5 Things We Learned From the Star Wars Battlefront II Public Beta
As much as DICE’s first Star Wars Battlefront was a technical achievement, several players felt that the videogame’s feature set and gameplay were lacking. The 2015 shooter was far removed from the original Battlefront games from Pandemic Studios, themselves inspired by DICE’s own Battlefield series. What came in its place were Star Cards, a season pass and other questionable design choices.
Battlefront II is looking to make some big changes, and players were given a sneak peek of what the game has to offer in a public multiplayer beta. Here are a few points we gathered from our time with the game’s multiplayer.
1. In-Game Rewards Make More Sense (Except for Loot Boxes)
Like the original Pandemic games, and unlike DICE’s first game, Battlefront II goes back to a class-based system. On the ground, players can choose between Assault, Heavy, Officer and Specialist—all play exactly as they sound like they would. But the big change here is that rewards like vehicles, superior classes like the Super Battle Droid and Heroes are no longer random immersion-breaking tokens on the field, but rather something you access with Battle Points you earn during the game. Jumping into a spaceship or being able to play as characters like Darth Maul become a lot easier, rather than being determined by chance, and having the ability to choose between different rewards creates another layer of strategy.
Unfortunately, Battlefront II has loot boxes. These crates of joy are so prevalent in games everywhere that we won’t be surprised once newspaper crossword puzzles include them. Available through microtransactions, loot boxes in this game are not as fun to open as the cosmetic goodie bags in Overwatch, and knowing that another player can get a variety of Star Cards to give them the advantage if they drop the cash is a real bummer.
2. Dogfights In Space Feel Good
There wasn’t much to complain about the spaceship fights in the previous Battlefront, other than the fact that the game at launch didn’t even have any space maps. But piloting an X-Wing or TIE Fighter is more exhilarating than ever, with a versatile array of ships that are intuitive to handle. Like infantry troops, ships are divided into different classes: Fighter, Interceptor and Bomber. Similarly, Hero ships such as the Millennium Falcon are available through Battle Points.
Like in the previous game, Battlefront II features multi-stage game types, with Starfighter Assault showcased in the beta. Rebels have to take down a docked Star Destroyer, while the Empire attempts to strike back by attacking the Alliance’s cruiser ships. It ultimately turns into a tense tug-of-war match, with several of the matches we played ending with very close finishes.
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