Battlefront 2: Worth Your Money Now?

Considering Battlefront 2 is approaching the one year anniversary of the catastrophic failure that was its launch, I figure it would be worth it to revisit the game in light of new content and reworks that I feel have given it a second chance with players both existing and new. The game is nowhere near where it should be, however; the rework of the progression system and inclusion of new skins, game modes, maps and fan-favourite character General Grievous has helped bolster the replay value the game has to offer.

The Story

I personally found the story to be severely underwhelming. During the marketing campaign for the game prior to its release, EA/Dice promised us an exciting new story that would be canon to the current franchise timeline. This got a lot of players excited as this new story was to be told from the perspective of an imperial special forces commander known as Iden Versio. I had high expectations for this, as I love creative material relevant to the Star Wars universe. Plus, with the inclusion of a new female character the game was adhering to gender equality. All was seeming well until the game actually came out. What was marketed as a gritty, no holds barred inside look at the life of the emperor's finest turned into a lack luster, predictable story that lost all of its draw no more than halfway into the game. Versio goes from scoffing at rebel ideas such as "hope" or "bravery" to developing empathy for those she has been hunting and switches sides within a span of two missions. Given the average mission completion time is around 30 minutes, this perspective shift could of been executed better and with more depth had they provided better pacing. Luckily, the multiplayer makes up for the poorly executed story.

Online Multiplayer

The multiplayer aspect of the game is truly where it shines. A couple months after the catastrophic launch, EA/Dice reworked the character unlock/progression system that caused so much grief with players. Now that all of the characters in the base game are available to play from the start instead of being locked behind paywalls, there is a more inclusive feeling for new players jumping into a match. The game-play mechanics were already smooth, they were just unfortunately overshadowed by the outrage over the paywall/microtransaction situation. It takes a bit of getting used to when accounting for things like not having to accommodate your aim for bullet drop and wind direction, I mean you are firing lasers after all. But once the adjustment has been made I can honestly say I have had more fun dodging lasers in vibrant space fantasy environments as opposed to dodging bullets in war torn, bleak trenches like the ones present in Battlefield (EA/Dice's other fps shooter franchise).

The game has updated it's initial selection of game modes from five to nine, added the feature to unlock new aesthetic options for hero characters and troopers, a couple new maps and one new hero character (General Grievous). The promise of more clone-war era content and the inclusion of a downloadable content roadmap has also helped to regain some trust with the player community, but until more of the promises made are kept there is still a long way to go. While the new additions are fun, they still seem somewhat lackluster. Here's hoping the 1.23 billion earned last quarter will be put to good use and the remaining incoming content will be bug-free and as expansive as players wish.

DLC roadmap for battlefront 2

The Visuals

If you have a 4k monitor and possess a Playstation Pro, go out and buy this game right now. Battlefront 2 has many flaws, but the one area the game succeeds at flawlessly would be the visual department. Dice has utilized the Frostbite engine well, as the freezing cold tundra of Hoth and scathing hot sands of Tattooine stand out exceptionally well in crisp, clear detail every game. Even without a 4k monitor the game still looks amazing, and the exceptional graphics act as a testament to the fact that EA/Dice still know what they're doing in some way when it comes to planning and developing a game. I have inserted a media gallery of stills as an example of the great work done in this area.

Incoming hero Obi-Wan squares off with droid General Grievous

First order stormtroopers get ready for battle

Iconic bounty-hunter Boba Fett oversees imperial operations on Tattooine.

Clone troopers battle defend the wookie home-world of Kashyyyk

The Conclusion

A year after it's release, I find Battlefront 2 is still no where near where it should be, but the efforts that have been made to rectify the horrible launch have helped it avoid absolute servers desertion. If space fantasy and first person shooters are interests of yours I would strongly recommend purchasing the game. Considering the game has dropped in price to a mere $30.00 CAD as opposed to its initial $80.00 CAD, you have the reassurance that you aren't paying full price and aren't losing almost $100.00. Given the fact that EA/Dice want to keep the game going with new content for the next two years if it keeps doing well, now might be the best time to buy while the price isn't high. I give Battlefront 2 7.5 death stars out of 10.