REVIEW: I have tried Star Wars Battlefront II's campaign!

kazmii (49)in #gaming • 7 years ago (edited)

I was given the opportunity to test the singleplayer campaign in Star Wars Battlefront II, and see Iden Versio in action!

Despite the shocking lack of a dedicated singleplayer campaign, resulting from a time-limited development period, Star Wars Battlefront was a successful multiplayer shooter and has continuously attracted millions of fans over the past couple of years. Now the highly sought after sequel is just around the corner, and this time there are no excuses - the publisher must make a "Titanfall 2" and expand the amount of content and deliver the desired campaign. Let's just hope that it will be better than the Respawn Entertainment trial.

Although the core of the gaming experience has been designed by DICE using the Frostbite graphics engine, both Criterion and Motive have helped in this giant project where the British Burnout study has focused on the Starfighter Assault vehicles and the Canadian team has delivered a cinematic touch to the campaign. Art Director Chris Matthews and author Mitch Dyer traveled all the way from Montreal to Madrid on a pressure trip to tell more about the story and we were also allowed to play two hours of the campaign.

Although some of the sequences I played were a bit boring in terms of activities and action, and despite a number of small technical errors we hope will be corrected in the final version, I enjoyed our time with the singleplayer part and it offers both an interesting approach to the Star Wars universe, and a very different pace compared to the multiplayer part.

First and foremost, it feels great to play on the darker Imperie side of the events. History's events run parallel to the Return of the Jedi, and after the death star explodes, and Palpatine dies (... spoilers?). It's a pretty refreshing perspective where the rebels are the villains so to speak and where to escape as the hero from the Invicible Faith ship, the flagship of resistance forces, like Iden Versio from the Inferno Squad.

The Prolog mission, called The Cleaner, is used as an introduction to the campaign's various mechanisms, and these skills are developed across the story. It starts as a standard corridor-based shooting game, but I enjoyed the design choice quite well, because in this specific case it is well connected with the Star Wars universe spaceship interiors. It gives very good meaning. But before you step into Ivy Versio's shoes, play the game a little bit by letting you control a robot called ID-10 at the start. This hovering tactical robot resembles the so-known Viper Probe Droid, and it can fly around and scan its surroundings, and even hacking terminals like R2-D2. When yes, it can also attach to Iden's back as her backpack, and its abilities can be used freely by her in combat.

This introductory sequence is filled with the trend in style, and there is some kind of cinematic quality across all scenes, whether it's shooting rebels, open doors, watching intermediate scenes, or using ID-10 for hacking terminals. I did not get the mythical Jedi feeling, but it was still quite efficiently set up.

What I really did not appreciate and this happened again and again across the three missions I tried is that you can clearly track the game's multiplayer roots in the campaign. In a campaign, I really did not expect to see cheap animations (both among enemies and your own character model in third parties) and strangely composite hitboxes, and not a reasonable stupid artificial intelligence.

Whilst the rebels plan their final attack on and over the Ewok bear forest Endor, the first chapter begins, The Battle of Endor, and here the mechanisms open up, but the structure still assumes a multiplayer shape. Now you really need to study and learn how to juggle more of Iden's skills at the same time, and also work as part of a team. In addition, choose the weapons you use with care.

The lush forests on the planet once again look amazing and the campaign gives you a little more respite to enjoy these detailed surroundings, but only a little. There are situations you do not find in multiplayer like sneaking into a rebelbase and looking for hidden places filled with collectibles. At the same time I could test lots of the new weapons. In addition, I could also use the famous Star Cards, where the highly beloved ability Barrage from the original has made comeback, and I combined with our new favorite ability, Killstreak Vanguard. This ability works like Beserk in Doom, where you constantly fend off a powerful shotgun and the ability stays as long as you hit enemies.

In addition to collectibles, new and exciting weapons are all around, and new Star Cards can also be found in special boxes. This feature is of course controversial, as these can also be purchased directly from the main menu, but here they appear quite balanced, and help the campaign to constantly introduce new variations. These boxes were not conspicuous or aggressive, so there is a clear contrast to the offline experience. However, the pace did not make any services that one would constantly enter their character menu to change Idens Star Cards.

It was at the end of the Endor mission that everything became very interesting when the star star exploded in the sky of the rebels, and from here your team will be forced to leave the planet quickly. This means that the team must use one of the last Tie Fighters on the surface of the planet, and in a very cinematic sequence you fly out among the debris in the atmosphere.

It's interesting because the transition between the battles on foot and those in the spaceship works quite well, but the next transition between space battles and on foot was the absolute highlight. In the second chapter, Dauntless, you must first fly through the aforementioned debris, and then fight the rebels in a crucial battle in the room.

However, you are actually allowed to board one of these massive rebelrum ships, by "parking" your Tie Fighter on a landing platform, and then step out of your vehicle, which was Grand Theft Auto. These transitions are so soft and dynamic that it's like being in an interactive movie.

That is precisely why I really hope that the game's campaign can deliver, and it will do so if the remaining sequences are handled with the same sense of detail. In fact, this could expand the game's appeal to a lot of players. In addition, the campaign was also challenging, even though it is more accessible than the game's multiplayer suite. I died several times, and I did that with a smile on the lip.

I have arranged to include more details about the actual plot because I do not want to spoil more of your upcoming experience. But the concept of the Inferno Squad as agents of the falling Empire is quite interesting and filled with unexplored crooks of the Star Wars universe. I am looking forward to seeing Iden Versio's story until the end of November 17th.