The dramatic shifts in pricing for heroes, historic fan uproar, and eventual removal of all real-money transactions from Star Wars: Battlefront II have overshadowed the game’s release with accusations of pay-to-win systems and egregious greed. Stepping back, and taking it for what it is, Battlefront II is a beautiful game that offers major improvements over its predecessor. On one hand, it feels like EA and Dice listened to fans to make it a much deeper and satisfying package, with a full-fledged campaign mode and a bread-and-butter multiplayer mode featuring an impressive amount of fan service. Unfortunately, even with EA working to distance the game from its borderline cruel progression system, it’s near-impossible to separate the gameplay from the grind that’s the spine of the game.
For better or worse, Battlefront II is going to be talked about for years to come. Not because of its breathtaking renderings of classic Star Wars locales, or the most exciting space battles since X-Wing Vs. Tie Fighter was booted on a Windows 3.1 machine, but because it could be the black rider, signaling the end of gaming as we know it. As an enthusiast and an apologist for the gaming medium, this was the first Triple-A title that I can recall ever to make me question what I was doing with my life. Why do I want to play a game as a second job just to have “fun?” Why do I spend $60 for the privilege to spend more money?
Even with EA reducing the time it takes to unlock Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker for multiplayer (originally clocked at around 40 hours each), the game is still a grind. Loot boxes, which contain power-ups for your characters that, for a short time (and again in the future), can be bought with real money so you have to “play less” to unlock them. Where are we as gamers when we have to pay money to play less? That doesn’t seem like an enjoyable way to pass the time.
All of this would be different if the game had superlative combat, but on the ground, which is where you’ll spend most of your time, the fighting is clunky and repetitive. Aside from the visuals, it feels like this game could’ve come out in 2006. It’s all about choke points and a meat grinder full of lasers and catchphrases to ping that Pavlovian bell for a galaxy far, far away.
This is what makes this so heartbreaking. Star Wars is supposed to be fun. That’s why so many people are picking up Battlefront II. Yoda vs. Kylo Ren in the lab where they make the clones in Episode II? Sign me up. But stiff controls and a total inability to defend oneself in Heroes vs. Villains (if you can find a match) quickly sucks the joy from the pretty lightsabers dancing in the rain. Every mode has greatness within it, totally negated by an equal and opposite negative aspect. Battlefront II is a video game embodiment of the battle between the dark side and the light side.
There are moments, in the multiplayer’s marquee mode Galactic Assault that you can get lost in, but then you die, and then the game loads. Then you spawn, you die, you repeat. The grand battles are thrilling to take part in for the 20 seconds it takes to run from the spawn point to where the action is, but a player’s time alive is so short, it’s hard to appreciate the grand scale of the war unfolding in front of you.
Overall, there’s sense of place missing that hasn’t been recaptured since the original Battlefront II. There’s no strategic Galactic Conquest, grounding the skirmishes with purpose in an overall war, and the maps are still singular areas that are lovingly-crafted but seem more like a visual tour of a movie set. It’s interesting to visit Paz’s castle from Episode VII, but you’re mostly running past the history and to your death like a lemming.
Which brings up another frustrating yin-yang of a game. EA listened to fans and brought back four-person squads, but there’s really no working together. You may get lucky and drop a shield or a turret, but there’s no real meta to the game, and you’re not going to feel a bigger/better sense of accomplishment if you compose a team of complementary skills, because there are no complimentary skills.
Then, there’s the pay-to-win aspect. It’s gone as of this writing, the day of launch, but the damage has been done. In Battlefront II‘s best-made mode, StarFighter Assault, gamers already have Star Cards that make them immensely stronger, able to turn faster, shoot more lasers, and survive longer. Things are so hectic in the 40v40 Galactic Assault that it’s hard to feel the power of the Star Cards. But in the smaller and more skill-based Starfighter mode, every bit counts, and the real-money loot box issue ruins what could be the most redeeming part of the game. The sun bending around your starcraft as you fly alongside a titanic star destroyer is truly thrilling and extremely impressive. Technically, the game is a gem, but when competitive multiplayer, the main draw of the game, becomes unbalanced by real money purchases, it gets old fast.
EA made a statement on launch day, addressing the loot box fiasco, saying: “A player’s ability to succeed in the game is not dependent on purchasing [loot boxes]. Players can also earn [loot boxes] through playing the game and not spending any money at all.” That’s true, but in a fight between two players of equal skill, the one with three passive bonuses to combat skills will almost always win. Winning is fun. Surviving is fun. Getting killed constantly is not fun. Especially when the game feels so wonky and weapons so inaccurate. The bitter pill of playing the game is coated in the sugar of a pretty Tatooine.
The game comes close to greatness but doesn’t quite get there. The Arcade mode, which is a series of challenges based on iconic moments from the history of Star Wars, can only be played with one other person offline. Why can’t this be online? The duel mode, in which two heroes take each other on one on one, can only be played split-screen. The hero gameplay is simple and sluggish, but Kylo Ren vs. Darth Vader would be fun just because. It almost feels like they might charge to bring that mode online.
The campaign itself is short, and offers a few interesting additions to the overarching Star Wars mythos, but as a standalone story it feels like it tries too hard to shoehorn in every possible trope from the Star Wars series. It’s more prequel than original trilogy. When we spoke to one of the makers of the campaign, it seemed like we’d be exploring the individual morality of an elite Empire trooper, but in reality, it’s a collection of cutscenes mixed with bland levels and uninteresting plot devices we’ve seen a million times before. Motivations for characters seem to wholly shift from chapter to chapter with little explanation, and there are moments that just make the Empire look like a bumbling group of fools that consistently leave their overpowered war machine in precarious positions to have one or two skilled opponents bring the whole thing crumbling down.
There’s a massive battle near the end of the game that sends the player from land to air over and over again in an intense bid to turn the tide in the Galactic Civil War, and more of this was needed. Too much of the campaign feels like a multiplayer game relying on the crutch of familiar characters and tiny drips of plot to make the mediocrity palatable. If only Battlefront leaned into their ground battles and focused on telling a real, adult tale about the grey area of war. Instead, there is dashing and completely out of left field romance, and a non-ending. It looks good, though.
Star Wars: Battlefront II is here if you want to turn your brain off completely and get enveloped by the orchestral score from John Williams while lasers fly past your head. It’s simplistic, easy to play for everyone, and utterly beautiful. But for gamers who won’t be sucked in by nostalgia or a love of the series, there are many, many options other than this vanilla shooter. For most, it’ll just create cynics.
Here’s hoping the third game finally gets it right.