Hey everybody welcome back to LegalSpeak I'm TheLawMorris and this is the video essay series where I get to talk about the games I've been playing and what I think of the video game industry as a whole. Today not only will I be talking about but I will also be defending Star Wars Battlefront 2 so get ready. Before we get started with that though I need to take a minute to remind you of our podcasts HardReset and NoRefunds where we discussed Micro Consoles and Spider-Man 3 this week. You can find both of those on itunes, HardReset is also available on spotify, iheartradio and now on youtube, and NoRefunds will be on Spotify and IheartRadio as soon as possible. You can visit us at ColdNorthPro.com to find everything we do all in one spot. Now with all that out of the way…lets ruffle some feathers.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 is not a bad game. It's not a good game either but its definitely not bad. If anything I would say Battlefront 2 is an okay game. The graphics are fantastic and on both the PS4pro and the Xbox one X it looks absolutely jaw dropping. Mechanically the game is uninspired but sound and functions as intended. And overall performance is good. The game runs well with minimal issues on a huge range of hardware configurations from the xbox one and base PS4 all the way up to the latest 2080ti. While there is a lot wrong with the game at the end of the day it would be unfair to criticize it for mechanics, visuals, or performance.
When the game launched people were extremely frustrated and Battlefront 2 actually wound up getting more attention than pretty much any other game last year, granted it was almost entirely bad attention but it was still attention. Now I'm not saying that Battlefront 2 shouldn’t have gotten the attention it did because the way the game was monetized and marketed was undeniably predatory. EA is a money grubbing company that pushes the envelope in what are acceptable monetization strategies and with Battlefront they pushed to far. The blunder that was the launch of Battlefront 2 has been discussed at length by almost everyone on the internet, I'm not here to defend the game it was I'm here to defend the game it has become.
After the dust settled and Dice was left alone to continue to develop Battlefront 2 there were still a ton of people hating on the game and the biggest complaint that I saw on the internet seemed to be that it wasn’t as good as Battlefront 2 2005. Now please don’t hate me for saying this but the original Battlefront and Battlefront 2 are both very shallow arcade shooters. They were both without a doubt fun games but even comparing them to their contemporaries like Knights of the Old Republic and Halo 2 both of the old Battlefront games were extremely shallow and one note. That’s not a criticism of the old Battlefront games because its okay to enjoy a game like that but everyone is constantly putting the old games up on this pedestal held up by nostalgia and rose tinted glasses. People are constantly comparing Battlefront 2 to Battlefront 2 2005 and citing it not being as good as a reason why they don’t play it. Battlefront 2 is a very real game in all our recent memory that is being compared to some of the most romanticized memories of any video game to come out this century. In preparation for this video I actually went back and played my copy of Battlefront 2005 and yes I had fun and yes it was nostalgic but im not arguing that that was a bad game I'm just saying that its not as good a game as we all remember it being.
The new Battlefront 2 certainly isn't a good game. It's a game that is full of problems and was especially disappointing because during the lead up to the game it was marketed so incredibly well that we all believed it was the game we were all hoping for since Battlefront 3 was cancelled. The campaign was genuinely awful, the story was short and cliché and the characters were lacking in personality and depth. I am almost never one to advocate for axing a single player element from a game but if EA bankrolls another Dice made Battlefront game I really hope they don’t try to include a single player campaign. The loot boxes were terrible and predatory, no matter how you spin it the game was very obviously designed as a money making machine. And there simply wasn’t enough content at launch and there is still a shocking lack of content that I would have assumed would have been in the game by now. We just got Obi Wan Kenobi in the game and theres still no Anakin Skywalker? What's the hold up?
Now that all that has been said here's my defense:
Its not the best game ever but does it have to be? Its not an online casino aimed at children anymore so that complaint is no longer valid.
Its fun.
The Dice Battlefront games have gotten a ton of hate over the last several years and a lot of it has been deserved but what they havent gotten is recognition for the good things they have done. Every single time I play Battlefront or Battlefront 2 I have fun. Dice made two games that are meant to be arcade style shooters to be fun with friends. I get online pair up with a friend or two or eight and we have fun playing Star Wars. It's that simple, its not a genre defining game and it certainly wont be winning any awards but it's fun and sometimes that's all I want a game to be is fun.
It's become a hip thing on the internet to hate on Battlefront 2 as though it was some terrible war crime against humanity. And the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of people that hate the game haven't even played it. It's a fun game that has righted a lot of wrongs and while yes it's no where near the best game you'll ever play I would challenge any Star Wars fan to sit down with a handful of their friends and play Battlefront 2 and honestly tell me they didn’t have fun. Video games are supposed to be fun and that exactly what Battlefront 2 is, so it gets a pass in my book. People are willing to pay $15 to go see a two hour movie that's mediocre at best why not pay $10-$20 for Battlefront 2 for four hours of fun with your friends?
What are your thoughts on Battlefront 2? Let me know in the comments down below.
If you liked what you heard don’t forget to subscirbe for more videos like this one and check out our podcasts and everything else we do all in one spot over at coldnorthpro.com. I'll be back next week talking about remakes and remasters so until then just go play something that you enjoy.
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