“Star Wars Battlefront II” is a fast-paced, action-packed game, and a real treat for Star Wars enthusiasts.

 The highly anticipated “Star Wars” themed first person shooter game was released on Nov. 17 and features both single and multi-player modes. 

Developed by EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts, “Battlefront II” is the fourth part of the “Star Wars: Battlefront” video game series and a sequel from the 2015 “Battlefront.”

“Battlefront II” looks absolutely beautiful, featuring some of the best graphics of any game in recent memory.

Players compete on a variety of different planets, including Hoth, the ice planet from “The Empire Strikes Back,” and Endor, the forest moon from “The Return of the Jedi.” 

Except for a few lagging issues, the EA servers experience no interruption and the game plays smoothly.

The single player part of the game focuses on the story of an imperial soldier, Iden Versio, after the defeat of The Empire at the Battle of Endor. Versio grapples with her loyalty to The Empire after it is shown chaotically and leaderless. 

Versio is a new character in the “Star Wars” universe and is now considered canon to “Star Wars,” so she’s officially part of the franchise storyline.
Playing as her in the story-mode part of the game is a truly amazing experience.

The multi-player part of “Battlefront II” allows players to connect to EA servers and face off in massive “Star Wars” themed battles against other real-time players. There are two types of multi-player game modes: star-fighter assault and galactic assault, also known as ground assault.  

Star-fighter assault places players in a very fast pace “Star Wars” space battle, as either part of the Separatists/Galactic Empire (villains) or the Republic/Rebels (heroes).  

Imagine massive space battle at the beginning of “Revenge of the Sith.”  Star-fighter assault is very similar to that gigantic space battle.  

Inside the game, players can choose between a variety of fighters for the battle. Star-fighter assault can be frustrating for many players, because it takes a while to get used to the complicated flying controls.  But once players become comfortable with the controls, this game mode becomes one of the most exciting parts of the game.

Galactic assault has players in the midst of a large-scale ground battle with troops from the Empire and Republic.  In the match, there is a team on offense and a team on defense.  The attacking team must complete objectives in order for them to win.

Players earns battle points individual to each game.  During every respawn, after a death,  players have the option to then use battle points in order to respawn as one of the heroes, which are the most powerful playable characters in the game.  

Most “Battlefront” players play the game because they love “Star Wars,” and it’s no surprise  “Battlefront II” was released a month before the next movie, “The Last Jedi” as an appetizer  to help build excitement.

The week leading up to the game was full of complaints from angry fans complaining about the game’s system for unlocking special characters.  

It originally required players to log more than 400 hours of play time to unlock the best characters. But it also gave players the opportunity to simply purchase them.  

As one can imagine, these policies were met with hostility.  EA listened to its player base and agreed to reduce the requirements to unlock the best characters by 75 percent, and temporarily suspended the pay-to-win system.

Regardless of the complaints, the combination of the single player story mode and the exciting online battles are what really makes “Battlefront II” fun.

Even though it has gotten mediocre reviews  – average 6.5/10 –  this game is highly recommend for fans of “Star Wars” or first person shooters. It earns 3.5 out of 4 Grizzly paws.