Worthy Of The Name "Star Wars"-- Star Wars: Battlefront II

If someone came up to me and said, "Battlefront II's fall from grace and the eventual rise to it in the last 3 years was akin to Vader's own redemption in Return Of The Jedi", I wouldn't disagree with them.

Star Wars: Battlefront II had quite the rocky release in 2017, plagued with micro-transactions, lootboxes and a scummy levelling system. But since then, DICE and EA have been on a mission to redact these mistakes and catapult the gameplay and the overall game itself to an astonishingly enjoyable experience. Did they succeed in this mission? Well, I don't want to spoil the suspense, but yes, yes, they did and in this review, I would like to discuss the gameplay, solely the gameplay and levelling system, not the campaign or the maps and whatnot.

Battlefront II is a third-person/first-person shooter that specializes in both lightsaber and blaster combatry. And this is where I start pouring my unbarred praise.

The game is mainly a shooting game, unless you invest all your playtime in Heroes Vs. Villains matches or Hero Showdowns.

In gameplay, the camera placement is in an over-the-shoulder positions like most third-person shooter games, *but*, the placement in itself is done in a way that doesn't obscure one-third of the screen, a problem that does plague a lot of other third-person shooters. As for first-person gameplay, I can’t comment viscerally because I haven’t played in that camera setting for enough time to give a concrete opinion. But judging from the third-person gameplay’s approachability, the same can be expected from the fps setting.

All these attributes can be amplified, improved or decreased, depending on their usability, by acquiring Star Cards. Star Cards are obtained by levelling up. You can also upgrade the Cards to higher rarity by spending Skill Points which are earned by levelling up. (Note that the same Points are used to unlock said Cards.)

I am not exaggerating when I say that the gameplay makes me marvel at it everytime I play it. It’s simply astonishing to me that the gameplay that’s based on gunplay also excels masterfully at lightsaber combatry. You can play in either modes and not feel alienated at all because DICE hit the perfect sweet-spot between mobility and tacticality. In both cases, the gameplay is robust but also focused.

That’s not to say it's without its caveats. There are some. Well, namely two.

First one more or less depends on the players. Due to the slightly alien nature of the gameplay, there’s a learning curve here, a rather ever-so-slightly steep one since the gameplay is a bit different than usual. One that you shouldn’t have too hard of a time grasping, but it’s something that you need to be on the lookout for. Second one is a bigger downer though. For such a polished and focused game, you would be forgiven to think there’s level-balancing or skill-balancing in matches. Sadly that happens very seldom. There were instances where I, a Level. 18 Darth Maul player, was pitted against a Level. 354 Anakin Skywalker main. The level-balancing is already broken and it certainly didn’t help during the match that Anakin is also one of the more beefed characters in the game (Character buffs and nerfs are also a problem sadly). With so many good things working in tandem, it’s a shame that most often that calculated gameplay will have a possibility of being ruptured due to suffering to an over-levelled player or you overpowering someone without the slightest challenge at all.

Despite those complaints, for a game that was broken and near-unplayable at launch, DICE and EA have worked their backs off at improving this game over the last three years. And I can’t help but praise them for sticking to the game and not letting the player-base down and over time, making Battlefront II a very enjoyable experience.

One that truly earns the title of “Star Wars.”

And so, Star Wars: Battlefront II will go down as one of, if not, the best content in all of Star Wars media, and whenever I will remember this game, my memory will harken back to the days when I had a blast playing as Han Solo, running around the corridors of the Bespin City Tower, humming along to the Carbonite Chamber theme, firing away or that time when I finally earned a 5-player-killstreak as Darth Maul during a Heroes vs. Villains match in Crait, and even though I struggled as a new player, I still had fun because the gameplay was crisped to perfection.

Star Wars: Battlefront II earns my glowing recommendation, and whether you are a casual shooter player or a hardcore Star Wars fan, you owe it to yourself to experience it, even if for an excruciatingly brief time or an equally wholesome lasting memory.