Diversity
Weird to finally review this game, after playing it for so long since release day in 2005 (non-stop for the first view months on the OG Xbox). The servers were down for a while, but thank the lord for Gameranger: a service that runs multiplayer for really old, deserted games. As most us know now, you don't need that service anymore, since you can just jump online right away!
Obviously, BF2005 holds up, otherwise I would not have played it these last view years. I played every stage about a 100 times, lots of times in a different way than before. And it is that diversity why this is perhaps the best battlefront/battlefield game to date.
Every vehicle controls well and is different enough from the last last you've used. No class feels useless, though the engineer class is somewhat overpowered for two reasons: he can self heal and on some servers he can abuse the remote bombs since it doesn't damage himself. Despite that, every other class is totally functional. The best thing about the classes are the higher-tiered ones (including the heroes). For me, this has to be the Droideka: rolling around, raining fire with two machine guns, accompanied with the iconic sounds from the movies...I just love it.
The maps are divers too, except for the space battles, that tend to evolve into the same rhythm after five battles or so. That's probably because you can do only 'so much' in those battles. Yet, I find myself enjoying them from time to time because these battles give the same sense of freedom as the ground battles. Hopping on and off X-wings, killing dudes with and without it. It's fast and enjoyable.
The ground battles are on large (sometimes open) fields (like Hoth, Naboo), in a structure mapped out in rooms and corridors (like the Death Star, Tantive IV) or a combination of these (like Mustafar). Maps like Tantive IV are as chaotic as you might expect, with grenades exploding every half a second (because some units carry 4 of them..) and jedi/sith sprinting through hordes with their lightsabers buzzing through the constant blaster fire action.
The game does feel old, atleast for me, because I've played it for so many hours over a more than a decade. Graphicly some small effects don't work consistantly anymore because of newer versions of windows etc, but it's still totally playable and most of all enjoyable. I'm glad people still play this online, because the game is a true gem among the multiplayer-games of all time.