I come into this post with some hesitation. When the first trailers for this game began releasing over the summer, I was ecstatic. It looked like every issue the first EA Battlefront had was being addressed, and this game was going to have a single player campaign taking place after Return of the Jedi but before The Force Awakens, previously unexplored territory in Disney’s new Star Wars canon. Everything was looking up for this game. Well, at least until the beta released, and news of microtransactions and a “pay-to-win” mentality emerged. While I did play (and enjoy) the beta, I never intended to buy this game for the multiplayer. It was the single player story that I was excited about, and while many of my friends cancelled their pre-orders over this multiplayer controversy, I picked the game up and played through the story.
After playing through, I’m very upset that so many people have decided not to experience the story.
As I mentioned above, the story mode of EA’s Battlefront 2 takes place in previously unexplored territory of the Star Wars canon. You play primarily as Iden Versio, a new character and leader of the Imperial special forces team Inferno Squad. The story is fast paced and intense, mixing familiar and unfamiliar locals to create an overall excellent experience. I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but I wasn’t let down. The characters were engaging (thanks in part to mostly terrific motion-capture performances), and the game was flat-out gorgeous. Every stormtrooper, every blaster shot, and every exotic planet looked amazing, and you could tell that Motive, the studio in charge of the story mode, really went all out. The gameplay was tight and responsive, if not a little easy. I played through the game on the hardest difficulty, and I was still able to beat it in a weekend with relative ease.
Without spoiling anything, I was a slightly disappointed in the direction the story went, but not because it was bad. Lots of internet news outlets reported that, because of when this story takes place, the game would document the rise of the First Order and show off many previously unseen events. This, unfortunately, was not the case. While the game followed entirely new characters, many events referenced or explored have appeared in other Star Wars media, especially the Aftermath trilogy of books. That being sad, my disappointment was entirely based on my own expectations, and the story that was presented was fun, intense, and very, very Star Wars. EA has also announced new single player missions that will be coming soon in the form of free DLC, so I cannot wait to experience more!
While I don’t want to really address the controversy this game has been suffering recently, I do feel upset that so many people will miss out on the fun single player mode. It has been awhile since we had a really solid Star Wars game in the vein of the old, and this game does deliver. Hopefully, if this boycott persists, many fans will be able to pick this game up when it inevitably hits the bargain bins. If you were like me, and still bought the game even with the controversy, I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am. I foresee many replays in the near future, as I work to find all the story based collectibles.
Thanks for reading everyone,
Grant
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