In a panel at Star Wars Celebration Orlando involving the developers across DICE, Criterion Games, and Motive Studios, the complete Star Wars: Battlefront 2 trailer was released for the first time. Amidst the leaks of the trailer days before, the panel expanded on the creation of and the motives behind the new game.
The panel included executive producer Matthew Webster at Criterion Games who described the game as “The most ambitious title EA’s ever embarked upon.” The story itself follows the commander of Inferno Squadron and will be a cannon story as the devs worked directly with Lucasfilm to develop the narrative.
Battlefront 2’s Full Single-Player Campaign
Inferno squadron are devout elites led by commander Iden Versio, who arrive on Endor during Star Wars Episode VI and in the trailer are called special forces. Steve Blank, an executive director at Lucasfilm, described the squadron as versatile in their ability to go from aerial to ground combat proficiently.
The new game trailer focuses primarily on the single-player campaign during the transition between Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, but multiplayer will allow players to fight across all Star Wars eras. The single-player campaign does veer off from Iden at some point, the panel explained, as players will also take control of Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren, Darth Maul, and Rey, to name a few.
Full New Maps and Locations
One brand new planet, revealed during the panel, is called Vardos, and it is a city under Imperial control. The home world of Versio, the planet is one of the numerous new locations that will be featured in the game. Other locations revealed were Hoth and prequel planets like Kamino. Other planets will be revealed at a later date.
Mark Thompson, Motive Studios game director said of the creation of the campaign:
Who are the heores of the empire, who are the soldiers that can inspire the empire? We wanted to take off the helmet of the stormtrooper and find out who they are.
The game also comes with a full book to be released on July 25 by Christie Golden entitled Battlefront II: Inferno Squad. The book will show more of where the inferno squad originated from and the game’s story will see where the characters go.
Battlefront 2’s Full Multiplayer
Battlefront 2 has added in all eras from the prequel trilogy through the new sequel trilogy in multiplayer, letting you play as storm troopers, rebel soldiers, and even Trade Federation battledroids. But it also has additional features to the playable heroes. These include more weapons and vehicles as Bernd Diemer stated during the panel:
A squad of really good players maybe can stand up to Darth Maul. We introduced classes, new abilities, and I think that was a good call.
Introducing classes, there will be more classic FPS gameplay classes that players can adapt to. The panel also alluded to the ability to upgrade heroes, whereas in the current game, heroes are used solely as pickups on the battle front. The heroes are also described as more physical in their play style and progression in that players can customize each, adding depth to each character.
Space Combat and Vehicles
Ships and vehicles have been promised to also have upgradeable components, similar to the classes for soldiers on the ground. While these features expand across all eras, there will also be different roll types included and yet to come features. There has been no word on seamless ground to air combat as of yet, but these improved changes will likely make up for the more lackluster space combat of the current game.
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Star Wars Battlefront II will be released on November 17, a month before Star Wars: The Last Jedi comes out in theaters. Players who pre-order the game will get exclusive Last Jedi costumes for Rey and Kylo, and skins for the Millennium Falcon and a special star fighter.
Sony also unveiled a custom Star Wars Battlefront II PS4 Pro, with only four being given away.
Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more news on Battlefront II as it develops.
