I’m not sure why it’s taken me a year to get round to writing the review for the second classic Battlefront game, but here we are anyway! Battlefront II was one of those sequels that improved on the original in literally every aspect and then added a whole bunch more besides. Dedicated space battles, playable heroes, the ability to actually run… you name it, they added it or improved it. That being said, what’s it like to play now in the mid 2020s? Well…
Background:
A Battlefront. In. Spaaaaaace! (PS5)
Star Wars: Battlefront II was released on the PS2, XBOX and PC weirdly in the UK/Europe first, on October 28th 2005, with the US release coming a couple of days later on November 1st. It was eventually ported to the PlayStation Portable on October 20th 2009, with obvious reductions in action-on-screen, graphics and certain modes (it completely lacks the singe player campaign for starters!). It also has to be pointed out that the PC version had the ability to have more characters/players on screen at once.
Then of course on March 14th 2024 it was re-released in a remastered format on the PS4, PS5, XBOX One, XBOX Series, Nintendo Switch and PC. On release it had issues, including sound not playing during the cut scenes in story mode and some crashing, but they were eventually ironed out. The major ones anyway, I still got the odd freeze here and there.
Gameplay:
A tank battle on the streets of Naboo… I think… *squints* (PS2)
Much like the previous game Battlefront is either a first or third person shooter, depending on your preference, and is based around the idea of large multiplayer matches, but you can play offline split-screen or straight up single player if you wish. As mentioned this time round the combat also includes space battles, though you do still start off as a regular soldier and board ships, take off into space and can even land on enemy frigates and get back out to attack on foot. Blew me away at the time! There are four standard classes of Infantry (generic class, guns and grenades), Heavy (slow but with a rocket launcher!), Sniper (Has a long-range sniper rifle, surprisingly) and Engineer (weak in combat but can repair vehicles and turrets) and then each of the four factions have two unique classes: the Droids get the MagnaGuard (which has a special type of beam gun rather than the staff, sadly…) and the dreaded Droidekas, which are thankfully nerfed this time; the Republic get jetpack troopers who can fly but sadly their main weapon is a bit naff, and a Commander which is the new overpowered unit of the game as its beam chaingun can rip through any enemy or hero/villain in seconds; the Rebels get a Wookie who has a powerful but slow to fire Bowgun and a time bomb, and a Bothan Spy who can not only turn invisible but also melt enemies with a close range… thing; and finally the Empire have the Officer, which is like an engineer but has a few more tricks up its sleeve (like being able to toss out health and ammo) and the Dark Trooper, who has a jump pack rather than a jetpack and doesn’t have its overpowered beam shotgun this time, instead getting a crap electric gun, making them far less fun to use.
You unlock the special classes by doing well in battle, the more point you rack up by either killing foes or capturing bases/flags the more you unlock, though once you unlock the two classes once they’re unlocked for the rest of the battle. The exception to that rule is the new playable heroes/villains, from Jedi and Sith characters to sharpshooters like Han Solo and Boba Fett, they’re all playable and mostly all really fun to play with unique moves and movement options. The 2024 version even added in a couple of new ones from previously inaccessible (to me) XBOX DLC, so that was fun. Add in the fact that everything feels smoother as not only did they add the ability to run but also to dodge roll, which is a literal life-saver several times during matches, and you a damn good package. You can access iconic vehicles on most levels as well, though obviously as they now have space battles there aren’t the weird X-Wings/TIE Fighters available on the on-foot maps. Overall nothing but praise for the actual gameplay, even now honestly. Sure I’d say the FPS combat of the two remakes are better but, again for whatever reason, I exclusively played/play these originals in 3rd Person and it’s still perfectly fun now, especially in split-screen with my friends around (and I imagine online with friends as well, if that’s your cup of tea!)
Doesn’t matter what Droid you are, you’re going down to the beam minigun! (PS5)
As for modes, well the on-foot regular mode side of things you have your standard Conquest rules, where you capture bases on the map, the more bases you hold the less soldiers the enemy can spawn on the map, making their counter tick down faster, and once it hits zero they lose (or you lose, if you’re the one doing badly…) or if you capture all the bases and hold them for a minute then it’s an instant win. This is the most standard battle, but you also have a Capture the Flag mode where you have to… well, capture the enemy’s flag by bringing it back to your base (or be the one to capture the single flag on the map and bring it back to your base), Hunt Mode, where you play as one of the normally non-playable native species on a map and hold off the invaders, and Hero Assault, where a team of all the good hero characters face a team of all the villains, and chaos reigns as you try to get a specific kill score. The latter mode was only available on one map before, but this version extended it to nearly all of them. As for space battles, you have to reduce the enemy’s counter like you do in the on-foot matches but alongside shooting down enemies you can destroy parts of their frigate for large point hits, though it takes a while to take down their shields. As mentioned though you can board the enemy frigates and if you do you can take down those destructible parts from within with bombs. You can also destroy their auto-turret systems, which I’d recommend you do as soon as possible given how accurate they are. On the 2024 version there’s also the new mode from the original PC version with tonnes more characters on screen that’s all about racking up a kill count, which is good fun but only on a couple of maps, sadly.
Outside of generic matchups via “Instant Action” you have the Campaign mode, “Rise of the Empire”, which sees you follow a Clone soldier from serving in the Clones Wars through to being transferred to a Stormtrooper all the way up to the battle of Hoth (to give your main character a “happy ending” I guess…?) Now in the new Canon timeline this wasn’t really how it was done, but given this game is a “Legends” timeline game, it works well. Remember the Prequel films had only just come out so all the extra lore and identity the era has gained through the Clone Wars cartoon didn’t exist yet. All the missions are just standard Instant Action maps and rules, with one or two exceptions, like fighting generic Jedi in the Jedi Temple during Episode III (which was a pain in the arse during a “protect the Jedi archive” objective…) A fun distraction for a few hours though! You then have the return of “Galactic Conquest”, which sees you and an enemy AI/player try to capture planets, when someone tries to take a planet you fight on a map and the winner keeps it/takes it, with each planet having a bonus like “deploy more troops”, “extra health cannisters” or the deadly “Deploy a hero/villain” that can be used, giving each planet certain value. The first player to conquer the map, or at least capture the opponent’s main base, wins. These can go on a while if you have a competent player opponent but thankfully you can save in between rounds, and it’s great fun, honestly. I just wish they’d updated it a bit to include the returning maps from BF I that were added in the new version.
That’s your lot, and it’s a lot! Given the main draw was multiplayer they added a lot of single player content, although to be fair a lot of people playing, myself included, didn’t have a PS2 network adaptor, so apart from when friends are around single player was all it was anyway… The updated version is great too, something about that crisp yet clearly PS2-era look and simple but fun gameplay has left it a staple of “I’m bored, I’ll just stick this on for five minutes” in the past year.
Graphics and Sound:
Look at that crisp UI …. and don’t look at the space dust image on the top screen… That’s still very much PS2 era… (PS5…)
The PS2 game was great at the time, colourful models, good lighting around the laser fire and the space battles looked great, especially given all the models on screen at the same time. The HD upgrade is also good, it keeps the PS2 look but everything is more crisp and brighter.
Soundwise is good too, with great sound effects and music, both mostly ripped from the films, and some good voice-a-likes when needed (good… not great) It does the trick of making it all feel very Star Wars-y anyway.
Story:
All things considered the PS2 space battles still look good, for the time. (… PS2, obviously!)
As mentioned the Campaign has you follow the 501st Clone Trooper squad through the Clone Wars from Geonosis to their switch to evil and attacking the Jedi Temple, then we get some new in-between bits including an assault on Kamino that destroys the Clone vats, the “Legends” timeline excuse for why Clones stopped getting produced, then some bits on Tantive IV and the Death Star before they get their revenge on Hoth. It’s fun, doesn’t outstay its welcome and was narrated by Temuera Morrison himself (yet he didn’t voice the Clones for some reason…) so it’s worth checking out, even if it’s now “not canon”.
Downloadable Content:
Hey, I actually took a screenshot featuring both DLC characters! *Pats self on back* (PS5)
Weirdly for a game from the 6th generation, it did have some DLC which I wasn’t actually aware of until the 2024 re-release as it was only on the XBOX version. They included the ability to play Hero Assault on different maps, two new heroes/villains in Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress (the 2D Clone Wars cartoon version!) and four maps from Battlefront I. Thankfully all of these things were available in the 2024 version, plus all maps are able to play Hero Assault on.
Thoughts Then:
Who doesn’t like playing as Vader in any game? Can’t get enough of a good Force Choke! (PS2)
At the time I was extremely excited to get my hands on it after playing the original so much, having to wait until Christmas 2005 was a killer. It was worth it though, more of everything, better controls and movement options, space battles and the same super-addictive split-screen multiplayer with friends, Battlefront II got a LOT of play from me for a few years after release and was definitely up there with the games I played the most on the PS2.
Thoughts Now:
Man this was an annoying mission. Who knew the Jedi was so adept at destroying their own history in the Legends timeline… (PS5)
Now? It’s tough, because it’s still fun to play and looks nice, but it’s much harder to get together with friends for a match and I’m just not an “online with strangers” kind of guy, so while I’ve played it a lot over the year its very much a background, here and there game, after the initial excitement and nostalgia died down. Still, for the price and getting the original with it, I can’t complain, and I’m sure I’ll play it again many times after this review goes up, so it’s only fair I reward it a…
Hogan Reviews 