Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005 video game)

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Star Wars: Battlefront II
Windows
  • Xbox

  • Classic Collection
    • Xbox Series X/S
    Release
    October 28, 2005
    • PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Windows, Xbox

    • Classic Collection
      Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
      • WW: March 14, 2024
    multiplayer

    Star Wars: Battlefront II is a 2005

    PAL regions on October 28, 2005, on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable (PSP), Microsoft Windows, and Xbox platforms, and in North America on November 1 of the same year. It was released on the PlayStation Store on October 20, 2009, for download on the PSP. The PSP version was developed by Savage Entertainment
    .

    The game features new vehicles, characters, game mechanics, maps, and missions compared to the original Battlefront. Unlike its predecessor, Battlefront II features a more narrative-based campaign, retelling portions of the Star Wars story from the point of view of a veteran clone Imperial Stormtrooper, reminiscing about his tour of duty in service of both the Galactic Republic and the Galactic Empire. Gameplay additions over Battlefront include the use of Jedi and Sith, additional game modes such as hero assault, and objective-based space battles.

    Battlefront II was well received, with reviewers praising the story. Like the original game, it was a commercial success, selling 6 million copies by 2007. GameSpy Technology scheduled a shut-down across all titles using the service for May 31, 2014, which included Star Wars: Battlefront II for PC, PS2, and Xbox. Electronic Arts announced it would extend support for Battlefront II until June 30, 2014. The extended support ended on July 25, 2014, taking all GameSpy online video games across all platforms offline. The Windows version was added to a list of supported games on GameRanger on May 31, 2014, which allows for continued online play. On October 2, 2017, multiplayer for the Windows version was again enabled, allowing for Steam and GOG cross-play. A remastered compilation featuring both the game and its predecessor with additional content, titled Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, was released on March 14, 2024.

    Gameplay

    Battlefront II is fundamentally similar to its predecessor, albeit with the addition of new gameplay mechanics, such as the ability to sprint and roll forward.

    Bothan Spy and the Wookiee for the Rebels; and the Officer and the Dark Trooper for the Empire.[5]

    Battlefront II introduces a new special class—Heroes—that allows players to control iconic characters from the Star Wars universe; heroes were featured in the original Battlefront, but only as NPCs that spawned randomly during battles. Heroes are also unlocked by scoring a predetermined number of points, and are unique for every faction. Heroes serve as the most powerful class in the game and, as such, there can be a maximum of one hero for each faction on the battlefield at the same time. Each hero is available only on certain maps, although there is a team deathmatch mode, exclusive to the Mos Eisley map, that allows all heroes from all factions to compete against each other to earn points by performing kills.

    Campaign

    In Battlefront II players can battle in space and engage in ship-to-ship combat. Players sabotage enemy capital ships externally by firing at vital systems, or on foot by landing in the enemy hangar.

    Whereas the original Battlefront's campaign featured missions dependent on the chosen faction, Battlefront II contains only one campaign, called Rise of the Empire, which is found in every version of the game except the

    Geonosis at the beginning of the Clone Wars (as depicted in Attack of the Clones) and ending with the Battle of Hoth (as depicted in The Empire Strikes Back).[7]
    There are a total of 18 missions, four of which are optional space missions.

    The PSP version of Battlefront II replaces the Rise of the Empire campaign with three single-player Challenge modes: Imperial Enforcer, Rogue Assassin, and Rebel Raider.

    Gungans on Naboo and Ewoks on Endor.[8] Rogue Assassin requires the player to eliminate all Imperial officers on a given sets of planets. Bonus points are awarded for any other kills.[8] Finally, Rebel Raider tasks the player with locating specific objects in a map and returning them to a designated drop point, similar to Capture the flag.[8]

    Galactic Conquest

    Like its predecessor, Battlefront II includes Galactic Conquest. In this mode, the player commands a fleet throughout the galaxy conquering and protecting planets, much like a game of Risk.[9] When two opposing forces reach the same planet, the game switches to the traditional perspective, and the player must eliminate the enemy faction to gain control of that planet. Players gain credits for performing well which can be used to buy new character classes, a new fleet, or bonuses that provide additional support when attacking or defending a planet.[4] While the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions allow cooperative and competitive battles in Galactic Conquest mode through split-screen gameplay, the PC version does not.

    Instant Action

    In Instant Action players can choose from any of the game's 24 maps, as well as any available eras and modes. Four other modes are included in addition to the traditional Conquest mode that was found in Star Wars: Battlefront; Hunt mode,

    Capture the Flag (CTF), which is available in 1-flag and 2-flag variants, Hero Assault and Space Assault.[7]

    In Conquest mode, players are required to capture and hold strategic points on the map, known in the game as command posts.[10] Players capture command posts by standing near one until its holograph transitions to blue, indicating it is held by their forces.[10] Players can capture both enemy command posts, which are designated red, and neutral command posts, which are white. For enemy command posts, enemy units can continue to spawn in the area until the post is de-energized and turns white. When all command posts belong to a given team, a twenty-second timer begins in which the opposing team must de-energize a command post or they lose. Alternatively, if one team eliminates all opposing reinforcements, they win.[7]

    In Hunt mode, players take on the role of the species indigenous to the chosen planet, or of a faction opposed to that species. The object when playing as the indigenous species is to repel the opposition, or to eliminate the indigenous species if playing as the opposing faction.[7] In 1-flag CTF, both teams attempt to take a common flag and capture it at the enemy's base. This mode is the only one available on ground maps as well as in space.[7] 2-flag CTF tasks players with stealing the enemy's flag and returning it to their base for points.

    In Hero Assault, players control iconic Star Wars characters which are divided into two teams, heroes and villains. The sole objective is to be the first team to reach the number of required points, with each kill granting one point.

    starfighter in order to destroy critical systems on the enemy's capital ship or destroy other enemy starfighters for points.[4] The systems of an enemy capital ship can be destroyed in a starfighter by firing at key areas of the ship. Alternatively, players can land in the enemy hangar and sabotage critical systems internally. The game ends when one team has reached the required number of total points.[7]

    Plot

    The game's campaign mode is told as an

    Geonosians
    . Over the following three years, the legion prove themselves as one of the most efficient in the Clone Army, and are assigned important missions throughout the Clone Wars.

    Near the end of the war, the 501st are sent to

    Kashyyyk to clear a path through the Separatist blockade and defend a key Wookiee
    village.

    Shortly after their victory on Kashyyyk, part of the 501st are sent to

    Order 66, which brands all Jedi as traitors to the Republic and orders their summary executions. Under the command of the newly christened Sith Lord Darth Vader, the 501st storm the Jedi Temple to kill all its occupants, while the remaining Jedi who are spread across the galaxy are swiftly murdered by their clone troopers, effectively wiping out the Jedi Order. Meanwhile, Palpatine declares the end of the Clone Wars and the Republic's reorganization into the Galactic Empire
    .

    Now part of the Imperial Army as Darth Vader's personal legion, the 501st are assigned various missions to solidify the Empire's rule. These include forcing a

    Kamino incident, the Empire halts clone production, and clone troopers are slowly replaced by stormtroopers
    . The 501st remains one of the few Imperial legions to consist mostly of former clone troopers.

    Roughly nineteen years after the end of the Clone Wars, the Empire has been firmly established in the ashes of the Republic. With the galaxy seemingly at peace, the 501st are stationed on the Death Star, but during watch, a prison break is initiated and a group of Rebel prisoners manage to escape with the battle station's schematics. Tasked with recovering them, the 501st attack a Rebel outpost on

    Polis Massa, and eventually track them down to the Rebel Blockade Runner Tantive IV.[12] Although the 501st manage to kill or capture everyone aboard, including Rebel leader Princess Leia Organa, whom they deliver to Vader, they fail to retrieve the stolen schematics, which are eventually delivered to the Rebel Alliance. Using the schematics to find a weakness in the Death Star, the Alliance leads a successful assault to destroy it. The Empire retaliates by attacking the Alliance's base on Yavin IV
    , which the 501st captures, avenging their brothers who died in the Death Star's destruction.

    Three years later, the Empire locates another Rebel base on Hoth. Tasked with wiping out the weakened Rebel Alliance, the 501st capture the base and destroy most of the evacuating transports. This crushing defeat marks what appears to be the end of the Alliance.[13] The narrator ends the story by stating that the Death Star was eventually rebuilt and the Empire's grip on the galaxy became stronger than ever, all thanks to the efforts of the 501st Legion.

    Development


    James Arnold Taylor (top) and Tom Kane (bottom) return to voice Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda in Star Wars: Battlefront II. The actors have voiced these roles several times in the Star Wars universe.

    Star Wars: Battlefront II was announced on April 21, 2005, during

    Star Wars: The Clone Wars[15] and the game's predecessor, Star Wars: Battlefront. As with Battlefront, Lua was utilized as the game's scripting language. Battlefront II's release date would be set to coincide with the DVD release of Revenge of the Sith, similar to how Battlefront coincided with the release of the original trilogy on DVD.[16] An Xbox demo of Battlefront II was also included on the Revenge of the Sith extras DVD to further promote the game.[16] LucasArts looked to the fans for inspiration for Battlefront II, browsing forums and using other means to provide feedback for the sequel.[17] Josh Resnick, founder of Pandemic Studios noted that it was difficult to get assets from Revenge of the Sith in order to build the related in-game assets.[18] Peter Hirschmann, vice president of product development at LucasArts, detailed the immense efforts required to get the game to a playable state on the PlayStation Portable. "It was a huge 'pop the champagne' day if you got back one whole frame a second," he stated. LucasArts Engineers working on Indiana Jones and Star Wars development teams were brought in to help optimize game code.[18]

    Bob Bergen voices Luke Skywalker, having voice doubled for Mark Hamill in previous Star Wars games such as the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series.[19] Voice actor Corey Burton recorded lines for Count Dooku, a role he has played in other Star Wars games as well as the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series.[19] Obi-Wan Kenobi is portrayed by James Arnold Taylor, who played the role in the cartoon series.[19] Scott Lawrence also returns to voice Darth Vader, a role he has portrayed since the 1994 game Star Wars: TIE Fighter.[20] Other veteran Star Wars voice actors such as Tom Kane, Steve Blum and T.C. Carson also provide voice overs. Temuera Morrison portrays his signature roles Boba Fett, Jango Fett and the game's clone trooper narrator, but does not provide the in-game clone chatter as he did in Battlefront.[19]

    On February 15, 2006, Pandemic released a patch for the PC version, which included support for mods and general improvement to the game.

    Star Wars expanded universe
    , adding additional locales, characters, Star Wars eras, and fan-created stories.

    On December 19, 2005, LucasArts released the first of two

    Xbox Live servers were shut down on April 15, 2010.[25] In late March 2006, the game was added to the Backwards Compatibility List for the Xbox 360, and is now playable on both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360.[26]

    On May 4, 2014, it was announced that the Star Wars: Battlefront II Online servers hosted by GameSpy were closing down on May 31, 2014. The Windows version was added to a list of supported games on GameRanger on May 31, 2014, which allows for continued online play.[27][28] On October 2, 2017, a patch for the Windows version of the game re-enabled multiplayer and added Steam and GOG cross-platform play;[29][30][31] a second patch on January 3, 2018, had minor bug fixes and performance optimizations. A Disney spokesperson told Polygon that GOG was "handling the back end for the game's online play, including the development of patches".[32]

    A compilation of the title and

    Xbox Series X/S on March 14, 2024. The compilation was developed by Aspyr and features cross-generation play (PS4 with PS5; Xbox One with Xbox Series X/S) for up to 64 players, and includes the Xbox downloadable content.[33][34]

    Reception and sales

    Battlefront II was well received overall. The highest aggregate scored was for the PlayStation 2, which holds an 84% at

    Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[70] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[71] The game's sales totaled 6 million copies by 2007.[72]

    Battlefront II was praised not only for having a much more engaging single-player storyline,[59] but also for fixing many of the issues that plagued the original. Reviewers noted a slight improvement in the intelligence of AI units and praised new varied objectives to obtain victory.[59] PlayStation World argued the strengthened single-player campaign was "unrelenting" and always a good challenge.[73] Publications found the inclusion of space battles a welcome addition; however, GameSpot argued the addition of Jedi, though looking "good on paper", did not end up "feeling as epic" as expected.[49]

    X-Play hosts Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb gave the game a 4 out of 5, but criticized the online multiplayer.[74]

    Non-video game publications praised the quality of the game. CiN Weekly gave it a score of 92 out of 100 and stated "The improved single-player games are worthwhile enough on their own, but if you can find well connected online matches, multiplayer games will keep you addicted for months."[64] The Sydney Morning Herald gave it a score of four stars out of five, saying, "Space conflict complements ground-based action beautifully and jumping into the cockpit of an X-wing or TIE fighter is thrilling."[75] Detroit Free Press gave the Xbox version a score of three stars out of four and said "The graphics are pretty, the score divine, the story-driven single-player game is actually cinematic and engaging and the lag, while annoying at times online, has been greatly reduced from the original."[65]

    Notes

    1. ^ PSP port developed by Savage Entertainment. Classic Collection developed by Aspyr.
    2. ^ Classic Collection published by Aspyr.

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    External links