Star Wars : the Force Unleashed II Wii Review

Star Wars : the Force Unleashed II Wii Review.

So the Wii version of TFU2 hasn’t got a lot of attention from the press, so I though I would post my impressions of the Wii version. I've got bot Version of the game and will be comparing them as I go along.

Before we start, let it be known that I though Krome's last TFU game on Wii was the best version.

1. Gameplay

     The first thing you will notice when you boot up the game and play is that motion controlled combat has been removed for the most part. No longer can you swing and have Starkiller swing his saber. While it allows for better combos, in the end the game suffers because of this choice. The game downplays the force and instead has its focus on lightsaber combat.  It seems like RedFly has had some trouble with the number of buttons on the wii-remote, camera controls are mapped to the + and – buttons on the Wii remote. This is a very inconvientant spot and really disrupts combat. On a better note when the camera co-operates hacking and slashing is a blast, enemies disembody and the game makes you feel powerful.

The combos are a lot flashier then the HD version too. Where as in the HD version the usual is attacking then fusing your saber with lightning, starkiller is stationary for the most part. In the Wii version Starkiller is jolting around tossing the sabers and spinning himself into a spiral.  A disappointing lack of a strong physics system really hurts the games force powers, enemies fly in straight directions and there isn't much to pick up and throw. In Krome's TFU an impressive physics engine allowed for almost anything to be picked up and smashed into enemies sending them flying. Here the most you can do is have a storm trooper fall back in a straight line. The game does a terrible job of unleashing the Force

2. Graphics

After the lacking gameplay, you'll be pleased to know that the game looks better then the last one. Characters look a lot cleaner and smoother. While the game wont reach Dead Space Extractions facial animations at least Starkiller's face animates. Lightsabers look better too, and the environments are detailed. The framerate is very inconsistent. From surprisingly smooth to coming to a complete stop at times its very clear, the engine powering TFU2 (which I reported on a while back) just cant handle a group of enemies on screen. At one point while I was on Cateo Nemodia, the game turned into a slideshow for a good 5 seconds. Nothing game braking but it is very distracting.
 One thing this has that the first didn't on Wii, are Pre-Rendered cutscenes, but there is one thing that really is inexcusable. By dumbing down the cutscenes they aren’t giving the cinematic story that the other version have. It comes across as lazy and insulting that Lucas Arts would think that by dumbing down the Pre-renders that they would somehow make the in game look better.

Overall RedFly did a passable job of bringing Star Wars TFU2 to the Wii, but the lack of a strong physics system destroys the great feeling of Krome's last game.

Improvements:

+Looks Better

+Better combos/ battle system

+Prerendered cutscenes (unnecessarily simplified)

Disappointments:

-Terrible physics

-Environments aren't as interactive as 1st game

-Waggle Quicktime events are long and annyoing.

-Button mapping isn't very good