Average
At the beginning, our protagonist Starkiller (originally Darth Vader's secret apprentice) is in an Imperial holding cell, internally tormented by visions of his past. But he should be dead thanks to the events of the first game, and Vader points out that this Starkiller is actually a clone. Confused as hell, Starkiller busts out of his Kamino-based prison and follows his instincts, which inform him that his lady friend -- Rebel leader Juno Eclipse -- is in serious danger. From here, it's a Force-infused hack-'n'-slash adventure that feels disappointingly similar to the first TFU's bog-standard action.
It's a familiar progression: You mow down wave after wave of Stormtroopers, assault droids, and new warrior-class enemies like the Sith Acolytes and Saber Guards. Those new guys, despite their prestige, are easy to kill, thanks to all the Force powers and dual-lightsabers at your disposal. Starkiller's powers can be upgraded, too; he eventually levels up his Force abilities to the point where he can easily dismember enemies with simple saber slashes. Regardless of the samey feel, blowing away a pack of droids with a Force Repulse move can be refreshing in the rest of the drudgery.
But Starkiller's angry quest is generally set against levels that too-often feel cut-and-pasted (but good-looking, nonetheless -- the number of graphical effects and details slathered over every surface of the game makes the game even more striking the first TFU). The repetitive platforming gives way to more and more waves of drones to decimate; a few intense action scenes are scattered here and there, like when Starkiller has to run away from a fighter ship as it blows up the bridge behind him. But by the second half of the game, it's back to clearing out regular enemies.
What's really disappointing (and a bit weird) about TFU2 is that it's so short. Like, shorter than the original. The whole thing is no longer than nine different levels, and that's it. The uninteresting level layouts make the whole game feel a lot longer -- but weirder yet, the boss battles seem to occupy the largest slices of time. Fights against a disgusting giant called the Gorog, a large attack droid, and Vader himself are needlessly dragged-out sequences that go from phase to phase until you finally whittle their health bars down to nothing. Hints on how to beat the bosses are sparse, but that's not a big gripe; learning a boss pattern is Action Games 101. Rather, the real wastes of time appear when you slip off an edge to a bottomless pit, or don't dash away at exactly the right time, or get caught by the attacks of some other minor enemy in the vicinity, inevitably forcing you to restart the whole long process. Granted, if you reach a checkpoint during the encounters (like, say, getting a boss' health down to half), the game puts you right back at that midpoint after dying... but these are still pretty large chunks that make up what is supposed to be one boss fight. Before long, you might end up as angry as Starkiller.
Short games aren't immediately terrible, but even the short ones ought to have something to justify their length as much as the long ones. TFU2 definitely continues the story of Starkiller, but still barely does anything with him. His goals are to rescue and reunite with Juno, find out if he's a clone or not, and maybe kill Darth Vader if he's got time. He only really reaches those goals toward the end, with little that builds to that point. Even if it is neat to catch a glimpse of the singed neck-hole of a freshly decapitated Stormtrooper, all the repetitive slashing and Force Pushing in-between these loose bits of story just wind up feeling extra-empty.
