Give Away Points
Lamar Bland: What's the story for The Force Unleashed II? Does it pick up directly after where the first one ended? Feel free to spoil the first game's ending.
Vince Kudirka: The story for The Force Unleashed II does indeed pick up after the ending of The Force Unleashed. [SPOILERS INCOMING!] In the canon light-side ending of the previous game, after fighting and defeating both Vader and the Emperor, Starkiller must sacrifice himself to save his friends, and therefore the fledgling Rebel Alliance. At the start of The Force Unleashed II, presumably a clone of the deceased Starkiller is being held by Vader. He is still haunted by visions from his former life, and is desperate to reunite with Juno Eclipse. But is he truly a clone, or did he somehow survive his battle with the Emperor? What has happened to Juno, General Kota, and the fate of the Rebel Alliance? You must find the answers to these questions, and discover your true identity in The Force Unleashed II.
LB: From a recent video that has been shown from Gamescom '10, it seems traditional motion controls from the first Force Unleashed have been abandoned. Why? Some people are disappointed with that move, will the previous control scheme still exist?
VK: We didn't completely abandon the previous control scheme, but we did indeed change and improve it for The Force Unleashed II. This was all based on feedback we got from fans of the first game regarding too much constant 'waggling' to execute lightsaber attacks, which we completely agreed with. We kept the Wii Remote arm movements, but you now only use them for big combo attacks. So, in essence, you get the visceral thrill of 'acting out' a lightsaber swipe, but only at special times when you can really do a ton of damage. This, combined with the ability to target objects on the screen with the Wii remote pointer, constitute a huge improvement in controls from the original game.
LB: The games visuals have been extremely updated from the previous game due to Red Fly's Infernal Engine, can you explain some of thevisual/technological updates?
VK: Red Fly was founded and is run by two very experienced and talented artists, Dan Borth and Kris Taylor. On that foundation, they have built a very strong art team who have worked together on several titles in a row, their tech and art pipelines are very good at getting the visuals up and running quick, allowing the artists to have more time to iterate on their work. We chose an art style that bridged realism with a slightly painted look, without making it look cartoony. We felt this style worked really well for the Wii. We also added some Wii-specific graphical improvements to the Infernal Engine during The Force Unleashed II, such as reflections for characters and environments, and screen distortion. This adds a lot of flash and polish to the graphics.
LB: Wii gamers have wanted a 1:1 motion Star Wars game since the Wii was announced, but it has never come. Why did you not use the Wii Motion Plus accessory?
VK: We knew from the outset that The Force Unleashed II was going to be a 3rd person action game with combat and platforming elements, and a lot of the focus was going to be on over-the-top force powers. For the kind of game we wanted to make, we just didn't think that a 1:1 lightsaber centered game with Wiimotion plus support made much sense from a design perspective- especially since we wanted to concentrate our development time on making the Force powers really kick ass (one might even say, 'Unleashed'). We certainly didn't want to tack on Wiimotion Plus support as some kind of "shoehorned-in" gimmick, so we stuck to our core design ideals- a decision that we believe resulted in a great game.
LB: Is the multiplayer mode from the previous Star Wars game making a return? If so, what are some of the new modes and characters we can see?
VK: We have an all-new multiplayer mode this time around: 4-player Brawl-style combat. You can choose from one of eight different characters, all of whom have different powers and abilities. You then battle it out in themed arenas that have different hazards in them that you need to contend with while beating up your buddies. Like a lava-filled outpost on the planet Mustafar, for example. It's a ton of fun; we had a few tournaments over here while we were balancing it during development and had a blast. To me it's a "sleeper hit" feature that I think people are really going to love once they get their hands on it.
LB: What are some of the new features/elements that have been added to the Force Unleashed 2?
VK: We have refined and improved the controls, added a new combo system for lightsaber combat, added to and improved the Force Powers, and added a brand-new multiplayer mode, as I mentioned. The game at its core is a deeper and much more balanced experience overall. We got the chance to really iterate on and polish the combat encounters and boss battles, and add in some puzzle elements that break up gameplay and keep it exciting. Oh...and Starkiller is dual-wielding sabers this time around!
LB: What are some new powers our Secret Apprentice can do?
VK: The new lightsaber combo system enables Starkiller to do some pretty awesome dual-saber attacks. You build up a combo meter by chaining attacks together, and then execute the special combo by swiping the Wii remote. 'Force Sight' is another new power that allows you to see hidden enemies and objects, and highlights weak points on larger boss-type enemies (the idea is that you are sensing these things through your attunement to the Force). We also have a new 'ultimate' Force power called 'Force Rage'. You can initiate a slowed down bullet-time mode, and then use the Wii remote to "paint" different targets in front of you. Once the bullet time resolves, you execute super powerful precision strikes on the targets. It's a great way to take out a large group of enemies at once if you're getting overwhelmed.
LB: Finally, the Wii isn't really known for DLC support, but could we possibly see some DLC support post-launch? The first Force Unleashed was plagued with glitches and some choppiness, will there at least be patch support?
VK: Currently we don't have plans for DLC support on this game. We had one of the smoothest bug-fixing cycles I've ever seen on any project- so my expectation is that there will be no need for any patches down the road.
LB: Thank you very much for your time. When will Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II release?
VK: We will be on shelves on October 26th of this year- we're all very excited for our fans to get their hands on this game!
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