Star Wars: Battlefront II

aka: Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (Classic, 2005), Star Wars: Battlefront II (Classic, 2005)
Moby ID: 21218
PlayStation 2 Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/18 7:27 AM )
Conversion (official) Included in See Also

Description official descriptions

A second helping of Battlefront provides all the same multiplayer action with an added level of spice, and plenty of new content.

Along with an updated assortment of multiplayer maps based upon the Star Wars Saga, including Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, you now have the opportunity to fight as some of the greatest heroes, including the Skywalker family, Darth Vader, Yoda, The Emperor himself and Princess Leia, among others. An expanded single player campaign has you fighting as Vader's 501st Legion of troops, fighting in the Clone Wars as the undercurrent of evil, soon to be known as the Empire, takes its place in the Galaxy.

Now you can also take to the stars in specially developed multiplayer levels where your skill in an X-Wing or TIE-Fighter come to the fore. Defeat enemy ships and destroy the heavy cruisers and capital ships to achieve victory, or land within enemy territory and blow up a Star Destroyer from the inside.

Spellings

  • æ˜Ÿçƒć€§æˆ˜ïŒšć‰çșżII - Simplified Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

435 People (323 developers, 112 thanks) · View all

Director
Senior Producer
Producer
Lead Designer
Lead Programmer
Art Director
Network Technical Director
Programmers
Additional Programming
Lead Level Designer
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 75% (based on 42 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 92 ratings with 6 reviews)

Use the front, Clones

The Good
The narrative storyline of the game is very enticing. This is the story of a contingent of clone troopers who fight and live through multiple wars and conflicts. This is one of those games where you are technically playing as both protagonist and antagonist regardless of what personal opinions you may hold, after all “Good soldiers follow orders”.

The core of the gameplay is present and faithful to what was in store in the first game. The new unit types are fun to utilize and you can easily switch for another type at the nearest command post. Even better, you get to play as notable hero type characters including Mace Windu, Master Yoda, Boba Fett and ultimately Darth Vader. Might have been nice to have additional characters such as Obi Wan Kenobi, but why make the game too easy? You also get to drive awesome vehicles ranging from speed bikes to the mammoth AT-AT walker.

New elements in the game do have merit. There are missions which have space flight, where you can pilot a fighter, bomber, scout or transport ship. This simulates what you see in the Star Wars movies perfectly and gives you a feel of Star Wars essence. Those space flight missions do take some practice to get through, but thankfully you can skip them if they become too frustrating. If you get tired of the Campaign, you have the Conquest mode for hours of intensive fun to take control of the galaxy.

The Bad
Some issues from the first Battlefront game have been resolved, such as respawning from an undesired location, but the tutorial doesn’t teach you how to use it, so you find out blindly about it. A new issue with the game is that your companion soldiers have a horrible habit of getting into your line of fire, so you end up killing them by no fault of your own. A lot of the time you're putting more effort into the combat than any of your comrades, it’s a pain to work with them. And in the campaign missions, enemies are absolutely infinite until you win, so there’s not too much breathing space.

Even being a new game, a few of the maps are pretty much reused from the previous game, such as the capital of Naboo and the Forest moon of Endor. They might have made those locations a bit more interesting. And then there’s the most force-saken mission in the campaign mode, which is Order 66 in the Jedi Temple. Why? you ask. Because the objective to protect the holobooks is notoriously difficult with Jedi cutting down those bookshelves in seconds. You’re going to be repeating this mission for quite a bit. My advice, use the Clone Engineer for effective Jedi pest control.

Finally, some of the presentation we got from the previous game was disappointingly cut out, such as the increasing scan views of planets as well as a plain looking menu screen without any of the animated battle scenes. Most importantly, you can only play as clone or stormtroopers and rebel fighters, so forget about playing the role of an OOM droid, let alone Count Dooku.

The Bottom Line
The second game of the series is a vast improvement. If the series keeps on going and getting better each time, I strongly encourage it. There are multiple ways you can play this game, and you’re bound to come up with newer and better strategies in each play through. One of the best Star Wars titles that ever came out and a warming to the hearts of every Star Wars fan, even if gaming isn’t their thing. A great game to the end.

Windows · by Kayburt (30255) · 2023

Oh Where Art Thou, TIE Fighter?

The Good
To be honest, there wasn't much about this game that I liked. I'll preface that now, so that you can read the rest of this review with a grain of salt. I am not a big fan of online FPS games.

The graphics were quite good, though not quite top of the line, which is understandable given its target demographic of online players. A little less CPU intensive graphics would (hopefully) provide for a better game experience online. The sound, as with pretty much all Star Wars games I've played, was significantly better than average.

What I like about this game was a notion I had about it before I got it. I'd read with considerable interest that this game would include what amounts to a flight simulator mode.... essentially X-Wing or TIE Fighter! Wow! Even with that feature though, there wasn't enough about the game that intrigued me enough to get it when it first came out.

As a shooter game, there's really not much to be said about it. It has the genre standard game modes and weapons and classes, all with LucasArts' typical Star Wars veneer. Nothing exceptional, either good or bad.

The Bad
The disappointment upon finally getting into a spaceship. I was so eager... playing an FPS game in the vein of Jedi Knight and then running up to an X-Wing, getting in it and taking off... and finding myself flying a go-kart with wings. There was no sense of speed or power (or physics, a constant problem with the Star Wars universe... but I digress).

TIE Fighter is one of my personal favorite games of all time. I was basically hoping for that to have been transplanted here. Now, since it wasn't, maybe that's biasing my opinion of the rest of the game. But that feature was the sole reason I was even remotely interested in playing it. And discovering that it was an arcade implementation rather than a simulator implementation was definitely a let-down.

The Bottom Line
This is not the worst FPS game I've played and isn't even close to the best. When it came out and was discussed in the gaming media I was glad to see LucasArts try to expand the gameplay in the Star Wars universe with the mix of styles or genres in one game. But I was disappointed in the end result. (Same thing I'd say about the space combat in Star Wars Galaxies.)

Long story short - I played it a couple of times when I got it as a gift, haven't touched it in years, and would almost bet my left big toe that I'll never play it again. It's just not my thing.

Windows · by agamer (24) · 2009

Not a private, not quite a General

The Good
As the title suggests, Star Wars Battlefront II allows players to relive their favorite Star Wars battles on the front lines as a member of the infantries that set the backdrop of these masterpiece films.

The objective, like in the first game, is to invade various command posts on a map and to completely destroy the opposing force. Players choose which command post they wish to deploy from and can choose from a variety of infantry classes. The basics units are well rounded, the engineer classes can repair useful objects and heal others, the commanders can deploy recon droids to scout the area, and there are other classes as well with their own unique skills.

Several improvements have been made to the original formula as well. Heroes and Villains from the Star Wars universe can be controlled for brief periods of time (Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Yoda, and many others) to level the playing field. Vehicles can be used on the battle and there are even space battles where the goal is to do as much damage to the enemy fleet as possible (each side gains points for destroying parts of the enemy ship and destroying enemy fighters. The first team to get 180 points is declared the winner).

A new game mode gives Battlefront a story mode (of sorts) for the first. Players play flash backs from the war journal of the 501st legion (The Emperor's personal task force) from Clone Wars (Set during episodes 2-3) and the Galactic Civil War (Set during episodes 4-6). In this mode, players not only take command posts but are charged with defending key grounds and retrieving important items. By completing these objectives, players become more familiar to the games other modes like capture the flag and defending their ground.

The highlight of the game is the online play. The PS2 version features 24 players simultaneously and offers all the game modes in the single player mode (Capture the flag, Conquest, and Galactic Conquest).

The Bad
Unlike the previous Battlefront game, players have no command options or control over their units. This can result in your troops being scattered all over the map and leaving key terrain unprotected from capture, resulting in many casualties fast.

While auto target helps to keep enemies visible, it often times will result in a bit of frustration because other enemies will attack and player's fire will not be directed towards the enemies in front of them but the target who ran off to shoot at someone else, leading to deaths that players don't deserve.

It is often at the critical stages in a battle where a game becomes frustrating. When it comes down to the player being the only person on the map with 11 other enemies left, the game automatically ends with the player loosing, even if they have not been killed or if all the command posts have been captured, resulting in many angry words being directed to said player's television set.

While the game does have a story mode it leaves a lot to be desired. The only cut scenes shown are filtered over images of gameplay with an unidentified Clone Veteran narrating the tale. Even the ending videos of the Galactic Conquest mode look and feel cheaply made and do not make a good reward for the player's dedication to completing the game.

The Bottom Line
Star Wars Battlefront II is an online game and is best suited for LAN parties or playing against millions of strangers, as indicated by the leader boards at the end of each battle along with a statistics tracker for each player profile. However, playing online is not the only way to enjoy Battlefront II and for those who don't have online will find themselves playing Battlefront II as much as online players would. The brief story mode helps to keep players intrigued with the game and Galactic Conquest will unleash the inner Genghis Khan in anybody. Star Wars Battlefront II offers something for almost everyone and those who buy it will not be disappointed with their purchase.

PlayStation 2 · by Lawnmower Man (137) · 2008

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

Awards

  • GameSpy
    • 2005 – The Miguel Lopez Award for Most Awesome Lazors (Xbox)
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 04/2006 - #5 Action Game in 2005 (Readers' Vote)

Online servers

The game's online servers (which were hosted on GameSpy) were scheduled to shut down on 30 June 2014, like for other Electronic Arts titles in the wake of GameSpy's total closure.

Multiplayer was restored specifically on GOG (via the Galaxy client) and Steam versions of the game on 2 October 2017.

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Star Wars: Battlefront
Released 2004 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox...
Star Wars: Battlefront II (Celebration Edition)
Released 2019 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Star Wars: Battlefront - Ultimate Edition
Released 2015 on Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Battlefront
Released 1986 on Apple II, Commodore 64
Star Wars: Battlefront - Bespin
Released 2016 on PlayStation 4
Star Wars: Battlefront - Death Star
Released 2016 on PlayStation 4
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Released 1995 on DOS, 1996 on PlayStation, Windows...
Star Wars: Squadrons
Released 2020 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Star Wars: Battlefront - Outer Rim
Released 2016 on PlayStation 4

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 21218
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Xbox One added by karttu.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Patrick Bregger, Plok, WONDERăȘパン.

Game added February 15, 2006. Last modified March 14, 2024.