A reader reacts to the sudden popularity of Star Wars Battlefront 2 by making suggestions for how a sequel could improve on it.
I enjoyed the recent articles about the best Star Wars games and the iconic TIE Fighter game, which GameCentral did for Star Wars Day recently. I particularly empathised with the bit about not even knowing whether you are a Star Wars fan anymore, given how many poor quality shows and movies there have been. And then, to my surprise, I found myself enjoying a bit of a high with the franchise, thanks to season 2 of Andor and the 20th anniversary of Revenge Of The Sith.
Two very different things and you could argue Revenge Of The Sith is not a good movie but it’s weird and funny and entertaining in a way bad Star Wars can be sometimes. Because it’s a strange series, where you have genuinely good things, cheesy but entertaining things, and absolutely terrible things. And that goes for the movies, the shows… and the games.
Obviously, that’s what I’m going to try and write about now, because I was inspired by the sudden increase in popularity for Star Wars Battlefront 2, which is being played by more people now (on Steam at least) than when it was released eight years ago.
I’m not entirely sure why it blew up like this, but I assume it was because of Star Wars Day and the new releases – and then people just realised that it’s actually a really good game. They probably didn’t know at first because it was caught up in all the controversy over loot boxes, which EA removed, and a lot of the best maps and characters came with the DLC.
Even so, it was not a perfect game. As GameCentral pointed out, the gunplay is not great, and while the ship combat is fine it doesn’t integrate into the ground action as well as the old PlayStation 2 game.
The hope now is that EA will think about making a third game and apparently a lot of the developers are keen on making it too. Of course, it’s not up to them though, especially not given how expensive a game like this would be.
But there’s so much more Star Wars stuff that could go into a new game now, compared to eight years ago, and it wouldn’t have to rely on the awful sequels at all. In fact, I imagine most people would prefer they be left out as much as possible, especially given the upsurge in appreciation for the prequels recently.
But other than the six main films I’d like to see more from The Clone Wars and Rebels, as well as The Mandalorian, Ahsoka (she’s barely in the current game, beyond one set of skins), Skeleton Crew, and Andor. You’ll see a lot of fans saying the game should have a 100 maps or whatever, as a reaction to the current game not launching with much content, but that’s just silly. It just needs variety.
With all the good stuff we’ve had lately you can go from prequel era sci-fi fantasy, to space pirates, to weird Force temples, to grounded fights on Coruscant, and jetpack battles on Mandalore. All of these shows have brough their own new vehicles and mounts too, so it doesn’t just have to be the same old, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve seen the shows or not because it’s just cool designs at the end of the day.
I’d also like to see the ability to travel from the ground to space in one map, which is something that was planned for a cancelled PlayStation 2 game but which we still haven’t seen in the modern day. Basically, I want to see every possible aspect of the mechanical side of Star Wars in one game, from the weapons to the vehicles to the ships.
I’ve nothing against Jedi being in it but I think it’s important that doesn’t over overwhelm. This needs to be the definitive Star Wars combat game and I really hope EA makes it.
By reader Gabbo
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