
Versio's internal struggles intensify as the narrative unfurls. The campaign isn’t quite as simple as it first appears I was just a person with a job, and that forced me, as the player, to do horrible things like kill Rebellion soldiers. At first, it seemed like I might be able to do my duty non-lethally, but that artifice quickly vanished. The first few hours are particularly uncomfortable, as I took part in a war machine I knew was unjust, without the game questioning what Iden is doing or why. Playing as a villain is a little weird, although other Star Wars games like T IE Fighter and The Force Unleashed explored similar dilemmas. Even when the story feels rushed, Gavankar’s performance guides players through a dramatic arc and infuses the story with the emotion that its impact requires. Versio and the actor who portrays her, Janina Gavankar, are the best parts of the Battlefront 2 campaign. As an agent of the Empire’s elite Inferno Squad, it’s Versio’s duty to disrupt, thwart and kill the Rebellion’s anti-Imperial activities. The galaxy needs a grounded character for us to relate to, and Battlefront 2 delivers it in Iden Versio, the star of the single-player campaign. The gameplay, however, doesn’t always equal the beauty of its surroundings or the performance of its lead actor.

The white plastic hallways of Rebel ships, the claustrophobic red and blue confines of massive Imperial spaceships and the lush redwood forests of familiar moons leave no doubt that you’re in the Star Wars galaxy. While visuals aren’t everything, as a Star Wars fan, I was happy to find that this world immersed me in a gorgeous cinematic universe on my PlayStation 4. DICE/Motive Studios/Electronic Artsīattlefront 2 is a beautifully rendered and believable reproduction of the Star Wars universe. But the gameplay is an uneven, occasionally monotonous affair that derails into unnecessary diversions and sometimes can’t escape the tractor beam of Battlefront 2’s multiplayer roots. Though rushed in spots, the story and its lead actor create a character who can stand proudly alongside Star Wars stalwarts. The presentation is smooth, detailed and immersive, an impressive recreation of a well-known universe. Like a Star Wars villain, the result is a mixture of light and dark.


Star Wars Battlefront 2 adds a story and a potential hero to the 2015 formula to fill the hole that its predecessor left. But Star Wars has always been about more than blasters, lightsabers and sci-fi doodads, and campaigns are more valuable than the time players invest in them might seem. Campaigns are typically single-serving items, whereas multiplayer keeps players coming back, and games like Titanfall also experimented with devaluing campaigns around the same time. Single-playerĮlectronic Arts rebooted Star Wars Battlefront without a campaign in 2015, and it seemed like a reasonable decision. Much has been made of the game’s loot crate economy and the progression tied to it, but the real problem with Battlefront 2 isn’t so much microtransactions as the opaque nature of what larger goal the player is trying to reach.
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Outside that moment, however, Battlefront 2 behaves like a big budget movie property, one that reaches into your pocket instead of asking for your time. In the scenes the players create, there are moments that feel like what kids have always wanted, to romp around inside the movie with their own blaster or lightsaber, cutting down disorganized Rebels or winging hapless Stormtroopers. Blasters chirp, TIE Fighters scream, the orchestral accompaniment soars or crashes as the good guys or bad guys take the lead. Star Wars Battlefront 2 hits all of the right notes in the heat of a pitched firefight.
