Up front innovations are remorselessly unbalanced hero “classes” that are unlocked based on mission completion
The 4 sentence paragraph description of the Clone Wars is this:
Decimated Jedi peacekeepers become defacto field generals for the unification side in an interstellar civil war. A staggering number of their order were obliterated on Geonisis and there is wide spread desertion from the Jedi Council’s call for leadership. Those that do fight are tasked with the moral and physical challenges of leading their clone soldiers against the CIS rebel droid army. Tragically overlaying this cosmos wide consumption of life and resources is the truth it’s all an artifact of a pedestrian power struggle on the unification side.
That essential setup has led to some of the most insanely kickass military science fiction ever rendered in any media. Sadly the premier media of film almost completely ignores the actual Clone Wars, and the associated rich, kinetic pulp. A brilliant peek into the actual Clone Wars is Genndy Tartakovsky’s Cartoon Network series. There are also a number of wonderful trade paperbacks on the Clone Wars available from the Dark Horse Comics, many of the stories written by Lucasarts Producer Haden Blackman. Both whip out a real Indiana Jones-style, seat of your pants, action adventure and bring into focus the matinee serial roots of the prequel naming convention (that so often has people under 30 wondering WTF).
In the game medium, by far the best clone wars game was republic commando. It was an addicting, memorable and fun as hell sci-fi brothers in arms right in the heart of the Clone Wars (Geonsis, Outer Space, and Kashyyyk) . Battlefront II continues that fine tradition, though there are some bizarre elements that I fear will make it not everyone’s cup of tea…Well, as “not every one’s cup of tea” that the best selling star wars franchise of all time can be.
Up front innovations are remorselessly unbalanced hero “classes” that are unlocked based on mission completion and, I’m sure, other wacky triggers though only for a limited time. From Clone Wars darlings like Aayla Secura, General Grievous and Mace Windu to old school archetypes like Han Solo, Darth Vader and Princess Leia, this is the first time behind the controls for many of these characters, in any game. Leading newly rechristened stormtroopers against rebels on rain-drenched Kamino as Boba Fett is a gaming memory, pure and simple. It’s done so well it’s even respectful of Star Wars canon logic, as Boba Fett was raised on Kamino where the clone army was prototyped.
They do space combat better than most, fully embracing FPS mechanics and melding them with the optional depth of Holland-era sims like X-Wing. Being able to selectively disable ships from space, or aggressively board the enemy ships and shut them down from within, adds a nice layer of strategy if so inclined. Can’t wait until they let you actually drive the cruisers...
There’s a clever single player game presented by slapping a decent objective system over the normal mechanics of the multiplayer game. It’s used to great effect in easing the newb into the diversity of the games classes and weapons. Must be nice to have miles of insanely uber-designed film footage laying around to bookend your missions ;-). I really respect what they did here as MP games on the consoles need a SP and this looks like a pretty efficient way to pull it off.
Back to the fanboy POV, this game is as far as I’ve seen the only exploration of the time of the upcoming TV show, the era between Sith and New Hope. In the game it’s the Empire going around, kicking the **** out of various upstarts and pennyante rebellions. Since it could be considered spoilers: [o] According to the game this is when clone troopers get rechristened storm troopers, are no longer all clones of Jango Fett (fears of vulnerabilities and defects though those “pure” clones still serving tend to be in senior positions), and includes the theft of the death star plans. [/o]
A negative is blaster combat just isn’t that much fun. The firearms all seem under powered and mushy, while the explosives by comparison seem overpowered and the smart way to play the game. I didn’t find the vehicles especially fun to drive, and in multiplayer they’re easily exploitable by hanging back and sniping in 1600x1200 glory (I’m playing on the PC, natch). There’s no autosave in the campaign, which almost **** me except for a lucky replay save. Kinda clunky the title screens are always 640x480, regardless of the res you run the game at. The AI is great background fodder, but can’t be considered comparable to human opponents in any known metric.
I can see why this game drives some people nuts, but man oh man have I been playing the **** out of it. The game has that awesome habit of just when I'm about to shelve it, I try another class that generally doesn't interest me and BLAMMO I have a new favorite class. Some of these moments:
* Discovering the depth of the jet pack systems. Namely the Boba/Jango/Jump Trooper style of hovering versus the Dark Trooper rocket jump. Punching through the forest canopy on dagobah, flying along the tree tops, then dropping straight down on to a hostile control point just rocks. Hovering over command points as a Jet Trooper on the republic side is a blast. Bounding past overwhelming offensive forces that have you pinned in your last node, and capturing some undefended ones behind any lines is very addicting. Love the jump pack combat.
* Heroes versus Villains: Every Star Wars fan needs to play this one gametype at least once. It's only on Mos Eisley and is all the good guys versus all the bad guys. It's a game type of only one map and 20 different classes. Jedi force powers like choke, push, jump, run versus guided missiles, jump packs and sniping weapons. Teams include literally every speaking character from the 6 movies except Lando. Can get old, but again, being able to switch between these wild classes extends the experience.
* Hunts: One normal unit type versus a "wildlife" class on various planets. Sand People versus Jawas is a favorite. Empire snipers versus ewoks is fun when you accomplish the monumentally difficult task of killing a storm trooper. Hunt or BE Jar-Jars or geonosisians. It's a great diversion and I swear averted a shelf moment for me.
* Remote Controlled Drones: Many commander classes have these remote controlled drones you can drive around, shoot ineffectively with, or detonate to devastating effect (albeit with a 5 second immobilizing delay). The challenging "deflection" shooting of these things, detonating them at the end of hallways, that in 5 seconds are going to be filled with enemies, is very satisfying.
* Space Combat: The space combat missions, when everything is in sync on a fast server, are incredibly unique. With fighters intercepting enemy transports and bombers, while escorting our own it's a solid air-combat style action game. Add to this teams of players actively trying to board enemy ships, and counter teams attempting to stop them, the action gets even crazier. Now add turrets on the capital ships that can be manned, and people on repair duty, fixing ships components damaged from space. There's a lot to marvel at here. As soon as they let us drive the capital ships as well, this should spin off into its own product.
* Bothan Spies: Invisible guys with microwave flamethrowers. Great for ambushing and capturing enemy nodes, the gun does so much damage at such a wide arc you'll quickly become the subject of “quit cheesing it with the bothan” and “play a real class newbie!” taunts.
Like any multiplayer game, where you play colors your experience. I recommend "drunken masters" which usually runs around 48 players at good speeds for me (Raleigh, NC). It intermixes space, hunt, heroes/villains, and the standard conquest maps to good effect.
Battlefront II is a Clone Wars “and beyond” battle generator that looks great, innovates conservatively but potently the DICE’s Battlefield genre, and respects the source material to the point of molestation.
Go PanWare!