It looks like single-player campaigns aren’t quite dead. Electronic Arts announced in their third quarter 2018 financial results that “nearly 70% of players engaged in the single-player campaign” found within Star Wars Battlefront II. That’s good news and shows that complaints that the first game lacked a meaningful solo component weren’t entirely unfounded.
We touched on the Star Wars Battlefront II single-player campaign extensively in our review. Here’s what we had to say about the campaign:
New to Battlefront II is a dedicated single-player narrative campaign. For all intents and purposes, the campaign is Star Wars Episode 6.5. Though it focuses on Iden Versio as an Imperial commander and what she goes through following the destruction of the second Death Star, her path crosses with many other familiar characters, occasionally providing a chance to play as them. I was expecting a lackluster side story that barely touched on the greater canon, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a compelling narrative arc, distinct characters, and a story that is wholly Star Wars through and through. One particular scene shows the exceptionally Nazi-like regime of the Empire from the inside and creates a pretty fascinating confrontation for the characters involved. It’s shortly following this scene that Iden Versio’s story treads the ground of predictability and things shift from the initially unique perspective on the Star Wars universe.
Iden and the other members of Inferno Squad are far from two dimensional characters, and each interaction with well known players from the Star Wars canon usually feels like a meaningful moment rather than fan service. The central lore of the Skywalker saga is so central to the Battlefront II campaign that I would not be surprised to see elements seeded here that come to fruition in the Episode VIII and IX films. Despite being on the shorter side of shooter campaigns—taking me only five hours to run through on normal difficulty—the production values are impressive and show that the single-player was not a tacked on addition just to appease fans. It’s a legitimate piece of the Star Wars fiction, almost to a fault. It will also be further expanded through additional story chapters released free with future DLC content, yet another impressive piece of EA and DICE’s content release plans.
Star Wars Battlefront II is available now.
[Source: EA]
