As I mentioned in a previous blog post I received The Force Unleashed II for Wii for Christmas. I want to start by saying I really had a blast playing this game, so much so that I'm actually motivated to 100% the game which I have never done on any past game of mine. Normally when I beat a story line in a game it's rare that I go back to unlock everything. In some cases, like Battle for Naboo, once I beat the game I rarely even go back for a second look. Not so with this game.
This review/opinion post hinges on the belief that you've played the game before, and if not, beware because spoilers can sneak up on you without warning.
When I first started playing this the day after Christmas one of the first things I knew I liked were how easy to learn the motion controls were. They were very intuitive and it was easy to remember all the different combinations of attacks, and it was easy to perform the attacks I wanted when I wanted. Having played the Xbox 360 version and the PSP version, this was a plus, since memorizing lots of little combinations of buttons was easy enough at first, but if I put the game down for a day or two I had to kick my muscle memory back in to gear to remember the combinations I wanted.
One of the things I wasn't too sure about with the game is that it seemed a bit short. It took me about 6 hours to beat the game the first time, then I went back right away to make sure I completed both endings, so that put me closer to 7 hours of game play. Now, since I did that over the course of two days it felt longer but it still was a fairly short game. Especially when comparing that to how long it too me to (almost) beat the first one on my PSP (long story short, my game glytched out on me right before the final battle).
However, just because it was short doesn't meant there's not a lot to complete in the game. After I went back and played about 3 levels with a guide to find out where all the holocrons and crystals were I had gone from 58% completion to about 73% completion with only 9.5 hours of gameplay. I'm hoping that means I'll actually be able to accomplish my goal of 100% game completion!
The only other complaint I had about the game was that Juno's only lines (and really only appearance) were at the end of the game, and only if you choose to keep Vader alive and capture him for the rebellion! Kind of sad. I like Juno a lot. But I'm just glad she survived, even if it was only in one ending.
One other thing... every time I think I have straight which ending is the canon ending and which ending isn't, I think about it some more and want to change my mind. When I first played both endings I thought that the ending where Vader is simply captured must be what they are planning for the canon ending because they can of course simply retcon in the fact that Vader was captured by rebels but escaped. Then I thought about it some more and am now firmly (well, kinda sorta) of the belief that the canon ending is really the ending where Starkiller (or rather, you the player) chooses to kill Vader and then Vader's cloned apprentice shows up to stab you (Starkiller) through the back and Force-push Kota, Juno and some Rebels to their death in the icy waters of Kamino. I'm positive (mostly) that's the canon ending rather than the other one, even though I'd really want to play The Force Unleashed III and not have to worry about how Starkiller survived being killed AGAIN. I mean, is this guy bred with cats to have nine lives? All Force-users die eventually and I'd really rather they didn't stretch the already thin and worn fabric of the Star Wars Universe to figure out ways to bring him back from the dead.
To counter my last complaint about the game, I have one really positive thing to say about it. After you beat it it is very easy to go back and select a certain level to replay in search of missing holocrons or crystals. To me that's a big plus because there were so many levels that I did not find all the holocrons or crystals, and one level where I didn't find anything at all. But it's easy to figure out which levels those are and go back and kick some stormtrooper butt. Also, you keep all your upgraded Force-powers and any crystals you're currently using in your lightsabers, so it's easy to rack up XP and upgrade Force-powers even more. I've heard that if you upgrade all Force powers you get access to unlimited amount of Force use (your Force power bar doesn't go down) and any hit you do is a fatal hit. I've also heard that if you collect all the holocrons you get invincibility. Have I mentioned my desire to 100% this game? After I do all that I'm going to go back and play on Unleashed difficulty, just for kicks.
So, overall it's a short game, but as I've mentioned there's still a lot to go back and do and reasons why you should go back and play again. If you only have a Wii but are still a big Star Wars fan, don't fret because I stand by the fact that despite the slight difference in graphics between systems, the Wii still has the advantage of motion controls to play the game and they completely make up for any difference in graphics quality. Or, if you've played on 360 or PS3 and have a Wii laying around you hardly use because there aren't many Star Wars games, go buy The Force Unleashed II. There's a really sweet multiplayer mode that's like playing Super Smash Brothers with only Star Wars characters and it's amazing. I give this game high marks because of how much fun I had playing it and how much fun I know I'm going to continue have playing it as I continue to unlock all the different features it has to offer.
No comments:
Post a Comment