Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005)

The improved single-player games are worthwhile enough on their own, but if you can find well connected online matches, multiplayer games will keep you addicted for months.

Space battles can be overwhelming at first, but once you get used to them, it's pretty amazing. [Dec 2005, p.82]

The signature piece of Battlefront II is the ship-to-ship combat... This element makes Battlefront II feel much more like the complete Star Wars experience. [Dec 2005, p.108]

LucasArts has added a ton of new features to an already great game, resulting in one of the best Star Wars games ever. The Force is strong with this one, indeed.

As a more casual shooter, the game is an enormous improvement over its predecessor, fixing all the problems with lag, graphics, and shallow gameplay that kept that game from being the masterpiece it deserved to be.

With gameplay nearly identical to its predecessor, Battlefront II takes every aspect of the original Battlefront and runs with it.

Far superior to the game which spawned it in all areas. The landscapes look great, the character system provides some depth of play as well as a sense of worth, and the space combats are the "twitchiest" I've seen without being uncontrollable.

Unlike some of the movies, everything about Star Wars Battlefront II is an improvement over its predecessor - exactly what a sequel should be, and then some. [PSW]

Authentic and graphically lovely reproductions of every significant character and location from all six films, complete with a range of troop classes to choose from, all with their own weapon sets, a host of vehicles to use, spectacular space battles and fully playable Hero characters.

Perhaps only a third party can produce a title that so glorifies a series that revolutionised cinema, because it’s Pandemic and not LucasArts that has created a game that lives up to the vast shadow created by the films.

More of an incremental change over the original game than a full-blown sequel, but those increments are pretty good ones.

The notion of hopping into an X-Wing, shooting down a flight of TIE fighters and then boarding an enemy Star Destroyer to disable its shields is one that has been deeply rooted in many a Gen X'ers mind. This is now possible, and while space combat is not as refined or complex as say X-Wing Alliance, it opens up the game beyond ground-based combat.

The sequel to last year's third-person/real-time strategy game set in Star Wars land once again manages to be the 'Nam of Wars games. In other words, the disc does a heck of job of trying to make you feel like you're really "in the sh.t" on Coruscant.

The movies may be done, but with games like Battlefront II, I have a feeling that the best in Star Wars is yet to come. [Dec 2005, p.152]

An extended (and actual) single-player campaign that'll keep you busy for days while taking you on a tour of a galaxy far, far away helps balance out an uneven online experience that's amazing when it's good.

Battlefront II is another serving of a meal we’ve already had. It tastes a little better and looks a little fresher. I have no regrets playing through it and urge every Star Wars fan to check it out. Just beware that what you’re getting is not innovation – it’s just more fun.

Battlefront II is a good sequel, but it's got too much in common with the first game to make the upgrade a no-brainer.

As with the last Battlefront, I still feel like I'm controlling cheap plastic toys rather than real soldiers, tanks, or spaceships. Everything looks and feels so insubstantial, with no tangible weight or physics.

New space combat maps and playable Jedi represent some incremental improvements, but for the most part, Battlefront II treads familiar ground, which is great for Star Wars fanatics and fans of team-based online shooters.

It captures the thrills of the original, and spices up a few areas while adding some new things. Unfortunately, space battles drag down the total package; but at least it's trying something different.

Take away the costumes and the lasers and you've still got an excellent example of how to produce multiplayer bedlam. [Dec 2005, p.110]

It doesn't do anything drastically different and in some ways is quite by the numbers, and is still very reliant on the multiplayer options, but for Star Wars fans already pining for the mythical Episodes VII, VIII, and IX it will form a neat addition the collection.

By fixing some of the prior title’s technical wrongs, and by including space-based combat and an attempt at an actual storyline, Pandemic and Lucas Arts have finally produced a game that has a little bit of something for every Star Was fan and non-fan alike.

The series may seem a little aged after just 12 months - something underlined by the superior alternative of Battlefield 2: Modern Combat which is already available - but there's a lot here to get to grips with, especially given that multiplayer effectively triples the potential, with offline and online modes fleshing out the action.

A fun romp that stays interesting no matter how you play it.

Not got broadband? You may want to lop off a point. [Nov 2005, p.82]

Basically, Star Wars Battlefront II improves on every aspect of the original Battlefront. Playable hero characters are the flashiest and most memorable improvement, but the new combat modes and troop types help make this a vast enhancement over the first title in the series.

Armed with a healthy Internet connection, this game will hold at bay the forces of boredom for months. Switch off that connection, though, and witness the biggest turn to the lame side since the new Star Wars movies.