Star Wars: Battlefront II is the follow-up sequel to the instant
classic Star Wars: Battlefront, both being developed and produced by
the same people that brought us Mercenaries. SWB2 is a simple and
addictive shooter that shouldn't be bypassed by any Star Wars fan.
A big improvement from the original Battlefront is that the AI of the
game is greatly increased. Your teammates and enemies alike will set
explosive traps, man turrets, plow through soldiers in vehicles; pretty
much anything that you would do, they will also do to gain the
upper-hand. However, even with it being an improvement in a simple
sense, the enemies are still incredibly dumb, and the game isn't much
of a challenge on the highest difficulty possible. You more often than
not lose battles due to the stupidity of your own soldiers rather than
your own faults on the higher difficulties.
However, even with the mediocre AI, there is a modest selection of
soldier classes to choose from, each reflecting their own advantages
and disadvantages. For example, the Sniper class is equipped with a
powerful sniper rifle with low ammo, but is also equipped with a small
blaster pistol that practically has unlimited ammo. There are also some
unique classes, which also have their pros and cons. These unique
classes strengths usually outshine their weaknesses, but they must be
unlocked by getting a certain number of points from battling the enemy.
A neat thing about SWB2 is its Awards System. Since this is an older
Playstation 2 game, any type of Achievements (like what Microsoft has
with their Xbox 360 console) were non-existent at the time, and
Pandemic went ahead and created their own system. Most of the awards
are easy to get, and you are rewarded with either a bonus to your stats
or are given a newer, better version of your gun (For example, if you
win the Marksman award, you are given a better sniper rifle). After a
certain number of times the same award has been won throughout your
entire time playing the game, the awarded gun/stats will forever be
implemented with your character. The only downfall to the Awards System
is that since your enemies were already pretty easy to kill in the
past, now they're ridiculously easy to kill with your new weaponry.
The combat in SWB2 is simple, yet intuitive. The basic premise of it is
to run around and shoot as many people as you can and kill the other
team before they kill you, but Pandemic delivers this method in
interesting ways. Aside from killing everybody that stands in your way,
you must also capture outposts strategically placed throughout the
maps, which allow more of your troops to enter the battlefield, and
also acts as a respawn point for yourself. There a few different game
modes in which you can implement this system, for example, Capture the
Flag, or Hunt, where you must hunt down different species of animals
before they kill you. Some of these game modes are unbalanced, but on
either side, it's still a whole lot of fun.
Even though the game is loaded with different classes of characters to
choose from, huge maps to battle on, and an array of vehicles to
commandeer, SWB2 introduces Leaders, which are extremely powerful
characters in which you can control for a limited amount of time. These
Leader characters can range from Jedi Masters to Sith Lords, or even
gun-wielding heroes such as Han Solo. Atop of the already ridiculously
easy AI, these Leaders can easily mow down half of your enemies
reinforcements by the time your session as a Leader is over. Leaders
lose time by being hurt, but gain time by killing enemies, so in the
right hands, Leaders can really throw off the balance of the game. If
fighting on the ground isn't much of your thing, SWB2 also introduces
space combat. With fighting in space brings new battle strategies, and
a couple of space-orientated battle modes. There are only three real
strategies to winning a space battle though, so there's not a lot of
creativity to go along with it. You could either grab a bomber and
destroy all of your enemies external ship additions, grab a transport
and do the same exact thing but by doing it from the inside of your
enemy's ship, or you can take a fighter and mow down your enemies
reinforcements. The AI seems somewhat improved in this frontier
however, because enemy fighters are aggressive dogfighters, and won't
let you take down their ship without a good fight. Space maps range
from Large to Small, so there's something for everybody.
For a game the size of SWB2, the graphics are pretty good. Almost
everything is modeled after the movies, so walking around the
environments looking at landmarks from the movies is always a fun
pastime. The environments are also loaded with spectacular special
effects, like lava blasting off the tops of volcanoes in the Mustafar
level. The Playstation 2's graphics, however, fair worse when compared
to the Xbox version of the game, but most changes are not extremely
noticeable and take no effect on the gameplay for either versions.
The sound effects in SWB2 are authentic and sound exactly like they
should. Lightsabers hum indefinitely, blaster fire rips through walls,
the moan of people dying around you fill the map. It really gives you
the sense of war, and what you're trying to capture is worth dying for.
For a war game, that works very well on Battlefront II's part. The only
thing not authentic about the sound in Battlefront II are the voices of
the Leaders. I'm not sure why they didn't just use sound clips from the
movies, but Pandemic opted-out instead to have voice actors with
somewhat similar voices re-voice the roles. It's odd too, because these
new voice roles say pretty much what the characters say in the movies,
so I'm still confused as to why they didn't just use sound clips from
the movies. Hearing a person you don't recognize try and act, as say,
Han Solo takes away a lot of the Star Wars feel of the game, but it
doesn't shortchange the gameplay in any way, and the Leader character's
rarely speak anyhow.
SWB2 is one of those games that can be summarized as an Energizer
Bunny: It just keeps going, and going, and going. The value of the game
rarely wanes in appeal, and no matter how long you've been playing it
or how long you've had it, the game is still a blast to play each and
every time. The game boasts a long Campaign mode, which illustrates the
battles of the 501st Legion from the movies, and spans two eras (from
the Clone Wars to the Galactic Civil War). You can also do random
skirmishes on a variety of both land and space maps, so the longevity
of the game rises even further in that department.
Other than the Campaign mode and the random battles, SWB2 also comes
with something called Galactic Conquest. In Galactic Conquest, there is
a large, board game-like field in which you move these different space
ships. By moving these ships, you can either invade a hostile planet
and attempt to take it as your own, or you can engage an enemy ship and
hope to destroy it. By doing both of these things, you earn "credits"
which can be used to purchase new character classes for use in your
army or one-time special bonuses, such as having a Leader on the
battlefield or giving you extra reinforcements. The game mode is overly
easy however, and with the already horrendously bad AI, there's not
much of a challenge when you go to take a new planet for yourself.
Galactic Conquest can either be played in the Clone Wars era or the
Galactic Civil War era, so it's possible to relive some of the movies
greatest moments this way.
SWB2 also packs an online mode, which is a nice addition to any Star
Wars buff. The game mode's mixes real players and computer-controlled
players, so you're unfortunately not always going to be fighting a real
force of people. The simple game modes from the Singleplayer version of
the game follow into here also, so if you wanted, you could hunt down
real people in the Hunt game mode if you wish. This creates some unique
moments that can only be found in the online portion of the game, for
example, hunting down a group of human-controlled Gungans who are only
armed with a welding torch and grenades. Star Wars Battlefront II is
definitely a game which should not be missed by any Star Wars fan. Its
mix of addicting and innovative combat through both land and space
creates an untold amount of value to be had, and should last for quite
some time. Whether you're a die-hard fan or a newcomer to the
franchise, you need this game.
