Star Wars Battlefront II
Developer: EA DICE
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Price: ₹3,499 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on Amazon, and on PC through EA Origin.
The new Star Wars Battlefront II has stirred up a lot of controversy in the last few weeks, with its loot boxes. It’s a phenomenon that seems to be sweeping games lately, where players can earn boxes full of random rewards, or they can spend real money to buy loot in games. This season started off with Shadow of War being on the receiving end of fan backlash. Then Battlefront II received the most downvoted posts on Reddit, forcing EA to shut down the in-game store. So now, let’s cut through the controversy and see how good the game actually is.
What’s it about?
Sparked by a tweet from the actor who plays Finn in the new Star Wars trilogy, John Boyega’s single-player campaign made its way to Battlefront II, something the previous instalment did not have. The game tells the story of Iden Versio, an Imperial special forces agent. Battlefront II lets us experience what it’s like being on the other side of good. It’s a frontrow seat to the destruction of the Death Star. You play through various crucial moments in the original trilogy, with plenty of spectacular moments, as you fight your way through the dense foliage and towering trees of the planet Endor.
Battlefront II’s set pieces will make you forget to breathe, with the sheer scope and detail packed into every eye-gasming frame. It’s not just fan moments rehashed; the game makes you feel as though you really are in the movies. The best are the cinematic starfighter sequences, as you roar around in your TIE Fighter, taking down enemy X-Wings and bombers. Everything you see in Battlefront II’s single-player campaign is true to the movies. Even the cutscenes have incredible detail and facial animations, that look as close to the actors that play them, capturing their amazing performances.
As a story, the journey of Iden Versio serves as just a viewpoint, rather than being an actual character in the series. As a result, the narrative does not completely resonate, though there are brief moments where the game really captures you, like in one level where you play as Luke Skywalker. The end of the story too feels a bit abrupt, with the hint that there’s much more to come in future.
How does it play?
The on-foot gameplay is snappy and fast, with the blaster coming into focus as you dispatch enemies in puffs of sparks and smoke. Across the campaign, you will face off against different types of troopers on both sides of the war, in open terrain as well as the claustrophobic corridors of spaceships. All of these feel absolutely fantastic. As the story takes a backseat and the visuals and gameplay propel you forward through scenarios.
Once you finish the single-player story, there’s the multi-player. DICE is known for their Battlefield series, and they bring those massive maps with large 40-player counts to Battlefront II. As you take part in several Star Wars battles across recreated settings that are true to the movies. There is also a mode called Starfighter Assault, which lets you get into the cockpit of your favourite Star Wars space fighters and battle it on the surface of planets or in space, as monolithic destroyer-class spaceships duke it out in the background. The sheer elation of flying in between structures of these destroyers just to take down that enemy in a dogfight is unparalleled.
Taking a page out of Overwatch, Battlefront II brings a Heroes mode. Here, you jump into eight-player battles, as your favourite Star Wars heroes. For instance, as Han Solo, Darth Maul, Rey and even Yoda. While this is great, there is an issue of balance, where everyone seems to gravitate towards the obvious choices, the Lightsaber-wielding Jedi. You can unlock more characters by progressing through the system and earning enough credits, and now with lowered prices due to the fan backlash.
As you progress through the story, you unlock and earn Star Cards, of which you can equip up to three onto your character or vehicles. This component is present in multi-player mode, and that’s where the confusion and controversy begin. You see, in a multi-player match, the fun is everyone is at one level, so skill matters. With Star Cards, you get unfair advantages against those who have enough money to pay to buy a whole lot of loot crates. Right now, multi-player is a lengthy grind, almost as if the game makes levelling up so boring and slow, that you almost have to plonk down money to buy more. With the in-game purchases closed, there’s no real option but to grind. This pay-to-win tactic is unfair and something EA should really contemplate.
Should you get it?
Battlefront II has a Jekyll-Hyde complex. It’s a work of art that is a beautiful reflection of the best Star Wars . But it’s marred by the questionable business decisions that are the in-app purchase. For the single-player campaign, you should go for the game. If it’s multi-player you’re interested in, it’s best to get the game once EA makes clear what the tweaks to the loot box and Star Card systems are.
The writer is a tech and gaming enthusiast who hopes to one day finish his sci-fi novel
