STAR WARS™ Battlefront II (Classic, 2005)

So many hours as a kid, and more as an adult. SWBF2 refined 1s gameplay of the class based objective domination mode with reasonable heros, better controls and engaging gunplay. Guns are fairly inaccurate so you can actually march across the maps without getting pelted by enemy fire, but playing against humans and that sniper has an overpowering view of the battlefield. Still he has to land a headshot on a tiny target and he can't be everywhere, letting players enjoy non sniper dominated matches. All the classes have their uses and are viable and switching is easier than in modern games. The campaign is as fun as ever and still holds up. Few games reach that level of accomplishmnet for such simple missions that the pre mission dialogue gives. The vehicles are powerful but not too strong and not useless either, the maps are varied, unique and interesting and make good use of terrain and vehicles. The Ui is dated and the settings are pretty minimal as was par for the course but it is hard not to miss the qol changes from modern games. It's graphics are similar as realism ages like milk, but the texturework and ambience in many maps more than makes up for it. As far as I could tell the music is all from the movies but i could be wrong. As such, the classics ring out in triumphal roars which feels great. The sound design is ok, its a bit more realistic than other contemporaies but its very gamey at times and mostly arcadey. Controls great on console and on pc. While I love the campaign and how it weaves all the maps together, its a bit contrived and their is next to none characterization, but what can you expect from a movie game. I do not think a OC beyond maybe a commando of each class that travels on the campaign would have improved it. Even then, part of how cool the campaign is that you are a faceless member of the 501st who will die on the cold hard ground with endless of your brothers. But you, the player, will win the fight and pilot the 501st through every more challenging missions. Its major weakness is its age, the prevalence of grenade spam, and the server kerfuffles that can make getting into a match frustrating. Ai is also slightly unbalanced with rebels typically winning and CIS having a slight edge on a map to map basis. Ewoks also mog imps in their mode, its insane. While the game has plenty of variety, like a fighting game it feels a bit barebones on anything besides its massive amount of meat. If you want to play a class based shooter it excels. Anything else like conquest is very minimal and the gimmick modes like ewok fight are bizarre. despite this, booting up a rom on dolphin is one of the easiest things to do and for that I cant reccomend bf2 enough for someone to just get into a game at any age for a light romp or some pvp. The game does hold up, It is not nostalgia and the DICE bf is a weird frankenstein game to play, something they are so proud of that you cant even play the first one that you own anymore! Dice's bf has its strengths but the sheer immediate pick up and play fun from the og cant be beaten.