Star Wars: Battlefront II Beta Thoughts

There has been an awakening.

Do you feel it?

Probably not, as the eagerly awaited Star Wars: Battlefront II beta was unavailable for most player when it launched on October 4^th due to EA’s crappy servers. Luckily, I managed to sneak in through the cracks on PS4 and give it a go.

The beta featured the Arcade singleplayer/offline and online co-op mode alongside 3 multiplayer game modes: Galactic Assault (20 vs 20 objective based game mode), Starfighter Assault (12 vs 12 space combat), and Strike (a smaller 8 vs 8 experience). I’ve tried a majority of the classes, vehicles, and heroes available over the weekend, in order to really get an idea of what we will be getting when the full game drops in November.

Let’s start with the arcade mode, which acts as a singleplayer or online co-op (as well as offline split-screen for consoles) testing range for the multiplayer. It has two scenarios for the beta, one focused on the four soldier classes, and the other for trying out one of the reinforcement classes and one of the heroes for the Theed map.

These scenarios are challenging and fun, and fit their purpose well. Darth Maul is absolutely badass in the second scenario, and almost feels too easy in the betas difficulty setting. Thankfully, in the full game you will be able to crank up the difficulty. The B2 Rocket Droid from the same scenario, however, feels a bit lacklustre and the rockets fired by it don’t feel consistent. The jetpack also feels a tad redundant in the confined space of the palace.

The multiplayer classes are fairly standard as far as DICE multiplayer goes. You have the Assault, the close quarter’s trooper; the Heavy, who has the heavy weapons; the Officer, the support class; and the Specialist, the sniper class. The Assault and Heavy aren’t really anything to write home about. Both have well balanced weapons and do their jobs effectively and their abilities are well rounded and helpful for not just the individual but for the team.

The officer has actually been my surprise favourite class. The blaster pistols pack a nice punch and the abilities are interesting and compliment a variety of playstyles. You can flush enemies out with the flash grenade, or tie down a corridor with the remote turret. The rallying cry grants friendlies near you a health boost, and the HUD icon will tell you how many people will benefit from it at any given time – neat!

Now I’m not much of a sniper, so that’s probably why I found the Specialist difficult to get to grips with. The abilities feel a bit wonky: the “Infiltration” ability, which gives you a heavy hitting blaster pistol whilst you reveal enemy positions on the minimap, doesn’t last long enough to have any real effect in my mind. And that is probably because of the main concern of everyone currently playing and reviewing the beta.

Star Cards, the class abilities, are now tied to random number generation “Crates” bought with in game currency or real money. The cards have different rarities which dictate how good they are – you start with a scan dart that reveals enemies within 10 metres but you can win one in a crate that reveals them within 15. What’s more, these crates are not earnt based on your performance in game and there is no progression system to reward you with “Crates” – in fact, the progression system is tied to the number of Star Cards you have for each class.

So let’s be honest with what this is: a pay-to-win system. Not just that, but one tied to gambling. It is as predatory as some of the mobile gaming economies targeted at children, and is in only in place because EA can’t let go of the money it “lost” from ditching the season pass model for the game. And honestly I do not see the system changing between now and release. Maybe EA will “allow” players to earn these gambling boxes through play like they were forced to in Battlefield 1, but not any time soon – unfortunately there is more potential profit with SW:BFII thanks to the fact that it is Star Wars and it is coming up to Christmas.

On the other side of this bad news sandwich is the multiplayer game modes themselves. Galactic Assault is the evolution of Walker Assault from the first game, and is really rewarding to play. The Theed map seems to be pretty well balanced, though maybe favouring the Droids during the outdoor phase. When they break into the palace is where things get tense, and it is hectic without being frustrating.

Strike is a fun, small scale game mode akin to capture the flag. The map available is Maz Katana’s castle from The Force Awakens, providing jungle and interior close quarter’s action. My only gripe with this map was with the First Order’s Flame Trooper, a Stormtrooper with a flamethrower, who is rubbish. The flamethrower feels way too weak and its range could definitely be improved.

However, there is a huge disappointment for me in the multiplayer (alongside the pay-to-win gambling boxes) and that is Starfighter Assault. I was looking forward to zooming around shooting down TIE fighters, but instead I wound up frustrated and motion sick. The flying feels so off: I spent several matches tweaking, resetting, and then fiddling again with the controls and sensitivity to make it feel right, and it still felt twitchy and vague. The map, Fondor, also feels a bit unbalanced in favour of the Empire, but that may just have been me not contributing because I was focusing on not vomiting on my telly.

And that is my detailed breakdown of my time with Battlefront II. Overall the beta was a good experience, but the gambling is a major concern and honestly a massive turn off for me. If you want to have go yourself, the beta is available until tomorrow.

The full game releases November 17^th.