Play this only if you wish to find out what happens in the story. Other than that, avoid this game.
SPOILER ALERT
The game lead Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice, Galen Marek, on a hunt to exterminate the last of the remaining Jedi. The time frame was in between Episodes 3 and 4. Vader finds a young boy, strong in the Force, on a mission to kill a remnant Jedi. Vader took it upon himself to "train" this young boy. What he infact did was create a monster of the Dark Side. He spent years torturing and abusing this child, like a slave, until the Dark Side perverted him and his abilities. Through his journeys, and after a few plot twists, he himself filled turmoil, love, and hate, eventually leading to a light side/ dark side choice (the light side choice ended up being the "cannon ending"). Malek sacrifices himself to save the leaders of the newly formed Alliance from the hands of Vader and the Emperor.
Unfortunately, the sequel was supposed to be "more the same, but much better", and did not deliver. What they did was take one step forward, and two back. They addressed many of the issues present by gamers from the prequel, however, they watered down almost everything else.
The sequel finds Vader flying his famous Advanced TIE fighter to Kamino, the cloning world. There, he is escorted to a cell (cage rather) where it appears Malek is still alive… Or so it seems. Vader explains to him that he is merely a clone, nothing more. Malek is tormented with images and flashbacks of his "former" life. and that of his love interest Juno Eclipse. The Dark Lord reminds him he is only a clone, and that he must prove himself useful for his next mission: to kill Ram Kohta, his forma Jedi mentor from the prequel. Not sure if he is up for it. Vader then tests the apprentices loyalty by pitting him against training droids that holographically project the appearances of Juno and some Rebel troopers. However, Malek cannot manage to kill Juno, and so Vader decides he is useless to him. The Galen then fights back and manages to escape the planet on a search to find Kohta and try to understand who or what he is.
Review:
Story 4
While the first one marked a first in Star Wars history (being considered story cannon, brought to you by George Lucas himself), the second one seemed like someone had to write something really, really fast without planning. While the whole "Am I a clone or not?" thing seemed to fit well, the true nature of that story was NEVER addressed in game. The games basic mission became find Juno, and kill everything in your way until then. Not even the extremely brief cameos by Yoda and Boba Fett can make the storyline any better. Now, I expected them to play with the idea of the possibility of Galen NOT being a clone, though the only person to even bring up the idea was Kohta, and even at the end, he isn't even sure. The storyline ends in a nasty cliffhanger that screams "We tried to do an 'Empire Strikes Back' but failed". It is so bad, that there is absolutely NO WAY they can stop here. The "not cannon" dark side ending didn't make the game any cooler either; it was basically a spit in the face.
Grahpics: 6
While both DMM and Euphoria are still in effect, be prepared to be left in dismay. Where you used to interact with trees, boulders, beautiful plant life, glass, and metal; you are now left with a total of 3 different REAL locations. You go from Kamino, which is a water-filled planet with sophisticated buildings and such, to Cato Neimoida, which played out as a casino world, and then into the interior of a Republic medical frigate. Dagobah is present, but only as a buffer world; there are NO enemies there. Not only are the locations non-exquisite, unlike the first one, but the enemies themselves look horrible. When they are at a distance, they almost look as if they were dragged out of the N64. I will admit, the game runs smoother (when it doesn't crash) than the first one, but that is only because there is less rich quality compared to its predecessor. The only reason I don't rate the graphics lower is simply because the cinematics were AMAZING (even though there were only about 6). The fluidity of the facial expressions, the shadowing, even the particle effects were sheer perfect. I think they were better off making this into a DLC cinematic experience.
Gameplay 4
Three hours. That's how long it takes to beat the game. That alone merits a much lower rating, especially with the time it took to develop the game. Now, I know what you're thinking: short, but full of quality. Sorry, not true. There is absolutely no replayability in this game. Let us start off from what we remember from TFU1. The first one had these lush environments full of peril and objects to chuck at enemies. These places are replaced with cargo bays and crates. That is the basic make up of the levels (which there are actually about only REAL 7 of those too). No more cutting down trees, blowing through spaceship windows, or crumbling buildings. The levels are nowhere near as interactive as they used to be. The enemies aren't that much better either. The enemy type count in TFU was about 20, while the sequel came in at about 6-8, and they were mainly composed of Stormtroopers and droids. The addition of a second lightsaber, while cool looking, doesn't make it any more fun. The Force powers fail in comparison to the powers in the prequel. Only in Fury mode do you truly feel unleashed, and even then, it only lasts 20 secs or less. The targeting system was a mess in the prequel, and barely becomes better in the sequel. Instead of a small dot on the target, the target itself is highlighted in light blue. But still, most of the time you are gripping the wrong targets or tossing in the wrong direction. A grappling move was added to the game, and although it spices things up from time to time, it feels cheapened when some of the enemies can practically ONLY be taken down with it. Boss fights are even more pathetic. Out of the 3 TRUE boss fights, the Gormok was the only impressive one, simply because of that things sheer size. The final fight with Vader was depressing, to say the least. Did I mention I beat it in 3 hours?
Sound 9
I cant complain with the sound. Star Wars music and sound has NEVER failed. The musical score captured the atmosphere very well, even though the scenes themselves were pathetic. There didn't seem to be any sound issues either.
Overall 5.7
Honestly, I would love to give this a lower rating than what I did, just on principle. The game was terrible. I am a devote, hardcore Star Wars fan. I go for everything that has Star Wars written on it. This to me was a complete disappointment. I really don't know what these people were thinking when they thought to themselves that this game is done. I feel robbed. If you have the chance to rent it or Gamefly it, I suggest that. Even if its just to play it and see where the story lands. But trust me, you wont like it.