The original Star Wars Battlefront released in 2004 from the now defunct Pandemic Studios.
They followed it up with a sequel just one year later, but in 2015 EA DICE rebooted the franchise
to capitalize on the upcoming film trilogy.
Now with another film release imminent, Battlefront II is set to ride further on the hype.
The biggest addition is a story-driven campaign
set between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.
The protagonist, Commander Iden Versio is the leader of Inferno Squad, an Imperial Special Forces unit.
Over the course of the five-hour journey, she and her team travel to iconic locations
from the Star Wars mythology and battle against familiar foes.
Iden’s father is an admiral in the Imperial Fleet which is supposed to add an extra layer of drama, but
there isn’t enough character development to become invested in their issues.
Additionally, the missions themselves are linear shooting galleries
with lackluster level design and dimwitted AI.
Nearly every stage features uninspired objectives like
destroying X-Wings or capturing key points and has you repeating them multiple times.
There are a few surprises that shake things up, but the derivative story and mission structure
are just plain boring.
Arcade mode can be played solo or through split-screen coop,
and it’s a good place to familiarize you with different classes and heroes.
Battle Scenarios offer encounters against waves of enemies with varying heroes and classes
while Custom Arcade lets you modify the game settings to play how you want.
While playing against the AI isn’t nearly as engaging as playing against real opponents,
it’s a nice inclusion and offers a less intense place to practice.
Multiplayer is the primary focus of Battlefront II.
There are five game modes across eleven maps, including Starkiller Base, Endor, and Naboo.
The highlight is Galactic Assault, large scale twenty vs. twenty battles with varying objectives.
It’s easy to be entranced by giant AT-AT’s towering over the snowy landscape of Hoth,
or to get giddy when Darth Maul and Yoda clash in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.
Starfighter Assault has a similar structure of attacking and defending with teams of twelve piloting spacecraft.
There’s also Strike which has teams of eight capturing and defending zones,
while Blast is a simple team deathmatch.
Lastly, Heroes vs. Villains lets you choose from the game’s fourteen hero characters,
clashing in teams of four.
While there isn’t much variety among the objectives of each mode,
the ability to play large scale war games and smaller more hero-centric games is welcome.
There are four core classes.
Assault is well-rounded with the ability to use scan darts that reveal opponents’ locations.
Heavy moves the slowest, but can enter sentry mode for tons of firepower.
The Officer is the most team-friendly class with the ability to place turrets
and buff his allies to withstand more damage.
Meanwhile, the Specialist acts as the sniper with the ability to hide from enemy scanners.
Each class ability can be upgraded with additional perks
or swapped out with other abilities earned from Star Cards.
Unfortunately, despite support abilities with Officer and Assault classes,
it’s hard to find effective ways to coordinate as a team,
and it’s easy to feel disconnected from the match objective.
Nearly every game of Galactic Assault results in both sides smashing into each other near the objective
with very little teamwork.
One of the biggest improvements is the Battlepoint system.
Throughout each match, you earn points based on performance
and after you’ve earned enough, you can spend them to spawn as a ship, an advanced trooper, or a hero.
It’s a smart system that encourages cooperation and following the objective.
Playing as one of the game’s fourteen heroes is addictive.
Darth Maul is incredibly fast and agile,
making quick work of anyone caught near his doubled-bladed lightsaber.
Chewbacca’s bowcaster is devastating when fully charged,
and raining death from above as Boba Fett is particularly satisfying.
Each hero manages to feel unique and viable in every situation,
and earning enough points to spawn as a legendary hero is challenging,
which emphasizes the impact these units have on the battlefield and ensures that they feel rewarding.
Battlefront II’s character progression is built on the insidious implementation of loot crates.
Each crate contains Star Cards which can be equipped for each class and hero.
These cards offer significant stat bonuses like a shorter delay for regenerating health,
reduced damage from explosions, and stronger weapon damage to name a few.
There are three types of crates that focus on heroes, star fighters, and troopers.
Alternatively, you can make each card with crafting parts.
Earning enough credits to purchase a crate, or enough parts to craft high level cards,
takes a significant amount of time, even when completing career milestones
that come with small amounts of credits, crystals, or crafting parts as rewards.
Furthermore, credits are also used to purchase classic heroes
like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, and saving up for them means
you'll have less to spend on loot boxes for Star Cards.
It gets worse.
After saving up for a crate, some of your cards may just be meaningless emotes or victory poses,
and it’s entirely possible to get duplicates, which award a small amount of credits.
You can even be given cards for heroes you haven’t unlocked yet.
The entire system undermines the integrity of competition and devalues any sense of progression.
It makes multiplayer far more frustrating than fun.
You’ll be filled with rage every time you get wasted by an epic level thermal detonator.
After heavy public backlash,
EA has decided to temporarily disable the ability to purchase crates with real money,
promising to re-tool the system before reintroducing it.
We’ve spent a lot of time playing while microtransactions were enabled,
and they did offer significant advantages to players who handed over some cash.
It’s a system that seemed specifically designed
to encourage consumers to spend as much money as possible.
However, while you can no longer pay for these perks,
the loot crate system still unbalances the playing field,
putting your effectiveness in combat entirely at the mercy of which cards you draw.
Along with the return of microtransactions at an unspecified time,
free maps and heroes are also promised in the future, so
what you’re actually buying with Battlefront II is subject to change, for better or worse.
Star Wars Battlefront II features stunning audiovisual design, but it sets a new low for loot crate systems.
With advantages determined by random chance
and possibly returning to microtransactions in the near-future,
it destabilizes the fun and spirit of competition.
Meanwhile, the much-touted campaign is devoid of any memorable moments.
Fans will certainly enjoy playing as the heroes and villains, but
it’s hard to recommend Battlefront II.
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