I recently finished Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I and II and thought it was time to give them a proper Cheerful Ghost review. The second game is a sequel to the first However, the first game isn’t very great, especially compared to the second. I wouldn’t say it’s horrible, but one thing I absolutely hated was that it uses quick time events. These were often buttons you had to press at a certain time to do a certain finishing move. The second game has these, too, but does a much better job by having fewer of them and making them not as seemingly random. They weren’t as annoying in the second game as the first, though I still don’t like this game mechanic.

I was able to play both games via Steam on Windows 10 and with an Xbox One controller. I didn’t have to do any special configuration, though the second game included some graphical detail options, which weren’t automatically set to the highest, so I set them that way. It didn’t seem to have a 1920x1200 resolution, but 1600xsomething instead, which I don’t think was really noticeable anyway. In the second game, subtitles were automatically turned on and I turned them off.

You’ll start out in the first game as Darth Vader death marching your way through a Wookie village. One could say that Vader (and Anakin Skywalker) is the most iconic character in all of Star Wars, so it’s fun getting to play as him. It was also great to see him in the game, hear him, and watch him act. He was presented very well in both games. Eventually, you’ll change to controlling a character who is Vader’s apprentice. I didn’t know he had one. He said he wanted you to help him overthrow the Emperor. He’s helping you complete your training by sending you on some missions, which will have you fighting some Jedi. There aren’t a lot of characters here, there’s a droid which is used as a communication device to speak to Vader. He’s also funny in that his goal is to try to kill you and he keeps apologizing for failing. You also have a female pilot, which you needed after Vader killed your previous pilots.

This is an action game, you’ll be attacking enemies using Force powers such as Force Lighting, Force Grip, and more. When you get to the tutorial part in the beginning, I recommend getting comfortable and familiar with the controls before moving on, it can feel a little difficult to get used to. The second game doesn’t have a tutorial in the same way, but it will tell you things you can do, while you play, when they become available or relevant. As you progress in the game, more abilities will unlock. You’ll also earn points, which are used to increase your rank of each ability. Higher ranked abilities are more powerful than lower ones, so you’ll want to manage those points. There are Jedi and Sith Holocrons hidden throughout the first game. The Jedi Holocrons unlock special things like a Lightsaber Crystal, costume, or some other special extra. Sith Holocrons give you a temporary ability such as invincibility or health restoration, for example. This is different in the second game as there are four different kinds of Holocrons each with a different color and each will give different things, such as permanent health increase.

Lightsaber Crystals can be changed, in game in a menu. You may find these hidden throughout the games. They not only change the color of your lightsaber(s), but also have their own abilities, such as stronger lightsaber attacks.

There are “extras” in each game you can unlock, though I’m not sure exactly how to unlock everything as I didn’t look for a guide for that. I do know that you unlock cinematics when you see them as you progress in the games. However, I noticed that the second game still had some that I hadn’t unlocked. You can also unlock costumes and databank entries, which will tell you about something in the Star Wars universe. These entries are rather lengthy, at least in the first game, I didn’t look at them in the second game.

Over the course of the game, you’ll run into familiar Star Wars characters and locations. You’ll notice that almost none of the characters sound the way you’re used to, though Vader’s voice was done very well. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the voice of one character other than Vader. His is the voice of the clones in The Clone Wars, the same voice actor. It's fitting, in my opinion, that this is that character's voice. The one problem I had with the locations in the first game is that you go back to them a second time. There are a few different difficulty levels and I played on easy. I noticed the “unleashed” difficulty unlocked in the second game after I completed it. The first game had some instances of confusion, where it was difficult to know what to do or how exactly to do it. There’s one in particular that seems like it will take forever and does seem difficult to get right. The second game wasn’t like that.

So, if you’re interested in playing a Star Wars game and seeing a story about Vader with an apprentice, check out The Force Unleashed and it’s sequel. The second is definitely an improvement over the first.

I'd also like to point out that both games are short. Steam says I've spent 8 hours on the first, even though I restarted at least once, and 4 on the second. Higher difficulty would probably change these numbers. Also, really hunting down those Holocrons and such would certainly add some time, though I didn't do that.

This is funny, you should check it out, Honest Game Trailers for The Force Awakens: https://youtu.be/0ATGmaVwrIw