Star Wars Battlefront II Preview

I read the press release and heard about the new feature that would allow you to, at any time, hop into a spacecraft, fly into space, land in an enemy ship, kick some butt, pick up another ship and take off again.  Nothing could prepare me for what it would actually be like to do this, however.   

The controls are very straightforward, comparable to any of the top-tier third-person shooter on the market.  When I pick up a shooter, the first thing I do is shoot stuff (what else am I gonna do with that blaster I’m holding?  Change the face plate?). 

Then, when I saw a ship and remembered what I had been told, I ran up and hit the triangle button, not knowing how the transition would work. 

Next thing I knew I was taking off into space, flying through a ship and spacecraft filled galaxy.  It was awesome, to say the least.  Having been told that all the ships were open to exploration, I flew to the nearest one, landed, explored the corridors and shot a few enemies.  During the demo I controlled a Stormtrooper, but I’m told that Obi-Wan and Darth Vader are both playable.  Other characters, including other Jedi, will be playable as well, but they haven’t been announced yet. 

Episode III is the movie on everyone’s mind right now (I know because it’s on my mind, and I am currently contemplating ways to use the Force to bring the movie right to me).  Thus, LucasArts’s focus for Battlefront II is Revenge of the Sith.  Ships, characters, locations (such as Mustafar) – all the important Episode III content will be present in this game. 

I didn’t get to see it, but LucasArts confirmed today that Battlefront II will also be released for the PSP.  As exciting as this news is, I almost hate to have heard it.  I already had the console versions to anticipate – now they’re making me anticipate the PSP version as well. 

Painful?  Yes.  But it’s pain I’m willing to endure.

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