Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is set to have a far more engaging multiplayer than the original 2015 reboot. At DICE's headquarters in Stockholm I had the chance to check out four competitive modes: a chaotic 40 player Galactic Assault game on Naboo, and the recently introduced space dog-fighting of Starfighter Assault. Now, I'd already seen these two demos from E3 and Gamescom, but the Arcade mode's survival mission, and 8v8 Strike mode on Takodana were new. And it's in the Strike mode in particular that DICE's efforts to bolster the multiplayer portion of the game became apparent.
The visuals are still incredible, obviously. The forest of Takodana, for instance, is proudly recognisable from The Force Awakens; a sparser thicket than Endor, but with plenty of room for cover behind rocks and trees. The centre-point is Maz's castle - if you'll remember, the place Rey finds the light saber in the film; a structure of pale stonework and an array of flags that again show DICE's expert ability to capture the tone of a film location. In this smaller Strike mode incarnation at least, the 8v8 setup also means refinements to its core gameplay are easy to spot. It's also, of the four modes, where I had the most fun.
I won't admit to being the biggest fan of the original. Star Wars Battlefront had a lot going for it in its authentic visuals and sound design, but without a proper campaign mode (addressed in this sequel) it lent heavily on its online play to entertain - all of which I found repetitive after a few days. Of course, the series isn't meant to be Battlefield with a Star Wars wrapper, and in this sequel, DICE still steers clear of the physics-based sandbox style of its military shooter. Even so, Battlefront 2 addresses two issues I had with the original's depth, by pinching a few pointers from DICE's sibling franchise - and it's all the better for it.
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