Star Wars:  Battlefront II

Mostly PC, but console and mobile too
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Paul
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Post by Paul »

Battlefront II (Xbox)
Rating: Better than Battlefront

At first I didn't like it as much. I saw it as a complex version of the original Battlefront, and one of the things I liked about the original Battlefront was the mindless killing. Pop in and attack, little penalty for dying.

But the more I played BF2, the more I liked it.

Yeah, a lot of it's the same. Some levels are identical to the Battlefront levels. (Yavin 4, Naboo, Mos Eisley). Some are better re-do's (Kashyyk).

There's more than just "capture all command posts or kill'em all" in BF2, though. You can hunt monsters or play capture the flag. The first mission thing I did was more of a FPS, as you were told what to do one stage at a time. What really sets the game apart are the space missions. You can get into dogfights in space, bomb destroyers, or dock in enemy ships, blast your way past personelle and defenses, and sabotage their equipment internally.

Battlefront II lets you play with 4 people at one console. The original limited you to two people per Xbox. On Sunday 4 of us played many many hours on my father-in-laws big-ass TV.

One big bonus with Battlefront II is that you can switch your character at any command post without dying. So if you're a trooper and you want to switch to a sniper (without dying, losing your points toward a bonus, and respawing), you can go to a command post, hit Y, and pick your new character. Various new characters (like ones with railguns) will become available as you gain points in each game.

At points during play you may become and/or battle a hero. The heros:
Ki-Adi-Mundi
Ayla Secura
Mace Windu
Luke Skywalker
Yoda
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Han Solo
Leia
Chewbacca
Count Dooku
Darth Maul
Darth Vader
General Grevious
Boba Fett
Anakin Skywalker
The Emperor
Jango Fett

Each hero has various abilities. Light sabres, flying, lighthing, force choking, force jumping, etc. Han Solo, for example, has a pretty good jump, and can pretty much kill anything with one shot. Boba Fett has a jetpack, wrist rockets, and a kickass gun.
While a hero, you must keep gaining points in order to survive. If you don't kill enemies at a decent rate, your karma (or whatever) runs out and you die. Also, while a hero, you can't win medals.

There are various medals. To get a medal, you must do one of the following in one life:
Demolition (4 vehicle kills with aRocket Launcher)
Endurance (Get 12 points)
Frenzy (12 kills with a Blaster Rifle)
Guardian (24 points)
Gunslinger (6 kills with a Pistol)
Marksman (6 headshots with a Sniper Rifle)
Regulator (8 kills with Shotgun)
Technician (Slice into 1 occupied enemy vehicle)
War Hero (Get 36 points)

Each medal has a reward with it, better weapons, reduced damage, better abilities, regeneration, etc. For example, if you're a Stormtrooper and kill 12 people with your blaster rifle you get an elite rifle (like Boba Fett). It fires a triple burst that'll kill just about anything in one shot (more for Heros & monsters).
After you win an award you have a 30-second grace period, so if you die, you retain it. But if you die 31 seconds after winning it, you're back to square 1 and have to earn it all over again to get that bonus.

Battlefront II tracks your career statistics. What confused me at first is that you need to win a medal 4 times before it starts giving you the bonus for that medal.
After you win the medal 32 times over your career, you get a 25% discount (so instead of 12 kills for the elite rifle you only need 9). After 64 awards you keep the bonus perminantly.

I'm working to get a perminant Elite rifle. I have 51 Frenzy awards, and need 13 more. Since you can only win the medal once per life I'll kill myself (after 30 seconds) if I think I can get it again on the level I'm playing.

Now that I'm used to the added complexities, I like Battlefront II a lot more than the original Battlefront.




Edited By Paul on 1138655713
WSGrundy
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Joined: Sun Jan 16, 2005 4:25 am

Post by WSGrundy »

A few new maps and two new hero's are going to be available for download. I believe they are going to be Kit Fisto and Asaaj Ventress.

It will have a price tag on it but not sure how much exactly.
Paul
Posts: 8458
Joined: Fri May 21, 2004 5:02 pm
Location: KY
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Post by Paul »

Yeah, I think it comes out today.

If it's anything like the Halo expansion pack, you run the disc once and it saves to your hard drive. You don't need the disc anymore.

My brother-in-law will probably buy it, so I'll probably install it from him.
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