After a Battlefront II trailer already leaked several days ago, EA posted the official “Full Length Reveal” trailer today. It focuses heavily on the single-player campaign centered around a female Imperial Special Forces soldier before and after the destruction of the second Death Star.
Related: Battlefront 2 Will be a Better Game, but a Financial Disappointment
Similar to the classic TIE Fighter, Battlefront II appears to be painting the Imperials (and New Order) as the good guys. The second Death Star’s end is shown from the perspective of Imperial troops fighting on Endor, as the protagonist removes her helmet to proclaim “impossible”. She might be in a leadership position of sorts as the remaining Empire re-shuffles into the New Order. When another soldier asks “what do we do now?”, she responds “we avenge our Emperor”.
The New Order snow base from The Force Awakens is shown, as well as Rey and Kylo Ren. An option to pre-order for “The Last Jedi Heroes” is available to receive “Kylo Ren- and Rey-themed looks inspired by the upcoming film, epic ability upgrades, and much more!”
Pre-order bonus rewards
- Access to play Star Wars Battlefront II on November 14—a 3-day head start
- Upgraded versions of all 4 trooper classes (Officer, Assault, Heavy, and Specialist)
- 4 epic ability upgrades—one for each trooper class
- Instant weapon unlocks and weapon modifications for each trooper class
- Exclusive Kylo Ren- and Rey-themed looks, inspired by Star Wars™ : The Last Jedi™
- Epic ability modifiers for Kylo Ren and Rey
- An epic ability modifier for the Millennium Falcon
Seeing the word “upgrade” and “exclusive” when talking about a competitive multiplayer game has me worried. It’s not fun to lose because your opponent has an “epic ability upgrade” only available to pre-orders.
You can play even earlier if you use EA Access with Xbox 1 or Origin on PC. Gameplay starts November 9th even without purchasing the game. I have to say, Origin Access is getting better all the time.
Darth Maul, Yoda, and Tauntauns are also shown as potential gameplay additions. Though we all know “your Tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker!”
Enough to soothe the critics?
Split-screen co-op and a single-player campaign are two giant symbols of goodwill and are enough for me to give the sequel a good hard look when I couldn’t have been bothered a week earlier.
I hope they also put an emphasis on improved level design. The open fields of many Battlefront (2015) maps were like a WW I battlefield of easy death. I understand it’s difficult to balance a level for AT-ATs, X-Wings, and infantry, but DICE could take notes from fellow EA developer Respawn. Titanfall 1 and 2 handled incorporating large vehicles with infantry in an exciting way. Strategically placed multi-leveled buildings meant infantry and mechs could co-exist in competitive matches. I hope to see the same in Battlefront II.
