Despite lingering bad blood between me and the Force Unleashed 2, I actually enjoyed this DS conversion better than the DS demake of the first game. It’s still got the problems common to the whole project; small scope, dumb plot, etc. But rather than making a pale imitation of the base game, LucasArts Singapore instead took a new perspective, like, literally, because it’s, like, a sidescroller.

For the most part this version is really fun and smooth to play. They made 2D work well with some decent—albeit simplistic—puzzles and battles. Discovering which powers work best on which enemies and how to exploit them is as much a part of the game as the HD version, and there’s collectibles to be found too. Sure they’re not hidden at all deviously, and they only give you inessential experience points. But it’s something.

As with its DS predecessor, things are a bit more authored as you progress; there’s no piles of physics objects to fling around. Starkiller doesn’t feel quite as much of a mad force of nature. You do get to play around with your four Force powers, but there’s no unlocking or upgrading them; XP merely ups your health and Force bars slightly.

The game follows the HD version pretty closely, without the Wii version’s slight deviations. It does manage to cram full (tinny) voice acting in, which is kinda cool but let’s be honest, it wasn’t great to begin with. Kota especially, what is up with that guy. Cutscenes are done in an attractive motion comic style with nice-looking artwork; amusing side-note is that some of Yoda’s scenes are instead digitised shots from Empire. Wacky.

I think my main problem is the control scheme. The action is on the touch screen; you control Starkiller with the D-pad and use touch screen controls for attacking and stuff. Swiping for lightsaber strikes is fine, but the force powers can be a tad finicky at times. Movement is the real bugbear; it’s hard to get momentum right at times and pressing up to jump all the time is a bit awkward. On reflection it’s not a huge complaint, and it all works well enough for what it is; it’s an experimental scheme that’s a modest success.

I guess with my expectations tempered so drastically by the mediocrity of the previous DS port and the lameness of the sequel project in general, this game came out smelling like roses. Maybe week-old roses. It’s pretty ok!