Amazon.com: Star Wars Battlefront II: Xbox: Video Games

124 Reviews

5 star:		(88)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
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4.5 out of 5 stars (124 customer reviews)

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36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazingly stunning STAR WARS game for the xbox, November 17, 2005

By	Barry Robinson (Colombus) - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

Well these things have been said over and over so I will spare the you the repititious "this is the sequel to the best selling star wars game" stuff that everyone feels so necassary to include in their reviews.

Instead let us get down to this game itself and not the series history as I'm sure many of you are well aware of.

Battlefront 2 is an epic title from the explosive opening to the "oh whys it have to be over" finish. Any fan of the first game will undoubtebly love this game, especially on xbox. Seriously, what fan of BF1 wouldn't get excited over 4 player split screen. thats my favorite addition for sure as I have many Battlefront buddies. The fact you can now play as jedi and sith is a brilliant addition and it works great. I loved the Episode III game for its playable jedi and awesome lightsaber action. I gotta say though, BF2 does the whole jedi thing much better. Now I'm not raggin on ROTS, I gave it 5 stars. But really, the addition of lightsaber weilding characters is not just a cheap gimick. Its done very well. Space combat is another great addition to the BF universe. And although its recieved tons of hype, it doesnt need a whole lot of explaining. you fight in space battles now such as the ones from episode 3 and 5. Its all great and feels like rogue squadron did on the n64...awesome. There is a storyline but seriously Im more into the action than a storyline. For some this will seem to be a big plus, and justifiably so, the story is handled very nicley too.

Graphicly BF2 is all that it can be on the xbox...wonderful. I liked BF1's graphics alot, and these are so much better. All the new weapons, ships, planets, characters, their all here, in mass proportion. This is truly the complete Star Wars action game. You've got Naboo, Tatoinne, Coruscant, Utapu, Fellucia, Mustafar, Dahgoba, may more. Play as Boba and Jango Fett, Obi-Wan, Mace, Anakin, Vader, Yoda, many more, including the trechorous bothan spy. You must get this game if your a fan of Star Wars or just searching for a great action title.

I hope this review was helpful to you and I gaurentee if you like Star Wars you will love this game.

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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars impressive...most impressive...i actually liked this game its MUCH better than the first one !, November 2, 2005

By	N. Richko "tarkin" (the death star) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars

okay, i wrote a review for the first battlefront a while back and it was a negative one, but... on november 1st when i got the revenge of the sith dvd i tried out the 2 demo levels of battlefront 2 and i have to say i was hooked ! the gameplay was richer and the controls were so smooth..it looks like they learned their lesson from the first one about the control issues.. i went out and bought a copy and i liked what ive been seeing..the graphics are improved the locations are updated you can fight on mustafar, utapah, the rebel blockade runner (tantive IV) and various star wars locations..and i especially liked fighting on dagobah, and then theres my favorite taking on the coridors of the death star !! lots of fun...
the space combat is a great addition to the gameplay the dogfights are detailed and fast..the way they should be.. and playing as a jedi is well as vader would say.."most impressive"
and the ability to jump into any vehicle is always fun ..

to sum it up.. although i was not a fan of the first battlefront i like the second one..it looks like they actually took their time with one...the single player mode(where you play a trooper in Darth vader's elite 501st unit) is challenging and worth it..if your not into online gameing like myself..

you know..the new x box 360 system gets released in a few weeks, and this game would have been a great launch title for that system it could have been the first next gen star wars game! but if you get the 360, and u dont like any of the games that are on the release day pick up a copy of battlefront 2 its compatible with the 360 since it plays regular x box games as well...

my only gripe is that they still have the clunky camera angles in some areas but it can be overlooked perhaps it will be fixed on battlefront 3 but overall, this is a fun game and if you are a star wars fan you owe it to yourself to pick this up...

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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blasters on the Brain, November 25, 2005

By	Wild Weasel (Woodbridge, VA) - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

(editors note: this review does not cover the multiplayer mode, and goes into needless detail about various minutiae, and is way too long. But it's more than you'll get anywhere else)

The original Battlefront was a good game, even a great game, for the true Star Wars fan. For the first time ever, you got to be a lowly grunt in the Star Wars epic, using your trusty blaster to make a difference. You weren't a specially trained commando, or a Jedi - you were some dude in a uniform, or in some cases, a droid. Battlefront should be credited with glorifying the poor saps that actually did 99% of the dirty work in the Clone Wars and the Rebellion, saps with names like Jans Hanotar, Omicron 643 and THX 113.

Battlefront II is less about the grunts, and more geared to the hero-worship that fuels the Star Wars universe. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - the new playable Jedi heroes, in addition to a slew of other changes from the original, make Battlefront II a significantly different, and better, game than its predecessor. And at its heart, it's still about the one Stormtrooper who made good against all odds...I mean, the one Stormtrooper that blasted a whole bunch of Rebels and retired to Coruscant.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics and sounds are markedly similar to the original, and that's all that needs to be written - still stellar, visually and audibly. That being said, here's my take on what's different elsewhere and what it means.

The Troops and Their Gear

As every other review no doubt relates, the four factions (The Clones, the CIS, The Imperials, and the Alliance) are back, and instead of five troop classes, we now have six with the addition of the new "commander" class, While the commander class is a significant addition, the bigger change here is the elimination of the pilot class from ground combat, which gives rise to the engineer class.

Anyone who loves close combat (and fusion cutters) will love the engineer class, pure and simple. Armed only with a shotgun (the odd `blast cannon' laser-shotguns from the original have been replaced by a very 20th-century combat shotty), the engineer can mow down the opposition with well-aimed fury, in addition to dispensing ammo and health to those that do not make fun of his fusion cutter and inability to automatically repair vehicles. He also gets remotely detonated explosives for those times when you absolutely have to blow something up from a distance.

The rest of the troops have minor changes to their gear. The sniper rifle is standardized across factions (two zooms, six rounds), and snipers now deploy `auto-turrets' (mostly harmless floating orbs equipped with a blaster) instead of recon droids. Recon droids, now the providence of the commander class, no longer call in orbital strikes, but instead blow themselves up. Keeping with the theme, Pandemic blew up the grenade/conscussion grenade/EMP grenade trio and has given combatants the thermal detonator, which is effective against man and machine alike. Additionally, snipers and heavy troops now only have two thermal detonators, while the regular infantry dude (not you, Super Battle Droid, not you) now gets four across the board.

The big loser here is the heavy (rocket) class, getting a big tune-down. His rocket launcher (which is standardized across factions) no longer homes or double loads, and the thing takes an awfully long time to reload. Still, it does the trick against densely packed groups of enemies and unwitting vehicles. Mines, one of my favorite toys from the original, sadly now come with safety lights. Yes, for thirty seconds after they're deployed, a mine shines a can't-miss red light so the enemy knows not to step on them. Since when did consumer advocate groups get into made-up ordinance? At least they still explode with a satisfying pop.

Since there's more emphasis this time around on down and dirty combat, the jet trooper class (Imperials and Clones) suffers. They get less armor, fewer grenades, and seem marginalized in the grand scheme of things. Their mobility advantage has been lessened by the "sprint" feature available to all classes, and the Dark Trooper has been given the awkward ARC Caster. While good in close versus large groups of foes, it's useless beyond close range, and a pain to charge. The Jet Trooper's EMP just ain't what it used to be, as well.

Finally, the all-new commander class is a bit scary. The Clone Commander comes equipped with a chain gun that, well, does what a chain gun might be expected to do. It shreds - Jedis, robots, your teammates that walk through the stream of ordinance. It is, however, ineffective against vehicles. The MagnaGuard, no longer wielding his force pike, now wields an EMP launcher and the hard-to-use-but-worth-it radiation launcher. If any one class is capable of hurling glowing ordinance all over the place, it's the MagnaGuard, who also has the weird ability to poison clones that get too close. The Imperial Officer has the rad launcher's deadly cousin, the grenade launcher, and a decent but none-too-awesome sonic blaster. Finally, the Bothan Spy has the special ability of going into stealth mode and releasing his deadly disintegrator (think flamethrower), but he has no long-range weaponry and looks like a hideous camel-human hybrid...George Lucas must have had a personal hand in his development.

The Jedi and Their Famous Friends

There's no need to go to heavily into this - the Jedi and other `hero' characters (i.e., Solo, Leia, Jango Fett) are available during Instant Action mode after enough points are scored, and in Galactic Conquest mode only if they are activated via a bonus.

The verdict? They rule. They rule with violence. Whether you get your kicks choking someone to death with Vader or lighting them ablaze with one of the Fetts, the Jedi/hero class is almost uniformly deadly and a blast to play (only one hero so far, Chewbacca, seemed pedestrian and not worth using).

They're not invincible, either - using a Jedi/hero forces the player into an accelerated mindset, because you light a fuse the moment you choose to become one. Kill to live, as it were - exciting and a great addition.

Planetary Destinations and the Exciting Vehicles You'll Find There

Much was made pre-release about two things: 1) many maps are re-used, and 2) every planet only has one map (with the exception of Tatooine). First off, many of the `re-used' maps have been altered, some radically - Geonosis is no longer the Geonosis of yesteryear, and Kashyyyk bears no resemblance to Battlefront's home of the Wookies. Two planets have disappeared together - Battlefront II won't let you duke it out on Bespin or Rhen Var. Alas.

But the volume of new maps is decent and the emphasis has shifted from epic scale to claustrophobia. Is this a good thing? Yes, if you like closer quarters. No, if you prefer hiking for two minutes just to get blasted by a Super Battle Droid. I prefer the new close-quarters action, especially Polis Massa and Mustafar, where hallways and rooms become off-the-wall explosion fests for you and your men.

Pandemic has toned down and smoothed out vehicular combat, and I think it works. Vehicles will still make the average grunt's life miserable, but they are no longer invincible juggernauts, offensively or defensively. In Battlefront, one of the most devastating things about virtually any vehicle was the `exploding laser' phenomenon - for example, an IFT-X could completely miss a group of droids with a laser blast, but the explosive nature of the laser would area-effect kill them. In Battlefront II, the exploding laser has been excised.

Also, engineers (formerly the pilots) do not automatically repair their rides without an earned award, making on-the-fly fusion cutter repairs a necessity for any vehicle jockey. Furthermore, the vulnerability of the vehicles has increased - as stated before, little old grenades now do appreciable damage, and mines, det packs and timebombs are all ready to rip holes in your AT-ST. Finally, all vehicles now have a "critical point" or weak point that a grenade or rocket will cause massive damage should it connect - the damage from a critical point rocket approaches 33%, no small change when AT-ATs or AT-TEs are concerned.

Also note that aircraft are no longer included in maps, with the exception of the Snowspeeder during the Hoth battle. Aspiring Snowspeeder pilots take heed - one blast from an AT-AT will knock your craft out of the sky.

Clones...In...Spaaaaaaaaaaaaace

I've read reviews faintly praising space combat and some heavily criticizing it. I'll do neither - it's pretty awesome when you get used to it, and even better when you view it as it should be viewed, a break from ground combat. It's a chance to get your TIE Bomber on, a chance to use time bombs as they were meant to be used, a chance to take a 3,720 to 1 chance of taking out an Imperial Star Destroyer by yourself.

Space combat needs work before it becomes great, but much like the nuanced ground combat (i.e., do I want to be a sniper? A grunt? A Jedi? Should I build a turret?), space combat gives you a multitude of fun options. Do you want to dogfight and do nothing else? Go ahead. Or maybe man a turret and try to down starfighters? Be our guest. Or perhaps bomb the crap out of the enemy frigates and capital ship? Indulge! How about taking a shuttle and five other troops and trying to create havoc inside the enemy ship? Rock on with your bad self!

Or better yet, do a little of each within one battle.

The Nuts and Bolts - Gameplay and Control

Little has changed in control since Battlefront, and this is good. The little that has been altered makes a noticeable difference, though - weapons overheating and a "stamina bar" that governs your ability to do combat rolls and sprint.

Previously, pistols and vehicle blasters would "max out" and take a fixed time to recharge or become active again. Now, they overheat. While the dynamic is similar, it takes forever for an overheated weapon to cool off, forcing the player to really keep an eye on weapon heat or suffer 10-15 seconds without the weapon.

The stamina bar is a cruel mistress. Once you start sprinting, you don't want to stop. But your trooper will get tired if you push them too hard, and being slow means being vulnerable. The player needs to plan ahead how to use stamina effectively, meting it out between sprints and combat rolls and saving some for crisis situations. Having a little gas in the tank to avoid a thermal detonator is the difference between life and respawning.

This time around, telling an AI trooper to follow you will actually cause an AI trooper to follow you. This can be a useful tactic once the "General" rank is reached, as you can assemble a small posse of troops and attack and defend as you please. Your squad mates will generally shoot at immediate threats, take cover, and basically take blasts for you, a huge improvement over the lackadaisical AI squad mates from the first game.

Curiously missing this time around are lying prone (kind of neat for snipers) and on-the-fly in-cockpit views for vehicles smaller than an AT-TE.

Awards for Valor, Stats for Tracking

Another nice addition to Battlefront II is the stat tracking dynamic. Not only do you get to follow your crucial death-to-kill ratio, but you earn medals for glorious achievements. Not only does this appeal to the hardcore gamer's deep need for accomplishment, but you actually get things once you accrue enough medals.

For example, the "regulator" medal is given when a player gets nine shotgun kills in one life. Once you earn the medal four times, you get an upgraded shotgun every subsequent time you get the medal. Earn the medal enough times, and the standard to get the better shotgun drops from nine to six kills. Earn even more medals, and you automatically start the game with the upgraded shotgun.

It's a clever reward device that for some reason has me trying like hell to get all the automatic medals. Why? I don't know. But if you like that sort of thing, and I suspect a lot of gamers do, the earned rewards are stylin'.

Modes

In terms of Instant Action, Battlefront II still has the tried and true Conquest mode, which involves slugging it out for command posts. On selected maps (generally space) we get Assault, which awards points for kills, and most maps support Capture the Flag, which isn't my cup of tea, but there it is.

Finally, for a surprising challenge/offbeat fun, there's Hunt mode. Some hunts are fairly lame, but some stand out as insanely fun/difficult: for a wampa good time, try the hairy beasts out versus the Rebels on Hoth. It's hard to get tired of whacking the crap out of Wookies with a good wampa. For a frustrating experience, take the Scout Troopers out against the vicious Ewoks on Endor. Those rocks and pointy sticks hurt, man!

Galactic Conquest is nicely revamped and actually makes sense now. Capture planets, buy upgrades, duke it out in space - Galactic Conquest is solid and engrossing.

The only real letdown here is the Rise of the Empire, starring the 501st Legion. The missions are simplistic and occasionally frustratingly difficult - you always have a finite reinforcement pool, while the enemy has an infinite amount of reinforcements. It's nice to have a "from Episode I to V" story arc, but you get the sense that the narrator is the only member of the 501st to have survived from the unit's inception. That must be one lonely clone.

Wrapping Up

The action is frantic, the options are many, and this is just the singleplayer version. If you liked the first Battlefront, Battlefront II is a must-have. If you missed the first one, give this a test drive: good, mindless Star Wars fun. Probably even better on-line, where you can find out if trash-talking 13 year olds pwn you or you pwn trash-talking 13 year olds.