Star Wars: Battlefront II has had a few major leaks so far, and the latest shows off more space battle footage (starring Yoda for some reason). The frequency of these high-profile slips could point to EA intentionally releasing them to build hype, or perhaps their reliance on ‘influencers’ has substantially lowered their control over breaches.
The video points to the Elite Trooper Deluxe Edition and asking gamers to pre-order for ‘3 days Early Access’.
The leaked link was posted on neogaf.
The beginning of the video claims ‘GAME ENGINE FOOTAGE’, thought that isn’t always as honest as it sounds.
The visuals do look quite impressive, and for all of Battlefront 2015‘s problems, it’s still one of the best-looking games of the generation. The photo-realism impressively immersed me into the Star Wars universe, until the gameplay loop bored me to tears.
I like the emphasis on capital ships shown in the trailer. Feeling a part of a larger-scale battle while weaving around Star Destroyer shield generators could go a long way to improving the feel. Battlefront 2015’s ship battles felt very limited in comparison.
However, the biggest improvement I’d like to see has to do with the controls, and unfortunately, that’s almost impossible to display in a trailer. 2015’s controls were arcadey to a fault, with hot-keys controlling interesting maneuvers like barrel rolls and loop-de-loops.
Customers have short memories
I’ve stated before that sequels tend to live and die off the previous game’s lasting impression. Battlefront sold very well off the franchise name, Force Awakens hype, eye-popping graphics, and Battlefield pedigree. But the shallow gameplay and expensive buy-blind Season Pass was a major turn-off for many. I fear that a much improved Battlefront II could suffer from the consume backlash still felt from the previous effort.
Star Wars is an all-powerful marketing force however, it surrounds us, it penetrates us, it binds the universe together. If anything will sell, it’s Star Wars.
Until then, I can sit back and dream of a new TIE Fighter.
