Solid FPS (Star Wars: Battlefront II (PS2))

Member Name: kikurimu

Product:	Star Wars: Battlefront II (PS2)
Date:	13/05/09 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good selection of player types, fun gameplay, intersting storyline and just plain good fun

Disadvantages: Lack of longeitivty

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is a game that differs slightly from the standard FPS format. The ability to switch from first person to third person at will is an interesting addition to any shooter but that is not the major change. The biggest difference between this game and the vast majority of FPS's is the fact that this game almost encourages you to lay down the life of one soldier in order to secure victory for the masses. That is not to say that the game encourages any kamikaze tactics or suicide but the lack of any sort of cover system pushes any player towards a more run-and-gun style of play.

Also contributing to this feeling of recklessness with your character's life is that it doesn't matter too much if you get killed, you have literally hundreds of lives. To change your weapons beyond one main weapon and a side weapon, you first have to die.

However, this is not to give the impression that the game does not encourage skill or extending the life of one soldier. There are medals and corresponding benefits for killing a certain number of the enemy in one life with different weapons and similar benefits for gaining a set number of points in one life. The problem is that it takes a while to get good enough at the game to ensure that you will be getting these rewards. This is due to one of the high points of this game, you do not have anything special about your soldier other than that you are controlling him. You can take the same amount of damage as anyone else. Many games skew the strength of the player so that you have an advantage.

There are some downsides to this game though. The replayability of this game is diminished by the lack of any real openendedness. Once you have completed the main storyline, you have the option to conquer the Galaxy with a choice of 4 different factions. This suggests an almost infinite emount of everchanging action. However, you are always fighting over the same maps and due to the AI of the computer, replaying a map always seems to be very similar as the arena of much of the fighting always seems to be in the same part of the level.

One area of the game that I have not touched upon yet is the space battles. This seems like a key part of any star wars game that includes space flight. I felt they were disappointing and slightly tedious at times. To win a space battle you have to destroy certain parts of the enemy flagship. These parts are just copy and pasted onto different parts of each ship of which each of the 4 factions has just the 1. Also destroying these parts brings no real advantage to your team, merely points of which you need an arbitrary number of to secure victory.

To conclude, whilst I may have been overly critical of certain parts of the game, the well defined nature of some of the classes of soldiers means that you can always find a challenging and fun way of playing a level, even if it is for the 20th time. This is a game that I have put many many hours into playing and I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the Star Wars series or a keen player of FPS games.

Summary: Much much more than an attempt to cash in on the last movie