As we speak marks 20 years since LucasArts and the now-defunct Pandemic Studios launched the basic Star Wars Battlefront 2 (12 years earlier than Cube and Digital Arts would launch their trendy lootbox version reboot). Ask many longtime Star Wars followers who grew up with titles like this from the mid-2000s and also you’re greater than prone to discover many followers who bear in mind this recreation very fondly. With this particular anniversary, let’s look again at a time when the Battlefront franchise as an entire as soon as dominated the gaming world…
Film Tie-In And Sequel To A Star Wars Basic
The basic Battlefront 2 was launched in 2005, the identical yr because the film that concluded the Star Wars prequels – Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith, which launched earlier within the yr on Could 19. Battlefront 2 was launched for PS2, authentic Xbox, PC, and PSP. Actually, Battlefront 2 was among the many film’s tie-in video games, alongside the primary ever Lego Star Wars recreation, a little bit of Republic Commando, and the film’s very personal online game adaption of the identical title.
Naturally, this recreation was moreover, a sequel to the title that jumpstarted this franchise the yr earlier than. Each video games will be thought-about as considerably Battlefield with a Star Wars coat of paint. For the time, each Battlefront titles boasted massive maps with large-scale PvP or PvE battles. And these battles had been waged on plenty of planets from the Unique and Prequel trilogies. Tatooine, the Loss of life Star, Coruscant, Endor, Mustafar, Utapau, you title it. Whereas Staff Loss of life Match is the usual recreation mode of 16v16 battles (which will be edited to have a whole bunch extra reinforcements on each groups) that includes successful by both eliminating all enemy reinforcements or capturing all command posts, followers have a number of choices for different recreation modes. Such recreation modes like Seize The Flag (CTF), Hunt, and the franchise staple Heroes vs Villains, in addition to area battles enliven the expertise.
Sure planets would have area maps that happen over the planet, pitting the factions to win the matches by a number of choices: ship-on-ship dogfighting, destroying the frigates and different warship installations, and even flying into the enemy hangers to destroy from inside. Total, gamers could be onerous pressed to search for any scarcity of enjoyable to have taking part in this recreation. And if the usual offline singe-player or splitscreen gameplay isn’t sufficient, there’s all the time on-line multiplayer (which I personally missed out on for my time on PS2) in addition to a narrative marketing campaign that begins from the Battle of Geonosis from Episode 2 all the way in which to the Battle of Hoth from Empire Strikes Again. Once more, the sport gives a wide range of recreation modes to maintain any gaming session going for hours on finish. I haven’t even talked about one other staple of the sport: Galactic Conquest, which is sort of like a board recreation by way of gamers constructing fleets after conquering planets one by one, unlocking character lessons and bonuses till the whole galaxy is liberated or conquered (relying on the chosen period and faction).
Enhancements Over The Unique
When it comes all the way down to the issues Battlefront 2 improved upon, there’s too many to select from. Nonetheless, listed here are among the greatest enhancements the sequel boasted:
Mentioning Heroes vs Villains earlier, the Battlefront 1 had one hero relying on the map and period, however they weren’t playable in any respect. They had been additionally invincible as nicely, with solely sure maps the place you will discover artistic methods to blast the heroes off from platforms or run them over with speeders. For Battlefront 2, Heroes are playable on most maps… however you’ll have to unlock them by eliminating extra enemies first. Plus, the heroes slowly lose well being over time, particularly the extra hits they take. So when taking part in as heroes, carry on taking down enemies to increase your well being for so long as potential. However this downside is nonexistent within the Heroes vs Villains mode, which is simply out there on the Mos Eisley map on Tatooine, the place main Jedi, Sith, Insurrection, and Bounty Hunter characters can immediately battle with one another.
House Battles had been an enormous introduction, which I’ve already coated above in higher element. There have been no area battles within the first Battlefront recreation, and as a substitute had sure maps like Bespin Platforms had been gamers had the choice to fly within the skies above and likewise shoot down the starfighters by utilizing turrets.
The marketing campaign was one more large enchancment, for the reason that predecessor’s story mainly had normal gameplay with a fundamental premise to every battle. You could possibly simply give you your individual state of affairs and play the usual instantaneous motion mode as a substitute. However with Battlefront 2, an precise in-depth story was current, which showcased Temuera Morrison as an unseen Clone Trooper narrator, recalling quite a few battles from the Clone Conflict into the reign of the Galactic Empire. These tales had precise distinctive targets not seen in the usual recreation, resembling Stormtroopers vs Part 1 Clone Troopers on Kamino.
A Glowing Legacy
Nostalgia for Battlefront 2 and its predecessor is each a power and a weak point. On one hand, Battlefront 2‘s PC port had one main choice that the console and PSP ports might by no means formally have — mods. That is good for if you happen to nonetheless find yourself discovering the usual model of Battlefront 2growing stale over time. The modding scene for Battlefront 2 remains to be alive and nicely to this present day, including characters, maps, and recreation modes that the title by no means had earlier than… even content material from Star Wars eras within the years since 2005. Actually, one main mod that’s been within the works for years has been the Battlefront 3 Legacy Mod. It goals to recreate the gameplay and artwork type of the cancelled sequel to Battlefront 2 (which we’ll get into in only a second) together with the notorious ground-to-space gameplay. After all, there’s far more mods to Battlefront 2 than the Battlefront 3 Legacy Mod, and I encourage you to discover numerous mod showcases on YouTube.
Talking of Battlefront 3, it’s nonetheless an illusive sequel to this present day, which is a weak point/draw back of Battlefront 2‘s nostalgia. Battlefront 2 and its predecessor or so beloved that it looks like there might by no means be a correct observe as much as proceed their legacy. Again round 2008/2009, Battlefront 3 had the Star Wars gaming scene buzzing, particularly with its bold ground-to-space fight the place gamers can transition between each areas as a substitute of getting separate floor and area battles. There have been conflicting experiences on why Battlefront 3 was cancelled, starting from the builders Free Radical Design having technical troubles/missed deadlines to the sport allegedly nearly full however with glitches and bugs protecting the sport from seeing the sunshine of day.
Nonetheless, not all was misplaced from the elusive Battlefront 3, as options together with the ground-to-space fight was recycled for the PSP unique Battlefront recreation Renegade Squadron. Plus, throughout Vacation 2024 an earlier construct of the Nintendo Wii port of the cancelled Star Wars Battlefront 3 has been leaked on-line (through Insider Gaming), which supplies Star Wars followers a playable glimpse into the Battlefront sequel that would have been.
Moreover, whereas the unique GameSpy multiplayer servers for the basic Battlefront video games had been shut down in 2014, on-line multiplayer has been restored for the Steam ports of the video games within the following years (through Reddit). Regardless of the sport being very a lot previous and outdated in at the moment’s gaming requirements, the classics simply can’t appear to ever actually die out.
Tainted By Trendy Gaming?
The darker aspect of nostalgia continues, although by no fault of Battlefront 2‘s personal. It was a decade after the second recreation (nearly a decade in the past now) that EA tried to recapture the spirit of the basic Battlefront video games. The primary EA Battlefront reboot launched in November 2015, and regardless of boasting spectacular graphics and immersive sound design, it did not stay as much as the classics, as a consequence of a scarcity of content material resembling a single participant story, and solely being restricted to the Unique Trilogy. Then there’s the second try in 2017, which aimed to lastly deliver the franchise to trendy gaming, partially, with a correct story marketing campaign and with characters/areas from all three eras of Star Wars… just for the Battlefront 2 reboot to be additional tainted by lootboxes and different pay-to-win schemes… all for bringing “a way of pleasure and accomplishment” (as reported by Inc.com).
Sure, the EA Battlefront 2 reboot would step by step make an entire 180 by eradicating the lootboxes and pay-to-win options, in addition to including increasingly more characters, maps, and recreation modes over the subsequent two to 3 years. However all of that was concluded throughout Spring 2020 when EA introduced the tip of content material help (through IGN). Simply when the Battlefront 2 reboot was lastly turning issues round for the higher…
Quick ahead to early final yr, and a significant occasion within the franchise’s historical past was dropped: the basic Battlefront video games had been being remastered. Enter… the Star Wars Battlefront Basic Assortment. Maybe if EA couldn’t do the franchise appropriately within the trendy gaming period, the subsequent neatest thing could be to deliver the classics to trendy consoles. A slew of latest options had been introduced, from improved visuals to bigger battles and Heroes vs Villains now not restricted to only one map. This could have been a slam dunk for the franchise… besides it crashed and burned on Pie Day.
Already on launch, the Battlefront Basic Assortment was useless on arrival, which I coated in higher element. The sport was a complete glitchfest in each offline and particularly on-line multiplayer. Lacking content material didn’t assist issues both. Whereas Aspyr Media and Embracer Group step by step launched a number of patches that fastened some main technical points, the final patch was releaseda few months later and no additional updates adopted. Regardless of all of the fixes that had been dropped at the sport, it’s nonetheless not in a refined sufficient state. It’s been nicely over a yr for the reason that final patch, and its a disgrace that the sport will stay a wasted… no, botched, alternative. Disgrace, since I actually needed to purchase this assortment as a way to play the basic Battlefront video games on my PS5, however that risk might by no means be fulfilled, since I used to be ready for the title to be absolutely patched up earlier than dropping my hard-earned credit.
Going again to Battlefront 3 another time, it was not the one time that one other recreation within the collection was cancelled. The devs over at Cube as soon as pitched a brand new Battlefront 3 to EA, just for the publishing big to reject, citing issues over licensing prices (through GameSpot).
Since then, there was nothing new for the Battlefront franchise… apart from the 2017 reboot making waves over the Spring/Summer time with record-breaking surge of latest/returning gamers to the EA reboot (significantly on Steam), introducing new gasoline for a push to make a Battlefront 3.
With the resurgence seemingly died off within the months since, the way forward for the Battlefront franchise stays unsure. Will a Battlefront 3 ever be made? In that case, who would take up the burden rather than EA? Till these questions will be answered, gamers can nonetheless flock to each the classics and reboots for now. For the basic Battlefront 2 particularly, there’s loads of time to revisit this recreation and look again at its legacy as the subsequent 18 months go by for the approaching of the eventual Star Wars fiftieth Anniversary in Could 2027. Hopefully one thing constructive and associated to the franchise will pop up by then.
