Happy May 4th! If you don’t know why you should celebrate May 4th then congratulations on living an active and fulfilling life. Also, the thing I’m talking about is probably a clue…
Yup.
Star Wars day! And there's a literal galaxy of Star Wars games to choose from…most
of which suck. Oddly,
the best Star Wars games are on the PC. TIE
Fighter, Dark Forces II, Jedi Knight II, and Star Wars Battlefront II. With the exception of The Force Unleashed II – it
seems all the best Star Wars games are also sequels. In fact, a lot of the best
games altogether seem to be sequels (Thief 2, Half
Life 2, System Shock 2, Team Fortress 2, etc) but that’s another topic for
another day.
The reason why I've chosen to discuss Star Wars Battlefront II is because 1) It doesn't suck and 2) Star Wars Battlefront III is coming out in November, and I'm hyped. It takes a lot to get me fired up these days (I'm not actually all that bothered about Episode VII) but I'm sure this won't disappoint me at all.
Ohwait, it's just called Star Wars Battlefront, because the gaming industry never studied history and so anything older than three years doesn't exist anymore. Still, the trailer looks good. It doesn't actually show any game-play, but...alright, so the trailer tells us nothing about the game. But it's being made by EA and - oh god this is going to suck isn't it?
Need any more convincing of how much Battlefront will suck? Read this and weep:
The reason why I've chosen to discuss Star Wars Battlefront II is because 1) It doesn't suck and 2) Star Wars Battlefront III is coming out in November, and I'm hyped. It takes a lot to get me fired up these days (I'm not actually all that bothered about Episode VII) but I'm sure this won't disappoint me at all.
Ohwait, it's just called Star Wars Battlefront, because the gaming industry never studied history and so anything older than three years doesn't exist anymore. Still, the trailer looks good. It doesn't actually show any game-play, but...alright, so the trailer tells us nothing about the game. But it's being made by EA and - oh god this is going to suck isn't it?
Need any more convincing of how much Battlefront will suck? Read this and weep:
Yeah, I'm not reviewing it when it comes out in November. I'm not wasting £40 to play a quarter of a game I could pick up for £1. Instead, I'm going to be discussing the previous and best installment in the series: Star Wars Battlefront II.
Battlefront II was released for the PS2, XBOX, PSP, and PC in 2005. The first game was released in 2004, and it was basically the same. Same engine, same sounds, same music, same graphics. It's almost like this sequel was only made to cash-in on Episode III coming out. In fact, it was only made to cash-in.
Battlefront II was released for the PS2, XBOX, PSP, and PC in 2005. The first game was released in 2004, and it was basically the same. Same engine, same sounds, same music, same graphics. It's almost like this sequel was only made to cash-in on Episode III coming out. In fact, it was only made to cash-in.
Well,
not quite. Playing the PS2 version again, the first installment just doesn't handle as
well. The shooting feels less refined, the maps less interesting, and the A.I dodgier. In hindsight, it feels more like a prototype. Meanwhile, whilst Battlefront II has 'commissioned Triple-A product' written all over it, the game is your standard case of ‘the same but MORE.’ The combat is improved, there are new maps, new modes, and the whole thing has been re-balanced. With
story-driven games, this usually doesn't work – but the first game didn't have a
story. It just had a series of battles and a Galactic Conquest mode…which
consisted of a series of battles. I suppose I must give the game credit for sticking to what it was trying to achieve. It's called Battlefront, and there are battles. Round of applause.
 |
| Look EA: These things are called 'vehicles.' |
Battlefront 2
actually has a story mode, but it’s underwhelming. It makes an attempt, and I
always love Star Wars games that make you play as the Empire, but the lack of
scripted events and over-linearity kills it for me. Oddly, this campaign would serve as the model for every single Call Of Duty game to come - as objective-markers are plastered all over the screen and all you have to do is follow the little arrows without any sense of progression or development. This is one of those campaigns that doesn't want a player but a robot that'll obey all orders without question. Although, I will say that the chapter where you get to kill Jedi is a lot of fun.
No,
the multiplayer is the focus here. Well, I've never actually played multiplayer
because as a kid I owned the PS2 version. But I often invited friends around
for glorious split-screen fun. This was before the days of widescreen TVs, when split-screen was the common mutliplayer experience rather than yelling through headsets. I prefer this approach. It means that if the person I'm beating says anything about my mother, I can defend her honor and slap my opponent across the face. Slamming the 'mute' button will never be as satisfying as punching the bastard.
The
mode I personally got the most mileage out of was the Galactic Conquest mode. In Battlefront II, you can play a weird turn-based game that usually lasts about four hours. You move your ship around the galaxy, and you have the option to attack any planet you land on. The goal is to conquer the galaxy whilst building up your forces. It's probably my favorite mode, although I wish there was an option to retreat when you accidentally bump into an enemy ship - because if that happens then a space-battle automatically begins and space-combat can get really repetitive after a while. Sadly, there's no 2-player Galactic Conquest, which is a shame because if that existed then this would perhaps be the greatest board-game ever.
The game-play is simple. You have several command posts peppered across a map. If your team captures all these points then you win. During this, you also have a count of both the enemy reinforcements and your own reinforcements. If your reinforcements reach zero then you lose. If you kill so many people on the other team that you drain their reinforcements, then you win regardless of how many command posts you've captured.
So why not stuff the command posts and just go on a rampage? Because it's very, very easy to die in this game. Your health doesn't regenerate - which is a huge problem in games where you're flung into the middle of a battlefield along with at least sixty others (over a hundred in the PC version). There are droids scattered around the map who can heal you, but they can also be destroyed - so you're torn between blowing them up to stop the enemy from healing, or keeping them so you can heal. Both dead allies and dead enemies sometimes also drop health and ammo, so you're not a complete sitting duck but you're still just a pawn on the battlefield. When I fight for the Rebel Alliance, I like to play a grim game where I invent a character for the chap I'm playing as, then deliver a quick epitaph when he gets blind-sighted by a thermal detonator.
Since your deaths are included on the reinforcement counter, it's best to run around capturing command posts and either hold the enemy off long enough to win, or trap the enemy so it's easier to kill all their reinforcements. The A.I is varied, meaning that sometimes your team is able to win the game regardless of your contribution, or sometimes they can't maintain hold of an anthill. Since after playing Daikatana I can never trust an A.I ever again (Siri and I have a chaotic relationship) and so I always take matters into my own hands and attempt to take command posts by myself. Now I know why my school reports always said I wasn't very good at teamwork.
This sounds weird, but the best part of the game is when you're losing. There are few things more tense than being the second-to-last person left on your team, sneaking around desperately trying to claw a victory whilst you know there's still enemies trying to find you. Of course, the biggest problem with the game is that if your reinforcement counter goes to '1' then it means that both you and some other guy are still alive. If that person dies then you lose regardless of what you're doing. It's really odd to be halfway through capturing the last command-post, gunning down all in your path before suddenly the words 'Defeat' flash on the screen because your idiot A.I friend ran into an AT-AT.
I feel like I should hate this game because it's had a huge influence on modern gaming. You're thrust into the middle of a warzone that, unless you've spent a large chunk of your childhood playing the game (which I have) then it won't feel like you're making any difference. Gunfire goes off everywhere, people bark jargon in your headset, and grenades are thrown about like pickles being tossed out of burgers in a fast-food restaurant. You know: everything that sucks about modern gaming.
But playing the game with a fresh mindset, it still works. Whilst I personally like to play as a standard trooper and never let go of the fire button, the classes are overall balanced. I would complain about Droideka's...but I never play the stuff from the prequels because the prequels don't exist. Also, there are classes such as the Bothan Spy who aren't worth your time - though they answer the immortal question: "what the hell are Bothans?" It turns out Bothans are like The Spy from Team Fortress 2 only without a personality and not nearly as effective. They're good at taking out enemies one-on-one, but since the game intends to simulate massive battles then it's not worth it. My favorite faction is the Empire, and the main reason why is because it's the most balanced side as well as being the only English side. Sure, they might be evil, but I have to support my country even though we're incompetent xenophobics.
If you can find the PS2 version for cheap on Amazon, if your nearby shopping district still has a used games store, or if Steam/GOG.com has the digital version on sale - get it. It won't change your life, but it'll certainly entertain you on a Friday night, and I guarantee you'll have much more fun with this than the bloody awful upcoming remake.
 |
| Look EA: This is called 'space battles.' They were pretty fun. Maybe you should include them. |
So why not stuff the command posts and just go on a rampage? Because it's very, very easy to die in this game. Your health doesn't regenerate - which is a huge problem in games where you're flung into the middle of a battlefield along with at least sixty others (over a hundred in the PC version). There are droids scattered around the map who can heal you, but they can also be destroyed - so you're torn between blowing them up to stop the enemy from healing, or keeping them so you can heal. Both dead allies and dead enemies sometimes also drop health and ammo, so you're not a complete sitting duck but you're still just a pawn on the battlefield. When I fight for the Rebel Alliance, I like to play a grim game where I invent a character for the chap I'm playing as, then deliver a quick epitaph when he gets blind-sighted by a thermal detonator.
Since your deaths are included on the reinforcement counter, it's best to run around capturing command posts and either hold the enemy off long enough to win, or trap the enemy so it's easier to kill all their reinforcements. The A.I is varied, meaning that sometimes your team is able to win the game regardless of your contribution, or sometimes they can't maintain hold of an anthill. Since after playing Daikatana I can never trust an A.I ever again (Siri and I have a chaotic relationship) and so I always take matters into my own hands and attempt to take command posts by myself. Now I know why my school reports always said I wasn't very good at teamwork.
This sounds weird, but the best part of the game is when you're losing. There are few things more tense than being the second-to-last person left on your team, sneaking around desperately trying to claw a victory whilst you know there's still enemies trying to find you. Of course, the biggest problem with the game is that if your reinforcement counter goes to '1' then it means that both you and some other guy are still alive. If that person dies then you lose regardless of what you're doing. It's really odd to be halfway through capturing the last command-post, gunning down all in your path before suddenly the words 'Defeat' flash on the screen because your idiot A.I friend ran into an AT-AT.
I feel like I should hate this game because it's had a huge influence on modern gaming. You're thrust into the middle of a warzone that, unless you've spent a large chunk of your childhood playing the game (which I have) then it won't feel like you're making any difference. Gunfire goes off everywhere, people bark jargon in your headset, and grenades are thrown about like pickles being tossed out of burgers in a fast-food restaurant. You know: everything that sucks about modern gaming.
But playing the game with a fresh mindset, it still works. Whilst I personally like to play as a standard trooper and never let go of the fire button, the classes are overall balanced. I would complain about Droideka's...but I never play the stuff from the prequels because the prequels don't exist. Also, there are classes such as the Bothan Spy who aren't worth your time - though they answer the immortal question: "what the hell are Bothans?" It turns out Bothans are like The Spy from Team Fortress 2 only without a personality and not nearly as effective. They're good at taking out enemies one-on-one, but since the game intends to simulate massive battles then it's not worth it. My favorite faction is the Empire, and the main reason why is because it's the most balanced side as well as being the only English side. Sure, they might be evil, but I have to support my country even though we're incompetent xenophobics.
If you can find the PS2 version for cheap on Amazon, if your nearby shopping district still has a used games store, or if Steam/GOG.com has the digital version on sale - get it. It won't change your life, but it'll certainly entertain you on a Friday night, and I guarantee you'll have much more fun with this than the bloody awful upcoming remake.
 |
| You know, EA - if you can confirm that Boba Fett is in the game then I guarantee sales will double. |
