i got a new video card recently, and to test it out I reinstalled SWBF2 (2017), since I know it is a Visually Demanding Video Game. Honestly, I've found myself picking it up just to hop into some quick matches afterward, for no reason other than that I... really kinda like this game?
And that's weird because, frankly, I don't think it's a very good game. It just happens to deliver on a particular kind of Star Wars fantasy that I don't think many other games do. It's a war game! It's about getting into the mud and shooting guys you can barely see and dying way too quickly. Obviously I'm a Clone Wars fan (just check the name) so I'm into this.
here are some loose thoughts on the game after playing more of it.
the good stuff, mostly
visuals and ambience
ok lemme get this out of the way since it was the reason I reinstalled this: the game looks and sounds fucking incredible. I was playing through the Kashyyyk map earlier and just kept thinking "holy shit this game looks good". There's such attention to detail in the map design, in the models, in the visual effects. Yes, this is obviously mostly due to me running it on Ultra mode for the first time but this game looks so good. I wish all Star Wars games had the ability to get this deep on just the visuals.
Kashyyyk is lush and battle-damaged, Hoth feels endless and terrifying, Mos Eisley is... Mos Eisley (it is not my favorite map). Kamino is in this endless rainfall that leaves puddles and reflections everywhere, lightning crashes in the distance. On Geonosis you can see the occasional overhead zips of winged Geonosians and far away sounds from orbital battles.
I have my gripes, to be sure - everything is hyper designed in a way that smacks of a creative designer saying "well, we have to create spaces for shooter combat in this level" in a way that can be very grating - there's very few open areas, maneuvering vehicles around is a pain in the ass because so many levels are based on paths and corridors, but I can see why that decision was made. I just don't think it was always the best one.
gun combat, in general
I realize I am the type of game pervert who genuinely wants a High Degree Of Realism from my Space Shooty Video Game but I think that honestly most of what SWBF2 does right comes down to how the game feels. I like that the guns are big and clunky and you have to discharge heat from them (a questionable choice within the star wars canon but not that unreasonable. works great as a gameplay conceit). I like that you can do a little active reload thing with the guns when you discharge heat from them.
I like that it has a first person mode! I wish it had more of a first person mode. I understand this is very much a legacy of the series (I played a lot of SWBF2 on PS2 as well, I know where this comes from) but the game just feels so good in first person. It's weird and grimy and sort of claustrophobic and I like it a lot.
In what will become a recurring theme in this post, I mostly just wish they went harder on making the combat feel lopsided and asymmetrical. I don't like that Battle Droids feel as tanky as Clone Troopers. I don't like that any unit can equip any gun from their class, even if it comes from another army. I really don't like that character armor is almost entirely a cosmetic thing. I want canonically-accurate warfare, gosh darn it.
There was a clear design goal of making every battle, regardless of circumstance, balanced, and I think that was a mistake. I really wish that instead we would have gotten a lean into asymmetrical combat. I want to see how the CIS organizes its units totally differently. I wish that all the armies didn't have the same Four Types Of Base Guys. It all feels like such a waste of interesting potential.
hero units
I think the overall change to the flow of unlocking hero units is good (i have some complaints later about the vehicles). There are more kinds of hero units - including some that are just "better versions of regular units" (like the Super Battle Droid or the ARC Trooper) alongside the goofy Guys You Know From the Movies (Maul, Grievous, Anakin, Vader, Luke, etc).
Overall I think this is fine. I wish there was a way to turn them off entirely for Star Wars Canon Dorks like myself who just want to play the hellish warfare and not be distracted by fuckin, yoda flipping around on Kamino or something, but I understand why they're there and it's a fun change of pace if you want to feel like a musou character every now and then.
the campaign
I really like the campaign! It's a bit mechanically goofy due to being built within this engine that is clearly made to support giant multiplayer battles but I really like the characters, I think Iden Versio is a tremendous character to add to the Star Wars universe, and the cameos from Movie Guys are pretty tasteful all things considered. I really enjoyed the campaign as a little bite-size star wars adventure.
the bad stuff
vehicles
I hate how vehicles work in this game. Functionally, they work the same as hero units - get enough battle points within a match by killing enemies/completing objectives and you can buy a vehicle or hero unit on your next respawn.
It's a bland and boring system, and it makes vehicles feel less like vehicles and more like big slow suits of armor that you sometimes have the privilege to use. One of my favorite memories from the Old Battlefront Games was that vehicles were just... hanging out. You could run into an enemy base and steal what vehicles they had, you could pick up a buddy and they could ride with you, you could use vehicles to get from one place to another then drop them off and fight on foot.
The gating of vehicles behind battle points sort of throws a wrench in all of this. No vehicles (to my knowledge) even have multiple riders as an option, and obviously you wouldn't want to use a vehicle just for transportation if you spent a valuable 1000 BP on it. It's just a bad system that makes vehicles feel superfluous and somewhat bland.
the weird omissions from the character roster
Now, I think that part of this is completely unfair and is me just griping that there aren't more TCW characters in the game. There might have been, down the line, if the game had been more popular or not a complete release trainwreck. It's undeniable that the failures of the game and the general lack of ongoing support with it affected, say, "why there aren't more hero units in the game as it went on".
But also: This game came out in 2017 and lacked a huge swath of what I'd consider obvious character adds. I love that the TCW voice cast is mostly playing all their characters, but where is Ahsoka? Rex? Asajj Ventress?? Rogue One would have just came out, but no Andor or K2? There is a bunch of Solo representation for some reason, but absolutely no one from Rebels??
So many of the decisions about what made it into this game and what didn't seem bizarrely arbitrary. A few alternate costumes or textual notes reference the cartoons, but beyond that it's totally barren. Just seems odd in a game that is basically Star Wars Smash Bros.
the lootboxes
this game has lootboxes which I think are morally awful but beyond that they are just... a really odd decision for a game like this? The cosmetics that the game offers are pretty paltry and could have just been bought using the Battle Credits that the game gives you after matches but uh... guess not! Weird!
no space battles / no star wars squadrons connection
listen I understand that the old mode of space battles were not perfect. And I really liked Star Wars Squadrons, for what it was. I am baffled why they were separate products though. Again, feels like a waste of potential to not even try and weave these two games together in some way or another.
in conclusion
star wars battlefront 2 (2017) is a land of contrasts. i like how pretty it is. i wish my wife (ahsoka tano) was there.
