For all of the sales numbers Star Wars: The Force Unleashed garnered, critics and gamers were quick to point out its inherent flaws. Camera control, programming bugs near the end of the game and of course, that bit with the Star Destroyer: it wasn’t really the perfect Star Wars experience involving lightsaber-fuelled carnage.

The team at LucasArts know this; Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 aims to rectify the past game’s experience, with camera, controls and targeting issues on top of the developer’s list of things needed changing. “We’ve fine-tuned the controls based on feedback from the first game and tweaked the way the player navigates, pulls off combos and triggers Force Powers to deliver an authentic and truly visceral experience.” Enemies and items you target will be highlighted with a glowing blue halo, thus making it easy to see what you’re locking onto.

TFU2 also tweaks good old Starkiller’s force powers. He now has two new force powers ripe for abusing: Mind Trick and Force Fury. The former is what everyone wanted in a Star Wars game: the ability to mind control people so that they fight on your side. Heck, certain segments in the game require you to use Mind Trick on people from one end of a section so that they can remove an obstruction in your way. The latter power helps amp up existing Force powers; think Unreal Tournament’s Quad Damage power-up, but in the Star Wars universe. Starkiller can not only take out big droids like the AT-STs without breaking a sweat, but also turn your melee attacks into projectile attacks.

Fan service and cameos are part and parcel of the Star Wars videogame experience. Associate Producer Ian Pang stated that iconic characters of the franchise will make their debut in TFU2. Specifically, Yoda and Boba Fett will be dealing with the new Starkiller, probably in epic fights. When we brought up location, Ian states that the the places you get to visit in TFU2 include the water world of Kamino (where Starkiller breaks out from), Dagobah (presumably to meet Yoda) and Cato Neimoidia (a forest-filled area full of rich Neimoidian aliens according to Star Wars lore).