Star Wars: Battlefront II

Star Wars: Battlefront II is a first-person shooter/third-person shooter (interchangeable) video game developed by Pandemic Studios and LucasArts, and released in North America on November 1, 2005 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, and the PlayStation 2. There are several differences between Battlefront II and the original Battlefront, such as playable Jedi characters, new unit classes, space battles, story campaigns, as well as Revenge of the Sith content. The release date coincided with the release of Revenge of the Sith on DVD.

Battlefront II expands upon the original game's single-player experience with mission-based objectives drawn from Star Wars Episodes II through V. It is a story-based campaign which revolves around the 501st Legion as the unit evolves from the Old Republic clone troopers to Imperial stormtroopers. The storyline spans more than 16 new locations, many from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, including volcanic Mustafar and the space battle above Coruscant. Many maps that came from the original Battlefront were edited and improved, like the Naboo battlefield. Also included are battles from the original trilogy, such as fights aboard the Tantive IV, Princess Leia's blockade runner, shown immediately at the beginning of A New Hope.

Gameplay

Basics and changes

There are several differences in overall gameplay between the first and second Battlefront installments. The first is an attempt to add realism to missions by adding objectives and changing the way orders are issued. The second group of changes revolves around a point system, which determines which units can be used, special abilities for players, and rank.

In campaign mode, in addition to the basic tasks of capturing command posts and killing enemy troops, certain objectives must be met for a mission to be successful. These missions may include destroying a specific target, recovering an item, or keeping the opposing force from overrunning a position. In these situations, enemy reinforcements are unlimited and will continue to be deployed until the objective is completed.

While controlling troops, the most striking difference between the original and the sequel is the method of issuing orders. Unlike the original Battlefront, in which up, down, left, and right on the directional pad each issued a specific command to nearby groups, commands are now issued by using the targeting reticule to select a specific soldier and pressing the up button. The system chooses which command seems appropriate; for infantry troops, the up button toggles between "back me up" and "move out". In vehicles, the commands are either "get in" or "get out". An infantry trooper targeting a vehicle can order it to stop. Although the variety of commands is much more limited and issuing them is more complicated, the new aiming feature allows users to select the exact class of trooper they want to help them, as well as order vehicles to stop from a considerable distance. The number of troops at the player's command is based on the player's rank (see squad leader ranks below).

Hero points are another new feature, and are the key to unlocking advanced unit types as well as playable heroes. Hero points are awarded for positive in-game actions, such as kills, capturing command posts or destroying vehicles. In order for players to spawn as a special unit (see below), they must accumulate the required number of Hero points. Until that time, the special units will be greyed out on the spawn select screen. In addition, only a certain number of any particular unit are allowed on the board at one time.

By accomplishing certain objectives, players will be awarded medals that can earn bonus power-ups during gameplay, including more powerful weapons and increased stamina. The bonuses are usually temporary but can become permanent if enough medals are earned. When a player earns a certain total number of medals, the character will receive a promotion. With each new rank, the player may command a certain number of friendly A.I troops. Sergeant (20 medals) allows for one soldier to be controlled; Captain (100 medals) enables three soldiers; and General (300 medals) provides the opportunity for four controllable soldiers. However, "heroes" are unable to command A.I troops, with the exception of the assault modes.

On certain levels, there are three-way battles between the two normal factions and a third, neutral group. Although neutral sides are not controlled by the players outside of hunt mode (see below), some of these forces will shift their neutrality in certain locations.

Units

Battlefront II features nine units, each with different weapons, equipment, and skills. The player can choose from six normal units in ground battles, two units in space battles, and "heroes" (characters from the films). The basic infantry class — and the default unit in "Galactic Conquest" mode — is the Trooper. They are armed with a rapid-fire blaster rifle, a blaster pistol (the Super Battle Droid has a wrist blaster and tri-shot instead), and thermal detonators (3 wrist rockets for the Super Battle Droid). Heavy Weapons troops specialize in taking down enemy vehicles, tight formations of infantry, and hard, reinforced points from afar. Each is armed with a rocket launcher, a pistol, mines, and thermal detonators. The heavy weapons troops include the Rebel Vanguard, the Imperial Shock Trooper, the Republic Heavy Trooper (Advanced Recon Commando), and the Separatist Battlefront II#CIS Units.

Snipers — which consist of Battlefront II#Rebel Units, Imperial Scout Troopers, Battlefront II#Republic Units, and the Assassin Droid — specialize in long range combat. They have a sniper rifle, a deployable stationary auto-turret, a pistol, and thermal detonators. The pilots from the original Battlefront have been replaced by Engineers in ground battles. They are much stronger in combat with combat shotguns and feature special equipment and abilities, such as det-packs, ammo and health dispensers, repair and hijacking tools (fusion cutters), and the ability to walk over and disarm mines without detonating it.

Special units

When a player earns eight points, he unlocks the commander unit. Each commander features a unique skill related to the player's faction. Each requires Republic Clone Commanders use chainguns, blasters, and the ability to increase the defense of nearby troops with rally. Next, Confederacy Magnaguards use bulldog RLRs, raditation launchers, and neuro poison to cripple nearby biological enemy infantry. Rebel Bothan Spies are armed with a cloaking skill, incinerator blasters that destroy the enemy when it nears the cloaked spy, time bombs, and a regeneration ability to gradually heal nearby allies. Finally, Imperial Officers use sonic pistols, mortar launchers, and a rage ability that raises the attack power of nearby allies. All commanders/bonus characters can control and self-destruct recon droids — a returning feature from Battlefront I.

When a player earns twelve points, a special unit for each faction is unlocked. The Republic's Jet Trooper can fly around with a jetpack and destroy enemies with EMP blasts, blaster pistols, or thermal detonators. Confederacy Droidekas feature weak armor, but they can morph into balls for travel and unfold to attack and defend themselves with a shield. This shield has been weakened from the original Battlefront. The Rebels' Wookiee Warrior (formally known as the Wookiee Smuggler) are slower but more defensive than most troops. They come equipped with time bombs, grenade launchers, the aforementioned recon droids, and a bowcaster (which fires simultaneous shots or one charged shot). Imperial Dark Troopers have been modified from the original Battlefront. They carry a brief use-only jetpack and an arc caster that can kill multiple enemies at once if charged up.

Space units

During space (assault) missions, the player can choose from two units available to play: the Pilot class has the ability to repair ships and droids while flying or in the hangars with their Fusion Cutters, and plant timed explosives, using pistols as their main weapon. Marines are more focused on combat on-board the capital ships, utilizing blaster rifles, rocket launchers, and thermal detonators. However, they do not have the ability to repair their ship while flying capability. The appearence of these space units varies for each faction.

Heroes

Players can now play as a Jedi, Sith, or a non-Jedi character (such as Boba Fett or Princess Leia). Each faction has a single character associated with any given battle map. There is only one map — Mos Eisley: Assault — in which every hero character is available; however, assault mode on Kashyyk, Yavin 4: Arena, Bespin: Cloud City, Rhen Var Harbor, Rhen Var Citadel, Coruscant, Mygeeto and Naboo is available for download on Xbox. Additionally, there is a time limit associated with heroes, which is increased by defeating enemies and decreased by taking damage or killing a teammate. This time limit replaces a hero's health gauge, allowing them to potentially withstand more damage than a normal trooper. Moreover, each side may only have a single Jedi/hero on the field at any given time, and how they join the battle varies depending on the type of game being played or settings being used - generally, once a Jedi/hero is defeated, a certain amount of time must elapse or a certain number of points must be earned before that character is able to re-enter the battle.

All heroes and Jedi can use special abilities and instantly kill most enemies. Each Jedi or Sith carries some form of lightsaber, and also has special abilities generally utilizing the Force. These abilities include sprinting faster and longer than normal troopers, saber throw, blocking enemy shots using their lightsaber, high jumping, the "Force lightning" ability, the "Force Choke" ability, and telekinetic abilities such as "Force Push" or "Pull". Each of these abilities drains the Jedi's stamina bar as they are used. Other heroes have their own special abilities or attacks, which do not drain stamina- for example, Princess Leia can project a special protective shielding buff on nearby friendly soldiers, Jango Fett and Boba Fett carry flamethrower weapons, which can set enemy troops on fire, and General Grievous can grant nearby friendly battle droids a damage bonus (however, this ability requires the use of stamina). These other heroes also carry weapons such as blaster rifles, generally of a higher standard than normal troops'.

Vehicles

Battlefront II features three classifications of ships: planetary vehicles, starfighters, and capital ships.

For ground vehicles, the four factions come equipped with various models of scout vehicles, medium assault vehicles, assault walkers, command transports, and mounts. Scout vehicles are quick and have little armor, whereas medium assault vehicles have superior armor and firepower. Assault walkers are more powerful than the medium assault vehicles, but slower. The command transports, however, are the most powerful vehicles in the game (only available as the Republic's AT-TE and the Empire's AT-AT). Additionally, players may use mounts and special craft, such as the tauntaun and the snowspeeder. All vehicles except the Tauntaun and scout vehicles have a critical hit area. A hit in that area will much more damage than a normal shot.

Each faction (Rebels, Empire, Republic, CIS) features four different types of starfighter — bombers, fighters, scout craft, and transports. Bombers are heavily armed and armored, but have extremely slow-firing weaponry which is ineffective against the swift-moving starfighters, however one hit from a bomber's primary weapon will usually inflict tremendous damage to a starfighter. Starfighters are medium sized all-purpose ships with a mix of firepower and speed. They are effective in attacking other small vessels, but can be used effectively against fixed targets, frigates and capital ships. They are all extremely similar and all feature proton torpedoes as secondary weapons (even the TIE Fighter). They lock on slowly but pack more of a punch against ship systems or frigates than the lighter rockets carried by scout fighters. Scout craft, or interceptors, are fast, fragile, lightly-armed dogfighters. They feature missiles which lock on quickly but do not hit hard, and their rapid-firing lasers are best used against multi-role fighters. Finally, transports have the most carrying capacity of all the vehicles. Tranports act as mobile command post, allowing players to spawn when the transport is landed. All transports have more armor and have a remote rocket position.

In space battles, capital ships such as Star Destroyers will appear. Each team has one capital ship. There are other ships around them, how many depending on the map, called frigates. The capital ships can be attacked from the outside and the inside by destroying several vital points throughout the ship. These missions were designed for strategic purposes and not just assaulting other units.

Game modes

Battlefront II includes two variations of the traditional, story-based gameplay: hunt mode and galactic conquest.

In hunt mode, players choose whether to be the hunter or the hunted. The hunted team must survive until the time runs out to claim victory, while the hunters must kill all the hunted to win. Neutral factions may be used in this gameplay variation.

In Galactic Conquest, the objective is to conquer several enemy planets, one battle at a time, to increase control over the galaxy. There are 4 different starting scenarios for galactic conquest (one for each faction). Galactic conquest consists of two stages. Stage one is the acquisition stage, where new fleets, bonuses, and new troop classes can be purchased by using credits accumulated by conquering planets. Stage two consists of moving a fleet (or, alternatively, skipping the turn). When a fleet attempts to occupy a space occupied by an opposing fleet, a space battle ensues. If a fleet attempts to occupy a space occupied by an enemy planet, a ground battle will occur. If both are present, then the space battle must be won to continue to the planet. Capturing planets earns the player credits, which are also earned each round from held planets. After each battle, a summary will appear, showing various statistics of the round. The first player's round ends, and the second player's round begins.

Story

The 501st Legion is an elite Clone trooper/Stormtrooper unit who worked under the command of Darth Vader. They can be seen marching into the Jedi Temple as part of Order 66 in Revenge of the Sith. The campaign portion of the game puts players in control of the 501st, from their second battle on Mygeeto through the Battle of Hoth. (The 501st's first battle on Geonosis is the subject of the game's tutorial.)

Clone Wars Missions

Chapter 1: Fall of the Old Republic— This chapter takes place during the Clone Wars, as the 501st Legion attempts to defeat the Separatist droid armies and strengthen the Republic's hold on the galaxy.

Part 1 (Expanded Universe): Mygeeto—Amongst the Ruins - The 501st must destroy a separatist power plant and steal the power crystals for use in the Death Star.
Part 2 (Revenge of the Sith): Coruscant Space—A Desperate Rescue - The 501st is pressed into space combat during the Battle of Coruscant, and must destroy a Separatist cruiser to clear a path for Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi to rescue Chancellor Palpatine.
Part 3 (Revenge of the Sith): Felucia—Heart of Darkness - The 501st is called in to find a lost legion on Felucia, and battle the CIS with the help of Aayla Secura.
Part 4 (Expanded Universe): Kashyyyk Space—First Line of Defense - The 501st are sent on a seemingly suicidal mission to relieve forces on Kashyyyk. But first, they must fight their way to the planet's surface.
Part 5 (Revenge of the Sith): Kashyyyk—A Line in the Sand - With the help of Yoda, the 501st defend Kashyyyk from CIS forces in the Battle of Kashyyyk.
Part 6 (Revenge of the Sith): Utapau—Underground Ambush - The 501st is sent with General Kenobi to defeat the CIS forces and General Grievous in the Battle of Utapau.
Part 7 (Revenge of the Sith): Coruscant—Knightfall - The Great Jedi Purge has begun, and Darth Vader leads the 501st to clear out the Jedi Temple of traitors.

Galactic Civil Wars Missions

Chapter 2: Rise of the Empire—The Galactic Republic has fallen. Emperor Palpatine has created a new Galactic Empire to rule in its place, and Darth Vader has taken command of the 501st, replacing Republic uniforms and equipment with Stormtrooper armor and weapons.

Part 1 (Expanded Universe): Naboo—Imperial Diplomacy - The 501st, newly-dubbed Stormtroopers, must effect a regime change on the Emperor's home planet by killing Queen Apailana.
Part 2 (Expanded Universe): Mustafar Space—Preventive Measures - Gizor Delso, a surviving member of the CIS, has reactivated a droid army. To prevent the Clone Wars from starting up again, the 501st is sent in.
Part 3 (Expanded Universe): Mustafar—Tying up Loose Ends - The 501st must stop the production of new Battle Droid prototypes, kill Delso, and destroy his factory.
Part 4 (Expanded Universe): Kamino—Changing of the Guard - The cloners on Kamino are raising a legion of clone troopers to use against the Empire. Boba Fett leads the 501st to quell the uprising.
Part 5 (Expanded Universe): Death Star—Prison Break - A dull assignment on the Empire's new battle station turns bloody when a group of rebels breaks out and steals the station's plans.
Part 6 (Expanded Universe): Polis Massa—Birth of the Rebellion - The 501st, reassigned due to the breakout, attempt to track the stolen plans to a Rebel outpost on a faraway asteroid. The Galactic Civil War has begun.
Part 7 (A New Hope): The 501st is sent to recapture the plans from Princess Leia Organa. The battle reenacts the opening battle of A New Hope.
Part 8 (A New Hope): Yavin 4 Space—Vader's Fist Strikes Back - With the destruction of the Death Star, the remnants of the 501st fight to prevent the Rebels from escaping.
Part 9 (Expanded Universe): Yavin 4—Revenge of the Empire - The 501st is sent to exact revenge for those lost on the Death Star by killing the Rebellion's high command of Bothans.
Part 10 (Empire Strikes Back): Hoth—Our Finest Hour - The 501st fights in the Battle of Hoth to crush the Rebellion once and for all.

Cross-era story missions

The missions Preventive Measures and Tying up Loose Ends are Empire vs. CIS. In these two missions a rogue Geonosian called Gizor Delso has reactivated the Droid control beacon on Mustafar, and the 501st must go to the planet, shut down the droids, and kill the Geonosian engineer.

The mission Changing of the Guard is Empire vs. Clones. In this storyline Kamino has been secretly growing a new Clone Army to help the Rebels fight back against the Empire. Darth Vader hires Boba Fett for his knowledge of the inner workings of the Clone Facility, and sends the 501st to Kamino to destroy the Cloning Facility and growing cylinders.

Downloadable content

On December 19, 2005, LucasArts introduced a new downloadable level for the Xbox version of Star Wars Battlefront II through Xbox Live. The upgrade adds a Hero Assault Mode to Kashyyyk, which provides a new alternative to Mos Eisley for the Hero Assault mode.

Another Xbox Live download was made available on January 31, 2006, with two new playable hero characters (Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress) as well as four maps from the original Star Wars: Battlefront. Each of the new boards (Yavin 4: Arena, Bespin: Cloud City, Rhen Var Harbor and Rhen Var Citadel) has Conquest, Capture-the-Flag, and Hero Assault modes (including the two new characters). Rhen Var Harbor also has a Hunt mode where the native species are wampas. In addition, Hero Assault modes were also added to the following maps: Coruscant, Mygeeto, and Naboo.

In late March 2006, the game was added to the Backwards Compatibility List for the Xbox 360, and is now playable on both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360. ^*

Lucasarts released a patch on February 15, 2006. The patch also included support for additional maps, and the modding tools were subsequently released on February 21. [http://forums.lucasarts.com/thread.jspa?threadID=104078&tstart=0

Critical response

IGN claimed that the game suffers from problems remaining from the original Battlefront, such as a lack of challenging AI characters in single player mode. Computer-controlled opponents and allies tend to run headlong into gunfire, wander off ledges, and walk into walls. IGN felt that this, along with redundant use of planets featured in previous Star Wars settings, were problems carried over from the original Battlefront.^*

IGN also noted that the complex controls and graphics of space battles and all-hero battles can make online multiplayer games virtually unplayable. Moreover, IGN felt that Lag times and high ping rates can cause the action to become choppy, objects and players to disappear, and weapons to become ineffective. A related criticism from Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) is the longer load time needed between boards, which is also caused by more detailed graphics and larger maps than the original Battlefront.[http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/ElectronicGamingMonthly/2006/01/01/1090078?ba=a&bi=9&bp=1 For the Playstation 2 version, many have complained about the lack of a patch to resolve most gameplay issues, as well as having a server with large amounts of AI without crashing.

Official criticism of the PSP version revolves mainly around the platform's ability to handle the game, rather than the game itself. Although the graphics were slightly stripped down to improve load times, EGM found Battlefront's controls to be too complex for the PSP's simple controls. EGM cited further problems with the game's slowdown in multiplayer mode.^*

External links

Star Wars: Battlefront II | Star Wars: Battlefront II

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