When it’s not soiled by revisionist talk of midichlorians or a “chosen one,” the Force is still the coolest thing in the universe. Really, who wouldn’t want the powers of a god and an anything-slicing energy sword? Anyone?

Cutting loose like never before with a lightsaber and those sweet abilities was the best part of Force Unleashed, and in this sequel, the combat is better and tighter. As Vader’s student-turned-nemesis, you still face overwhelming numbers in countless situations — the perfect excuse to Force Push Stormtroopers off ledges and confuse sneaky Dark Jedi with your new Mind Trick power. Using Force Grip to pick up and hurl huge objects (maddeningly hard in the first game) is easier, if not quite easy, now that you automatically lock on to grabbable objects; and with Force Fury, a slowly charging ability that magnifies your other powers, you can fry AT-STs with Force Lightning instead of just stunning them, for example.

You’ll put these powers to work right from the start — a rousing opener where Starkiller escapes Darth Vader’s thrall by leaping out a (seemingly) miles-high window on the cloning facility of Kamino. From there, the eight-hour campaign sends you in search of former comrades General Kota and Juno Eclipse, and eventually, you’ll wage a tense assault on an Imperial facility. After Force Unleashed’s grand, galaxy-spanning tale — which introduced these great characters and even showed the formation of the Rebel Alliance! — Force Unleashed II’s simpler, less ambitious story is pretty disappointing. The “Are you a clone?” mystery never hooked us, and some of the bigger boss battles drag on way past their prime.

On the other hand, boss fights have clearer victory conditions this time (so you actually know how to win them!), and one of our main gripes with the last game — the ludicrous number of quicktime events (QTEs) when you faced bigger enemies like Rancors and AT-STs — has been mostly addressed. When you tackle larger opponents, QTEs still crop up, but you have more obvious alternatives now (like using your saber to reflect missiles back at lumbering AT-MPs), and some of the QTEs are actually pretty spectacular. Only in the final mission — an epic battle against a worthy foe — are you absolutely bombarded with these prompts, detracting from what should be a riveting struggle.

Trite but true: if you liked Force Unleashed — flaws and all — then you’ll be happy with this sequel. Once again, it’s a coulda-been-great action game that’s still satisfyingly good.

On Xbox 360

+ Enhanced combat is the highlight of the game; new abilities add spark.

+ Some gaffes from last time (QTE abuse and confusing boss battles) are addressed.

- Story lacks Star Wars grandeur; finale is fairly lame; short game.

? Can we get Starkiller in a TV series or movie? He's a terrific anti-hero.

7.5