3.12.2017

Whether you love it or hate it, Star Wars Battlefront 2 will be remembered as the most controversial game entry into the franchise ever. People will remember all the key terms like "EA", " pay to win", "loot boxes", etc. I do not wish to sway anyone's already made minds about the game however, this is just my opinion on it.Now, let's begin...Battlefront 2 is an action shooter based in the Star Wars universe, offering a variety of single player, co op and online multiplayer gameplay options. It is because of these options that I rate the game so highly based on the value of content.To start with the single player, it is represented as a linear campaign that's story arks between the film episodes Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.You play as a newly written character, Iden Version, a special ops agent in league with the galactic empire. After their defeat at the decisive battle of Endor, Version and her spec ops team, named Inferno Squad, fall back and rally with what is left of their empire, in an attempt to avenge their fallen emperor and brothers in arms.Story wise, I find Iden's journey compelling from the start. Aside from a few past games like Tie Fighter, we never really get a point of view tale from the Empire's side. We know as an audience what they're capable of but to see their representation and ideals from an insider's insights is fresh; Iden has been bought up on propaganda like corrupt Jedi and protecting the galaxy from itself since child birth, and you feel this influence reach out to you as a player. I remember my first few hours of the game slaughtering rebels with no qualm, almost as if the bravado of the empire was rubbing off on me, like the rebels were the badguys! Without spoiling anything, there are a few twists and some slices of playable cameos of classic film heroes, but I thought the actors for voice overs and motion cap were well cast and well written. Janima Gavankar does a great job in her role as Iden.Gameplay wise, the campaign is linear and focuses on a mix of boots on the ground firefights and air/spacebourne fighter dogfights, some areas being open enough to provide a sense of space and creativity against foes, while keeping up the pace of an A to B story mode.Before getting into multiplayer, I'll cover the mechanics of the controls for on foot and fighter combat, as that will cross over into the online mode in question. You control with typical dual analogue set up with abilities bound to the number buttons and the Y button. These include grenades, shields, secondary weapons and misc items like placeable turrets. Instead of ammo, you use a cool down system for laser blasters, and these primary weapons can be swapped out in the campaign at weapon racks or caches. Unlike the previous Battlefront game, weapons have a sense of dynamic handling to them, such as high recoil or aiming down sights to refine accuracy at a distance.Fighter sections control very similiar to a previous game I played and loved called Star Wars Starfighter. The left stick controls role tilt and pitch, and the right stick controls thrust speed. Utilizing this control in the right way is the closest I've felt to geniolry being in the cockpit of a fighter from the universe. You have a lot of control to engage in quick and nimble dogfights of navigating through asteroids and debris, and the camera perception really helps to navigate your surroundings, be it 1st or 3rd person view, which can be switched on the fly in fighter and on foot modes.Now for what makes the online different in terms of gameplay, you don't select from a large cache of weapons, instead you have classes that define what kind of weapons and abilities you will use in a game. There are 4. Assault is the main balanced soldier with a battle rifle, heavy trooper has a heavy machine blaster, officer has a pistol and buff abilities for other players, and the specialist which acts like a sniper/recon. Each class brings something different to the battlefront and the inclusion of multi-era battle scenarios held cover the different historical factions like the clone army vs Separatist battle droids, rebel alliance vs empire and the resistance vs first order, including specific era maps like Kamino and Naboo from the prequal trilogy, to Jakuu and Starkiller base in the new films.The game modes consist of 5, galactic assault and Starfighter assault being the main flagship modes, with objective based strike, death match blast and heroes vs villains. Galactic feels very vast with 20 players per side and the maps are huge to traverse and fight over. You also get battle points for kills and objectives which you can use to spawn as elite support troops, classic heroes from all era and even support vehicles. Starfighter mode is exclusively fighters, 3 classes, fighters, interceptors and bombers. All have different feels of speed and damage input based on their role and there's a lot of fun to be had from mixing then up. I've had many a fun match fighting aces with interceptors and then commuting bombing runs on objectives like capitol ships or internal reactors. Each map is different I'm it's objectives structure style so you don't just get a new background template, you get mildly different games each round. I found this was what separated these 2 main modes from walker assault and fighter squadron in the previous Battlefront: the objectives was exactly the same per map but these maps include context to the sides you play and the location you're in. You'll be hijacking a AT AT Walker on Endor to attack an imperial base and defending a palace as the clone troops on Naboo.Strike is a best of style smaller game, similar objectives like "king of the hill" or "capture the flag" over smaller chunks of the assault maps wasn't really an appeal to me at first. Bit after playing so many long and vast galactic assault games, this proves as a nice bite sized Battlefront experience, almost like a short intense game of football. Blast is a standard team deathmatch in the same in terms of size and time as strike, and heroes vs villains is a variety of team death match where over rounds, a player assumes the role of the objective target for the opposing team, and your allies must defend you. It also has a fun novelty factor; if you were a kid with the figures and ever thought "what'd it be like to have Darth Maul fight Han Solo, this puts that fan fiction into play!In terms of progression, you gain different in game currency from games and set milestones to unlock " star cards that either upgrade qualities like health regent speed or ability cooldown, to swapping out class abilities for others. Example being the assault classes's shotgun ability could be swapped for a homing rocket launcher or precision pistol. Certain grenades for flash or emp grenades. And weapons can be purchased and upgraded, though they fall in line with the same category as that class. Heavy will unlock varies heavy weapons, officers get pistols.Before covering the co op friendly arcade mode, I'll talk about the loot box controversely as briefly as possible and how I felt the apparent pay to win aspect has affected my online experience.I purchased the standard version, no elite pre order cards and despite playing a few hours a day and getting a decent amount of in game currency, I've hardly purchased any cards or " buffs". Despite this, I've enjoyed a load of competetive matches against players who may have been equipped with these elite cards and while I am not a massive online league gamer, all the games I've played have felt fair and based on skill and timing, as opposed to a higher explosive damage or quicker regent health. Some people might feel differently but I don't feel that they outbalance the game to the point that it is broken and unfair to inexperienced players. Even if or when EA turns these micro transactions back on in the future, I still think the game will be fun and fair to play for players who don't wish to splash out on virtual variety packs (the cards all come in literal loot boxes, as does the ones you properly unlock through gameplay, although these are titled and have specific unlocks and aren't just randomized).Lastly, arcade mode is an offline custom game set that can be played solo, co op or versus. There's a few fun options to custom set and the team match and onslaught modes included are reminiscent to Halo's firefight or Gears of War horde. You also have select "scenarios" to complete that are a fun distraction and earn more milestones, but I highly recommend setting your own values. Me and my girlfriend have had a great time holding off relentless waves of stormtroopers while playing as rebel wookie warriors in Mos Eisley bar!I'll finally touch on graphics and sound. In short, the game looks and sounds amazing, as authentic to a Star Wars film as possible. The texture work on Xbox One has a nice polish of sand shifting through wind gusts, puddles and Mudd literally making a mess on your uniform and armour, and debris from grenade blasts and vehicle debris is well presented. There's nothing to fault on performance other than long load times compared to other games and a mild framerate drop from it's targeted 60 frames per second, but these didn't distract from the experience and provide a bit of downtime between omlines matches, and the game still runs really well compared to other 30fps locked games.To sum up why I loved the game and was happy with my purchases, the sheer amount of game modes and authentic feel of Star Wars. The story mode had great characters and gameplay, locals looked fantastic, smaller load times between levels and death checkpoints, and the right amount of fanfare without the classic characters overshadowing the new heroes, like how Force Awakens balanced it's parts for the likes of Han and Leia with Finn and Rey. It is on the short side (I counted 6 hours) but I enjoyed it so much that I stuck with it through one play session and didn't want to put my controller down. Plus if I wanted to play something longer I would have gone for a bigger single player game like an RPG. Speaking of which, Knights of the Old Republic on Xbox backward compatability is a great example of that if you want something on the narrative long play side ;)The mutiplayer did have some initial lag/server connection problems during my first week of play but with recent updates seems to have stabilized, and games are quick and easy to connect to. I've enjoyed spreading my experience with different like the assault and heavy and now I'm trying my hand as an officer to support the morale of my team.Not a lot of split screen games are given focus these days so I comment Dice for continuing this trend on from 2015 Battlefront's survival and skirmish modes. Me and my girlfriend have had literal years of fun from those simple yet replay valued modes and are having a Han Solo laser blast with this new custom arcade mode. It's perfect for instant bot based action.If you love Star Wars, epic scale multiplayer combat, a brief but memorable story mode and were unsure about the loot crate system, I would personally say that Battlefront 2 is worth the purchase. If not, atleast rent it and try a month's worth of Xbox live. I'm also looking forward to the free content coming in the future, especially a free story expansion on December 13th!

20.11.2017

I received my copy of Battlefront 2 on the release date despite all of the negative comments flying around about the micro transactions, which is what I will address first.Although I think many have gone a bit over the top regarding these micro transactions, I do agree that the game was initially aimed to be a continuous money maker and I can see why parents initially didn’t want their kids playing it for obvious reasons.Notice I’m using the word “initially”. This is because Disney/EA/Dice opened their ears, realised that they had made a massive mistake and have temporarily removed the pay to win money making scheme along side some other changes to the amont of points needed to unlock hero’s etc.As a business owner myself,I can say wholeheartedly that the initial intentions were for one reason and one reason only - to make even more money from the game and I don’t really blame them. There’s nothing wrong with this, it’s what millions of businesses and companies do all the time. Unfortunately they took it way too far this time and also on completely the wrong franchise, although in their minds it was completely the right franchise (Star Wars, massive fan base = massive reach for potential micro transactions).Anyway, to draw a line under all this, they have now fixed their mistake and I shall get onto giving my two cents on the actual gameplay, you know, the thing we actually buy the game for.First of all I can’t comment on the campaign or arcade modes as I haven’t played them yet.So onto the multiplayer then. I’m finding it hard to think of the last time I played a multiplayer based game that I actually wanted to keep playing for as long as this, I’m thinking since gears 1/2, cod 4 etc. I stopped playing multiplayer based games quite a few years ago and by stopped I mean played the odd one or two every so often to test them out, but the point still stands that to me there has been a lack of multiplayer focussed games that were actually fun to play and also kept you coming back for more, until now that is.I’m not gonna lie that when I first started playing battlefront 2 I got sort of hacked off as I was frequently getting killed by hero’s and vehicles that I had no clue how to play as. I started to think that these other players had purchased these hero’s and vehicles with actual money before they removed that pay to win system and I did start to think that this was the most unbalanced and unfair game of all time.I then felt a bit embarrassed that I had completely overlooked the battlepoints system and what a system it actually is. Basically to those who don’t know how this system works, you have to actually get kills and damage vehicles etc to earn battlepoints within the match you’re currently playing. Once you have enough battlepoints you can then choose to spend them in game on either a hero (skywalker, Vader etc) or a machine (AT-AT, x-wing etc) - these choices change depending on what side you’re playing as.Once you know this you will instantly become addicted to trying to save enough points to play as a hero, which running around with a lightsaber and using the force is a rush you will want again and again I can assure you.In my mind this is an excellent system as it basically stops people camping to rack up a kill streak instead of running around and playing the game how it was intended. You can still camp up but I can assure you that it won’t get you anywhere, you need to run around and put a fair amount of effort in if you ever hope to play as yoda, Vader, skywalker etc. Because this is quite a challenging system, it gives you just enough to be satisfied but still leaves you hungry for more which is why you want to keep playing and playing.As with all games there are some negatives and this has quite annoying one to say the least. The biggest gripe for me is that you can spend most of the game trying your hardest to get as many kills as possible and saving battlepoints just to satisfy that urge of playing as your favourite hero. When you do finally get enough points, you rush to the hero selection menu to find out that apparently the max number of that hero is already in play and they can’t be selected?? This is false as I know for a fact that no one else is playing as say Vader but it still won’t allow the selection. What’s more annoying is that the average player won’t have gained enough points to play as a top hero until near the end of the match and when you’re finally allowed to choose the hero the game can end a few seconds after you spawn in. This is quite frustrating and I hope dice fix this obvious issue.I would like to add that you have to unlock certain hero’s with crystals and I unlocked Vader (the most expensive) after about 20 matches, that’s alongside purchasing a few crates as well, so there is no issue regarding the currency system and unlocking hero’s anymore.If they do decide to bring back micro transactions which they most definitely will, I am pretty sure it will be a subtle system and not one that can be classed as “pay to win”.So stop putting off your purchase based on what you’ve heard on the news lately and play this gem of a game, it’s Star Wars for god sake!

27.12.2017

I have not written a review in years but even if no one reads this I feel I must get something off my chest.If you haven't bought this yet then get the deluxe edition as this gives you some really nice things. Ok so what do I think? The game does take a while to fall in love with, graphics are ace, sound is ace and the game modes are solid (fixes are on going so stop moaning) .the microtransactions were firmly inbedded in the game and now they are turned off but hopefully when all the nonsense dies down they will be back. by turning them off the only way you can get anywhere is to play....a lot and then play a lot more. this isn't a problem but when you start out its unnecessarily grindy.Ive put some serious time in and ive got vader and luke (prefer the blaster hero's really) and ive got palpatine and lando and iden and a few others all on epic. I play hero's verses villains with the idea that sooner or later I wont be able to play the character I like so I have a few fall back characters I can use.once you realise in galactic assault that if you stay alive and work as a team your multiplier goes up and so do your points...points mean heroes and that's when your tricked out characters can hit the battlefield with the basic troops.pick the star cards that work for you and this makes this easier. I have bounty hunter on epic for my heavy and assault class and this gets me faster to the heroes also I love shooting at at ats and planes so never leave home without my epic ion launcher....kills equal points and points equals heroes. now you do well on a game and you save some credits...you buy a crate and this gets you crafting parts which help you make and upgrade star cards. you get duplicate cards which gives you back some credits, or maybe you get a skill card you really need . In any case you need even the cards you don't want as this is the only way you can get to those legendary upgrades with those crafting parts I was telling you about as these are unlocked when your character or class has attained a certain level so its all helpful really.loot crates are not gambling as you know your going to get something at the end of it. its not pay to win its more pay to boost and even then most of the cards you would of got will be basic uncommen cards which as stated above are useful eventually. ive seen people spend money on this on u tube before they shut it down and they mostly just got low rank cards. some people do get lucky but hey play the game like me and get epic. some starcards have been nerfed or buffed by dice because some were too powerful (boba fetts anti hero rockets forinstants and palpatines poor stamina) . Ive seen a video on u tube with a chap killing off heroes with boba screaming pay to win boba....this cannot happen now as it wasn't pay to win it was to boost and boba was broken and dice fixed it in a patch.microtansactions are there if you want them..if you don't then DONT BUY THEM. yes you have paid 50 quid so why buy more well YOU DONT IDIOTS. just don't and play the game...its so good I promise you. microtansactions are here to stay. games have improved so much since the single players of yesterday. for all that new quality people bitch and moan they have it hard. it costs dice mega money to keep the severs running and the game playing online as sweet as it does with all the workers monitoring this product .we have to pay somewhere for their services. yes EA have very questionable ethics but their a business and they make MONEY but don't bash dice. also so many people just jumped on the band wagon and were like I hate this game it sucks. buy it, try it, don't buy any microtransations and then see how you feel. I personally would have bought some crates. if dice brought them back tomorrow and installed crafting part crates and costumes and explosive crates etc I would be there in a heart beat. you see no crates or abilities you get stop you from getting killed. you will still die on the game...a lot. now dice are too scared to bring back the micro transactions so the game that's broken without them will stay broken so thanks for that...YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!ok rant over...almost done.like I said if you can afford the deluxe edition then get that...it is worth it and gives you some top stuff and some of the best cards right off the bat. I didn't and I wish I did. infact the deluxe edition for me was the problem not the transactions. being bested by epic cards and guns you cant get for a while in the basic edition without working a lot for them on day 1 to 10 was demoralising and that made me want to stop playing this game. I persevered and here I am.love it. its not cod and it isn't battlefront 2015 .give it a chance. microtransactions are here. would they of helped you....yes. will it be a game changer and make you a legendary god NO NO NO.don't be the sheep and follow the herd. even the wolf had to get better at his craft.just a shame he couldn't get some microtransaction really to boost him a bit earlier lol

20.11.2017

First off, days prior to the release of this, there was a whole backlash for EA when it came to light that there was an incredible buy-to-win aspect and it damaged the game's reputation even before people had even put the game into their console. I had even attempted to cancel my pre-order on this basis but it was too late and to be honest I'm glad I didn't end up cancelling it. THE PAY-TO WIN ASPECT HAS BEEN REMOVED SO IGNORE REVIEWS THAT SAY THIS RUINED THE GAME FOR THEM, THEY OBVIOUSLY HAVEN'T PLAYED IT BECAUSE IT'S NOT THERE!I'm not going to sugar coat it, there are still a great amount of issues with this game that I've encountered - being disconnected from the EA server when exiting to the main menu after a game.Being kicked out of a loading screen, back to the main menu after joining a game (this seems to only happen when the map is Jakku) and this causes an issue when playing with a group as the host won't be able to search for another game because it'll say that you're all still playing Jakku eventhough you've been kicked out. Nothing game breaking but a big inconvenience when all you want to do is play.Another problem is EA have said that being able to purchase the means to buy new crates has only been suspended, not completely taken off, so eventually the people who take this game a bit too seriously will be emptying their (or their parent's) wallets in order to be more powerful - when EA think the coast is clear and the time frame in which you can send your game back and get a refund has expired no doubt.The level progression system is very strange too, rather than leveling up your classes the more you play as them, you actually show it through what star cards you have equipped and their rarity level from what I can gather. To be able to get the star cards, you spend credits you earn from games on crates in which you get a randomised selection of items which can be emotes, star cards or end game poses. The problem with this is that you could play as the assault class only and be content with playing as that, you might never even play as the other 3 classes, but you'll still get items for the classes you don't play which is very annoying because you're spending in-game currency which you've earned, and you don't get a massive amount per game.For all it's flaws though it is a genuinely fun game to play and very authentic. There's more maps, more characters to pick from (and thanks to the battle points system, which is a fantastic addition, you are able to play as the more powerful characters if you're good enough) and the addition of challenges adds another dimension to playing the game, giving you credits or crafting parts for killing so many players, playing as certain classes for a certain amount of time, using a hero's ability on players so many times etc.I have yet to play the story but it's apparently short lived and poorly executed which is a shame really because it sounded interesting and like it could actually add something to the saga.I'm a big fan of Star Wars and will continue to enjoy this game with my friends but for many it may not be worth the price (which is quite far fetched and I've never paid so highly for a standard edition of a game before) but I wouldn't worry because no doubt those who haven't been impressed by the game will trade it in and after Christmas it will be worth half the price it is now.A great improvement on it's predecessor but still a lot that needs to be worked and considering it still falls below the par of the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 which is now 12 years old!

8.1.2018

I was very sceptical in buying this game. This was my first online FPS experience having skipped the first battlefront having believed the negative press that it failed to meet expectations. Ive never played CoD or Battlefield apart from in campaign modes. This time I thought I'll make up my own mind.After playing it daily for a month, I think it's an incredible game and I'm genuinely sad for DICE (less so EA ?) that the game has gotten so much negative press. The micro transactions are long gone and, to be frank, you never needed them. What is it with star wars fans hating on almost everything star wars??? Within a month, by simply playing the game and enjoying it, I have levelled up my preferred class (heavy)with all the star cards I want (if you want to rush, you can craft the ones you don't get in loot boxes!!) You just need to play the game; the more you play the more loot you get and you will get yourself there in good time. This isn't about grinding through like Nioh or Dark Souls or Bloodborne. I have loved almost every match I've played; it's so much fun, so addictive. It took me a while to figure out the best way to play - the maps, how to play objectives and the strengths of the class that you might play on each map. Some maps I prefer to others, obviously. I've hardly touched space battles or the campaign! The game could have done with a short tutorial for online newbies like myself - as soon as I understood playing the objectives, I was revelling in every match. I've finished on the podium, I'm usually top ten and I get plenty opportunities to play as occasional heroes. I also finish bottom three enough times! (I'm an average FPS player). I don't like playing as the heroes tho - I prefer the heavy class because the more I play as that class, the better i am in the game (rather than as a useless confused Kylo!) That's not to say I couldn't invest the time in making heroes work, plenty of players obviously do - I'm just loving the heavy class! If you want to play in battles as a hero you WILL get plenty of opportunity as you get better (but I wouldn't be surprised if don't then choose to). In terms of fairness and balance of play, dice have done a grand job and you're never gonna please everyone and sometimes you get butchered and sometimes you are a legendary player; that's gaming!! Even when you think you've been slaughtered unfairly - truth is, you haven't! You're just sulking and angry! That said, it's a bummer when an x-wing or similar takes you out but it hardly happens and we're all playing to the same randomness of such events.Graphics and sound are astonishing, check out the countless videos online. And the tech support is unbelievable, I've not once had a server fail or a game collapse or not been able to start a game. It's been flawless.So, the micro transactions are gone and they were a red herring anyway and this is a great, great game. Whether you buy the elite trooper game or not is simply up to you whether you want a bit of a head start on developing your preferred class, I would advise the standard game and start playing and levelling up. My advice - try all the classes for a week then pick the one you feel drawn too and don't look back! Play the objectives and keep on that class. Once you've mastered a class (I'm close to doing it on the heavy) move onto another.The only thing that has hacked me off is the online nonsense over micro transactions which came close to persuading me to give this game a miss, yet it's turned out to be the game I can't stop playing.

10.1.2018

I was very sceptical in buying this game. This was my first online FPS experience having skipped the first battlefront having believed the negative press that it failed to meet expectations. Ive never played CoD or Battlefield apart from in campaign modes. This time I thought I'll make up my own mind.After playing it daily for a month, I think it's an incredible game and I'm genuinely sad for DICE (less so EA ?) that the game has gotten so much negative press. The micro transactions are long gone and, to be frank, you never needed them. What is it with star wars fans hating on almost everything star wars??? Within a month, by simply playing the game and enjoying it, I have levelled up my preferred class (heavy)with all the star cards I want (if you want to rush, you can craft the ones you don't get in loot boxes!!) You just need to play the game; the more you play the more loot you get and you will get yourself there in good time. This isn't about grinding through like Nioh or Dark Souls or Bloodborne. I have loved almost every match I've played; it's so much fun, so addictive. It took me a while to figure out the best way to play - the maps, how to play objectives and the strengths of the class that you might play on each map. Some maps I prefer to others, obviously. I've hardly touched space battles or the campaign! The game could have done with a short tutorial for online newbies like myself - as soon as I understood playing the objectives, I was revelling in every match. I've finished on the podium, I'm usually top ten and I get plenty opportunities to play as occasional heroes. I also finish bottom three enough times! (I'm an average FPS player). I don't like playing as the heroes tho - I prefer the heavy class because the more I play as that class, the better i am in the game (rather than as a useless confused Kylo!) That's not to say I couldn't invest the time in making heroes work, plenty of players obviously do - I'm just loving the heavy class! If you want to play in battles as a hero you WILL get plenty of opportunity as you get better (but I wouldn't be surprised if don't then choose to). In terms of fairness and balance of play, dice have done a grand job and you're never gonna please everyone and sometimes you get butchered and sometimes you are a legendary player; that's gaming!! Even when you think you've been slaughtered unfairly - truth is, you haven't! You're just sulking and angry! That said, it's a bummer when an x-wing or similar takes you out but it hardly happens and we're all playing to the same randomness of such events.Graphics and sound are astonishing, check out the countless videos online. And the tech support is unbelievable, I've not once had a server fail or a game collapse or not been able to start a game. It's been flawless.So, the micro transactions are gone and they were a red herring anyway and this is a great, great game. Whether you buy the elite trooper game or not is simply up to you whether you want a bit of a head start on developing your preferred class, I would advise the standard game and start playing and levelling up. My advice - try all the classes for a week then pick the one you feel drawn too and don't look back! Play the objectives and keep on that class. Once you've mastered a class (I'm close to doing it on the heavy) move onto another.The only thing that has hacked me off is the online nonsense over micro transactions which came close to persuading me to give this game a miss, yet it's turned out to be the game I can't stop playing.

22.12.2017

I sort of glad of the bad reviews as I got this game at the reduced price and have been very pleasantly surprisedThis game is literally a star wars fan's wet dream.Considering the hate the campaign mode has received I was expecting a tacked on string of multiplayer maps with terrible Ai bots. What you really get it a thoughtful and engaging ( if not quite believable) story about a defecting special forces stormtrooper. It does not feel tacked on. Its really well done with superb battles. And I love the interludes with the other heroes and the stunningly fleshed out sets from the films.The seemless transfer from shooting on the ground to epic space battles.Omg.seriously guys what do you want these days?imo this is a million times better than Destiny 2 and many more of the AAA games I've baught this year. The gunfights are epic the scenery is epic. Many of the maps I just had to stop and stare at the awesomeness of it all. Im playing in pro so don't know if it is different on a normal. The main initial campaign is far more than the 4 hours others have claimed more like 6. And it has a well defined and utterly epic ending that ties in nicely with the films. In fact the story was as good as any of the recent films.Multiplayer wise it is battlefield with deliberately bad aiming mechanics for the lower classses. It has limited appeal to me as it is not skill based and The aiming overall feels really sloppy. You are basically cannon fodder for the better classes when you start off. So you will get killed, a lot, and very unfairly, especially at the beginning of games. untill you can upgrade your classes with good cards. And get enough kills to get the better classes. It is grind within grind within grind. With the very outer Grind recently being stopped by ea (for now). It will still feel very unfair as a noob and I'm sure many get put off by the constant deaths and grind before they get to a decent level. Of course once you get decent perks and decent level and access to the op heroes you get exponentially more points and credits etc you can become godlike player. So as I said, it's not based on skill. You could be the best FPS player in the world but you won't win many fights unti you have unlocked or acquired the better weapons cards heros Etc.So it is essentially a grind to win or pay to win multiplayer game. And I despise this in games as it encourages very bad practices in players and developers that can only lead to the dark side.you may get some enjoyment from multiplayer some battles can be epic but ultimately i found them tiresome. the mp space battles suffer the same issues, you are always unfairly outgunned by those who have grinded or payed for loot boxes to get better perks.this is why i love overwatch, and yes it has its issues, but barring actual skill and time spent in game and internet connection issues, which should all be normally handled by matchmaking you always know that you are on a level footing with your enemiesOverall . As I said this is star wars fan's wet dream. just being able to walk through the sets from the film is worth the entry price alone. (and the aiming feels much better in the campaign btw)MP is for the grinders , payers, and people with a lot of patience so not for me,but overall this is a far better game than all the hate reviews make it out to be.

21.2.2018

There is no denying that EA made some mistakes with the release of Star Wars Battlefront II. The implementation of microtransactions and associated random loot crates needs work but this has become an easy stick with which people are bashing the game and it probably needs to stop. In EA's defence, they withdrew the option to make in-game purchases and are carefully considering their plan in this regard going forward. Beyond all of that, Battlefront II is a solid and fun Star Wars experience, and well worth picking up.If you love Star Wars to any degree, there's a lot to like here. The campaign is a welcome new addition to the series and although the plot has a few logic problems and some of the links with the ongoing movies are a bit of a stretch,but it at least commits to its story and manages to sprinkle some decent drama throughout. I kept playing as I genuinely wanted to know what happened next (even if occasionally it was a bit odd). The whole thing looks stunning and design overall is fantastic, with the same authentic Star Wars feel of its predecessor.There is even a nod to The Last Jedi, which is small but quite cool.DICE/EA have since released extra, free, content for the campaign, it'll be interesting to see if this continues. On to the multiplayer and thankfully the game modes have been drastically slimmed down, making each one more relevant. All of the best parts of the first Battefront game are accounted for, with the ace addition of Starfighter Assault, finally giving some decent space-based ship combat which Fighter Squadron in the previous game never really did.Although games can still get one-sided and occasionally very messy, it's generally fun to play and the new Milestones system (you earn rewards based on completing certain tasks as you go) gives you a good sense of progression. DICE have introduced classes to the multiplayer and this gives proceedings more depth and a little more tactical thought - don't get too excited though, big teams will still not communicate or co-ordinate so in Galactic Assault it's often a mad rush rather than considered strategy. Additionally, the sniper class is of limited benefit as many of the maps are not really big enough to suit it. You also earn the right to play as a hero by performing well in the game rather than being in the right place to pick up a token, which feels like a fairer system.The Star Cards system is still present and it works OK. You can earn extra cards and upgrades from crates earned by completing Milestones and earning XP generally. Should the microtransactions be present, these can also be purchased (hence the outcry). The items from crates can contribute towards upgraded characters, vehicles and powers and cards can be crafted. This gives you slightly more control than random drops and if you play a lot you will quickly be able to get the upgrades you are particularly after.I can understand how people are upset with the in-game purchase system, but give EA the credit that they addressed it. What remains is a spectacular Star Wars game with a good amount of content to get stuck into and more to come. Give it a try and I'm sure you won't regret it.

16.11.2017

I don't think the game should be judged on all the micro-transaction drama. Yes I was angry like everyone at the original numbers coming out, the locked heroes etc. But they have made big changes and the costs of the heroes is now reasonable.I've played the campaign and a couple of hours of multiplayer for two nights. I've already unlocked Vader and Iden Versio. I'm a thousand credits away from unlocking Luke. I've also unlocked plenty of trooper crates. Personally I don't feel that was any longer timescale wise when compared to other multiplayer shooters I've played. I've also unlocked a couple of guns and gun mods just through gameplay alone - as they are locked behind challenges that require you to play the game.The star cards upgraded do not give as big as advantage as people claim, and it's easy enough to unlock the initial abilities you want to use, using scrap rather than waiting for the randomness of crates. DICE have seen the backlash and they have said they are working on making the system better and I believe it will only improve from here.Now on to the gameplay - the thing that actually matters after all. If you are a Star Wars fan, this game is a must buy. The graphics, sound, atmosphere are all amazing. I've been completely immersed during my time playing, and I feel like I'm playing the Star Wars game I've been dreaming of since I was a kid. Everything has improved dramatically since Battlefront 2015. The gun play is awesome and the class system when combined with the star cards allow a lot of customisation to how you want to play. The heroes themselves are one of the biggest improvements, they work incredibly smoothly. It's so satisfying to unlock a hero in galactic assault and tear through the enemy.The heroes vs villains mode was far too fun, it was great for learning how to counter other heroes. It was also amusing hearing comments heroes make to each other or the snarkiness of the announcer when a player is killed.Starfighter gameplay is amazing and good enough to be a game all on it's own. It has improved vastily since Battlefront 2015 and the players skill plays a bigger role.The multiplayer alone is worth buying the game for. But when combined with the single player campaign and the arcade modes it's a no brainer to me. Not to mention all the future DLC that will be free, resulting in a community that does not become fragmented in the way past games with season passes have suffered. The road map for the The Last Jedi season next months looks amazing, and if it reflects what we will see in future seasons I think we'll have new content to play for a long time into the future.My advice is watch some videos of gameplay and decide for yourself whether you want to buy the game. The micro transactions backlash is overshadowing a really great game, and I believe how much it impacts gameplay has now been over exaggerated.

20.12.2017

Graphically, this game is great, recreating locations, characters, weapons, ships and even the visual fx associated with the Star Wars franchise with such accuracy it transports you to that galaxy far far away.There is as much attention to detail in the audio with iconic Star Wars themes, the snap of lasers and the crackle of Lightsabers lovingly recreated. The voice acting is a little off but only in that they're impersonations of the 1977 cast and so create a little disconnect to a nerd like me. The delivery is not a problem.The campaign tells a good story but I got a distinct feeling that locations for multiplayer came first and then the Campaign was designed as a way to showcase these locations.

27.11.2017

Campaign:For the most part, the campaign is very well done. As soon as you boot up the campaign, you will feel that distinct Star Wars cinematography that we all know and love. The story is well told, and the overarching narrative is an interesting one. However, the most interesting parts of the story are arguably the beginning and end; the middle section feels like a lot of the heroes had been shoehorned in to the story, with little or no benefit to the narrative. What the middle part of the story does extremely well is introduce players to the heroes available to play in multiplayer and arcade modes. In sum, for a shooter-campaign, this is a pretty good one,

18.5.2019

This game got significant bad press before and after its release - and rightly so. Micro-transactions facilitated a pay to win system, which meant that to really progress you had to invest more real money in a game that already cost £50-60. I've been playing since day 1, I never invested more money into the game but nevertheless enjoyed the gameplay itself.At it's core, Battlefront 2 is a brilliantly fun game, with great variety in content and gamemodes - not to mention the singleplayer campaign that is a nice little addition. Since launch, DICE spent months reworking the fundamental aspects of the game - completely removing the pay-to-win mechanics and introducing a more typical progression system that is similar to their Battlefield franchise.

18.11.2017

No idea what people are playing. Im really enjoying this game. Which is strange as i HATED the last Starwars battlefront title.There is zero way to pay to win. All unlocks are achieved though milestones. "Get 50 kills as sn assult class to unlock weapon"You get credits and crafting parts. All earned in game.You can use craft parts to craft individual stat cards you like or want, or choose to spend X amount of earned credits to unlock 3-5 random cards.Not attempted story mode as of yet, however i have invested a good few hours into multiplayer. The maps are massive, the action is taken right out the battles of starwars and the atmosphere is convincing enough to make you feel each movement,

19.11.2017

A lot of moaning going on about this game about in game purchases. Well what's that different, every COD and battlefield game i have played, I have had to buy season passes or map packs for.I agree with the argument that once you buy a game that should be it. Companies have sold map packs, skins, costumes, avatars and themes to squeeze more cash out of us!Unfortunately though this is the state of play in the world of console games. Its come to the point that you either put up with it or stop playing these type of games. Fifa is another example of this and has been for a while. Even Minecraft for gods sake.This however is a game I have enjoyed personally so far,

16.11.2017

I was a massive fan of the first Battlefront even though it had its critics. Despite not having a campaign mode which was a bit of a let down DICE captured the feel and essence of star wars to absolute perfection.The foundation was there to make the sequel a classic providing there was a good single player mode. Like the Last Jedi It currently feels like a bit of a let down.Campaign mode is good although I cant really take to the characters. All in all its a triumph.The main menu is the initial downgrade imo, instead of being able to chose individual games you like such as Walker assault, or droid run you have a more basic generic choice.The upgrade and crafting system is a also a disappointment imo.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 - Reviews

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