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thectegamer · 2 years

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Battlefront 2 is an action-packed Star Wars game series. The first entry was released in 2004 and it immediately caught on with gamers. The latest addition to this series is Battlefront II, which is developed by DICE (Digital Illusions CE) and published by Electronic Arts. Battlefront II is a direct sequel to Battlefront I with more maps, characters, and weapons that are straight from the films. You can play through a single-player campaign mode. Characters, worlds, and battles from Star Wars movies like Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens can are found in this mode. The game also allows you to play with your friends and compete in different battle simulations of the Star Wars Universe, like Walker Assault on Hoth. In a skirmish, two teams compete against each other. Rebels try to capture ground ids while protecting command posts - and vice versa for the Empire. This is the first game in the series to have a canon story set after Return of the Jedi. But, is Star Wars Battlefront II cross-platform? Can two players from different platforms play together? So, without any more hesitation, let's take a look. Is Star Wars Battlefront 2 Crossplay In 2022? No, Battlefront 2 is not cross-platform compatible. This means that two players on different platforms cannot play with each other. The developers of this game have not found a way to make it happen yet. More people are demanding to be able to play with their friends on multiple platforms and it isn't hard to find players who would like this too. But let's just hope that, in a future game in the Battlefront series, they'll implement the cross-platform feature so that you can play with your friends who are on other platforms. Until then, you'll have to wait. When Star Wars: Battlefront 2 launched in 2017, one key thing it lacked was crossplay multiplayer. On all major gaming platforms like Xbox, PlayStation, and Windows, players can only play against others that are on the same console. Is it cross-platform on PC And Xbox One? No, this game is not cross-platform between the Xbox One and PC. This game was developed specifically for one platform and will not run on both platforms. Since this is a multiplayer game, you are only able to play with people on the same platform, which is an unfortunate limitation of the system. One of the great things about Xbox is that players across different systems can enjoy Star Wars: Battlefront 2 together. Our Xbox Series S players can play multiplayer with our Xbox One users and our Xbox Series X players as well. Is it cross-platform on PS4 And Xbox One? No, Battlefront II isn't cross-platform between PS4/PS5 and Xbox One. This means that one person playing the game on a console cannot play with someone else who has it on a different platform. Because Sony owns the PS5, the game on their system is a closed one, which means players can only play from their original accounts. The Xbox One network is open and uses Microsoft's servers, which are used to match different players together. Is it cross-platform on PS4 And PS5? As of now, Battlefront II is cross-platform between PS4 and PS5 so players can enjoy the same game on both systems. Is it cross-platform on Xbox One And Xbox Series X/S? Yes, Battlefront II is cross-platform between Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S series. You and your friends who are playing on these different platforms can play together. Will Battlefront 2 Crossplay ever be released? As of presently, no, Star Wars Battlefront 2 doesn’t allow crossplay between console and PC players. This means that friends on different platforms will have to continue the war against the Empire from their respective corners of the galaxy. This is a bummer as Battlefront 2 feels like it would be perfect for crossplay and would benefit a lot if the feature was enabled. The company has been promising cross-platform support for a while now, but it’s only been delivered with effects in the last few years. Games like

FIFA and Apex Legends were launched without cross-platform support, but they were given it after their release. If you're looking for a Star Wars experience that can be enjoyed on different platforms, then Star Wars Squadrons could be an option. 2020s game transformed Battlefront into its own fully-fledged multiplayer shooter game. There is always hope, maybe EA will add cross-play to Battlefront 2 later on. Just last month, a leak from the publisher hinted that there'll never be a sequel and that the company intends to focus on other projects. But it's been some time since the game was released and introducing new features at this stage of its life cycle is unlikely I'm glad there's still a lot of Star Wars to look forward to, with a KOTOR remake in the works and Jedi Survivor set to release in 2023. Conclusion There are many people who want to play games with friends from different consoles, but not everyone has the same ability level or type of console. If a game is made for all platforms, it wouldn't have issues like cheating and glitchy input. These things would be ensured across multiple platforms for a better gaming experience. That's all for our article on if Star Wars Battlefront 2 crossplay will ever be a thing. Read some of our other guides: Top 3 Rich Roblox Characters Red Among Us Character - Crazy Myths Sparkling Cookie Toppings Build & How To Get The Best Minecraft Clients in 2022 How To Join A Blooket Live Game The Top 10 Games Like Summertime Saga in 2022

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statbanana · 2 years

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Runs at stable 60FPS in game, minor stutters when going into cutscenes in story mode. Only problem I've encountered so far is trying to apply a created graphic onto my character going to "Create a Skater" after loading my custom graphic causes the emulator to crash. Haven't tested Story Mode yet, but I can confirm that Classic Mode works like a charm, and so does character creation. Random crashes, unless dual-core is turned off. Main menu isn't even playable, and I know my system should be able to handle it.

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My experience with this game is similar to Terry Suave's, I can run many other games with full speed and graphical enhancements, however this game runs 20-30% lower than all others. Works really well on my machine, slight glitches but nevertheless, perfectly playable Use settings above for optimal performance. Not sure if it is an incompatibility with my system/ settings or the game itself. This title has been tested on the environments listed below:įor some reason, I experienced extremely laggy gameplay, averaging 15-28FPS. However, compatibility may extend to prior revisions or compatibility gaps may exist within ranges indicated as compatible due to limited testing. Compatibility can be assumed to align with the indicated revisions.

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tonkifetish · 2 years

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Swbf2 gameranger for mac

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You can watch a teaser trailer for the game below. Earlier this week, Electronic Arts revealed that a new Battlefront game will be shown at E3 2014. I absolutely love Star Wars Battlefront 2, and heres why: Lots of people to play with when I play online Clear objective on missions Option to play as Jedi. Then, Lucasfilm announced the Star Wars: Episode VII cast. First, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced the formation of a "story group" that will unify various timelines and silo the Expanded Universe.

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GameRanger runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and Mac OS X. Today's news is the latest development in a busy few weeks for the galaxy far, far away. Star Wars Battlefront 2 balamazsa, bu sorunu zmek iin bu oyunu yeniden. According to recent update on the Steam pages for Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and Star Wars: Empire at War - Gold Pack, those games will cease official online operations when GameSpy shuts down. The Windows version was added to a list of supported games on GameRanger on May 31. Some games like Borderlands will change hosting services. You can freeload mac games Star Wars Battlefront 2 torrent. The master server is supported by the members of. GameSpy Technology, a service that provides multiplayer functionality like leaderboards and matchmaking to many games, including Star Wars: Battlefront 2, announced in April that it would cease hosting services as of May 31, signing the order for the service's termination. SWBFSpy is the GameMaster replacement of the GameSpy masterserver, so you can browse servers and join them for the original SWBF1 and SWBF2. Lead the great armies of the Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones saga in intense real-time strategy clashes.

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Download Star Wars Battlefront 2 For Free on PC Published on November 1. Released for Windows PC in 2005, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 includes multiplayer support for up to 64 players in five different modes fought in 16 different "battlefronts." Download the best classic and new games on Windows, Mac & Linux WARS. "(I've already simulated it with GameSpy blocked and cut-off.)" "As mentioned elsewhere, people are already playing it just fine on GameRanger, and will continue to after May 31," Kevill wrote. Like an all-powerful Force controlling everything, GameRanger, a free Mac and Windows PC program, will keep Star Wars: Battlefront 2 multiplayer alive after May 31.ĭeveloper Scott Kevill revealed the news on Reddit this week, suggesting a new strategy for players.

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unitygamedevlopment · 7 months

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Star Wars Battlefront II

Star Wars" universe, "Star Wars Battlefront II" allows players to experience epic battles across various planets and locations from the franchise. The game features both single-player and multiplayer modes, offering a variety of experiences for fans of the series.

In the single-player campaign, players follow the story of Iden Versio, an elite Imperial soldier, as she embarks on a journey that spans the 30 years between "Return of the Jedi" and "The Force Awakens." The campaign offers a unique perspective on the "Star Wars" saga, allowing players to witness events from the point of view of the Galactic Empire.

The multiplayer component of "Star Wars Battlefront II" features a variety of game modes, including Galactic Assault, which pits teams of players against each other in large-scale battles across iconic planets from the "Star Wars" universe, and Starfighter Assault, which focuses on intense space battles between starfighters and capital ships.

Despite its initial challenges, "Star Wars Battlefront II" has continued to receive updates and support from its developers, with new content, characters, and features added over time. It remains a popular choice among "Star Wars" fans and multiplayer shooter enthusiasts for its immersive gameplay, stunning graphics, and faithful recreation of the "Star Wars" universe.

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glompcat · 7 years

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I know people are up in arms about the game’s in game credit system, but like... all credits do in game is let you unlock characters and buy extra loot boxes?

Loot boxes that give you random ass crap that you can craft yourself in game.

Loot boxes you are given for free every single day, just for logging in, and you get even more free boxes if you fulfill certain challenges.

YOU CAN’T EVEN BUY CREDITS they aren’t premium content, you can buy a different thing that lets you buy loot boxes, but never credits.

You can only equip three star cards at a time anyway, so why do you need to get so many of them?

Who the fuck is playing this for the credits?

What are they hoping to get?

You want credits so bad, do the challenges that give you credit boosts.

Like if you are playing so much you are hitting a max credit limit and are then freaking out.. maybe ask yourself what you are hoping to get out of a video game that it upsets you so much when you clearly have the credits to unlock the characters, and probably have the parts to craft whatever items you want?

Again, YOU CAN ONLY EQUIP THREE THINGS AT A TIME so if you are hitting these walls you prob. have enough to get three things for the class you like.

Like this honestly feels like people found a thing to be mad at because they knew being upset the story is centered around a WOC wouldn’t fly, and everyone just ran with it.

#star wars battlefront ii #battlefront ii #there is a reason they are attacking this game #and not say overwatch #where there are certainly poc characters #but unlike this one #you aren't forced to play as a woc #and follow her story #I actually have never seen a game #provide so many alternatives #to the loot boxes #like they actively give you other options #so you don't have to buy them #also note how that credit cap #was only happening #on the single player mode #not even the single player story #just the single player arcade #which is mostly a tutorial

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radramblog · 3 years

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Star Wars Battlefront II (the good one)

My nonfunctional internet is preventing me not only from finishing off my essay, not only from watching the lecture that I would have shown up for were it not for mediary COVID restrictions, but it’s also stopping me from writing anything here that would require any sort of research or confirming details. That leaves me with less options that I would have thought.

Browsing through my Steam collection for ideas on what to talk about, and something jumped out at me pretty quickly.

Star Wars Battlefront II (the 2005 game, not Star Wars Battlefront 2, the sequel to the EA remake much maligned for malicious microtransactions) is a first/third person shooter that, while showing its age, remains one of the best games the franchise has ever put out. This is, of course, an opinion coming from someone who has yet to play Knights of the Old Republic, but it feels like Star Wars as a franchise has more misses than hits. So what makes this one land?

While I’m woefully unfamiliar with the early 00s shooters that Battlefront II was competing with (aside from Counter-Strike Source, but I’d argue that’s a different target market), I am extremely familiar with this one. I think part of why Battlefront II is so fondly remembered is on account of it being almost a gateway game for people getting into shooters in general- I for one played it extensively on my mate’s PS2 in primary school, and later on someone else’s PSP, and I doubt I would later have clicked so strongly with Halo if I hadn’t.

But what Battlefront II has more than anything else I feel is ambition. After the conclusion of the prequel trilogy, Star Wars’s universe was big, and the developers seemed interested in representing about as much of what we see of it’s style of warfare as they possibly could. As a result, the maps are a glorious smattering of worlds and terrains, loving and detailed recreations of places from the various films as well as a few that are probably new (I might just not remember them), each drizzled with vehicles and turrets and resources. Each of the game’s four factions share the basic units with very few differences (except for the Super Battle Droid), making them easy to understand and grasp for newer/younger players, with the complexity of each’s unique units paying off those willing to grapple with their weakness and play to their strengths. Some are definitely better than others, but that isn’t especially obvious at first. The basic classes reflect tropes seen in other games and while again some falter it’s not by enough that picking them in the wrong situation is a guaranteed blunder.

There are, of course, the heroes, major characters from the series granted to a player who’s doing pretty well, and I feel like this is another pretty well handled mechanic, even if a little awkward. There are enough of them, and they’re distributed enough between maps and factions, that they don’t tend to feel stale, and it’s pretty obvious that while they can absolutely ruin a team it’s also pretty easy to mishandle them. Unfortunately, heroes are related to one of my biggest complaints about the game, but we’ll get to that later.

One of the biggest selling points in my eyes are the dogfight levels. Now, I’ve never played X-Wing or the like, in fact my experiences with dogfighting games is extremely limited. But this part of the game fucks so hard. The design ideas begun with the class selection continue with the (admittedly small) range of starfighters you can pilot, with specialised interceptors, bombers, and landing craft to go alongside the effective all-rounders. The mode offers a variety of playstyles, between hunting down opponent’s fighters to bombing their flagships to boarding said flagships and destroying their systems from the inside. There is also the option of manually controlling the turrets, as well as acting as a gunner for someone else’s bomber/lander, but these positions are unfortunately underpowered and underexplored- they’re also, ultimately, less fun. But the dogfighting just feels right. I can’t really explain it, but moving in that 3-dimensional space feels not only satisfying but accurate to the source material in a way I don’t think any future Star Wars game has yet replicated.

I suppose the various game modes are worth discussing. Skirmishing on whatever map you want is the standard, at least in multiplayer, but there are a few unique offerings you won’t see in other modes- Hunt, where it’s a faction versus some of the series’s wildlife in a mode that always feels imbalanced towards one side or the other. There’s obviously Assault- the standard name for the space dogfights but on one ground map (Mos Eisley) it is of course the ever-popular heroes free-for-all, a chaotic mess but one where you can test out each one and figure out what their abilities actually do. But in the broader strokes, you’ve got the story, and the Galactic Conquest, as the two main other modes.

(oof, they really didnt build this with this resolution in mind huh)

That’s right, this game has a story, and it’s…okay? Ultimately it’s just a series of missions with the 501st, as they fight in the clone wars, turn on the Jedi, and ultimately become the Empire’s tool of oppression, separated by exposition. You get to run through some scenes from the movies, including the boarding at the start of the first movie and the Battle of Hoth, though some of the missions feel harder than intended- no matter how good the player is, the AI is not going to fare well in the tougher missions and you have a solid chance of ending up on your own.

Galactic Conquest is the game’s more unique selling point, being something like a basic version of Risk but with the dice-rolling battles replaced with Star Wars Battlefront II. You earn credits over time and through victory that you can spend unlocking types of units, getting new fleets to improve how many fronts you can wage war on, and unlock powerups for use in the actual battles. It’s largely fine, feeling like a bit more controlled and strategic version of just playing randoms in Instant Action, but it suffers the most from the biggest problem this game has.

The game’s truest flaw is its AI. They are dumb as a sack of potatoes, and the main thing holding the game back from perfection. And it was the early 00s so imperfect AI was to be expected, but it’s a bit more than imperfect here, I guess. Robits standing still while shooting you (or just at all, while you’re sniping them), extremely questionable vehicle and turret usage, and literally crashing starships into you, your flagship, or their own flagship. Bumping their difficulty up doesn’t really help, either. Even more egregious is the AI’s usage of heroes- or rather, that they don’t. If you’re playing single player, the game will always give earned heroes to you rather than your robot teammates, will not let one of them take if it if you decline to use the character, and you will never see one on the opposite side. This would imply that there wasn’t code for the Ais to use them, except there clearly is because Assault Mos Eisley exists- and they’re arguably much better there than in any other mode! It’s a real shame, because the low quality of the AI combined with the nature of the games means that victory is extremely polarised based on the player’s skill- if you bad all the way up to pretty decent at the game, your input basically doesn’t affect the outcome, whether you win or lose. If you’re good at the game, you will never lose at singleplayer, possible exception again being Assault Mos Eisley. It’s a little absurd, honestly. Also, I’m not even sure they go for the flag in CTF in space.

I am, however, willing to look past these flaws. The game is far from perfect, but it’s just incredibly fun. It’s a type of gameplay that they’ve tried to replicate, but never quite recaptured- and I think part of the reason for that is because the awkwardness is part of the charm. It’s nostalgic- both for those who played it when they were younger and just those in my generation who grew up on the Prequels. It’s also way more expensive on steam (bruh 14.5 AUD for real?) than I expected, but it goes on hard sales pretty often (I think I paid like a buck fifty for it), so it’ll be within budget at some point. I don’t know if I can recommend it for those who aren’t nostalgic, though, solely on account of those awkward features you likely wouldn’t be able to ignore like I do. And that’s a shame, because it’s not like they’ve made a better version of this game.

Fuck EA, basically.

#ramble #video games #star wars battlefront 2 #(the good one)

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sparrowsabre7 · 4 years

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I have to say, "Star Wars Squadrons" has really impressed me. I got it on deep discount thanks to an xbox sale and having plenty of reward points and wasn't expecting much more than an expansion of "Battlefront II"'s starfighter modes but the story actually hit all the right nostalgia buttons for me.

I had "X-Wing" growing up when I was too small to really appreciate or understand (or be good at without turning invulnerability on) it. I had the "Rogue Squadron" trilogy which I very much enjoyed, but "Squadrons" is simultaneously like both and like neither. It has the first person perspective of X-Wing and instrument controls, but also has an easier to learn gameplay and is much less hardcore than either (on normal at least). But it's the story that has me feeling the nostalgia the most. The cast portrays all the characters well (particularly the two squadron commanders) but the story itself just reminds me of the classic Star Wars novels. I used to devour all the New Republic and Clone Wars books, as well as one-offs like "Shadows of the Empire"; the "Rogue Squadron" games never really had an interest in great story telling, favouring the arcade style gunplay and pitched battles, but "Squadrons" manages to do both, resulting in a story which focuses on interpersonal struggles as much as the larger picture, something which every good Star Wars story should do. The beats of traps and counter moves, chess playing, and cat and mouse makes for an engaging story and the characters are brought to life well enough to care about each of them (though Gunny's species freaks me out a bit).

For a company supposedly blamed for "ruining Star Wars", every one of EA's titles with a story driven narrative has been well put together and had entertaining gameplay to match and with "Fallen Order" and "Squadrons" they seem to be actively trying to combat their negative image.

#star wars #star wars squadrons #games

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myevilmouse · 4 years

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15 and 29!

15. Did you play any Star Wars video games?

YES! I have played and much enjoyed Star Wars Video games. I love video games when I have the time. My SW video games started with A New Hope on our Commodore 64 when I was a kid, actually, I was totally awesome at the trench run.

Other ones I have played since: The Lego Original Trilogy, Shadows of the Empire, Dark Forces, Dark Forces II (I was a huge fan of that one), the Force Unleashed was a fave on my PSP for a while, then I also tried playing Galaxy of Heroes on my phone, but I sucked at it so that didn't last long.

My husband got Battlefront and I played a little bit with him on that one, but we never really got into it for some reason. It seemed all the cool stuff required online play and our console wasn’t hooked up that way at the time. As I’ve gotten older I find I prefer “super easy story mode” rather than slipping, sliding, swinging, running and jumping around games, which is why I just watched the cutscenes for Fallen Order on YouTube rather than tried to play the game. I could tell from the commercials it would not be my cuppa tea, although I enjoyed the story when I watched it.

BUT Battlefront II is a masterpiece, and I think anyone who is craving quality Star Wars content with a gripping storyline, authentic dialogue, healthy dose of our fave heroes, and three-dimensional new characters should watch it. I’ve rewatched it a few times, and will watch again. I really wish they had those writers script the ST. It’s just.so.good. I promise you won’t be sorry if you haven’t seen it. Link here:

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29. Which character doesn't get enough credit or screentime?

Of course, we could always use more Luke screentime…but that’s a copout, I know I know.

I have very few criticisms of the Original Trilogy, which is my starting point for all these questions. Some characters have limited screentime but we know everything we need to about them, like Tarkin. He is super effective and we instantly grasp his ruthless amorality from just a few minutes.

Then there are characters that have fascinating backstories, like Oola, but whose arcs, if developed on film, would have detracted from the pacing and overall experience. I remember even as a kid being super intrigued by that green dancing lady and wondering what prompted her to decide to resist her enslaver at that particular moment. Thankfully we have some great stories to flesh out these characters in the Legends EU.

So I’m gonna say Biggs, perhaps, to make his death more impactful in Ep IV, could have benefited from one of those deleted scenes on Tatooine.

I understand why Lucas made the choice he did, and perhaps there was no way to keep that aspect of Luke’s background and maintain the pacing and cohesion of the film, but Biggs could have done more onscreen. Also Wedge, in the same vein, who is part of all Luke’s battle victories, clearly a good friend at the end of ROTJ, could have had a little scene somewhere where we get a better idea of his character. But overall, I’m pretty satisfied. 😊

Thank you so much for these asks! It was fun to think about all those old video games and supporting actors!

#asks #i like asks #tatooineknights #wedge antilles #biggs darklighter #grand moff tarkin #oola #my thoughts #video games #battlefront II

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ylberm2 · 4 years

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Star Wars Battlefront II: A New Hope. A Gamers Review.

The Star Wars Battlefront franchise established its name in the early 2000s when the games were released for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. What a time to be alive that was. The prequels were in full swing, The Clone Wars were just getting started on Cartoon Network and Star Wars was at the peak of its popularity with the Millennial generation. So, when we heard the news of Star Wars Battlefront being reborn and heading for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, naturally we were all excited. But once we popped the disk into the consoles, we were left wondering “Is this the same franchise that provided us with countless hours of fun so long ago?”. Star Wars Battlefront was a disaster. It almost ruined the franchise and left a lot of gamers sour.

Star Wars Battlefront I was incomplete when it was released. There was no story/campaign mode for single player gamers. The multiplayer mode was at the very least bland, with minimal characters and game modes. The game also only featured characters and maps based off the original trilogy, which alienated fans of the prequels and sequels (yes, there are fans of those eras). EA was flat out lazy. When you pair this with EA’s reputation of under producing games to then later force players to spend more money on numerous DLC packs (downloadable content), fans lost trust in the franchise. This is evident in many of EA sports franchises such as Madden NFL, Battlefield, and most notably The Sims franchise. Although many games are using microtransactions to make more money, many of the most popular games that offer a variety of game packs are free these days, most notably Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone. EA still charges $19.99 for the Star Wars Battlefront II game. Alessandro Fillari for Gamespot also mentions this in their review,

“Battlefront II plants itself in the same territory as free-to-play games, with much of its content and characters tucked away behind progression walls and randomized loot crates. This is an especially disappointing reality for a full-priced release.” Alessandro Fillari, Gamespot.com.

Although we agree here, I personally think his score of 6/10 overall is a bit harsh for the game.

This takes us to Star Wars Battlefront II. When I heard that there was a sequel coming out, I already had doubt in the second installment before it had even been released. I was wondering how is EA going to mess this one up? From my personal gaming experience, I believe Star Wars Battlefront II is a major improvement to its predecessor, but many previously devoted fans chose not to purchase the second game after the disappointment and disaster around the first installment.

CAMPAIGN MODE

Being provided with a campaign mode at all has been a huge improvement from the first installment, but let’s take a closer look at it. The Campaign mode on Star Wars Battlefront II is actually pretty good. It changes up the pace of the story by switching between third person shooting missions, where you navigate the map and take on the empire head-to-head with various weapons, to straight out dog fights in space. Flying Tie fighters and X-wing aircrafts in space is a nice touch to keep you on your toes while keeping the game fresh, because how many more first or third person shooter games do we really need?

In the story mode you play as Iden Versio, who starts as a high-ranking commander for the Galactic Empire. Since the story takes place right after the events of episode six, Return of the Jedi, the empire falls after the death of Darth Sidious and has left the empire desperate and looking to take the galaxy down with it. Iden Versio sees the error in the empire’s ways and pretty soon into the story she defects to the rebel alliance. This story setup allows players the opportunity to get to play both sides of the war, which I’m sure will be appreciated by some fans. One of my personal gripes is that the story mode itself is more on the short side.

Campaign mode score: 7.5/10

SINGLE PLAYER MODE

Single player mode is pretty standard. It consists of three modes. Battle Scenarios is a mode where you can customize games to play against the AI. You can also customize all the rules and choose which side you would like to play as. In arcade mode you can complete certain missions and objectives with special characters from both the light and dark side. There is also a pretty standard practice/tutorial mode. These are great additions to the game but can get stale and repetitive rather quickly.

Single player mode score: 6.6/10

MULTIPLAYER MODE

This is the games bread a butter. Multiplayer is vastly improved from the last installment. EA has listened to the fanbase and has diversified the game by adding the characters and maps from both the prequel and sequels to the game. One of the biggest flaws of Battlefront I was the lack of iconic characters such as Kylo Ren or Yoda being playable in the game. Battlefront II fixes that with modes like Supremacy, which is a capture the flag type game mode, that allows you to pick era of the franchise you would like to play in. Another online game mode is “Heroes and Villains”. If you ever wondered how Obi-Wan Kenobi vs Kylo Ren would turn out, or what Luke Skywalker vs Darth Maul would look like? Then this is the game mode for you. You can battle with Star Wars most popular and iconic characters using lightsabers, blasters, as well as use the force to fight your way to victory in a 4v4 battle royale.

David Jagneux describes this in his review for IGN, “What’s great about Battlefront 2 is that it lets you play with all of its toys, no questions asked. Every character class and playable hero is available from the start, and the tedious unlocking grind from launch has been completely removed. Luke, Vader, Boba Fett, Rey – you name them, they’re all here.” David Jagneux, IGN.com. David gave the game a solid score of 8.8/10.

Multiplayer mode score: 10/10

This brings me to the conclusion. Star Wars Battlefront II is a very good game, and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a great multiplayer game with a few single player modes to throw into the mix. When compared to the first Battlefront to come to the new generation of consoles it is a massive upgrade. I am usually hard on EA as I am not a fan of many of their games, but I have to admit that they have done great job capturing the essence of the original Star Wars Battlefront games for Xbox and PlayStation 2, which is something that many companies have had a hard time doing as of late, even with superior gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series One being released. You have to give props where they are due. Star Wars Battlefront II has my full recommendation and stamp of approval, it’s a fun game whether you are a huge Star Wars fan or are just looking for a diverse online/offline adventure.

Final Score: 8/10 with a great multiplayer mode!

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rebelsofshield · 4 years

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Star Wars Squadrons-Review

A tight and well priced dogfighting simulation makes for a targeted but all together fun Star Wars experience.

(Review contains minor spoilers for the Squadrons campaign)

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The Empire is in ruins. After the Battle of Yavin undercut the Imperial leadership and left its forces scattered, the Rebellion formed the New Republic and the Galactic Civil War entered a new stage. Now on close to equal footing, both sides of the war find themselves constantly gunning for each other’s resources and searching for the upper hand. As the New Republic takes on a new secret project, two ace pilots from opposing sides of the war are reassigned to the front lines and must come to terms with a betrayal from years before that now threatens lives regardless of faction.

Star Wars Rogue Squadron was the first Star Wars game I ever played. Before that one of my favorite childhood activities was flying around my little Micromachines Y-Wings for miniaturized galactic bombing runs and dogfights. I’ve loved the pilots of Star Wars and their iconic starfighters for years. It’s one of the best and most enjoyable aspects of the franchise and it’s a joy to finally get to step back into a Star Wars cockpit. And with tight controls and a complex combat system, Squadrons may just be one of the best of its space going type.

At first pass, Star Was Squadrons is overwhelming and intimidating. In addition to the standard flying, dodging, and firing that one would expect, EA Motive introduces a variety of other mechanics such as customizable loadouts, unique ship classes, and an impressively complex system of power diverting. There’s a lot to take in and stepping into online dogfights can lead to hours of vaporizing before one gets the hang of this game’s particular eccentricities and strategies. While it’s definitely not for those unwilling to commit time and energy to getting the hang of its control scheme, when you finally do star to feel confident in piloting a starfighter and start taking the fight to the enemy the result can be fist pumping good time.

Squadron’s mutliplayer is split between two modes: Dogfight and Fleet Battles. Of the two, Dogfight is the more difficult and less inspired. It feels very much like a standard team deathmatch style battle royale with two sides competing against one another kills. It’s unfortunate that Squadrons drops you into this mode first because it’s easy to get disheartened by how easily your brand new X-Wing gets rolled over by more experienced players in TIEs. There’s still fun to be had, but it’s the most barebones of EA Motive’s presentation for Squadrons.

Fleet Battles is the headlining mode for the game though and it’s worth it. Taking place as a consistent tug of war between both the Empire and the New Republic, Fleet Battles rewards cooperation and diverse play styles for players to accomplish goals and push their side of an unfolding space battle to victory. While classes like Support and Bomber may feel largely useless in the Fighter and Interceptor heavy Dogfight, Fleet Battles encourages a balanced team with players taking on different roles at any time. Two bombers could be leading an attack on an enemy flag ship while two interceptors scare away enemy fighters and a support craft provides health and ammunition to squadmates in need. It’s a fun and dynamic large scale combat mode that is addictive and rewarding in equal measure.

I went into Star Wars Squadrons’ campaign expecting the bare minimum. I remember being burned by the hyped up Inferno Squad narrative from Star Wars Battlefront II and knew that any kind of story for this game was going to be a second priority to the online action. Thankfully, I was surprised. While the campaign for Star Wars Squadrons still has its storytelling pit falls, what’s presented is refreshingly personal and enjoyable military space opera.

Following the destruction of Endor, Imperial Pilot Lindon Javes (Phil Morris) abandoned his squad including his protege Terisa Kerrill (Peta Sergeant) to join the Rebel Alliance. Now a high ranking member of the New Republic, Javes is instructed by Hera Syndulla to assist in the development of a mysterious new Repbulic warship, the Starhawk. Meanwhile, the scattered remnants of the Empire aim to stop this project in its tracks and Kerrilll is given the opportunity to exact her revenge on her former ally.

The rivalry and pain brought between these two former friends and allies makes up much of the emotional center of Squadrons’s story. Both Morris and Sergeant inject their characters with the right amount of flawed drive, lingering pain, and regret and many of the narrative’s best beats comes from when one of these two leaders lets their guard down.

Javes and Kerrill aren’t the only standout characters though. One of the unexpected surprises of Squadrons is that you are allowed some breathers between each minute to chat up your crewmates. Not all are as developed as others, but it adds a personal flavor to the battles and conflict. There are some diamonds in the rough though. On the side of the Republic, former Trandoshan conman Frisk, voiced by James Arnold Taylor of The Clone Wars fame, is a joy, bringing a much needed sense of humor and world weary snark to the high stakes action. On the Empire, it’s the beaten down Shen, an Imperial pilot that’s been shot down so many times that most of him is held together by cybernetic parts, who steals the show.

As a player character you take on the role of either a Rebel pilot that assisted Javes in his defection or another squadmate of his that was betrayed along Kerrill. It’s a fun framing device to bring your faceless and mostly silent character into the narrative and adds a personal streak to both sides of the campaign. This flip flopping of allegiances makes for some of the script’s best moments. There’s a certain guilty joy in creating problems that you know that the other half of your story is going to have to fix and vice versa. Both the New Republic and the Empire have their moments of glory and success but also their failures and you get to be right at the front of it all.

If the Squadrons story fails in any way it’s in creating a lack of consequence. The set up of the campaign invites a scenario where both your Republic squadron and Imperial team come face to face and inflict hurton the other, but this surprisingly never occurs. Similarly, both sides more or less make off with what they wanted in the terms of the narrative. Despite being a story about mixed empathy and personal limits in wartime, neither side really reaches a breaking a point and the ending cinematic for both teams is equally triumphant. It’s a disappointingly simplistic move for a smart set up for the story and it undercuts some of the strong work that came before.

Luckily the gameplay itself is strong, mixing together various different battle scenarios and set pieces to keep the 6 hour run time chugging along smoothly without growing stale.

Out of the cockpit, EA Motive offers a decent amount of customization for pilots and ships. It’s nothing too intensive, but it’s a fun bit of personalization to a game that you are likely to sink hours into its multiplayer.

For $39.99, Star Wars Squadrons is exactly what you pay for. A well polished core gameplay mechanic employed in smart ways through dogfights, cooperative play, and an above average campaign. Combat flight sim gamers are sure to love this trip to the Galaxy Far, Far Away and fans of the franchise might find the experience just as rewarding.

Score: B

#Star Wars #Star Wars Squadrons #review #reviews #Star Wars video games #Star Wars games #Squadrons

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kcaruth · 4 years

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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Review

Before the dark times, before the mouse empire, LucasArts published several fun, memorable Star Wars video games, from Star Wars: Bounty Hunter to The Force Unleashed series. After Disney’s acquisition of LucasArts in 2012, the Mouse House stopped all internal developments at LucasArts and laid off most of its staff in 2013. Signaling its turn to the dark side, Disney awarded EA (voted worst company in America multiple times) a multi-year license to create Star Wars video games.

EA rebooted the Star Wars Battlefront series (2005′s Star Wars: Battlefront II has to be one of my most played video games) and released the new Star Wars Battlefront in November 2015. Critics acknowledged the game’s great graphics and visuals, but it quickly became apparent that the game lacked content. The hero and villain rosters were very limited, and the game only included content from the original trilogy, not the prequels.

Then came EA’s disastrous Star Wars Battlefront II, the repercussions of which shook the gaming world. Released in November 2017, Battlefront II had some promise. It was the first game since the Disney takeover to feature a single-player story mode that was canon to the film series. The game also contained content from the prequel, original, and sequel trilogies. Additionally, EA greatly expanded the hero and villain rosters. However, EA showed it true colors with the game’s loot boxes, which could award players significant gameplay advantages if they purchased them with real money. Essentially, the game turned into a pay to win system, thereby making players who did not purchase loot boxes feel so disadvantaged that Battlefront II virtually became pay to play.

Although Visceral Games, the studio behind the Dead Space series, was developing a single-player Star Wars game, even getting to the point in the development process where they could tease everyone with in-game footage, EA canceled the game and shut down the studio. Not counting the Lego Star Wars games and mobile games, EA’s Battlefront games were the only new Stars Wars video games on the market, an astonishing reality compared to the rate at which LucasArts used to produce games for the franchise.

Eventually, EA finally came to its senses and assigned a single-player action-adventure Star Wars game to Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind the Titanfall series. Former Santa Monica Studio employee Stig Asmussen served as game director, and heavy-hitting talent like writer Chris Avellone, perhaps best known for his work on Fallout: New Vegas, joined the project. Finally, Respawn released Jedi: Fallen Order in November 2019 to much critical acclaim.

Now, with that long-winded background introduction establishing the recent state of Star Wars video gaming out of the way, let’s get into the real reason why everyone is here. What did I think of Jedi: Fallen Order? I am usually well behind on newer video game releases, but our current state of affairs with the global pandemic has afforded me a bit more time to dust off my controller. Having just beaten Fallen Order earlier this week, I have plenty to say about the game. (I even made a pros and cons list! Can you tell I have also been spending my time watching the misadventures of Leslie Knope and company in Parks and Rec?)

At its core, Star Wars is about family, friendship, and good versus evil, so let’s start by talking about this game’s characters and plot. (Don’t worry; I won’t spoil anything from the story.) Fallen Order nails the spirit of Star Wars. Set five years after Revenge of the Sith, players control Cal Kestis, a Padawan forced to keep a low profile after the Jedi Purge. Cal lives on the planet Bracca, where he works as a scrapper salvaging ships from the Clone Wars. Kudos to the game here. I stopped a couple of times just to admire the visuals of Bracca. It was definitely a “wow moment” seeing TIE fighters shriek by overhead and watching a Separatist ship descend from the atmosphere. One day, Cal taps into the Force for the first time since Emperor Palpatine’s Order 66 to save a friend from certain death from a workplace accident. Unfortunately, an Imperial probe droid records the incident, alerting the Empire of a Jedi fugitive. Two Inquisitors quickly arrive on the scene to track down the Jedi. Introduced in the animated series Star Wars Rebels, the menacing Inquisitors are an evil organization of Force-sensitive beings, some of them former Jedi, who have been tortured and turned to the dark side by Darth Vader and the Empire or otherwise willingly joined the organization out of hunger for power. They are tasked with hunting down surviving Jedi in hiding and others exhibiting Force potential. Somehow, Cal has survived this long even though he still carries around his lightsaber with him everywhere! When the Inquisitors corner him, he literally just pulls it out of his pocket! How has no one ever noticed it before? Did none of the Imperial probe droids floating around the planet ever take a snapshot of the weapon? Plot holes aside, two new characters, Greez and Cere, rescue Cal from certain doom at the hands of the Second and Ninth Sisters and ferry him off world.

Cere is a former Jedi who held the role of Seeker in the Order. A Seeker located infants with Force abilities who could be taken to Coruscant and trained in the Jedi arts (think the good version of the Inquisitors). Greez is a starship pilot with a bad gambling habit, a green thumb, and an insatiable appetite. Cal finds a small droid named BD-1, who reveals a message from Jedi Master Eno Cordova, detailing the existence of a hidden Jedi Holocron containing a list of Force-sensitive children across the galaxy. In the wrong hands, this list could lead to the children’s demise. Cal and Cere want to use the list to rebuild the Jedi Order. Thus begins the race between the Empire and our crew of ragtag misfits to secure the Holocron.

Overall, the story is good, great even for recent Star Wars standards. It fits the Star Wars cannon very well, and I loved the nods to the Clone Wars, mentions of obscure characters, and the foreshadowing of future events. Some moments elicit chuckles from the appropriate Star Wars humor, while others go to some truly dark places. The way the game tackles Order 66 earns it extremely high marks from me. The developers need to be applauded for bringing in new and relatively unknown planets that we have not really had the chance to explore before. There is no Hoth, Jakuu, or the like to be seen here, thankfully. Star Wars is a big galaxy; it is about time we saw different parts of it. We have spent more than enough time on Tatooine. The planets we do visit feel alive. Each one has a different color palette, climate, weather pattern (although the developers may have been a little heavy-handed on the fog in a few of the locations), and, of course, flora and fauna.

Cal fights everything from annoying rat creatures to ram-like slugs, from giant venus fly traps to trampoline spring-plants. Players can even collect plant specimens on different planets and plant them in Greez’s terrarium, which was a nice little way to take a piece of each planet with you on your journey. Oh, and the spiders. Cal has to kill tons and tons of spiders. Again, this is Star Wars! There is a whole galaxy at your disposal full of creatures that look like whatever your imagination can dream up, and the best we get is different species of spiders? That is probably nitpicking, but it felt like it was worth pointing out.

When it comes to the Empire, however, the variety is fantastic. Of course, the run-of-the-mill standard stormtroopers are here, but there are also variations like shock baton-wielding scout troopers, flame troopers, and the dangerous Purge troopers, essentially the special forces of the Inquisitors. The chatter between the troopers is great. Before they spot him, Cal can overhear them talking about their notorious accuracy, the planet’s hostile wildlife, or even mundane topics like food rations. Once Cal starts fighting them, they often taunt him, full of confidence in their abilities, but then they come to the realization that they are facing off against a Jedi. The confidence in their voices gradually turns to panicked fear as Cal slices through their numbers. By the time Cal gets to the last trooper standing, that trooper will regularly plead for his life or confess how scared he is. Every once in a while, the Empire will even throw AT-ST walkers at Cal, which are a fun enough challenge, though the strategy to defeat them becomes clear within a minute or two, and players are never forced to change up their tactics. I do love that after Cal destroys the walker, the trooper will crawl out of the wreckage and start shooting at him. Nice touch!

With all that said, the story is not perfect. In fact, once or twice it just feels dumb. For example, Cal goes on this grand mission seeking out an important leader in hiding, and when he finally encounters him, they exchange maybe one full sentence before the leader gifts Cal a rebreather so that he can swim underwater. You are telling me I conquered various obstacles and enemies, traversing across multiple planets all to get...a rebreather? This whole section could have been cut out and streamlined so that the storyline goes directly to the main setpiece of this planet I am talking about. Have one of Cal’s crewmates give him a rebreather and send him on his way instead. Regardless, at least the back and forth traversal gives players another chance to board the ship, ascend from the planet, and blast off into hyperspace. Seeing that never got old.

Respawn and its writers did a great job with these characters, including one of the Inquisitors (the other one is just kind of...meh). I enjoyed getting to know my crew, but I wish they had a little more to do in the game. In reality, they just stay on the ship 95 percent of the time while you are out running around on your mission (not that I entirely blame them...it is a cool ship). The conversations between these characters were usually good, but sometimes Cal would not mention huge, seemingly significant events or people he ran into to his crew! For a cinematic franchise like Star Wars, this game could have used a couple more cutscenes. The game often feeds the plot or a character’s mindset to players by making them idly stand near a crewmate and tapping R3 a handful of times to get them to cough up a couple of lines of dialogue.

As is to be expected from a Star Wars product, the game’s music is terrific. Gordy Haab and Stephen Barton composed the score and recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Bach Choir of London. Mongolian folk metal band The Hu also wrote and recorded a song that is featured during a couple of prominent portions of the game. The song lyrics were written in Mongolian and then translated into a fictional Star Wars alien language. The music compliments and elevates the game’s setpieces, with one standout part reminding me of Thor: Ragnarok. A couple of times, the game goes full John Williams to really make some moments hit home, and boy does it work! Hats off to Respawn for putting in this much effort in regards to the music for the game.

Getting into the gameplay, Fallen Order is an amalgamation of several other games. Dark Souls, Zelda, Uncharted, Metroid, Castlevania, Sekiro, heck even Sonic...they are all here in some form or fashion. Unfortunately for Fallen Order, it does not elevate the features it borrows from those games. The biggest reason? The bugs. Oh my goodness the bugs. How can a blockbuster release like this have so many bugs? Maybe it had something to do with EA or Disney wanting to push the final product out before the release of The Rise of Skywalker the next month, but the amount of bugs in this game are simply unacceptable. While none of them led to a complete game crash, I definitely caught myself grumbling, “I hate this game,” with my frustration levels constantly reaching the scorching temperature of Mustafarian lava, especially considering Fallen Order’s inexcusably long load times. Seriously, the load times after dying are so long that I had enough time to run to the bathroom, heat something up in the microwave, or make a cup of tea (to help relax me from this rage-inducing game) before the game finished loading. How can I lift off from a planet and travel through hyperspace faster than the game can respawn me after dying? It is not just dying, by the way. The game developers think they cleverly hid load times behind elevator rides, but that did not work either! At least throw in some elevator music or comm chatter if you are going to make me stand there for so long!

One time, I fell through the level to my death while walking on what was 100 percent solid ground. Speaking of solid ground, or should I say the lack thereof, enemies continued to fight me while clearly hovering in thin air when they should obviously be plummeting to their death. Woe is me if I tried to reach them, though, because my Jedi character must not have that ability, leading to, that is right, more death falls for me as the enemy looked on from his invisible sliver of ground above. If I was lucky enough to have an enemy remain in my relative vicinity and not stand off a ledge, that enemy had a chance of pinning and glitching Cal against a wall, leaving me trapped until I died from the beating. The enemy who kills Cal glows gold until players shave off a piece of that enemies health, which is great, but that means players cannot see that enemy flash red when he uses an unblockable attack. How could Respawn not notice this error when it is such an important component of the combat? For all the aggressive enemies with magical glitching powers, there were also those that would have a change of heart mid-combat and go pacifistic on me. I found this especially common in the later game and on one planet in particular with ranged enemies. They would fire at me, I would block their shot back at them and injure them, and then they would just stand there staring at me. It was really bizarre and made me uneasy turning my back on them to explore the area. I also experienced my health and Force bars completely disappearing from the screen. The first couple of times it happened, I thought it was intentional and meant that Cal could not die for that sequence of the game. Wrong! So much for thinking I was momentarily invincible with unlimited Force powers. This bug was especially crippling during big boss fights, as you can imagine. Respawn throws in some quick time events once in a while where players have to press the correct button in a very short amount of time. For the most part, I did not mind these, but one exception got my blood boiling. Cal is fighting a giant creature and ends up free falling. The game requires Cal to land in a very, very precise spot and pull of a quick time event. I cannot count the number of times I fell to my death during this part because of how finicky the game was being. Cal conveniently stumbles across every single icy or muddy slide in the galaxy during his travels, a way for the game developers to disguise a way to get players from point A to point B quickly, but these slides are also quite particular with when players jump and where they land. Another good portion of my deaths came from Cal not making a jump on one of these slides when he clearly had the distance or him seemingly landing and making the jump only for him to glitch and then fall backwards into a never-ending dark chasm. The game developers may have thought players would enjoy these slides, but I came to dread them.

The worst game bugs by far, however, dealt with frame rates and level textures. Not contained to one section or even one planet, unfortunately, garbage frame rates wreak more havoc across the galaxy than the treacherous Empire. I am telling you the frame rate is absolutely abysmal in this game. I can forgive a drop in frame rate if it happens a couple of times, but it is like it is a built-in gameplay feature of Fallen Order. It was maddening! How can Respawn expect me to properly block or dodge if the game cannot even keep up with my movements or camera adjustments? Texture pop ins and clipping were also recurring issues. One time, I noticed a soldier’s helmet load in late. Another time, a Wookie’s fur took a while to fill up the character model. (By the way, the Wookies in this game look horrendous.) Sometimes, it would get so bad that the game would just pause completely so that it could load in the content of the area. I honestly thought the game had crashed and was about to reboot the console before everything stuttered back into place and Cal got moving again.

I have done a lot of ranting about the game’s flaws the last few paragraphs, so let me get back to some things I did like. The combat works well. I cannot begin to tell you how satisfying and occasionally outright hilarious it is to Force push a trooper off a ledge, especially when he is standing there trying to intimidate you. I had so much fun simply blocking stormtroopers’ laser bolts right back at them. Best of all, I started taking every opportunity I had to pull enemies toward me, especially ones perched up on higher vantage points, and stab them straight through with my lightsaber. The lightsaber boss fights were a highlight of the game. Players feel the weight of every strike and every struggle when the blades cross.

In addition to Cal’s lightsaber, he also has his Force powers at his disposal. He starts out with Force slow and gradually adds other abilities, such as push and pull, as the game progresses. Players may question how Cal, a Jedi, can struggle with a squadron of stormtroopers or the local wildlife, or they may ask why he does not start with all of his Force abilities, but it all makes sense when you consider that Cal has to rebuild his connection to the Force. He has not used it since he was a child, after all. It makes sense that this amateur padawan who did not complete his training runs into a tough time in combat. When Cal does unlock new Force abilities, the game cleverly flashes back to show Cal’s master teaching him that ability during his training before Order 66.

Players can further bolster their Force, survival, and lightsaber abilities through a skill tree. Skill points accumulated from defeating enemies grant players access to increased health, stronger stim potency, increased lightsaber damage, and mass push, to name a few skills. Even later on in the game when most of your Force abilities have been unlocked and Cal has found a couple of fun new gadgets, the game still feels balanced. Cal never feels overpowered like Starkiller in The Force Unleashed games. Even when they are maxed out, his Force push and pull do not appear to have much of an effect on bosses. At most, they will briefly stagger them, whereas when they do it to Cal, he will comically tumble over like Palpatine when Yoda Force pushed him across his desk in Revenge of the Sith.

I will argue that a couple of Force abilities become outdated later in the game. At one point, I forgot I even had Force slow because I had not used it in a while. I only remembered it while I was trying to solve a small puzzle to escape from an area and had exhausted all other options. Can you blame me for always wanting to Force push enemies off a cliff instead of slowing them down?

I appreciate that the game developers allow players to adjust the difficulty at any time. I started out at a higher difficulty and found myself dying before I even left the first world, Bracca. However, I persisted. That is, until I faced off against Oggdo Bogdo and his trash hitboxes. Players can stumble upon Oggdo Bogdo very early in the game. Oggdo Bogdo, a carnivorous amphibian creature, is a boss variation of the more common lookalikes of him. There is a similar optional alpha creature boss encounter on most planets Cal visits. No matter how hard I tried or how many different strategies I employed, Oggdo Bogdo proved to be too tough for me, and after waiting through countless death loads and having to run back over to Oggdo Bogdo’s location time and time again, I decided to lower the game’s difficulty, allowing me to finally slay this ugly creature.

Like Sekiro’s sculptor’s idols or the bonfires in Dark Souls, Fallen Order relies on meditation circles as its save points. Cal can rest to full health and restore his Force meter as well as restock health stims. Meditation circles also allow players to access the skill tree and spend skill points. These meditation circles implement a good risk versus reward system. If players choose to rest at a meditation circles, all of the enemies he or she has defeated since the last rest will respawn. I regularly found myself weighing the pros and cons of my situation, questioning if I should heal and get more stims or push on so that I did not put more enemies in my path.

While I am on the subject of these meditation circle save points, I have to point out that Fallen Order does not have fast travel. Instead, it encourages players to backtrack and explore previously inaccessible areas that they can now open with their newly unlocked abilities. This was fine for a while, but I quickly grew tired of it when I noticed how much of the backtracking had me slowly climbing, traversing across narrow walkways that Cal has to carefully balance on, or shimmying over narrow cliff edges. This is padding by exploration. While the vine and rope swinging was fun, especially with Force pull, I stopped enjoying climbing up a conveniently placed arrangement of vines and the like by the halfway point of the game, if not earlier. I will admit that I believe Fallen Order contains just the right amount of playtime, but this stuff had it teetering on the too long side. This is compounded by one important world that players have to visit multiple times that feels too big. The developers’ creativity and excitement got a little out of hand here. Just pull up the map of that world to see how unwieldy it is. When I completed the story on a planet like this, I felt exhausted rather than triumphant. Why can’t I hail my crew to come pick me up in the ship where I am rather than having to run across the entire planet again to get back to the landing pad, fighting the same enemies I already cleared out a couple of hours ago? The game developers do provide a few shortcuts that players can open, but the amount of time they end up saving is negligible in some cases.

I was disappointed that there is no real endgame content. Sure, players can continue to explore or fight enemies for the heck of it, but the developers could have done so much more. After players unlock every ability in the skill tree, the skill points they collect after that become meaningless. I will confess that I chose to rush past enemies to get to my next destination rather than waste time or energy fighting them for the 50th time after I had filled out my skill tree. Why not unlock fast travel after players beat the story? How about adding in a fighting arena where players can test their maxed out skill set against waves of enemies? Heck, let the players unlock dark side Force abilites like Force lightning or Force choke after they complete the story so that whatever they do then is not canon. I would have continued to gather skill points for that!

Now I mentioned Cal’s droid companion BD-1 earlier, but BD-1 deserves a special shout-out. BD-1 is spunky and lovable. Not only does BD-1 shoot Cal stims to heal him, the droid also provides hints for puzzles, scans enemies to suggest tactics to take them down, plays recordings that push the story along, and helps Cal navigate the worlds by hacking locked doors or carrying him across zip lines. Additionally, BD-1 projects the holomap of each planet, which is vital to keeping track of where Cal is in relation to the ship or his destination. The holomap itself is decent. Color coding helps players see what is inaccessible and what is unlockable, but for the bigger worlds with multiple levels it can be quite a burden to scroll across. Not to knock BD-1, but I grew impatient waiting for the droid’s animation that it goes through every single time Cal finds a hidden chest. Cal opens up the chest, BD-1 jumps in and rumbles around, and then jumps back out with whatever was inside it, all while Cal repeats the same lines of dialogue, like “Woah, buddy!” or “Careful now.” or “What did you find in there?” There are 107 chests in the game. Let that sink in.

These chests are one of the rewards for exploration. They contain items that players can use to customize Cal, his lightsaber, BD-1, or the ship. While this is motivation enough at the beginning of the game, this customization serves no purpose beyond cosmetics. It comes down to which poncho or paint job players find more aesthetically pleasing. I love that the game developers let players change lightsaber colors, but I wish these different ponchos and lightsaber parts had some sort of effect on the gameplay, such as restoring more of Cal’s Force meter or refilling a small amount of health after defeating an enemy.

Force echoes serve as another reward for exploring. Cal uncovers lore from past events by reaching out through these Force echoes. They rounded out the worlds nicely and added to the feeling that they were lived in, real places in the galaxy. The final element of exploration is BD-1′s scans. While you are running around, BD-1 will occasionally crawl down off Cal’s back and scramble over to something the droid wants to scan. These unlock data entries on the planet, its flora and fauna, the Empire, or other characters. This is all fine and dandy, but the level of exploration the game developers expect players to do with all of the backtracking involved needs to reward me with more than just basic lore, especially when some of the entries feel like the writers did not even try when they wrote them. Is an entry on a storage crate telling me that the Empire stored materials in it really worth stopping to scan? I think not. Instead, the game developers could have really motivated me to explore more by throwing in a few interesting side quests or fun Easter eggs. Maybe players could stumble upon active Imperial transmissions and overhear characters like Tarkin or Thrawn. Maybe players could find an abandoned Imperial camp and watch Imperial or Rebel propaganda over a holofeed that was left on. They could have even hidden a squadron of battle droids that were forgotten from the Clone Wars. So many possibilities!

Jedi: Fallen Order is far from a perfect game and has so much unrealized potential, but I would not trade away my time with it. For every flaw, I can point to a positive, and vice versa. At the end of the day, I got to be a Jedi, and that is good enough for me.

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