Post by Tig on Dec 6, 2017 14:44:16 GMT -5
After playing the original on PS4 with a friend that is guaranteed fun to play games with, I happily did the pre-buy for SWBF2. I'd played the demo earlier and noted the controls were much more stable. Sniping isn't near as impossible as it was before, the thumbsticks not as jerky, and I was actually hitting stuff. That's huge for me considering I hate playing FPS on console, primarily because I suck. The combat in the game is much more fluid, with some of the maps seeming even more open than before with better flanking opportunities, and the starting weapons are more powerful and more fun for beginners.
The problem with SWBF2 is its total lack of customization. None. In the first SWBF you had an in-game store where you swap credits to change the gender on your trooper class, whether Empire or Rebellion, and had minor cosmetic changes. Then you could buy specific weapons for your class set up your kit with what makes you comfortable. All of that has been removed. I'll get to the loot crate BS in a second but I need to explain here why the loot crate BS is a big deal. Without loot boxes, you are stuck with NOTHING other than the default avatar and base gun. To unlock the next gun you have to make x amount of kills with the previous gun, and for as bad a shot as I am this is taking forever. Meanwhile, as a specialist class (sniper) I'm stuck with one gun that overheats fast and can't be modded (modding is a thing for certain guns) and my character when I'm on the Rebel team is an ugly chick. When I'm on the Empire it's a stormtrooper with a slightly better rifle, and when I'm the Order or whatever I'm a freaking robot from Episode 1. No kidding. Who the heck wants to play as a default robot?
So enter the loot crate system. No you can't change your gender or whether you're a robot but you get more options to mod your weapons and play style. STILL, there's little to no cosmetic features (none that I'm aware of). EA said licensing with Disney was restrictive and they didn't want pink stormtroopers or a female Boba Fett but I call bullshit. Cosmetics takes coding and it's easier and faster just to push out cookie-cutter avatars. What you DO get from the loot crates are star cards, first implemented in the first game, that buff your health or special weapons, along with parts for more modding and credits so you can buy more loot crates. The crates are completely random, and half the time they open up to reveal some useless card for a class I don't play, buffs for hero cards I don't have unlocked yet, or crap I already have. I've put several hours into this game and while I now have some good cards for the specialist class, there is NOTHING that helps me unlock new weapons or keeps me for being a @#$% chick!
The single-player campaign is pretty good. The story starts out following a spec ops member of the Empire who has a change of heart after witnessing a home-base Empire-friendly planet get obliterated. It runs through all the different settings of the multiplayer map and is quite challenging. It even includes several missions where you fly fighter craft and two where you control a hero. It is, however, all straight combat missions with some minor stealth elements here and there. There's no rail shooters or special mission modes or anything I've come to love from Call of Duty or other shooter games, just keep clicking R2 over and over and over. It ends well but is very tedious overall.
This game almost sucks, but when combat does get going in multiplayer it definitely has its moments. I wish my buddy played PC because it would probably be more enjoyable if I had a mouse and keyboard but still, all the fun things that made you feel IN the world of Star Wars have been removed. I honestly don't see what people are paying for with cash for the loot crates because there's nothing in them that can cure the banality of this game. I'm glad I have it because my friend and I always have fun but playing it alone is an empty click fest. EA truly is a cancer to good gaming titles and I hope the Battlefront series can recover.
The problem with SWBF2 is its total lack of customization. None. In the first SWBF you had an in-game store where you swap credits to change the gender on your trooper class, whether Empire or Rebellion, and had minor cosmetic changes. Then you could buy specific weapons for your class set up your kit with what makes you comfortable. All of that has been removed. I'll get to the loot crate BS in a second but I need to explain here why the loot crate BS is a big deal. Without loot boxes, you are stuck with NOTHING other than the default avatar and base gun. To unlock the next gun you have to make x amount of kills with the previous gun, and for as bad a shot as I am this is taking forever. Meanwhile, as a specialist class (sniper) I'm stuck with one gun that overheats fast and can't be modded (modding is a thing for certain guns) and my character when I'm on the Rebel team is an ugly chick. When I'm on the Empire it's a stormtrooper with a slightly better rifle, and when I'm the Order or whatever I'm a freaking robot from Episode 1. No kidding. Who the heck wants to play as a default robot?
So enter the loot crate system. No you can't change your gender or whether you're a robot but you get more options to mod your weapons and play style. STILL, there's little to no cosmetic features (none that I'm aware of). EA said licensing with Disney was restrictive and they didn't want pink stormtroopers or a female Boba Fett but I call bullshit. Cosmetics takes coding and it's easier and faster just to push out cookie-cutter avatars. What you DO get from the loot crates are star cards, first implemented in the first game, that buff your health or special weapons, along with parts for more modding and credits so you can buy more loot crates. The crates are completely random, and half the time they open up to reveal some useless card for a class I don't play, buffs for hero cards I don't have unlocked yet, or crap I already have. I've put several hours into this game and while I now have some good cards for the specialist class, there is NOTHING that helps me unlock new weapons or keeps me for being a @#$% chick!
The single-player campaign is pretty good. The story starts out following a spec ops member of the Empire who has a change of heart after witnessing a home-base Empire-friendly planet get obliterated. It runs through all the different settings of the multiplayer map and is quite challenging. It even includes several missions where you fly fighter craft and two where you control a hero. It is, however, all straight combat missions with some minor stealth elements here and there. There's no rail shooters or special mission modes or anything I've come to love from Call of Duty or other shooter games, just keep clicking R2 over and over and over. It ends well but is very tedious overall.
This game almost sucks, but when combat does get going in multiplayer it definitely has its moments. I wish my buddy played PC because it would probably be more enjoyable if I had a mouse and keyboard but still, all the fun things that made you feel IN the world of Star Wars have been removed. I honestly don't see what people are paying for with cash for the loot crates because there's nothing in them that can cure the banality of this game. I'm glad I have it because my friend and I always have fun but playing it alone is an empty click fest. EA truly is a cancer to good gaming titles and I hope the Battlefront series can recover.