It's no secret that STAR WARS Battlefront II was one of the most controversial games ever made. While Motive is a fantastic developer, the pressure from EA higher-ups created the infamous loot box scandal. It was one of the most talked about stories in 2017. The awful and immoral practices of mega-corporations in the games industry were finally coming to a head and it was so bad that Motive removed the paid loot box system entirely.
With that said Motive did add a single-player campaign which was sorely missed in the first game. While the campaign is nothing to write home about it's there and the effort was appreciated. You can blow through the whole thing in about 4-6 hours. There is a three missions epilogue you can play through as well that maybe adds 45 minutes to an hour at most. You play as a brand new character created for the game Iden Versio. She's a great character on screen and very charismatic. The First Order elite turned resistance fighter is a nice touch especially since you start out as the enemy in the game. Sadly, the game doesn't really go anywhere story-wise outside of telling a small battle before the events of Episode 7. A lot of your favorite heroes and villains are present such as Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, Lando, and Chewy.
The campaign mostly feels like a very linear version of the multiplayer game. You can just stand in a hallway and blast everyone away. Weapon damage and stats don't seem to really matter in single-player. You mostly just want a weapon with a high rate of fire for when you are out in open areas which is most of the time. You can equip battle cards that give you three abilities. These range from healing, grenades, scanners, and secondary weapons. They are most useful in multiplayer to give you a bit of an edge. You occasionally get heavy weapons you can equip and they have cool-down timers rather than ammo so you can keep them. There are also vehicles, but you will mostly be flying them in space in the campaign which is really well done. Ships fly well with fantastic controls. You get a taste of all of the maps in the multiplayer campaign. The campaign is mostly just reworked multiplayer maps with a few hallways thrown in. Getting through each level isn't complicated. Objectives range from securing an area to splicing a console and that's about it. Nothing too fancy. The main story is entertaining the one time you will play it and then it's off to multiplayer.
Multiplayer is where the meat of the game is at. It's built up on the Battlefield franchise anyways. Multiplayer consists of large open maps with 20 vs 20 and you must secure points on the map. This is the most common mode. The new Heroes vs Villians is really popular and fun. Heroes are nerfed to an extent. You have a stamina bar for blocking blaster fire, jumping, and swinging your lightsaber around. This makes it fairer for other players. You get three abilities just like every other character too. The lightsaber combat feels and looks good, and also plays the part. You really feel like a more powerful character, but just a tiny bit. You don't want the game unbalanced.
If you are familiar with previous Battlefront or Battlefield games then you know what to expect. The game looks and feels like large Star Wars battles both on the ground and in space. There are many iconic maps and planets as well as numerous factions such as the Droids, Republic, and the Empire. Everyone will have a favorite to play as but expect a long grind. You can't even get a single battle card equipped until you level up a character. This will mean playing each one at least one match until you find a favorite. Unlocking weapons, cosmetics, emotes, voices, and taunts all come at the cost of grinding. Sadly, the game just isn't interesting enough for me to dedicate that much time. I spent maybe 4 hours in total in multiplayer and while it's fun in short bursts it just doesn't have that addictive nature that Battlefield or Call of Duty have. There's nothing there making me want to come back and I think the grind for unlocks is part of it. Everything is locked away from the start with no incentive to keep playing.
I did have a lot of fun in multiplayer, but only in short bursts and only then for a short time span. After a while, I just couldn't dedicate the time needed for the insane unlocks and grind. The game looks fantastic with EA's Frostbite engine at work doing its magic, but that also comes at a cost. The game was a technical nightmare at launch and DirectX 12 is still broken to this day. Cut scenes stutter and hitch at higher resolutions and the game used to crash a lot on certain configurations. Motive has the essence down right it just needs more meat around a third entry.
Overall, Battlefront II doesn't quite live up to the original charm and essence from years past. Multiplayer is fun with huge open battles, but it comes at a cost of a serious grind just to get a single battle card equipped. The campaign is appreciated, but it's short, uninspired, and Iden's character is underutilized. Combined with poor performance issues and the loot box scandal at launch this game is a bargain bin purchase at best.