Star Wars Battlefront II
So the first Star Wars Battlefront game was a bit of a let down, especially with it not having a single player campaign. EA have sought to fix that by putting you in the role of Iden Versio, Commander of Inferno Squad, who worships the Empire and will do anything to help as they pick up the pieces after the Emperor’s death. A blood thirsty fanatic if you will.
It’s a nice touch, having to play the bad guys in the campaign. But the campaign is broke. I got to one point where I was floating around a massively glitching hanger bay, it was such a visual disaster that I had to quit. But every time I went back to that part of the mission, the same thing happened. There was no way I was going to start the campaign afresh, so into multiplayer I went.
Multiplayer is fine. It ticks all the boxes and presents a Star Wars universe that you can be in. The trouble is, is that it just feels like a cheap knock off of one of EA’s Battlefield games. It just fails to draw you into the awe and wonder of the Star Wars universe. Probably because Star Wars was all about the story, and not just some massed battles.
It’s not that EA have down a bad job (single player campaign aside), the game is graphically stellar, and the online plays well enough. It’s just that I feel no sense of engagement when I’m playing it. It feels like I’m just going through the motions to progress. It just doesn’t feel like I’m invested in story about a small band of rebels fighting against the odds.
In short, I think Star Wars would have been better served by Bethesda, who specialise in single player experiences.
Rating: M Science fiction violence, online interactivity.
GAMEGUIDE rating:
