STAR WARS: Battlefront II

 

I first came across the Iden Versio character from the book Battlefront II: Inferno Squad which I read back at the end of 2022. While I was reading the book, I learned about the game Battlefront II which extends the story. The game has been on my radar since. It got mediocre reviews initially, I think because it was littered with micro-transactions. However, EA fixed that issue and subsequent reviews were favorable. Most of the game revolves around a massive multi-player online environment and the main single player campaign is quite short. I knew this going in, so the six hours or so that it took me to finish the main story wasn't a disappointment. Plus, I bought the game on sale and only payed $2.50 for it.

The Inferno Squad is a group of elite Imperial troopers who are utilized for the toughest missions. The main member and character of the game is Iden Versio, and her father is the commander of the Inferno Squad. Iden defects after determining the Empire is evil, and joins the Rebel Alliance. You spend most of the game playing as Iden, but periodically switch to play some of the most famous characters in the Star Wars universe, including Han Solo, Leia, and Luke. This is the best part of the game, in my opinion, because not only is it fun to play as these characters, it also changes the gameplay as Han and Leia use blasters whereas Luke uses the Force and a light saber. There is also quite a bit of flying missions in the game, and depending on what part of the plot timeline you are on, at times you'll be flying a TIE fighter, wheres at other times you'll be flying an X-Wing. 

The planets and scenery are also quite stunning and varied. Battling in the streets while piloting an AT-AT and while TIE fighters are zooming by overhead is quite enjoyable. I really like the concept of the gameplay, as you never knew what to expect from stage to stage. It's just a shame the game wasn't a bit longer. I understand that the game's main feature is its online battles, and I played online a little bit and it was quite fun to be a battle droid on Geonosis ("roger, roger"), that's just not my thing. With that being said, I'll accept the short duration for the price as the game was enjoyable. I should point out that it is a bit buggy (enemies floating in the air after dying, enemies having weird rapid movements trying to take cover, etc.), but this never prevented me from finishing a stage or advancing so it was more amusing than anything else.