Star Wars Battlefront II: Blows the Original Battlefront Away

Star Wars Battefront II has been out for a month now by the time you're reading this. Released for PS2, PSP Xbox, and PC, it has been one of the most awaited sequels these last few years. For a quick recap, Star Wars Battlefront is considered one of the top Star Wars games ever, and sold millions throughout the country. It was a combat game that centered around controlling a faction and going to war "Star Wars style". You could battle in classic Star Wars locations, such as Hoth, Endor, and Cloud City, with locations never seen in the movies such as Rhen Var and pre-ROTS Kashyyyk.

Battlefront II is just as much, if not better than Battlefront in terms of general fun and game stats. Game-play in Battlefront II has changed a lot compared to its prequel, as in the first you simply killed off all your enemy's units and won just like that in story mode. In Battlefront II, they've done away with that simple win system to give each level special objectives which must be met in order to proceed with the level and eventually, the win. In other words, you can't just run in each level killing everything in sight, securing a win, as all levels have objectives that must be met, and most have unlimited units set to the enemy anyway.

Another aspect about the story mode is there is only one story mode in this one, compared to the multiple story modes in Battlefront. Fear not though, as the story mode in Battlefront II is great and easily makes up for that. One thing that any good game has is level and Battlefront II proves to meet that requirement with its big variety of locations. With the addition of space battles, you have a great collection of levels to make your selection. Some levels that were in Battlefront have been placed into this one as well, which are basically the same exact areas except they've been tweaked around a bit. Some new levels are Mustafar, Utapau, Felucia, the Death Star and Kashyyyk (ROTS), with the returning levels of Kamino, Hoth, Mos Eisley, Geonosis and others.

Of course, in order to fully appreciate all these levels, one must have some nice graphics to compliment them right? Battlefront II amazed me with its graphics. I see improvement compared to the first one. Everything, particularly soldiers in my opinion, stood out to me with this one. Everything is much more realistic and everything is just a sight to witness. Control-wise, the game is basically the same as its prequel, at least on the PS2 and Xbox versions, as the trigger is still there, the grenades are still that button, and so on. I liked the controls very much and didn't give me any hassles, although I did find my self-throwing grenades a few times when I meant to be crouching while playing the Xbox version.

Overall, I really found this game enjoyable and I recommend Battlefront II to anyone who played the first and liked it. Battlefront II offers great gameplay, nice online features, super graphics, and an impressive replay value. It offers even more than the original and you won't tire from this game, as there is a ton to do single player and online play. I found you don't have to be a Star Wars fan to get into this, as many people I've talked to on gaming forums as well is in public have said they played this game and loved it for what it is.

My Rating:

Gameplay: 5/5
Controls: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Graphics: 5/5
Replay Value: 5/5
Overall: 24


Written by: Seto Fett
Proofread by: Sherbros
Coded by: Poison333