It is clear that there is a lot of love for these characters and that is reflected well throughout the campaign. Where the campaign does shine is with the genuinely witty dialogue that the cast of characters has. In some respects the story twists come somewhat as a relief. The story has a few twists, most of which are telegraphed well before they actually happen, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That sounds like it is trite and as if it has been squeezed in to appease the Star Wars die hards, and that may well be the case, but each section is handled well, with just the right amount of time spent on each one.Īccessibility is the key point with Battlefront II it is a broad-brush title, with an aim to please as many people as possible and it largely manages to achieve it. It serves up a campaign that is a greatest hits of Star Wars: ever wanted to fly an X-Wing play as a Jedi or visit a particular world then don’t worry, the campaign delivers on nearly every Star Wars fantasy you’ve had. Through her eyes, we see what the Empire is supposed to embody for the millions of people loyal to it throughout the galaxy.īattlefront II continues in the vein of its two-year old predecessor in terms of wish fulfillment in the extreme. She’s a fierce and capable commander, deeply committed to what she feels is right, but with an almost old-fashioned sense of honour and nobility that sees her questioning the morality of some of the orders she has been asked to carry out.
We’re told that we should never root for the bad guys, and yet it is hard not to with Iden. And to top all that, the Empire has always had a bit of a fascist whiff about it and that of course is very bad. We’ve been conditioned to view the Star Wars universe in simplistic terms, the “light side” is good, the “dark side” is bad. It’s a bold move to tell a story from the point of view of the Empire. The Rebels have won and the Empire is in disarray. From this point the story focuses on the Empire in the wake of its most devastating defeat the Emperor is dead and his horrific planet killer weapon, the Death Star, has been blown into a million pieces.
The story is set immediately after the events at the end of Return of the Jedi, in fact the beginning runs concurrently with the movie and we get to see the Death Star blowing up over Endor from the eyes of Iden and Inferno Squad. It is an inauspicious start for such a highly anticipated single player campaign. It feels rote and uninspired, offering barely any challenge at all. The battle that takes place once she escapes is fairly simplistic with rebel soldiers lining up to be gunned down by the more than capable Iden. Far from being captured by accident, her mission is to destroy evidence of what the Empire is up to. We see Iden Versio, the Commander of an Imperial Special Forces team captured on the Invincible Faith, a Rebel Cruiser en route to Endor. It doesn’t start well though, the first few missions are very much in the vein of a bland corridor shooter. However, what that statement didn’t say was that was that the campaign, although really only a palette cleanser to prepare you for the extensive multiplayer modes, is surprisingly a lot of fun. “Everything seeds the multiplayer”, I was told by the Art Director on Star Wars Battlefront II, and it is clear while playing through the campaign that this is indeed the case with the various playable characters taking on the multiplayer loadout style which can be switched up on the battlefield at special ordinance boxes.