Star Wars Battlefront 2 Beta – The droids are back! [PREVIEW]

Star Wars Battlefront (2015) was a massive hit regarding sales as it was released just before Episode 7. However while it was a commercial success, critically it was just above average, and in the end suffered regarding the player base as EA and DICE decided to release four DLC. Sadly though this meant once again, separate DLC playlists which killed off the player base. Cue 2017 and we are nearly a month away from the release of Star Wars Battlefront 2 – the sequel which offers better gameplay, more maps, and … loot boxes?

For the beta, players have been able to experience three modes. One is Galactic Assault which replaces Walker Assault and allows the developers to branch out in different ways. Then there is Strike where 16 players go toe to toe for objectives, Arcade in which we go against bots either as alone or in Co-Op mode and finally, we get to play Starfighter Assault. Let's start with Galactic Assault, where the Republic must defend Naboo’s Palace, and the Separatist army must gain entrance to it.

Rouge Squad engage!

The Republic has to use ion disruptors to lower the shield around the Multi-Troop Transport (MTT), and the Separatist have to defend it long enough to gain entrance to the palace. It is a fun and hectic battle, but I did notice that the map is a bit too large for fourty players, and it feels like there should have been at least 64 players on the map as at times it was rather difficult to find at times enemy players during the first phase of the map. Also while there are no ground vehicles, the air vehicles seem pointless most of the time. They are too fast and have no real targets to go up against on land, except the MTT, but even that can only be attacked once the shield is down. The second phase of Galactic Assault takes place in the palace of Naboo, and it is a massive close quarter combat scenario that is intense as hell. Although the first phase of this map is quite long, the second half can end rather quickly which might be a disappointment to some since you’ll experience more fun combat here than in the first phase.

Stike is an 8vs8 mode in which two teams compete for different objectives. In the beta, we have to stop the rebels from taking an ancient artifact for themselves. It is a fairly simple mode and can be fun, although once again 8vs8 seems fairly small, and the map is a bit too large here.

Starfighter Assault is a beautiful mode, wherein the dark reaches of space, The Alliance, and The First Order battles over a space station. It ends up being a fun and intense game. The vehicles are much better controlled here compared to the previous game, and the effects look stunning in this mode. The Alliance has to defend their bombers against the First Order. It is a relatively long mode, and most matches can end up around five to six minutes which is perfect for this game mode.

Sadly although there is a problem that the first Battlefront had back in 2015, and this is still not fixed here and can be annoying for some. Every weapon (even if it was not a sniper rifle), could be used as a sniper rifle in long distances and results in trying to see tiny pixels over large open areas at times. The Theed map for Galactic Assault is the most egregious of this problem, where people with normal laser guns can take out almost anyone over large distances. Although it is not as effective as it used to be compared to Battlefront 1, still this should have been fixed.

In the end, most of the modes played in the beta end up being good, but there is one element that might lead to unfair advantage on the gameplay – loot boxes! In this case, it is not cosmetics anymore, but actually now provide gameplay advantages. Cards can provide higher damage weapons, special abilities, and even skills. This put a pretty sour note on the otherwise fun beta.

Lightsabers, and particle effects

The game looks great as DICE once again pushes the sequel to its limits for the base PS4 and Xbox One. The blaster fire looks stunning; the models are once again are scanned in, and are 1:1 from the movies. The environment is also a bit more dynamic, especially at the beginning where you would have citizens running away from the conflict, but there is no destructible environment or any other forms of dynamics. Sure the maps look pretty, but they feel stiff, and lifeless for most of the game. On the Xbox One S the game felt a bit too blurry, but even on the PS4 people complained about the downgrade in IQ.

The sound design is once again topnotch at least what we heard in the beta, and Dicce has done an excellent job here. Everything feels like being in a Star Wars movie, and that is just awesome in the end.

While this was just a beta, I am not entirely sure if this sequel will be able to fix everything that the first game messed up. The gunplay here feels bad at times, and there is a slight graphics downgrade at times, plus 40 players seem a bit low for the main game mode. Even loot boxes would be bearable if they were not so game-changing at times. Sure there will be no DLC, but EA and DICE could have figured out a way not to break the gameplay.

-Dante-

Battlefront 2 will have more content, but the loot boxes and the gunplay is a bit worrying regarding quality. We shall see what the final game will be like.

Could be good:

Finally a campaign mode
Fantastic environments and effects
Clone Wars Era units are back

Could be bad:

Lootboxes
The environments while looking good, feel lifeless
Some of the modes could use a bump in player count

Developer: DICE
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: November 17, 2017
Genre: First-person shooter