Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) Is One of the Best Licenses of IP Ever |Game Review
8-Years Later, I’m Still Playing and Having a Blast
8-Years Later, I’m Still Playing and Having a Blast
Now that it’s been cleansed of corporate loot box scum, Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2017) has some of the most fun multiplayer I’ve ever played, and the Star Wars kid I used to be couldn’t be any happier. After all these years, you’d think the magic would be lost on me, but it still scratches an itch that no other Star Wars, or other shooter multiplayer game, can hit. I personally believe it is one of the best Star Wars products that has ever been created.
Strictly speaking, as a fan of Star Wars, this game has fulfilled some of my wildest dreams and then some. Dogfighting in space against Tie Fighters, fighting against the Separatists droid army on Kamino, force choking the masses as Darth Vader… it’s insane how good it feels to play. And it LOOKS SHARP. I still remember the first time I booted it up, It’s amazing what DICE were able to do in order to make it feel like it’s straight out of the films. So well done. So immersive. Immensely impressive. It still holds up extremely well today, and is one of my favorite games to play around the May 4th holiday.
The story mode is unremarkably okay, and I’d say is about up to par with where some of the new lack-luster Disney stories are at. But playing through it, I had a good time with it, and it feels like a real proper single player campaign just like you’d find in any other multiplayer shooter, maybe even slightly more expansive than is normal in that sphere. The most important thing it did (as to be expected), is it helped me get my bearings with the controls and gun play, which laid the foundation for my skills as I transitioned into playing online matches.
And I’ve had boat loads of fun playing in matches online. I know there is a rampant hacker issue, and players are rightfully afraid of them for sure. But, I, in all of my 50 some-odd hours, have only run into egregious hacking once or twice. If even the possibility bothers you, and you can get together a party of 4 real players, all you have to do is go into the co-op missions and there you’ll fight hordes and hordes of AI combatants. Which sounds boring, but honestly, is SUPER fun. I’ve probably had more fun doing that than playing the regular partied up multiplayer anyway, if I’m being honest.
Regardless of what mode you pick, all these years later, it’s a super polished game. The controls are tight and responsive, the gun play is satisfying and being a hero is thrilling. It doesn’t feel great to die to players who have all of their upgrades unlocked, but it is very satisfying to slowly unlock those yourself as you and your units become powerful forces in the galaxy. As a sequel to the original Battlefront 2 (2005), it’s just about everything I could have hoped for.
Since losing the gambling mechanics, I definitely owe this game and DICE an apology. I was right there with the rioting gamers when I saw the mess of microtransactions polluting this game, no doubt thrown in there because Andrew Wilson needed a $20 million bonus or something. But since those have gone the way of the earth, I have had a blast playing. DICE cooked. I used to visit the old 2005 Battlefront when feeling the itch to fight in the Star Wars... But this version really has proved itself to be a proper replacement. I’m sad that Battlefront 3 was cancelled. And I just hope, in my hope of hopes, that that money grubbing EA can look at the charts every week of May 4th… see there’s potential there… and commission DICE to continue the saga. That would be wizard.
Originally published at https://backloggd.com.