E3 2010: Preview of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Hidden behind closed doors, LucasArts had a brand new trailer and featured playable goodness for its highly anticipated action adventure title Star Wars The Force Unleashed II (SWTFU2). This sequel is being developed for both the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii and is scheduled for an October 2010 release. Select individuals were invited to see a demo of the early development of this forthcoming title headed by a narrator and controlled by a mysterious person in the back of the dark room.

While the trailer could be seen easily streaming all day on a huge screen planted in the middle of the convention hall of E3 2010, a running demo of the actual game was what really made my mouth water.

The movie below is the first part of the 20 minute sneak peak that sets the tone and general plot of the game, reintroducing the clone of Starkiller (a.k.a. Galen Marek), Darth Vader’s secret apprentice from the first game. The video goes on to show Starkiller surrounded by a group of Stormtroopers who have just been ordered by Vader to dispose of our main character as he’s no longer useful to the Dark Side. Predictably, once Vader leaves the room, Starkiller employs the power of the force to instead escape from his confines and make his way to the exterior of the structure. It’s definitely exciting and introduces the protagonist’s ability to both wield dual lightsabers as well as dispose of hulking artillery robots by crunching them in defenseless balls of steel.

After watching that, some people might feel as if they’ve seen our reluctant hero’s face somewhere before. SWTFU2‘s main character features the likeness and voice talent of Sam Witwer, an actor most recently recognizable for his role in the currently airing TV series Smallville as Davis Bloome.

LucasArts unfortunately didn’t allow anyone except their professional technician man the reigns of the playable demo. This portion of the game takes off right where the video stops. Our protagonist is forced to make his way through the winding ways in the rain while fending off Stormtroopers and armed robots alike. However, it seems like such an easy task what with the assistance of his ability to wield dual lightsabers which makes minced meat of his adversaries in mere seconds. That’s all cool and gravy, but what’s a Star Wars game without a little help from The Force.

After displaying the ease of battle with the lightsabers, the LucasArts player quickly ran down a list of Force abilities. In the demo, it was shown that the Force could be used to inflict mind numbing attacks that forced Stormtroopers to run over the edge of the pathway to their death or even start shooting their weapons at each other. Of course the infamous choke hold was shown intact and and poor enemy caught in its grasp was then flung away like a rag doll to his demise. What was especially interesting and exciting was the fact that you could use your powers to actually re-enact a part of the video from earlier – where our protagonist first elevates an attacking robot and then crunches it into scrap iron. These were just the tip of the iceberg as it was explained that as players progress through the full version of the game, more force abilities were promised to be uncovered. Unfortunately, no gauges whatsoever were present in the demo, so it was hard to determine exactly how often a player would be able to use Force abilities.

The pacing of the game is broken up between fighting enemies as well as using your telekinetic abilities to help you overcome platform-like obstacles, such as bounding lengths to reach areas cascading crates out of your way to uncover continuing paths.

With such a short and exhilarating taste of what SWTFU2 has to offer, LucasArts really knows how to make the masses salivate uncontrollably.

Site [Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II]