It's a good sign. Starkiller seems to have a bit more spring in his step, greater access to the kind of arsenal the players want - including the ability to wield dual lightsabers - and a game engine that's far more accommodating to the experience by way of a silky-smooth framerate. I might not be the most ardent Star Wars fan in the galaxy, but even I can get behind that.
The renewed focus on the action is also complimented by a new, and more pragmatic, approach to enemy design, the focus now being on pitting you against a variety of interesting foes instead of endless waves of dull cannon fodder and the odd boss. It's quality over quantity; while there might be less happening on the screen, there will certainly be more for you to think about if you're looking to scrape through each encounter. We're shown a droid who fires out gusts of carbonite as an example, and he looks like he could be a royal pain to deal with if he's ever able to get the drop on you.
Devout Star Wars fans aren't being left out of the equation, though, and will probably dribble with glee when they find out Vader's prison is located on the waterworld of Kamino. The rest of us will be able to appreciate how the grimy aesthetic helps demonstrate the game's grittier tone - the example used by LucasArts is that this is the Empire Strikes Back of the Force Unleashed universe. Which means, if all goes to plan, the start of the third game will have you teaming up with a pack of feisty Ewoks.
Kamino is just the beginning. The full game promises, as you might expect, a whistle-stop tour of notable Star Wars landmarks. My money is on, at the very least, a verdant forest with high trees, the inside of a volcano and what looks like a small moon.
A sequel was always inevitable, but LucasArts seems to be approaching the title with respect and the determination to succeed. Marketing the original as the gap between the two trilogies might have been a bit hokey, but now their focus seems to be resting squarely on the game itself. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was a bit of a surprise hit, but The Force Unleashed II looks like it could be a calculated classic.
