The original Battlefront series offered some of the best and most engaging gameplay ever featured in any Star Wars game. While offering little in the way of a single-player campaign, both the first and second Battlefront titles offered plenty of content to keep fans coming back. I can attest to this, having spent countless hours playing even the basic Skirmish modes. This was back in an era where online multiplayer was relatively new to consoles, and not nearly as streamlined or dynamic. Oddly enough, until 2015, we hadn’t seen a new Battlefront title since 2005. It seemed illogical that no one wanted to capitalize on one of the most successful Star Wars franchises of all time. When EA took reign over the gaming rights to Star Wars in 2013 and shortly thereafter announced a new Battlefront title, fans were cautiously optimistic.
EA’s Battlefront released in 2015 was launched to coincide the release of Force Awakens, which most would agree definitely helped build the hype surrounding the game. To many gamers, however, EA’s reboot proved to be an undoubtedly enormous missed opportunity. Battlefront was extremely meager in its content, and only truly felt like a complete game after several DLC additions. Even with DLC, the game was still lacking a campaign, not to mention the fact that EA chose to completely ignore the prequel films and all the tremendous content they offered. Most fans ultimately agreed that EA had created a generally fun, yet oddly limiting Star Wars multiplayer game. The game was a tremendous commercial success, yet failed to garner critical acclaim from neither fans or critics. EA promised to address all the shortcomings of 2015’s Battlefront, while both promising free DLC this time around and delivering content from all films.
Battlefront 2 is finally here, and unfortunately, the final product is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it is without a doubt one of the most enjoyable Star Wars games I have ever played. The graphics, sound, and setup are some of the best I’ve ever seen in a video game. However, when coupling the good elements with the single most polarizing progression system I have ever seen, we find ourselves with a game that is its own worst enemy, ultimately failing to deliver what we were promised.
The campaign features generally great voice acting and memorable characters wrapped around a solid story, though one that will definitely not go down as the best in Star Wars lore. Although most of your time will be spent playing Iden Versio, an elite Imperial operative voiced and modeled after Janina Gavankar, players will be thrust into the controls of several other Star Wars characters for multiple missions. This is where the campaign really missteps, in my opinion. Iden Versio is a compelling character, and her story is the best the campaign has to offer, but it really detracts from the narrative when we suddenly shift perspectives to another character for no apparent reason. This is especially disappointing because it makes the story feel less cohesive and robs players of a potentially more engaging plot. To make matters worse, it is abundantly obvious the less interesting missions happen to be the ones that take place with said other characters. I’m not sure why EA felt the need to jump around so much in their narrative, but my advice to them would be to stick with their already compelling lead next time, instead of turning the campaign into a tour of Star Wars characters. At least the dialogue is entertaining enough to make the story enjoyable, but the constant jump between characters ultimately leaves this story underdeveloped. Perhaps the upcoming single-player DLC will add enough to make the story feel more complete.
Arcade Mode offers some fun distractions, albeit at the cost of any real depth. It basically breaks down to Team Battles against the AI or Battle Scenarios, which are really nothing more than sections of the multiplayer maps where you take control of mostly hero or villain characters and attempt to eliminate all the AI either solo, cooperative or with an AI team assisting. Arcade is also a good way to test out new abilities you’ve unlocked on troopers, heroes, and villains. It’s simple fun, but a nice break from campaign and multiplayer. My primary complaint against Arcade Mode is that it does not feature any space battles, nor does it offer more objective-based game types like the fantastic Galactic Assault. There are even fewer maps than available in online multiplayer. This feels like a bit of a ripoff, considering they went to the lengths of including AI battles at all. The capacity is clearly there, yet EA (at least for now) chose to exclude more variety in offline modes. This will definitely alienate split-screen gamers who were looking forward to recreating their fond memories from the original Battlefront series, which offered tremendous variety for local multiplayer.
The core meat of Battlefront 2 is found in online multiplayer, which currently offers five modes. The most popular mode will likely found in Galactic Assault, a 20 vs 20 massive battle scenario where one team attacks, completing specific objectives unique to that battle, while the other team defends and attempts to thwart the attacker’s progress. The battle scenarios span across all trilogies, featuring all factions and most heroes and villains from each era. For example, on Theed, the Clone Troopers must defend the Queen’s Palace by attempting to destroy the Separatist’s MTT transport as it slowly approaches by using Ion disrupter weapons found lying around, then attacking the MTT while it is vulnerable. The Droids must defend their MTT while pushing the Clones back to the Throne Room until it is captured and victory achieved.
Galactic Assault is my favorite mode, and likely to remain the most popular of the five. It offers lots of potential for all kinds of outcomes and helps recreate some of the most iconic Star Wars battles. It does remove some of the immersion at times when you notice a villain or hero that is out of place for that era, however. Seeing Luke Skywalker carve through a Super Battle Droid on Kamino is as bizarre as it sounds, for example. And even stranger, some of the most key characters in the saga are noticeably absent, like Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, General Grevious, etc. Hopefully, they will add more characters with the upcoming DLC, but this feels like it should have been included at launch. Of course, I’m no fan of the games-as-service model that is becoming the trend for AAA games, which means a game on launch is often less than a complete game and only feels so after multiple DLC releases.
Like almost every feature in Battlefront 2, Galactic Assault is not without its shortcomings, however. Some of the maps tend to favor either the defender or the attacker from the outset, which creates some frustrating battles sometimes. The balance is acceptable, but in close quarters the heroes and villains only add to the chaos and the likelihood that you’ll die pretty quickly. And when the battle goes from an open map to a tight corridor, it can feel overwhelming to breakthrough. On a side note, I’ve also found that sometimes the regular troopers can get stuck way too easily on objects, which has definitely resulted in more than one unfortunate death. Ultimately, it is an addicting game mode, and even better when played as a team, which the game encourages. I’ve found most players tend to run around on their own, but when teamwork is kept in mind, it can be as tactical as any other shooter on the market today.
One other significant issue plaguing all multiplayer is the lack of in-game voice chat, which seems like a baffling feature to exclude. There is still the option of party chat for gamers who choose to do so, but most will only do this with friends. This is still polarizing to gamers who want to communicate with their teams but might lack enough friends to play with because coordination and teamwork are definitely emphasized. It’s odd to see teamwork so heavily encouraged but at the same time crippled by its own design. If EA intended players to utilize teamwork as they claim, they should have designed this more intentionally. Perhaps a future update will solve this issue.
Starfighter Assault is likely to be the second most popular game mode, and definitely my second favorite as well. This takes the large-scale objective-based gameplay of Galactic Assault and swaps out the ground battles for air and space combat. While lacking the variety of Galactic Assault in maps, it does offer some of the best space battles in Star Wars game to date. Performing barrel rolls in an X-Wing and weaving in and out of asteroids and large ships is as thrilling as you’d imagine. Evasive maneuvers have become a bit more challenging with the removal of the preset moves featured in 2015’s Battlefront, but a clever pilot can usually avoid missile tracking and an enemy tailing them. On a side note, the scoring system in Starfighter Assault makes no sense to me, but perhaps I am just not discerning enough to understand it. There were several battles where I was convinced we were on the verge of victory, only to discover the game ended abruptly with the screen showing “DEFEAT.”
Heroes vs Villains is an enjoyable, yet chaotic mess of a mode that mostly ends up being less about strategy and more about picking the most powerful character while avoiding getting surrounded by the whole opposing team. Certain characters are marked as targets on each team, which at least adds more depth than simply killing everything you see. However, as mentioned before, the lack of more villain and hero options makes for a somewhat limiting experience. It would’ve been nice to see more variety with a game mode involving only heroes and villains.
Strike and Blast are the least exciting modes, amounting to little more than Team Deathmatch and a smaller scale version of Galactic Assault. I found little reason to keep coming back to these if only to shore up my teamwork and shooting skills against live players. Strike makes almost no sense without the inclusion of in-game chat, so I’m likely to avoid it without friends. Without coordination, small team objective-based modes make no sense.
Now for the elephant in the room – the progression system of Battlefront 2. This controversial system is clearly the downfall of this game, even after EA “temporarily” removed the inclusion of a pay-to-win model of progression, with players having the option of purchasing Loot Boxes for Star Cards, crafting parts, etc with real money. The Loot Boxes currently remain, but they are purchased only with in-game currency, and no real currency is an option as of now. These Loot Boxes wouldn’t be such an issue if they were purely cosmetic, but the entire progression system is based on these boxes. And worse, the amount of time spent necessary to earn enough credits to unlock even basic abilities and characters is egregious, forcing players to grind and grind and grind seemingly without a moment spent just enjoying the game for what it is. This unforgiving progression system alienates newcomers tremendously, essentially guaranteeing many quick deaths until they manage to unlock abilities strong enough to make them a formidable foe on the battlefield.
EA really dropped the ball here, and now they find themselves in an even more difficult position, seeing as they already promised free DLC to players, and they already removed the pay-to-win aspect featuring real money, which currently means their only profit comes from the sales of the game itself. Where they go from here is hard to say, but I’m hoping they have learned their lesson (which is unlikely). Creating such a confusing and frustrating progression system that is tight into every aspect of the game is problematic for the future of this title, even with free DLC planned down the road.
Fortunately, their redeeming factors in this debacle come in two forms. One – the fact that they did happen to create a particularly enjoyable Star Wars game and one that I for one will continue playing for a long time, with more content to follow. Secondly – as is the nature of many AAA titles today, there is always the possibility of updates in the future that will attract more gamers to purchase the game, through DLC, etc. I honestly would have been satisfied paying for DLC if they had completely removed the Loot Box feature, or at least kept it to purely cosmetic benefits. My concern is that they will add in the pay-to-win microtransactions again down the road once the media calms down and The Last Jedi releases. Disney does not want any more bad publicity to their cherished brand because of EA’s mishandling, so we’re unlikely to see them return soon.
Microtransactions aside, Battlefront 2 does suffer from a lack of variety in game modes online, as it does offline. 2015’s Battlefront may have been more simplistic and offered fewer eras to play across, but it did feature more game modes for multiplayer. Of course, with DLC down the road, there is always the potential for new modes, maps, and heroes. The lack of in-game chat and a more dedicated party system is an odd choice, considering everything DICE (the primary multiplayer developer) has made in the past has been focused on teamwork and communication.
Ultimately, in most ways, this is the Star Wars game I wanted in 2015. There is a LOT to love this time around, and I’m particularly impressed with the visual fidelity, sound design, and the addicting nature of the multiplayer. Playing with friends and coordinating better will likely appease my issues with the in-game chat options, and as more content releases, it will only add more possibilities to the great foundations this game possesses. It is important to note this game can really only be enjoyed online, so local multiplayer and single player fans will likely be left wanting. Here’s hoping EA does the right thing by keeping out microtransactions and keeping gamers from being tempted to fork out potentially hundreds of extra dollars for simple multiplayer advantages.
Final Verdict: 7.8/10
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is in many ways everything wrong and everything right with video games today. It offers fantastic gameplay, but it comes with a catch (albeit less of a catch now since release). Those looking for a deep, immersive online shooter should probably look elsewhere, as it never reaches the sophistication of titles like Battlefield 1. But if you love Star Wars – this is absolutely the game for you. Just make sure to keep an eye on EA in the next months in regards to this troublesome progression system – they are easily startled, but will come back soon and in greater numbers.
Jon Hand Thoughts 