Star Wars: Battlefront II Planet Spotlight

Star Wars: Battlefront II is the upcoming sequel to LucasArts and Pandemic's well-received action game that dropped you into the Star Wars universe with a blaster and a team of battle-ready allies. The promising new use of the Star Wars license went down well with fans, who were left clamoring for more. And this is just what Battlefront II is bringing to the table. The sequel is aiming to be bigger and better, with new locales that now include space battles and a host of refinements and additions to the core gameplay mechanics. We'll be bringing you more on all the above in the months leading up to the game's release. But for now, we'll kick things off with a look at three of the planet-based battlegrounds where you'll be kicking butt.

Geonosis

Geonosis is a ringed planet located along the outer rim of the galaxy, near Tatooine. Its uninviting surface is marked by mesas, buttes, and barren stretches of parched desert hardpan. The rocks and sky are tinted red, and the creatures that evolved on Geonosis are well equipped to survive in the harsh terrain. Geonosis is also home to sentient insectoids that inhabit towering spire-hives. The Geonosians, as they are known, maintain large factories for the production of droids and weapons. The planet's droid foundries and remote location make it ideal for a base of operations.

Check out footage of Geonosis on our media page.

Polis Massa

An asteroid colony far off the major travel routes, Polis Massa is a mining settlement that acts as an emergency sanctuary for Jedi following the rise of the Empire. This hidden asteroid base is seen at the end of the Episode III film.

Check out footage of Polis Massa on our media page.

Coruscant

Situated in the heart of the galaxy, Coruscant was the seat of government for the Galactic Republic and the Empire that supplanted it. Over thousands of years of civilization, the planet has been entirely enveloped by cityscapes and urban sprawl. Immense skyscrapers reach high into the atmosphere and stretch down deep into the dark shadows. Crisscrossing the skyline are streams of unending traffic. Even in the depths of night, Coruscant is alive with glittering lights and rivers of traffic, making it a bustling megalopolis that refuses to sleep.

Check out footage of Coruscant on our media page.

Kashyyyk

Kashyyyk is a lush jungle planet where treetops serve as homes for the native wookiees, a towering fur-covered species known to be ferocious warriors. The planet serves as a navigation gateway for the entire southwest quadrant of the galaxy, making it of prime strategic importance. During the Clone Wars, the Separatists attempted to subjugate Kashyyyk by invading it with their droid armies. In response, the Republic dispatched a task force led by Master Yoda to defend Kashyyyk. With his war council that included the wookiee warriors Chewbacca and Tarfful, Yoda's forces were able to repulse the mechanical intruders.

Check out footage of Kashyyyk on our media page.

Yavin IV

A remote world that became a focal point in galactic history, Yavin IV is a jungle moon orbiting the gas giant of Yavin. Its steamy jungle canopy and abandoned native temples formed the perfect hiding place for an early Alliance base. When the Empire discovered the location of the Rebels by following a homing beacon secreted aboard the Millennium Falcon, the Death Star soon appeared in the Yavin system. The battle station had to orbit the gas giant Yavin for a clear shot at the smaller moon. The Rebel forces had a scant 30 minutes to launch a counterattack. Armed with knowledge of the Death Star's sole weakness, Alliance starfighter pilots soared toward the Imperial superweapon. Thus began the Battle of Yavin, which, due to the efforts of Luke Skywalker, became the first major victory of the Rebel Alliance.

Check out footage of Yavin IV on our media page.

Jabba's Palace

The bloated crime lord Jabba the Hutt headquartered his unsavory endeavors in a sand-pitted palace found beyond the Dune Sea of Tatooine. In the dank recesses of this structure, the dregs of the galaxy converged. You will find Jabba himself viewing the slaughter, while below him the ferocious and mighty Rancor awaits his next snack from the Throne Room's trap door. Jabba's Gammorean Guards roam the palace at will trying to kill any intruders, be they Empire or Rebel. Explore the depths of the desert palace, experience running firefights through dank prison cells, and claim victory in heated room-to-room battles and close-quarters chaos in Jabba's Palace.

Check out footage of Jabba's Palace on our media page.

Hoth

Hoth is the sixth planet in the remote system of the same name. Despite a landscape of constant snow and ice, there are a number of indigenous life-forms, including the Wampa ice creature and the Tauntaun. The daytime temperatures of Hoth are bearable for properly equipped explorers, but the Hoth nights are too hostile even for the native creatures. Hoth's remote location and icy surface make the planet an attractive base of operations for smugglers and other groups with something to hide, yet it offers little in natural defenses against massive planetary assaults.

Check out footage of Hoth on our media page.

Mygeeto

A frigid world of crystallized ice, Mygeeto was a major holding of the InterGalactic Banking Clan that became a battle site during the Outer Rim Sieges of the Clone Wars. General and Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi and Commander Bacara led the Galactic Marine clone troopers in extended urban fighting amid the ultramodern towers of a major Mygeeto city. The blistering cannonades and laser fire of towering Separatists tri-droids and Republic artillery carriers reduced much of the city and crystalline landscape into rubble, polluting the icy winds with a persistent pall of gray ash.

Check out footage of Mygeeto on our media page.

Felucia

Once a major holding of the Commerce Guild, Felucia was a world teeming with fungal life-forms and immense primitive plants. Much of the planet has a fetid, humid landscape overgrown by forests of bizarre wilderness. Many of the life-forms on Felucia are partially or completely translucent; these beings color the sunlight as the beams penetrate their skin. Beneath the hazy canopies of the enormous pitcher plants and leafy growths is a surreal, color-drenched landscape.

Check out footage of Felucia on our media page.

Dagobah

A distant, mist-shrouded swamp planet, Dagobah does not appear in any modern star charts. It is a forgotten world, and it was the home of the last remaining Jedi master and council member from the waning days of the republic. The planet is covered in gnarled trees and fetid swamps. Huge lagoons are home to fearsome snakes and other creatures that swim in the murky waters. Leathery-winged avian creatures take to the fog-filled skies. Though the planet has no signs of technology, its life-form readings register as massive.

Check out footage of Dagobah on our media page.

Utapau

Ringed by numerous moons, the remote sanctuary of Utapau is a planet pitted with enormous sinkholes. Its windswept surface is dry and desert-like, but deep in the porous crust, at the bottom of the sinkhole, are pools of life-giving water. Many of the sinkholes on one of the planet's small continents are lined with intricate cities that stretch deep into caves and crevices beneath the planet's surface.

Check out footage of Utapau on our media page.

Endor

The Endor system is very difficult to reach because it rests in uncharted territory, and the gas giant's massive gravitational shadow requires several complicated hyperspace jumps. Covered by woodland, savannas, and mountains, the forest moon of Endor is one of nine moons orbiting the gas giant. Sometimes called the "Sanctuary moon," it is inhabited by a wide range of intelligent creatures, such as the Ewoks. The trees where the industrious Ewoks build their sprawling villages can reach thousands of meters in height. Endor's remote location, forest terrain, tree villages, and dense vegetation provide many places to hide and would be good locations to house a secret facility.

Check out footage of Endor on our media page.

Mustafar

Located in the Outer Rim, the tiny planet of Mustafar is a fiery world where lava is mined like a precious natural resource. Its bleak landscape is a visual assault of jagged obsidian mountains with towering fountains of fire and lava blasting from beneath the surface. This lava also streaks the blasted landscape in huge winding rivers and plunging cataracts. Mustafar's skies are obscured by choking black clouds of ash, smoke, and tephra. The intense geological activity creates natural scanning interference that has kept prying eyes away from Mustafar for most of its history.

Check out new footage of Mustafar on our media page.

Jedi Temple

Removed from the surrounding bustle and urban sprawl by benefit of its colossal height, the Jedi Temple was the home of the Jedi order on Coruscant. It stood alone in its section of the planet-wide city, a towering edifice capped by a crown of five spires that housed the most important temple chambers.

Check out new footage of the Jedi temple on our media page.

Mos Eisley

Known to many as a pirate city, Mos Eisley is one of the largest spaceports on Tatooine. Its architecture is typical of the Tatooine style--blockhouses largely sunken into the sand, providing some respite from the relentless desert suns. The city is arranged in a wheel formation, with the central power and water distribution plants at its hub. Circular docking bays and landing pads dot the city, and the sky is busy with interstellar traffic. Overrun by criminal transients on the lam, Mos Eisley has been described as a wretched hive of scum and villainy.