Star Wars: Battlefront II Story Campaign

If you're looking for that authentic Star Wars video game adventure, the stuff of the '90s LucasArts classics, Star Wars Battlefront II definitely delivers some of that with its much anticipated story campaign. And it is very much anticipated given the responses the game's 2015 predecessor earned for not including any story whatsoever. For the sequel, publisher Electronic Arts - who hold the coveted brand license from a galaxy far, far away for a decade - is going bigger in every way possible.Where developer DICE's Star Wars Battlefront focused on multiplayer based solely in the original trilogy era, Battlefront 2 explores elements of all three Star Wars trilogies. It features a larger multiplayer suite with nearly three times as many locations, vehicles, and heroes. It features an offline splitscreen co-op Arcade Mode and can be played solo and against AI appoonents. And yes, there's an actual story campaign. And given the mandate that all new Star Wars multimedia must be set within canon (Lucasfilm doesn't like this term by the way), this story matters.

We traveled to EA Motive earlier this week, the new studio based on Montreal whose first piece of software is the single-player story campaign for Star Wars Battlefront II, and there we had the opportunity to play the first three segments of the game (the prologue and first two chapters). All together this took 60-90 minutes to complete and we're told the full story is about 5-7 hours depending on your play style.

The game's story is centered around Iden Versio, an elite Imperial operative who leads Inferno Squad. Despite her upbringing, accomplishments, and the fact that her father is an Imperial Admiral, Iden is as outspoken as she is capable. She's a one-Stormtrooper army, but she does have a team and her own ship - The Corvus (a Raider-class corvette). The game begins at the eve of the Battle of Endor when Iden is being held captive on a Rebel Mon Calamari Cruiser, albeit intentionally. EA Motive doesn't waste time emphasizing the type of soldier Iden is, confident no matter the situation. Players take control of her personal droid to begin the game and break her out. This flying droid attaches to her back armor and allows Iden to interface with systems, open boxes, and incapacitate enemies.

Prologue - The Cleaner
Iden infiltrates an enemy capital ship to locate and destroy leaked intelligence that could compromise the Emperor's plans at Endor.
Chapter 1 - The Battle of Endor
Inferno are stranded on Endor after the Death Star explodes and they need to escape from Endor and regroup with the Empire.
Chapter II - The Dauntless
The Rebels attack a Star Destroyer docked at the Fondor Shipyards and Inferno take to the sides to protect the ship's cargo in the first steps of Operation: Cinder.

Once free, traversing the corridors of a Rebel starship and seeing its troopers, droids, and a hologram of a certain recognizable character - it all feels rightfully authentic. EA's first Battlefront was rushed to make it on store shelves before Star Wars: The Force Awakens released theatrically, but no one can deny that game's wonderful visuals and sounds. The campaign for Star Wars Battlefront II brings life and personality to that framework, even if it starts out as a basic and familiar third or first person shooter.

Iden escapes after leaving countless Rebel bodies behind, and does so with intel about what's about to occur - the climax of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi where The Emperor fails. The Rebels had a plan and succeeded in destroying the Death Star 2.0, the last great hope of the Empire alongside its leadership. Iden's the type of character, while loyal, isn't afraid of saying it as it is, even if it sounds treasonous.

The story of Star Wars Battlefront explores the gap between trilogies and from where it really begins on Endor, afterwards in Chapters 1 and 2, and beyond, players get a glimpse into what certain elements of the Empire did after the Rebellion "won" and how Palpatine's influence lived on. It's currently an era in the Star Wars timeline that remains mostly unexplored outside of the Aftermath trilogy of novels by Chuck Wendid but the Battlefront II does manage to include Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren at some point. It does so however, from the unique perspective of the Imperial side. It doesn't paint the Empire as the "good guys" necessarily, but the narrative does shed light on their inner workings and to some extent, their line of thinking.

Chapter 1 sees players stretch their legs, so to speak, using longer ranged weapons and running through forests and larger areas of combat along its linear path. Chapter 2 however, will please starfighter pilots of the first game by bringing them into space for an epic battle. It may take a little time to master the controls in this segment, but it's a lot of fun and straight-up gorgeous. These two missions are about the beginning of Operation: Cinder, acquiring and deploying superweapon-style experimental tech.

The gunplay and gameplay is generally the same as Battlefront 1 somewhat to the detriment of the campaign. Iden can take out soldiers while unarmed, but inexplicably cannot pick up their blasters, nor can she lay prone while sniping (or at any time). The Star Cards system from multiplayer, makes a return in their new form, and offer arcade-like rechargeable abilities and power-ups in the story mode as well. So, while the game's story, sounds, environments, and visuals are authentically Star Wars, note that the gameplay is very much an arcade-like in style by design with the goals of letting players fulfill their Star Wars fantasies while also having the same gameplay features they'll have in multiplayer. It's a teaching ground for the other modes.

What we saw and played was polished and intriguing, and we can only hope the unrevealed story elements offer new experiences and locations with a plot we can get behind. In the first three segments and teases we saw of what comes next, Star Wars Battlefront paints the Empire as an over-the-top evil force and consistently failing, with Iden seemingly being its only competent officer. There needs to be more to it than the Empire continuing to just be bad and ruling through fear based on hurting the innocent. We suspect there could be some twists and turns, though we have no idea how Kylo and Luke factor in later. For the hour or two we let Iden Versio unleash though, she quickly proved to be a wonderful addition to the Star Wars universe and someone to be feared on the battlefront.