Star Wars Battlefront II (PS2)

Unlike Battlefront 1, this sequel's major selling point is that it allows you to experience warfare in the completely new environment of space. Command posts are not used in these space battles, but instead you play until a certain amount of points is reached. Points are earned in several ways and are distributed according to the method you have earned them. For example, although killing a foe provides you with just one point, destroying one of the enemy capital ship's vital systems earns you 20 or more points.
These vital systems can be disabled on both the outside and the inside of the ship and include its engines, sensory relays, life support systems and the command bridge. During space combat, you spawn in your capital ship's hanger where a variety of different spacecraft are stationary and awaiting a pilot. This game offers slow, powerful bombers like the Y-Wing and Tie Bomber, fighters (good all-rounders) like the X-Wing and Arc Fighter, and small speedy interceptor craft such as the Droid Tri-Fighter and A-Wing.
During space combat, you can choose to either dogfight in space or you can infiltrate your enemy capital ship's hanger and plant devastating time-bomb explosives to blow apart the vital systems inside. Either way the space battles are a nice new addition to the game.

There are still many land battles to be fought however, and this game introduces several new land maps as well as keeping some of the classics from the first (such as Hoth, Mos Eisley and Kamino). These include the hazardous Jabba's Palace, with armies clashing in the gloomy corridors and even in Jabba's expansive court- some falling prey to the rancor lurking below. The murky Dagobah map is also a new addition, featuring Yoda's hut and a familiar X-Wing half-submersed in the swamp. The Jedi Temple on Coruscant is added, as well as a fiery Mustafar map from the latest film. The Death Star is also a welcome new addition, with violence ensuing down its clean corridors, hangers and even the prison facility as seen in Star Wars IV A New Hope. These however, are just some of the new maps and others include Utapau, Mygeeto, Polis Massa, Leia's Blockade Runner and a few more.

Also a new feature is the ability to play as your faction's heroes. To be able to access this, you must first reach an amount of points during a game. Like with space battles, these points are given due to certain actions performed (killing foes, capturing enemy's command posts, etc). Hero units include Chewbacca, Han Solo, Yoda, Leia and Luke Skywalker if you are playing as the Rebel Alliance. The Empire has the deadly Boba Fett, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. Yoda, Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mundi and Aayla Secura are the Republic's heroes. And finally, Confederacy heroes are Count Dooku, Jango Fett, Darth Maul, Sidious and General Grievous.

Overall, this game has many improvements over the last. The space combat, the new maps, the ability to play as heroes and the upgraded Galactic Conquest system are all examples of improvements within Battlefront 2. I feel that this game does its excellent prequel justice.

I bought this expecting a lot and at first I was disappointed, finding it hard to control troops and getting killed too often. But once I got the hang of it I found myself hooked (tip - refine your skills over and over on a training mission). You can play various game types but Galactic Conquest for me is the very best. You fight a long campaign buying bonuses and various types of troops to battle for control of all the planets. Moving your fleets across the map you either engage enemy fleets above planets or attempt to conquer or defend planets.

I found the space battles a little odd at first but you work your way to 180 points to win the battle by completing objectives such as destroying the enemies engines and command bridge. You can also land on the enemy ship but I have yet to fully explore this. Some of the ground battlefields are a little too open, others perhaps too vast making it difficult to be involved at times as you run across ground trying to find the battle. If I have one criticism this game can be a little too quick, with only 150 reserves on either side you can find the battle over before you can apply any real strategies. On the flipside once you've been killed you can continue the battle so even if you aren't very good you're not out of it too quickly. Victory though can be completed without you feeling you've played much of a part. It can also mean a great amount of the wonderful battlefields themselves can go unexplored as the battle is long over before you've covered every inch of ground.

The bonuses are perhaps the most tactical part of the whole thing. You can choose a leader which can be a jedi wielding their light sabre, bcta tanks to continually replenish your side's lifeforce or garrison bonus to add a few reserves if your's drop too low. Maybe a little extra thought could have gone in as some of these seem less useful than others as indeed do some leaders. Han Solo for instance with his blaster is nowhere near as effective as Yoda and his light sabre. Vehicles can also play too much of a part, on Yashyyyk (Wookie home planet) the battlefield is too open and the enemy can use vehicle firepower to overwhelm your forces. The only defence I have found effective is the sabotage bonus to damage the vehicles making them easier to destroy.

All in all this is a fantastic game I recommend to anyone, it is very time consuming to complete but highly addictive. You can play Galactic Conquest as the Rebel Alliance, Empire, Trade Federation or the Republic so there are plenty of variations giving this game plenty of life once you've completed it for the first time.

This is probably the best Star Wars game ever. I was a HUGE fan of Battlefront 1 and I have always been eagerly awaiting its sequel and I was nowhere near disappointed. You can at last play as Jedi, which I thought was the biggest thing missing from the original. It never even crossed my mind to play in space! The new locations are fabulous, like Utapau, and Mustafar, and of course Coruscant! It is the only game where you can play all 6 episodes! You can play major characters like Luke, Han Solo and Yoda, and minor characters like Boba Fett, Aayla Secura and Ki-Adi-Mundi. It is true it is missing Bespin and Dune Sea, which are the only let-downs. Overall I think it is a fantastic game, and the best Star Wars gamers can get.