Star Wars: Battlefront II

aka: Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (Classic, 2005), Star Wars: Battlefront II (Classic, 2005)
Moby ID: 21218
PlayStation 2 Specs
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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

  • 星球大战:前线II - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

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

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[ 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)

I hate droidekas.

The Good
Large battlegrounds with plenty of AI walking around.

Story mode presented through the eyes of a soldier.

Galactic Conquest is a surprising addition.

The Bad
Weapons handle like ass.

Some game mechanics feel unfinished or under-explained.

Space combat doesn't quite work yet.

CIS is too overpowered.

The Bottom Line
It was recently announced that Dice was developing a new Star Wars: Battlefront game on the Frostbite engine, which was enough to make me call E3 2013 a success. I never watched the Star Wars movies, tv show or breakfast cereal, but this particular series is very dear to me.

The game is all about reenacting the famous battles from the movies, starting out with war against the CIS and extending all the way to the events of the original trilogy. You are a member of the 501st clone army and your brigade is unfortunate enough to be shipped from one battleground to the other. On these battlegrounds, you get to pick a class and will have to fulfill objectives with the help of the AI soldiers.

What I like about this setup is that you aren't some kind of superhuman, bullet-absorbing powerhouse, but rather a petty private slogging through the mud along with your equally mortal friends. If you run into enemies, then you rely on your superior skills at firing and dodging to get you through the encounter, since five or six bullets are enough to kill you. It gives a lot more epic feel to the battles, when you realize you are only a part of the war machine and actually need your fellow clones to survive the day.

Most battles revolve around capturing control points, which allow you, and your allies, to respawn at that point. If you have all control points, then you win the battle, unless the enemy can recapture a point within 20 seconds. You can, however, lose the battle if the enemy manages to drain your reinforcements pool before you get all the points (or, in some cases, before you can do the same to them).

The game also has vehicles, space-battles and co-op in it, which at least means that it has plenty of content for your average title. The space-battles can be slightly annoying, though, as the points system is very poorly set up and can lead to situations where the enemy has a completely wrecked main ship, but still wins because the AI was doing nothing to prevent them from shooting down your gunships. Flight control works for the most part, but it's very easy to overshoot when you're performing acrobatics to get an enemy in view, which is made worse by the lack of a slow-down function.

All other aspects of the gameplay work very well and are generally fun to use, even if I do think that most weapons handle like ass. Vehicles handle like you would expect from them, the control scheme is very adequate for a shooter and everything is balanced. I do however feel like the CIS is way too overpowered, since they have the droideka as an additional unit, which moves faster, has more health and can call upon a one-way shield for complete immunity. They also have an insane gunship, which pretty much excels in all fields, excluding maneuverability, making it excellent at taking down frigates, smaller ships, other gunships and, if you hold out for long enough, you'll get a repair bonus that makes it impossible for anybody to destroy the gunship.

There is also Galactic Conquest, which is a soft-strategy game in which you and a friend can fight over domination of the galaxy. It's remarkably solid for an alternate mode hidden inside a third-person shooter, though the bonuses you can purchase completely break some of the battles, such as the ridiculous reinforcements boost. There used to be online support for this game, but it has since then been dropped.

A recommendation for this title goes out to all Star Wars fans, though I doubt that will surprise anybody. If you are not a fan, then this game is still pretty good if you can forgive the lack of a proper story and just want to enjoy some hectic battlegrounds with sci-fi weapons in it. Admittedly, it is rather rough around the edges, but it's also a very varied and rich game that is certain to please most gamers.

PlayStation 2 · by Asinine (957) · 2013

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

I want to kiss the makers of this game!

The Good
Practically everything was great. The graphics are great, the storyline is great and the places you go to are even better. I just so love the idea of the space battles. And we get to play as Jedi now! How cool is that? Even though you can only do four lightsaber moves with them (minus lightsaber throw) It's still great to play as the Jedi, and Sith of course.

The Bad
A real disappointment is the amount of planets they took away, like Bespin and Rhen Var. Another thing is how small the space battles are. They should be as broad as the movies. Another con is the Jedi character voices. They don't sound a thing like the movie voices. The only exceptions are Jango Fett, Boba Fett and Greivous.

The Bottom Line
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (in "Rise of the Empire" mode) is about a clone legion known as the 501st. It features planets such as Tatooine, Geonosis and Kashyyyk. The game also space battles. My advice is Buy It NOW!!!!!

Xbox · by M.Allen (83) · 2006

[ 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.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Xbox One added by karttu.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Patrick Bregger, Plok, WONDERなパン.

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