Star Wars brings the Force to Facebook with Escape From Kamino

Escape From Kamino
Let the nerd squeals commence. To promote the sequel to one of the best selling Star Wars games of all time, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, Lucas Arts has brought the franchise to Facebook with Escape From Kamino. Players can either assume the role of the console game's protagonist--if you want to call him that--a Starkiller clone as he escapes the Empire-ridden planet Kamino or hunt him down with the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Find out more about Starkiller's social adventures--and Boba Fett's attempts to ruin them--after the break.

Starkiller or Boba Fett?
While Lucas Arts claims that the game is reminiscent of classics on the SNES like Super Star Wars, I was more reminded of a recent Flash and iPhone hit called Canabalt. For anyone familiar, this game will come secondhand. Your chosen character will run automatically in this 16-bit-style platformer while clicking or pressing the space bar causes him to jump (hold either button down longer to jump higher and vise versa). Whether you're Starkiller or Boba Fett, your mission is simple: don't fall into the raging waters, avoid as many obstacles like boxes and unleash either your Force powers or jet pack to look as cool as possible. (Double-click to activate either ability when the meter in the upper right-hand corner fills.)

However, each character does serve a specific purpose. Players are able to post their high scores to Twitter and Facebook through playing as a Starkiller clone while playing Boba Fett allows you to hunt down your friends' high-scoring clones to destroy their score. To be honest, it's considerably harder to play as Boba Fett than it is Starkiller; blowing everything on screen to high hell is slightly more useful than a jet pack in most cases. Not to mention the Sith-turned-Jedi-turned-clone can jump much higher.

Starkiller's Force Powers
All in all, Escape from Kamino is one of the most action-packed and challenging games I've played on Facebook in some time. While the game does bite a bit off from games like Canabalt, Escape from Kamino's jump-right-in gameplay and respect for the source material (the game explores a key moment in the console version's plot) make me want to come back for more. If you'll excuse me, I'll be back here in 1992, deflecting lasers and blowing storm troopers away just like the old days.

Play Escape From Kamino on Facebook Now >