Last week’s unveiling of Star Wars: Battlefront 2 had the gaming community in hysterics, with EA and developer DICE showing off what looks to be a significant evolution of and improvement over the 2015 reboot.
Set for release this November on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, Battlefront 2 promises to offer a lot of the best things from the first game, as well as some important tweaks and additions in order to make it feel like a true sequel.
The first game was a bit of a mixed bag, at least upon release. DICE worked to eventually bring the game up to an incredibly high standard, with a steady stream of DLC — including the fantastic Death Star DLC — that made the steep launch price seem that little bit more reasonable for early adopters.
The community was fairly vocal in that it didn’t like the game’s season pass, which divided the player base and made for an inconsistent matchmaking experience.
DICE says Battlefront 2 won’t have a season pass, so that’s certainly one massive improvement over the first game.
Another area the game promises to improve upon is that of space battles. They were eventually brought to Battlefront via the Death Star DLC expansion, after what seemed like an eternity.
DICE had originally said it had no plans to bring space battles to the game, but that obviously changed when they realised how actively the community was campaigning for it.
The good news when it comes to Battlefront 2 is that space battles will be part and parcel of the base experience.
On-the-ground modes will support up to 40 players, while aerial dogfights, including space battles will see 24 players duke it out across the skies.
There will be iconic ships from across all Star Wars eras, including Boba Fett’s Slave I and Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon.
The likes of TIE Fighters and X-Wings will get some tweaking and refinements, while also receiving unlockable abilities and mods.
Perhaps most exciting about the prospect of space battles is that Criterion — Battlefront 2 co-op developer and the brains behind Battlefront VR and the Burnout series — has been enlisted to create the best portfolio of vehicles and ships in Battlefront history.
One thing that held the first Battlefront game back was that there was no real element of differentiate — or no real incentive — to favour aerial over ground combat. Both were split down the middle, so iconic vehicles and ships weren’t as interesting to play as next to a Hero and Villain.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see just how evolved and refined space battles are when Battlefront 2 launches later this year.