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Star Wars Battlefront II

12/3/05

Now, I liked the first edition of this game, "Star Wars Battlefront"; I got the sequel for cheap thanks to a promotion I won, and even at the discounted price of $35, I must say that "Battlefront II" is a disappointment.

This is mostly because there is almost nothing new about this sequel save for the maps and the addition of space battles, which is cool if you are thinking that it will be as good as it was back in the PC games based on "Star Wars", like "TIE Fighter" and "X-Wing."  Unfortunately, flying a TIE Bomber in this game just about falls south of porking fat girls, and dogfighting in this game similarly bites.  The new maps are nothing special, but at least they keep the "Battlefield 1942" model intact for holding capture points on maps until all of the capture points are on one side.

There is the opportunity in this game to play as a hero, a special character on each map that can only be played by the leading point-getter on either team (in single player, that person of course is always you).  These characters are ridiculously overpowered; depending on the map, this could be a Jedi, meaning that you are playing as Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker or Anakin Skywalker or a host of others.  No matter who you are, you are pretty much impossible to stop unless enemies gang up on you, and this brings the game down another notch all by itself.

The game still has fun moments, but overall, this isn't worth buying unless you didn't buy the original.  And even though the AI has improved leaps and bounds over the first game's single-player experience, it's still a bit too easy on the Normal setting.  Buy this one used, kids...

Rating:  eBay

 

Feedback?  Comments?  Salma Hayek's digits?  justin@bellviewmovies.com

 

Bellview Rating System:

"Opening Weekend":  Buy this game right away, and don't ask me any questions as to why that's a good move.  A game experience that will almost guarantee repeated controller abuse, lots of ManScreaming and high resale value, you will assuredly play this bad boy for months on end. 

"$40":  Usually after games have been out for a while, they drop in price slightly, or can be bought for slightly cheaper in combination with other new games.  Usually, that's about $40.  You'll feel good getting the game for this price, since it isn't quite run-out-and-get-it-right-now good, but it has enough game in the box for a few weeks' worth of enjoyment.

"eBay":  This game is not too bad, but you'd be better off buying it used from either half.com or eBay.  You also might let a friend buy this game, let s/he beat it, and then try to buy it from them to make them feel better.  Yes, this does tend to feel like "Sloppy Seconds."

"Rental":  Like my cousin Ron, you should always rent games that you aren't sure about first, to make sure that your $50 is going towards something worthwhile.  For games in this category, this is the maximum amount of money ($5) and/or time (3-5 days) you'll need to either gain satisfaction from the game, or beat the game in its entirety.  Rental-rated games are also sometimes perfect for a weekend when you are going to be at home on your ass, with some time to kill.

"Dogshit":  Games like this should have never been released.  If you play this game for any reason, you will regret every second of the experience.  Further, if you can get this game for free, don't do it, because even for FREE, it will still be a negative experience for you!