By Jim Rossignol on October 27th, 2010 at 9:25 am.
Hmm, this one somehow bypassed my radar entirely. And it’s out now on PC. I guess we’ll try and take a look at it later in the week. Maybe. Anyone so excited about light sabres and stuff that they already have it? Looks like the critical consensus is a bit non-plussed – another below average Star Wars game? It wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world. Hmm. The new trailer (below) might just be the closest I get to this one. We need a proper Jedi Knight game, I think.
27/10/2010 at 09:28 Seniath says:
I rather enjoyed the first, but in the context of “I paid £5 for this during a Steam sale”. I imagine the same may end up holding true for the sequel.
27/10/2010 at 09:36 Hav says:
Indeed so. Also, I seem to be the only one to think that the first one had a HUGE amount of bugs on PC.
27/10/2010 at 12:06 Matthew says:
You’re not the only one Hav. Actually, everyone agrees with you.
27/10/2010 at 14:23 suibhne says:
I don’t agree, actually. If you were lucky or patient enough to wait on playing it till after the patch, STFU on PC was pretty darn stable. I saw one crash in my entire playthrough.
The totally consolized interface was still rubbish, tho.
27/10/2010 at 16:51 Danarchist says:
Wow, the acronym for it is actually stfu….thats epic. So this new one is “STFU too” ?
The game is still glitchy as all hell. Running it on an asus g73 and it still lags constantly if there are more than a couple things on the screen (e.g. constantly). For an action title thats really unforgivable, especially when its the only game on the market that actually makes my rig feel slow.
“Rubish” as you would say
27/10/2010 at 17:19 Count Elmdor says:
That interface was crap even on consoles, not to mention the 10-20 seconds of loading just to go from menu to menu and back to game. The game itself was quick and dirty fun, though.
27/10/2010 at 20:25 frymaster says:
yup, i bought it post-patching and it was fine
very consolised though… plus ten bonus points for letting you redefine the keys, minus several million for not updating the quick-time-event prompts to reflect that (though plus 1 point for actually showing the default keys, unlike prince of persia which showed xbox-style coloured buttons, and plus 1 other point for flashing up a window telling you of this behaviour)
27/10/2010 at 09:44 i liek turtals says:
I remember they were bangin about fixing the faults of the first game and it’s gonna be huge & brilliant but I’ve been reading it’s reviews and everyone’s saying that it’s worse than the 1st one.
As for the bugs, yes, it does that. It did it in consoles then they released the same shit to PC without fixing any of these bugs. After a while though they released a patch for it which was 500mb ish or something. Still, huge for a patch don’t you think?
27/10/2010 at 10:51 JohnnyMaverik says:
Well considering the whole install was 30GB, 500MB sounds just about in keeping with their weird ass size issues, which I believe was something to do with absolutely no compression, coupled with the weird decision to not share assets across levels or something, meaning if you had 100 assets shared across 10 levels, those assets were saved 10 times on your hard drive, once for every level. Not entirely sure about that because TBH I just read it on the off chance on a forum and never cared enough to look into it.
28/10/2010 at 03:07 icupnimpn2 says:
that sounds like something that would be done to get the game playable on a blu-ray disk to minimize load times, but to not share assets on a hard drive install is incredibly poorly done
27/10/2010 at 09:46 mlaskus says:
Well, the first one had it’s moments but was generally underwhelming. Is this any different?
27/10/2010 at 09:50 Harlander says:
They’re confused by it?
28/10/2010 at 02:31 Spectre-7 says:
Blast! I came in to post the same thing.
27/10/2010 at 09:51 Brumisator says:
I’ll stick with my Jedi Knight games, thank you very much.
27/10/2010 at 09:58 oceanclub says:
If you’d told my seven-year-old self in 1977 that one day I would be totally over Star Wars, he would have hit you with his light saber.
P.
27/10/2010 at 14:13 Gorgeras says:
You’re 40 years old. That’s forty years.
That’s as many as four tens
And that’s terrible.
27/10/2010 at 18:48 Paul Moloney says:
You cope by telling yourself that {current birthday} is the new {current birthday} -10. So, 40 is the new 30.
Considering that I spent my birthday weekend away LAN-gaming “Left 4 Dead”/”Day of Defeat” and drinking, there’s is something to be said for idea that men are growing up less quickly these days.
P.
27/10/2010 at 10:08 jon_hill987 says:
Region locked on Steam = No Sale.
27/10/2010 at 10:16 Schadenfreude says:
The first one was barely above average as a game but I enjoyed it well enough mostly because the story & cutscenes made for a much better prequel than any of Episodes 1 – 3 managed.
Don’t see how they’ll be able to repeat that for the sequel the first one was wrapped up so neatly.
27/10/2010 at 10:25 Drexer says:
Let me see if I get this straight. The giant monster punched the ground in front of him and instead of dramatic climbing by his arm so as to reach his weak spot it just became a matter of inflicting damage upon his hand?
And people still wonder why nowadays most triple A games have dissatisfying endings/bossfights. When the concept of adaptability of the player is switched for a tedious grinding of the enemies hit points every single time; it feels horribly disappointing.
Also, gonna wait for a 5€ sale considering the crappy bugs and everything of the PC version of the one before.
27/10/2010 at 17:23 Count Elmdor says:
When the recent Castlevania let you climb the giant’s arm and go for the weak points, people rent their hair and tore their garments saying how it was such an unoriginal ripoff of Shadow of the Colossus. Game development is one big catch-22, it seems.
27/10/2010 at 21:51 FunkyBadger says:
Count: most people, i.e. me, also stated that those bits of Castlevania were fecking awesome.
28/10/2010 at 16:44 televizor says:
@ The Count
I am loving the hell out of this new Castlevania. Too bad it’s a Castlevania game or else it would get the goatee award everywhere.
27/10/2010 at 10:44 i liek turtals says:
It’s God of War with force and lightsaber. If you really need an action game, go play GoW. If you need to see Star Wars go watch it or play Kotor.
27/10/2010 at 10:57 jon_hill987 says:
Or Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, the plot in that one is better than the prequel films.
27/10/2010 at 12:19 Ginger Yellow says:
The plot in Spot Goes To The Zoo is better than in the prequel films.
27/10/2010 at 17:33 DrGonzo says:
If you really want an action game, please don’t go and play God of War, it’s childish pap. Go and play Bayonetta!
29/10/2010 at 10:48 JDK says:
Maybe if they frickin PORTED GOD OF WAR and Red Dead and every other single game that should belong on PC, we would..
27/10/2010 at 10:53 Urael says:
*Sad sigh* I remember when people used to look forward to the release of a new Star Wars game. And I know the exact moment that changed – May 19, 1999 – theatrical release of The Phantom Menace.
Just about everything since has been massively devoid of soul.
27/10/2010 at 11:03 Schadenfreude says:
Maybe Blur Studios will make a few more Old Republic cinematics. They always cheer me up.
27/10/2010 at 17:37 Urael says:
Yes, they’re the only things I’ve seen lately with any glimmer of the old spark in them. That female Jedi force-blocking a lightsaber on her hand was well OTT, though. Much like this here game…
27/10/2010 at 18:04 Urthman says:
What kind of crazy talk is that? Since Phantom Menace we’ve had KOTOR, LEGO Star Wars, Jedi Outcast, and Jedi Academy — fantastic games all — as well as the Episode 1 Podracer which was lots of fun, Star Wars Battlefront 2 also quite fun.
28/10/2010 at 17:20 Bob's Lawn Service says:
I don’t think we can blame the prequel films. I think what you are feeling is just world weariness at the direction gaming has taken over the last 7 or 8 years.
Back in the day only a certain demographic owned PC’s – generally older types who were into IT and their kids. I’d say that games catered to that audience which is why we generally got more complex nuanced games. Now everybody buys their kids a console, the average intelligence and education level of gamers has plummeted. Back in the day endless sequels were frowned upon (Unless you were called Sierra.) and the word “clone” was used to describe games that were overly derivative (Now we have three genres of Clones). Now when a game like Alpha Protocol tries to expand upon a genre the gaming press gang rape it while a game like Mass Effect 2 which dumbs the genre down and strips it of any complexity gets rave reviews.
Sorry, just a little rant
28/10/2010 at 17:27 Bob's Lawn Service says:
It’s as if the whole gaming industry has suddenly become infatuated by Paris Hilton while Natalie Portman is left crying into her pillow on the night of the big ball.
27/10/2010 at 11:04 James Brophy says:
PC
Nothing
PS3
Brutal Legend €10 Excellent!
the Saboteur €10 Lousy and Dark.. I mean muddy dark.
Dead space €10 Good so far. Great sound design fun monsters.
PlayStation Network
Brutal Legend DLC X2 €10
Costume Quest €7.40
Assorted items for PlayStation home. €8
27/10/2010 at 11:56 jon_hill987 says:
Don’t Drink and Tab.
27/10/2010 at 13:40 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
@James Brophy
You made me doubt what page I was on!
27/10/2010 at 11:07 CommanderZx2 says:
If they are selling a PC version of this game I cannot find anyone in the UK selling it.
27/10/2010 at 11:08 Mr_Bacco says:
Well, this looks shit.
27/10/2010 at 11:11 James Brophy says:
mother fucking capacha… google and not reading the top of the page. I’m going to go set myself on fire now
27/10/2010 at 11:37 Gunrun says:
It’s about 5 hours long, 3 if you remove the 3 horrible gruelling bossfights. Avoid it.
27/10/2010 at 11:41 noobnob says:
It looks like they spent a fair amount of money and effort on the cinematics, graphical effects and physics. But it seems they forgot to make a good video game :(
Please do enlighten me, why is this in 4th place on the Steam top 10? WHY?
27/10/2010 at 11:54 Hmm-Hmm. says:
Shiny new Starwars game letting you mess about with the Force and lightsabers.
27/10/2010 at 11:59 Melf_Himself says:
Yes, chop that knuckle! That’ll show them.
Also, Quick Time Event. In the trailer. Boo.
27/10/2010 at 12:17 alm says:
Steam says “This item is currently unavailable in your region”
27/10/2010 at 12:45 tigershuffle says:
like all the recent Star Wars releases and those penned for release…..the cinematic trailers are far the most part outstanding
but the game itself –substandard :( real shame
27/10/2010 at 12:59 The Sombrero Kid says:
gametrailers tore it apart and they’re universally positive + they tried to sneak it out the door, so expect tripe!
27/10/2010 at 13:01 The Sombrero Kid says:
ohh and whats with the f’ing console game ads on this site!? i don’t own a 360 or ps3 & i never will that’s why i read rock paper shotgun! get eurogamer sorted guys!
27/10/2010 at 13:27 malkav11 says:
As far as I’m concerned the console version of the first one was loads of fun, and gorgeous with interesting worlds to zap my way through. I hear the PC version was a bit broken, though. Also, the story was bland, depthless rubbish so I’ll never understand why people insist on praising that end of things – which exists strictly to provide an excuse for why you’ve gone from one level to the next – and not the actual gameplay, which is the main reason to play it. The novelization might possibly do more with it, I wouldn’t know. Never did read it, don’t intend to.
As to whether this one’s any good…well, I couldn’t tell you at the moment – too busy with New Vegas to buy even the most satisfying of hack-n-slashers. But I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.
27/10/2010 at 13:34 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
The force felt more unleashed in the Jedi Knight series than in the Force Unleashed. The force lightning you have in Jedi Academy actually really feels like a strong for power, for example. And when you force push someone in JKA, they actually fly back with more force than in TFU, where they just fall over.
27/10/2010 at 14:29 suibhne says:
Hey, I love the JK games too, but let’s at least be honest about STFU. The Force powers are easily the best reason to play, and Force Push can send enemies flying a hundred feet or more. What you wrote is a bit…hyperbolic, innit.
Some enemies are resistant to certain or all Force powers, but JK2 was the same way.
27/10/2010 at 16:09 Tom says:
Exactly! I felt in the first game that the Force became a bit…kinda mundane. Push push push push push. If you can spam these powers, they’re nothing.
Look at Arkham Asylum. The best bit about that is that Batman has next to no powers, yet I’ve never felt so POWERFUL in a game. Raw power isn’t about the magic, andthe Jedi Knight series. I would love to see a Jedi Knight game in the form of Arkham Asylum, sneaking around avoiding stormtroopers, being oh-so-human but a badass Jedi, having to keep your lightsaber off to avoid alerting guards but then unleashing hell.
TFU feels like more a SNES game with a graphical update.
27/10/2010 at 13:53 Evo says:
Lucasarts aren’t even trying to make good Star Wars games anymore because they know the legions of fans will buy the game anyway. As a fan of Star Wars, the first Force Unleashed was quite enjoyable, but I don’t know how they’ve managed to make the sequel worse. I wasn’t expecting it to be the game of the year, but I was expecting that they would have learned from the mistakes of the first game. They need to scrap this series and bring back the Jedi Knight series with Raven as the developers.
27/10/2010 at 16:18 Tom says:
Half way there
http://kotaku.com/5614577/rumor-lucasarts-cancels-force-unleashed-3-begins-culling-developers
27/10/2010 at 17:42 Urael says:
From the article: “…but looking at the big picture, the silver lining could be that such drastic shake-ups could be exactly what’s needed at a publisher and developer that, courtesy of its licenses and history, should be doing a lot better both commercially and critically than it currently is.”
THAT is the most wonderfully diplomatic piece of writing I’ve seen in a long while. The author deserves a medal for resisting the temptation to swear.
27/10/2010 at 13:54 Adrian says:
Visuals are nice in this one and you can play it with controllers other than x360. Also gameplay is pretty enjoyable (almost exactly the same as in the first one).
what really annoys me is that all buttons in the ingame help text were replaced by numbers. i play with a ps2 controller and if the messages were “push the green xbox controller button” it would allready be hard to figure out which button it is but in this game you only have numbers eg “press button 13!” or “press button 7 and 12 at the same time” o_O. In the menue there is no hint which button on the xbox gamepad is button 3 or 6 or whatever which makes it impossible to do certain stuff!
28/10/2010 at 05:46 Devan says:
@Adrian
I suspect if they’re supporting generic gamepads then there aren’t many options for them to label buttons. If you want to learn which button corresponds to which number, you can go the the gamepad calibration in your Control Panel, and you should be able to see the numbers there.
27/10/2010 at 14:13 Xercies says:
True Story: One of my uni lecturers was the art director for the first one. He’s the coolest guy I have ever met.
As for the game…doesn’t look to great.
As for george Lucas: STOP IT! PLEASE!
27/10/2010 at 14:27 jsdn says:
At least there’s dismemberment. I’m not sure why, but that adds a lot to the fun factor.
But yeah, everything in the trailer looks exceptionally trite and devoid of any life or creativity. So, that’s not very good.
27/10/2010 at 14:32 suibhne says:
Yes, I already have the game, courtesy of a good pre-sale that brought the price down to $20. So far, I’m finding gameplay (noticeably but incrementally) improved over the original, but I haven’t played enough to comment on macro level design or narrative issues which seem to be getting dinged in most reviews.
27/10/2010 at 14:39 suibhne says:
Otoh, maybe this counts as a narrative critique: I really don’t care about the main plot, one jot. Starkiller in STFU was merely an empty vessel for the player to experience semi-interesting cutscenes, view exotic locales, and spam lots of shiny Force powers. Why in hell did they decide to focus on his softer, more emotional side? Bah. The first game’s narrative worked because of other characters, not Starkiller.
27/10/2010 at 16:49 d00d3n says:
It would be unfair for this to get a proper “Wot I Think” when recent goty-ish candidates such as Darksiders have been snubbed. Where is the justice?
27/10/2010 at 16:56 RSH says:
Nice use of nonplussed. Hah. I love RPS and all, but sometimes I get the impression folks that work here have no idea how to write. Just pick a random hooligan off the street and set him in front of a gamin’ PC. Which depresses me. (Because I do. And I’m broke and jobless. Forever.)
27/10/2010 at 18:07 wogzi says:
wait wait wait
was that guy threepwood at the very end
30/10/2010 at 04:38 Jed Eye says:
…. Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate, you mean?
Yes, he makes a cameo appearance in TFU2… and if you smash all three power generators in the room where his statue appears, you unlock his costume and can wear it in the game. Or so I’ve read.
Lucasarts properties, unite!
Now to find and unlock the Indiana Jones costume…