Star Wars: Battlefront II Beta Impressions

Electronic Arts and DICE are going for Round 2.

In 2015, we were treated to the rebirth of a long-time favorite of the Star Wars game franchise: Star Wars: Battlefront.

What we ended up getting was the barest of bones experience. The Original Trilogy setting, with the later addition of The Force Awakens. Space battles and Galactic Conquest never made the cut, and we were treated to additional content with the season pass.

With those sore memories, does Star Wars: Battlefront II appear to be faring any better?

It Looks Right, Plays Right…

Who wouldn’t want to be Darth Maul?

Like with the previous version, Star Wars: Battlefront II looks and feels just right, which comes as little surprise. The issue was with the amount of content provided. Luckily, the sequel looks to have plenty to do. In addition to the normal multiplayer and arcade mode, Star Wars: Battlefront II tacks on the Prequel Trilogy setting, featuring the super badass, Darth Maul (among others) along with what is promised to be a full campaign and souped up game modes.

Following in the footsteps of the original Battlefront titles, this newest game focuses on the churn of the battlefield. Troop lifespan in Star Wars: Battlefront II is generally short… In fact, DICE has experience with this style of gameplay with the Battlefield franchise.

It’s all very solid, and the aerial battles in particular are spacious and gorgeous, what with explosions and sweet Star Wars spaceships everywhere.

The arcade mode provides shorter experiences, with specific challenges to complete. The beta provides players with two scenarios to play through. One being a chance to tear through Republic soldiers as Darth Maul and the other as Trade Federation droids against the Republic. The arcade mode doesn’t make for much of a worthwhile experience in my book, but I can see why some may find the mode entertaining.

Sometimes you need some air support

As for the standard multiplayer, the larger battles are much more interesting, pitting you against AI and players in massive battles focusing on specific objectives. The ground battle, Galactic Assault, throws you down to down to Naboo in a battle to attack using or defend against an MTT deployment against the capital. The Starfighter Assault mode pits you and your allies against an armada under similar circumstances.

Showing Their Cards

There’s no way you won’t be able to spend real money on these

Of course, the news of Electronic Arts not requiring a season pass for additional content was met (correctly) with praise, but my skepticism seems to have been warranted, because they’ve opted for a different method of squeezing money out of their customers… Loot boxes.

I can’t say I’m terribly surprised, but I suppose this is the price gamers pay to ditch season passes. Perhaps these forms of monetization are more profitable than high priced DLC?

Does It Suck?

Honestly, no. The beta provides a decent vertical slice of the experience, and from what Jennifer and I played, it’s pretty fun. It reminds me of playing the older Battlefront games on my PS2 and original Xbox, though with immensely better graphics and performance. It also didn’t make me feel like a total loser because I was able to actually compete. Though that may be a totally unrelated…

I honestly could see myself playing this when it releases, if only so Jennifer and I could tear about in split screen co-op, and to play about with the single player.

What are your thoughts? Have you tinkered about with the Star Wars: Battlefront II beta?

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