We all know how we love classic games and the moments we have with them. Going back to the year when video games first evolved,titles like Space Invaders were considered to be a great hit. Each passing year the video-game industry grows and evolved with the technology given to make video games. Hardware and software alike, without both, there wouldn’t be any video games that we play and love at this very moment you’re reading this. Most of the new generation gamers forget the classics and how the old games contributed well to the community and the industry.
Dear reader, don’t worry I won’t be talking about video game history. Our website will feature a weekly review article: “Throwback Gaming Thursday”. Every Thursday, one of our staff writer (maybe we’ll include contributors too) will write a review about a video game that was released 2005 and the years prior to that. When we talk about classics, some of us may confuse it with the word “retro”. The reason why we don’t want to call it ‘retro’ is because we don’t want to put limitations on genres that our staff will be reviewing.
This was suggested by one of our beloved staff writer Dave Acuña and I realized that this is a fantastic idea. We go back through time and play the good ol’ video-games that are still remembered and appreciated today. Who doesn’t love the rise of RPG and successful release of Final Fantasy VII?Who doesn’t remember Crash Bandicoot? Who didn’t play Pepsi Man? If you didn’t, then don’t worry! We’ll be reviewing all great classic video game titles from their time.
We’re not going be biased because the game was scored 10 by GameSpot or had an Editor’s Choice Award from IGN. Ourstaff writers will do their best to bring out the good and bad factors of the games we all know and fell in love with… I’ll start the Throwback Gaming Thursday with a review of STAR WARS: Battlefront II.
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…
LucasArts was bought by Disney recently and GameSpy shutting their services down in February 2013 meant the epic shooter by LucasArts and EA, Star Wars Battlefront II, was left with no servers for its multiplayer section; but with the support of gamers, the famous Star Wars shooter was adopted by Steam and given online support byGame Ranger. For now, Star Wars Battlefront II lives on and the battle for the galaxy between the Empire and Rebels, Republic and Separatists continues…
Star Wars Battlefront II tells a tale of a clone trooper from the 501st Legion about his experiences from Day 1 of the Clone Wars to the time they were renamed as Stormtroopers for the Empire. The narrative focuses on the side of the Republic until its transition in becoming the menacing Empire of the Star Wars universe. Star Wars Battlefront II features key planets like Mustafar, Felucia, and more; the setting lives up to expectation but for its lack of detail when it comes to Star Wars Battlefront II‘s narrative; its core and gameplay as a shooter meant that narrative felt overlooked. The additional gameplay features of Star Wars Battlefront II gave the full experience that we had been waiting for from any Star Wars title, resulting in a combination of Rogue Squadron and Jedi Outcasts, a great end result for LucasArts.
As well as the great overall gameplay, visually the game the looks nice too. I can’t say it was as fantastic as the other current-gen shooters like Battlefield 4, but Star Wars Battlefront II‘s graphics still hold up today. The details that were given on the planets, ships, and space maps are impressive, especially for a 2005 shooter title. One detail to point out as this is a PC version, is that the lack of resolution support for 1080p becomes intrusive as the screen will look stretched if you cannot get the required resolution of your monitor; unlike console versions, the PS2 and Xbox, of Star Wars Battlefront II the aspect resolution automatically adjusts for televisions. Star Wars Battlefront II for PC lacks the optimization with its graphical configuration, and that the developers failed to provide for hardcore fans of the game was a disappointment.
While Star Wars Battlefront II suffers issues with its resolution, there was also another issue with the sounds configuration of the game. Star Wars Battlefront II crashes after the game loads; disabling the sound is a temporary fix but Star Wars Battlefront II is not Star Wars Battlefront II without its lovely sound effects. It was, truthfully, tiring looking for fixes, but even the couple of hours looking for a permanent fix was worth it, as the sound effects of blaster, lightsabers, and everything else you’d expect from a Star Wars title, you have it all in Star Wars Battlefront II. The dull and not-so great voice acting of Anakin Skywalker is easily overshadowed by the other voice-actors in game. The soundtrack was main attraction of Star Wars Battlefront II, John William’s epic score of George Lucas’s fantasy gave Star Wars Battlefront II the feel and emotion in the battlefield and this was a great aspect of the game that was featured.
The enjoyment of Star Wars Battlefront II was in its game modes. There are classic game modes that were retained from the last Battlefront title. There was a great improvement of Galactic Conquest; it became a strategy-based game where players will move from one planet at a time to conquer and take the planet’s for its unique perk that will be given to the player to use in battle, this made the game mode flexible and unique from the other shooter titles. One great addition in Star Wars Battlefront II was the use of heroes; the heroes that can be selected in planets was based from the movies, for example Yoda can only be played in Kashyyyk. One thing worth to mention is Assault mode in the Mos Eisley map; there are two factions: Heroes and Villains. This unique game mode is very enjoyable where players can get to use their beloved Star Wars villain Darth Vader or the old and fast Master Yoda. Assault is very impressive and it made Star Wars Battlefront II a great shooter with fun game modes to play with.
Even though GameSpy already shut down their services, the multiplayer mode for Star Wars Battlefront II still lives on. GameRanger supports specific dedicated servers for the amazing Battlefront title; unlike the console versions of Star Wars Battlefront II they do not have any online capabilities due to the limitation of its capability to select another server. It impacted a lot of hardcore fans of the series to know that the GameSpy servers are down. Even with this loss from the console side, the PC multiplayer of Star Wars Battlefront II is still up and kicking as it had always been with the use of GameRanger. Thanks to the new multiplayer online service provided by GameRanger, the latency was more stable and made the Battlefront title more appealing to those who loves the series, this made Star Wars Battlefront II more playable and it was not a disappointment to say the least.
Overall Star Wars Battlefront II is still an excellent a shooter game. While optimization suffered, it is still worth the time, money, and a classic collection piece in the Star Wars games franchise. The new additional gameplay modes were fun and enjoyable, and allow you to overlook the dull narrative of Star Wars Battlefront II. With GameRanger supporting Star Wars Battlefront II‘s online services, it is worth to say that this game is still recommended today until EA and DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront reboot releases this December.
