The Clone Commando is joining Star Wars Battlefront 2 in a free update on September 25, along with planet Felucia and a new co-op PvE mode. Clone Commandos have been featured in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series and the Star Wars: Republic Commando video game. They’re just one part of a Battlefront 2 content roadmap that EA revealed last month.
The idea that Battlefront 2 would be receiving any content at all at this point would be hard to believe at the game’s launch. At the time, it was derided for its progression system, which pushed players to spend real money to avoid dozens of hours of grinding to unlock cosmetics. Its reliance on microtransactions was so severe that it helped to spur proposed legislation banning loot boxes and kicked off widespread rejection of the practice. Even Battlefront 2’s design director has expressed regret over the game’s state at launch. Since then, the progression system has been completely reworked to cut out the necessity of spending real money, and the game is going strong with a regular rollout of new content.
Battlefront 2’s next update is one of the most substantial additions in the game’s two-year history. In addition to the Clone Commando, Felucia, and co-op mode, the update will also bring the Instant Action mode from the original Battlefront, as well as Luke Skywalker’s Farmboy garb from A New Hope, according to EA. The Clone Commando will feature a powerful repulsor that can knock enemies back, plus an area of effect damage reduction ability, which should come in handy in co-op mode. The new mode lets teams of four take on AI enemies together across areas from Clone Wars, which will also host the single-player Instant Action mode, which challenges individual players to fight enemies for control of command posts. The jungle planet Felucia, home to all kinds of exotic life like toxic fungus and even a sarlacc pit, will be added to Battlefront 2's Capital Supremacy mode.
EA’s focus on improving Battlefront 2 for more than two years after its release is a somewhat unexpected practice for the studio, which tends to push regular sequels as opposed to free updates to existing games. Design director Dennis Brännvall recently revealed that Battlefront 3 is not in the works, explaining that the team was instead focused on improving the game they’ve already made to keep the community happy. Brännvall also sees the industry as a whole moving toward long-term support for games rather than rapid sequel releases.
Even without a Star Wars: Battlefront 2 sequel on the horizon, gamers still have a lot of Star Wars to look forward to. In addition to Jedi Academy and Jedi Outcast coming to consoles soon, the highly anticipated Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is due out in November. Throw in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in December, and Star Wars fans will hardly have to go a month without something new from a galaxy far, far away between now and early next year.
Source: EA
Key Release Dates
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Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
Release Date:2019-12-20
