Fans of Star Wars Battlefront have been drooling over the forthcoming sequel since the first trailer dropped at Star Wars Celebration 2017 event in Orlando in April.

The two most significant changes are firstly that there is finally a single player mode and secondly, the game breaks away from the traditional approach and instead focuses on the Imperial perspective as you play as Iden Versio, Commander of Inferno Squadron, Imperial Special Forces. Star Wars Battlefront II follows Iden’s journey from the end of Return of the Jedi – as she looks up form the surface of the forest moon of Endor and watches the Death Star explode overhead – all the way to the events of The Force Awakens. And it’s all 100 percent canon.

Now a second trailer has been released before it goes on sale, just four short weeks away.

What makes this game really interesting is that it’s from the Empire’s point of view. Think about it: a band of rebel fighters who don’t believe in the cause of the much larger, established civilization, seek to destroy and destabilize it, killing thousands in the process. It more than encapsulates a very pertinent discussion of modern times: one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist.

The plot, in essence, is that Palpatine had an “In case of my death” message that basically amounted to “Burn the whole galaxy down” and that’s Inferno Squad’s mission, to make that happen. So we expect that the single-player campaign is going to be a multi-modal run that includes starfighters, ground vehicles, run-n-gun and some sneaking around to achieve objectives.

There’s some speculation amongst fans over whether she will begin to question her loyalties as the game progresses…much like trooper FN-2187 did.

“I’ve waited 30 years for this,” the voice of Iden Versio says in the trailer says. “We avenge our Emperor,” she adds with conviction.

The sequel goes under the helmet of a Stormtrooper to tell Versio’s story.

“The rebellion has it’s heroes, like Skywalker, like Jyn Erso, but who are the heroes of the Empire? Who are the elite pilots that kids in the galaxy grew up dreaming of being? Who were the commandos on the front line of combat that could inspire legions of stormtroopers and that was the starting point of this story,” Mark Thompson, Game Director, Motive Studios said at the Orlando event.

“We wanted to take the helmet off a stormtrooper and find out who they were, why they believed in the Empire and what it meant to be an elite, special forces Imperial soldier.”

Changes in the multi-player mode include action set throughout all eras – Prequels, Clone Wars, Original Trilogy and Sequel Trilogy – and players can earn and unlock heroic abilities and customization options as the game progresses. There are even different classes, like infantryman or sniper. There is a lot more emphasis on the battles in space and yes, you can now even ride tauntauns. According to the press release accompanying the panel, “Players can drop into the cockpit of the galaxy’s most iconic ships, weave between asteroid fields and fly through imperial dockyards in high stakes dogfights.”

There’s more emphasis on space battles this time around.

“This is the most ambitious title EA has ever embarked upon,” said Matt Webster, Executive Producer, Criterion Games, one of three studios involved in the development.

Disappointing news

However, as amazing as this all sounds, it’s reported that Star Wars Battlefront II single-player campaign will take around 5-7 hours to complete, according to EA Motive’s studio producer, David Robillard.

That’s what the producer told Australian website Press Start. “…we thought that around 5-7, maybe 8 hours is probably a good amount of time…we wanted to stay very driven towards the Star Wars fantasy that the players are going to experience and not have it be drawn out”, Robillard said.

Oh dear. That’s pretty lame.

It’s available for pre-order now at £59.99 (consoles) and £49.99 (PC), with early adopters bagging some Star Wars: The Last Jedi-related in-game costumes, weapons and ships.

INFO
Developer: Pandemic
Publisher: LucasArts
Release: 17 November 2017
Formats: PS4, PC and Xbox One

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