Star Wars Battlefront II

Your Star Wars fantasy made real, wrapped around a poorly-designed progression system. [Jan 2018, p.70]

Excellent online action offers hours of Stormtooper-shooting fun, but the so-so campaign stumbles, while cynical loot crates leave a sour taste. [Jan 2017, p.83]

Although game has huge problems with p2w microtransactions, it is still a good and fun gameplay experience with stunning visuals.

Star Wars Battlefront II's campaign is merely okay, and its multiplayer is hamstrung by an awful upgrade system. There's also the spectre of loot boxes hanging over it like a Lightsaber of Damocles. However, it looks and sounds amazing, and gameplay-wise delivers the goods.

With Battlefront 2, DICE has done everything to please Star Wars fans short of bending space and time so they can experience the original film's 1977 release as excitable ten-year-olds. There are problems, but the biggest are the fault of EA; a publisher publicly, frantically figuring out how to run a game as a live service, and which crossed a line now well-defined by its mistakes.

A highly entertaining Star Wars shooter with polish for days finds itself blemished by boorish progression systems and uneven game modes. That said, in its current form, I greatly enjoyed Star Wars Battlefront II and chances are, if you have a hankering for a mostly well-executed and enjoyable Star Wars FPS, you will too.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 is made up of many different parts that are pretty good, but the whole is consistently undermined by poor choices in the game’s multiplayer economy. No aspect of Battlefront 2 is beyond redemption, but it’s hard to fall in love with any part of it, either. It’s mostly a disjointed, sporadically fun collection of modes set in familiar Star Wars scenes. Because players have no idea what is really being sold to them, or when, you have a big-name launch that gets in the way of itself more than it creates fun. Star Wars fans who feel compelled to try everything in the franchise will probably have an OK time. But the lack of clear vision that Battlefront 2 shows at its debut is too much uncertainty for a AAA shooter, much less one bearing the Star Wars logo.

It’s hard not to feel like Star Wars Battlefront II should’ve been better than what it is. While some like to think that the implementation of loot crates is a worse crime than that of killing younglings, in reality it just proves to be uninteresting and makes it more likely for me to bounce off of the multiplayer sooner rather than later. The real disappointment falls upon that of the campaign which I clearly had too much hope for. It’s not a story that I would say I hate more than sand, but it also isn’t memorable at all.

This is a beautiful, fun game with huge ambitions for being an important part of the Star Wars universe as it is today. It introduces a fascinating new character and injects her right into the main storyline. But it does so in such a disappointingly banal way, it’s hard to care after the story is over. Meanwhile, the fun continues for a bit in the multiplayer until you’re crushed under the boots of either “enormous grind” or “emptying wallet.”

DICE needs to untangle monetization and progression, keeping any elements that give players an advantage in battle away from real world money. Progression should feel like a reward for playing the game, not paying the game. It’s disappointing that this conversation needs to surround such an amazing title. Star Wars Battlefront II is an insanely fun and full featured experience no matter which corner of the galaxy or era of the story you go to.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 has deeper gameplay and an actual single player that really honors Star Wars. Unfortunately loot boxes and a bad progression system prevent this game from really blowing us away.

Star Wars Battlefront II still tips more toward the causal side of multiplayer competition, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a fair amount fun to be had. That said, the game’s potentially pay-to-win progression model doesn’t do it any favors.

And the sad truth is that those who can’t play for scores upon scores of hours and refuse to spend more money to get the game’s best stuff will likely feel the consequences in online play as they go up against those who have. This could potentially put a serious damper on online fun as time rolls on.

There’s something special about the Battlefront games, and how they capture the excitement of the beloved films. Star Wars: Battlefront II excels on that front, like its predecessor did, and does it in a smarter, more interesting way. It also offers much more of that experience, with a single-player campaign and plenty of multiplayer modes rounding what feels like a fairly complete package...Still, Battlefront II is much less of a sequel than the Battlefront done correctly. It feels the same, and carries all the same problems, as its predecessor. With a fun but ultimately unremarkable single-player story, returning to Battlefront probably won’t blow many fans’ minds.

I am passionate about the Star Wars product and want it to be a great experience top to bottom, so don’t get the wrong idea with my criticisms. I very much like Battlefront 2, it improves on everything from 2015’s game, but it still definitely needs work. Over time this could become the definitive Star Wars multiplayer experience but it’s not there yet; content over the next six to twelve months will be key and how EA treats consumers will also be important on the success of this game. The bigger question I have is; will all these problems at launch doom the title before it really gets going. As DLC was released for 2015’s Battlefront, I saw less and less people playing and had a much harder time getting into match ups. Hopefully that isn’t the case here and we can see this community thrive off what is really a great game that just stumbled out of hyperspace.

It’s hard to separate Star Wars Battlefront 2 from the controversy that surrounds it, and it’s a shame. Behind its greedy progression system that’s designed to encourage microtransactions at the expense of the player’s fun, there are many great elements to the game. Its dogfights, for one thing, are the best we’ve seen in a video game.

Star Wars Battlefront II is a gorgeous, incredibly fun shooter that builds on its roots with a host of new content, welcome gameplay tweaks and a fun single-player campaign. But all of its improvements are overshadowed by the Star Destroyer of crooked business decisions and terrible progression, making it a hard sell right now.

Battlefront 2 does a lot of things right, offering a Star Wars experience that’s stunning to look at and wonderfully faithful to the source material, but it stumbles hard on the delivery. The campaign is amusing but scatterbrained, and worse, in multiplayer the randomized progression systems are downright hostile toward its players. EA has already made two big adjustments to this system in the week leading up to launch alone, and we can only hope that more significant changes are on the way. But right now, the Star Cards system’s frustrating progression is actively driving me away from the multiplayer battles.

In a game that’s supposed to be all about skill-based multiplayer, it’s baffling that so many crucial elements of your load out can be bought through loot boxes.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 feels lackluster and dull in so many categories. Besides the entirely too short story that adds very little substance to the Star Wars universe, the progression system is so infuriatingly bad that I found it hard to continue. Yes, the game is gorgeous, and the actual gameplay is passably fun when it works; especially Starfighter Assault. But that can’t overcome the fact that the rest of the game is pretty boring/forgettable to play.

Rarely have we witnessed such a betrayal of a perfectly good game by the very company that owns it. Drawing the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, Battlefront 2’s progression system and Loot-fest extravaganza are downright hostile to the people who just want to enjoy the game. EA seems to have taken on the corrupted mantle of the Emperor and, despite the truly awe-inspiring Star Wars themed playground that DICE has faithfully built, Battlefront 2 has an unpleasant Anakin Skywalker vibe to it.

Despite the removal of the microtransactions, player progression is still largely tied to the randomized loot boxes--mitigating player agency and choice in multiplayer.

Star Wars Battlefront 2’s saving grace is its multiplayer. A strong offering provides you with a number of ways to play and a variety of locations to battle on, and if it manages to stick to a level playing field once the infamous microtransactions are added back into the game, it’s an experience we’ll continue to return to. But this is not enough to excuse the abysmal campaign. Any uniqueness dissipates all too quickly, and what follows is a boring set of missions that often feel misguided and unrealistic.

Star Wars Battlefront II gets a lot of things right. The presentation is absolutely top-notch, the gameplay is fun and well-executed and the choice of property is among my fall-time favourites. Where Star Wars Battlefront II has hurt itself is in a lack of care around the ability to play with your friends and a progression system structure around microtransactions. While those optional purchases are (currently) turned off, they will be back in some form or another and in the meantime, players are left with a hell of a slow grind in making progress... slow to the point that it's just not entertaining.

A solid online shooter ruined by thoughtless corporate greed, whose malign practises could damage the whole of gaming if they are not kept in check.

As a Star Wars fan, Battlefront II is disappointing. As a Battlefront (2015) apologist, it’s sad to see that familiar sins have popped up again, and questionable design decisions mar the fun parts: the campaign, split-screen versus, Heroes vs Villains, Starfighter Assault, and those rare fair fights on Galactic Assault. There’s a good game buried somewhere beneath too many cons. I just hope that Motive, Criterion, and DICE can right the starship before too many players launch their escape pods.

Star Wars: Battlefront II is a pretty good game and you’re going to get it if you’re a fan of Star Wars, no matter what anyone says. I’m just thankful that the game is an improvement over the first attempt and is incredibly fun solo, or with friends online. The loot crates diminish its value greatly, and it’s a shame EA forces them down your throat as part of the core gameplay, but the game looks gorgeous and is enjoyable to play.

While the campaign feels lackluster and like a prelude to the multiplayer battles, the lootbox lottery that DICE and EA focus on almost knocks out the great fun to be had. They definitely took one step too far into the Dark Side.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 is a game on par with its predecessor in terms of quality, but that is hard to see when it is covered in garbage business decisions.

With beautiful maps and strong shooting gameplay at its core, there was potential for this experience to be fantastic. But without serious work and a fundamental relaunch of the progression system, Star Wars Battlefront 2 is an incredible disappointment.

It is larger but less grand, more detailed but more opaque, deeper on one level but far more ponderous on another. It is successful neither as a Battlefield-style online shooter nor as an approachable arcade experience. That your time with this game is defined by a byzantine and oppressive progression system does not help, nor does the ever-present specter of microtransactions sure to return soon. But this would not be a successful game even if these problems were solved.

There's a lot to love here, but unfortunately, none of these things quite manage to escape from the big loot box-shaped shadow that's hanging over the franchise. For now, do not buy this.

Star Wars Battlefront II features stunning audiovisual design, but it sets a new low for loot crate systems. With advantages determined by random chance and possibly returning to microtransactions in the near-future, it destabilizes the fun and spirit of competition. Meanwhile, the much-touted campaign is devoid of any memorable moments. Fans will certainly enjoy playing as the heroes and villains, but it’s hard to recommend Star Wars Battlefront II.

Even if EA and DICE decided to do an about face and remove or lessen the effect loot boxes have on gameplay, they're too wired into Star Wars Battlefront 2. It would take a full overhaul of the leveling and progression system to straighten up this mess. It's a shame because Battlefront 2 is really a great game underneath the predatory microtransactions.