Gamefreak revisits Star Wars Battlefront2 (Xbox)

Hey guys, Tony from Gamefreakblog here, once again bringing you another episode in the "Gamefreak revisits" series. Today, i'm having a quick look at Star Wars Battlefront 2, the epic space battle game developed by the now sadly defunct Pandemic studios.

The game was released in 2005, hot on the heels of the new Star Wars movies, and a little under a year since the first game in the series. It took what was established in the hugely selling first game and added a load more options, all in all your typical sequel. However, some of the changes it made were leaps and bounds over what was offered in the original battlefield game.

Firstly there was a new campaign mode, which saw you play through the various levels as a clone from the 501st legion, following this veteran test tube warrior through the battles of the new Star Wars films, all the way through to donning the classic Stormtrooper armour as the new empire rose to power. So we get to play levels from Geonosis, which hosts the game's training mission, through to levels such as the cloning facility on Kamino, all the way to battles on Yavin and Hoth from the original trilogy. In certain levels, killing enough of the enemy and taking swift control of the battlefield saw one of the more famous characters from the films unlocked, and you got to run around the battlefield as Obi-wan, Anakin, Mace, or indeed the villans such as Darth Vader etc, slaying anything that moves and sticking that laser sword where you'll never get a suntan!

There was also a mode called "galactic conquest", which was almost like an interplanetary game of risk. You had to fight over various star systems, which when contested you fought a usual battle over, victory seeing you open up various characters and bonus options to carry over into further fights. Both this and the campaign mode added some much needed beef to what was a fairly weak campaign in the first game.

Online modes were further added to, the better part of which were the newly added space battles. Now, you could start off on your armies ship, fly out into the shooty-laser-death place that is outer space, and after blowing several shades of space crap out of the enemy you could then land in their ship and fight in there. It was a fantastic feeling to be able to free-fly around like this, and it really added to the "feeling" of being in the Star Wars films.

Anyway, i'm not going to prattle on too much longer. It was a bloody ace game, and i'm sure you have all played it. If not, it's really worth tracking down a copy. You won't be able to play online, as the servers have now died (and please excuse my mistake in the video....I was told by a few people before playing the game that the servers have only just died....from looking around it was this time LAST YEAR that they were turned off.....my informants have now been disintegrated). It's still highly playable campaign mode is a joy, and you can play against each other via split screen. It's just a shame that there are no other SW Battlefront games in the pipeline, as just from sales alone you can see that they are popular. Out of all the remakes and usual bollocks Lucasfilm churns out, you would have thought they would have snapped up Pandemic and got them working on a new game. Fuck, George Lucas could probably fund it from what change he's dropped down the back of his sofa!

Anyhoo.....sit back, and watch me play through the training mission, which, lo and behold, is set on Geonosis.




Ah, brings back the memories. By all means, if you want to see any more of the game, just drop me a comment on here, on twitter or the youtube channel. If you missed my thoughts on the other Star Wars games i've looked at, look here for SW Republic Commando and fly on over here for my peek at Lego Star Wars 3.

And just to make you cry even more, look down below for a sneak peek at what Star Wars Battlefront 3 would have looked like before it was canned. I'll never forgive Lucasarts for canning this.....



So there you go. Star Wars Battlefront 2. One fantastic game....

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

Star Wars Battlefield 2 is availble on PS2, PC, Xbox and PSP.

Gamefreak revisits Star Wars Republic Commando

Finally...FINALLY.....I've uploaded the videos.

Hey guys, Tony here, bringing you another game in the series "Gamefreak revisits". This time, i'm looking at the horrifically overlooked game Star Wars Republic Commando.

The game was released in 2005, and follows the exploits of a 4-man squad of specially trained Clone trooper commandos as they run around taking part in battles that act as a bridge between Star Wars: Episode 2 and 3, so we see out heroes start off at Geonosis and fight all the way through to the invasion of the Wookie planet, Kashyyyk.

The game itself played like an almost Rainbow Six "lite", as in you gave out basic squad orders, such as splice a computer, blow up a door or a wall etc by simply pointing at a location and pressing the A button. You could also dish out damage to the enemy by ordering the troops to concentrate their fire on the stronger bad guys. It didn't get as technical as Rainbow Six, so there are no sliding cameras under doors or anything like that, just a feeling that the troops were highly trained and not just cannon fodder like ordinary Clone Troopers.

I don't really know why the game isn't talked about more. I think it's down to the fact that it doesn't involve Jedi, or big bad Sith or anything like that, it's just straight up Clone on bad guy action. There are boss fights including mechs and other such enemies, and it was the first real chance to look at the Wookies and General Grievous in their Episode 3 settings. It's not the greatest first person shooter ever made, or indeed the best Star Wars game, but taking all the ingredients and mixing them all together made for a game that whilst simplistic, is fairly long, very tough in places and all in all one of the best games to use the Star Wars license!

So take a look at my videos below. I've had to split them into two parts as the video was too bloody long for Youtube.




And here's part two for ya!





So there you are guys, my take on Star Wars Republic Commando. It's a great game, one of the best in the Star Wars gaming history if you ask me.

WHat do you think? Did you play it? Love it? Hate it??

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone wars review.

The Star Wars cash cow keeps on rolling in, as the latest in Telltale Games Lego themed franchise rolls in. Set in the period of the Clone wars, we see out heroes Obi-Wan, Anakin, Yoda and a variety of other characters as they fight Count Dooku and his armies across the galaxy. The Lego Star Wars games have gained a following with both young and old gamers, so let's jump in and see how this new games sizes up.

The Story:

War has arrived in the galaxy, and our heroes must attempt to stop Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress and General Grievous getting other planets on their side. Fought over various planets, Obi-Wan and Anakin must take out various ships, bases and try to get other systems on their side and smash the rise of the Empire.

What I liked:

Well, firstly of course, I was looking forward to some more of Telltale Game's trademark sense of humour and parody, and the game doesn't disappoint. Right from the opening section played out in the arena on Geonosis you'll play the game with a smile on your face, if it's the creatures passing out ice creams in the arena, taking pictures, to Battle droids pretending to be troopers by popping on one of their helmets. You can tell that everyone involved in the game has a love for Star Wars.....only great fans can really take the piss properly (See SW Robot Chicken for proof of that). The gams itself is just like the others, running around levels, solving puzzles and collecting shed loads of studs to unlock vehicles, characters and other goodies. Controls are simple, A to jump, X to attack, Y to swap characters and trigger for force powers. Some of the puzzles have really been ramped up for this game, especially the boss battles, many of which will see you have to constantly swap between characters to take advantage of their unique abilities. Most of the characters now have context sensitive moves, which when performed up close will see Anakin, for example, slice the arms off battle droids before kicking them away. Lots of the little lightsaber battles are very well done, with lots of little parries and twists that make them a joy to behold. The graphics on the whole are a step above the previous Lego games, with some battles featuring literally hundreds of little Lego characters fighting on screen with no slow down whatsoever. Levels vary, so you could be on land one minute, romping across a battle ground, to some large space battles where you have to take down cruisers or repair gun batteries. These space battles are brilliant, as after flying around blowing shit up for a while you'll then get to land on a ship to take it out from the inside, so you go from flying around to landing your ship and jumping out to fight with no cut in the action.....impressive. A new addition, and with this being a game about huge battles it makes sense, is an almost mini real time strategy section. These levels see you take part in some huge, epic battles, where you have to construct bases such as barracks to get Clone troopers in on the action, massive laser cannons to help destroy some big tanks and other cannons, and vehicle stations so you can spawn all sorts of different walkers, tanks and speeders. You start with only a couple of bases against the huge base count of the enemy, and you have to overthrow their bases and take out a main objective. It's a great new addition, and in some cases these huge battles can be quite difficult, so they will take some real resource juggling to get through. Sound effects are, on the whole, fantastic as always, and playing the game through three different story paths, one for each of the main bad guys, gives you plenty of longevity, the game literally needs multiple play throughs for you to even stand a change of getting that "true Jedi" rating on each level

What I loathed:

Well, being set in the clone wars allows the game to fill in some of the back story of the characters, and on the whole it's enjoyable, but it's in no way like playing the original trilogy of the game. I'd rather play as Han, Chewie and fight with all the characters we already know and love, rather than some random Jedi characters and faceless clone troopers. The game on the whole is great, but once more getting the full compliment of studs in a level will mean playing it through at least twice to be able to unlock True Jedi, and when some of the levels can be very long it can get a bit boring. The huge RTS style levels are again, a welcome addition, but these take an age to get through, and in a certain section of the game you fight around three of these battles in a row....it's more of a stamina test then enjoyable. There is a shit load of game in this package, which Travellers tales should be commended on, I just can't see many gamers playing it through more than once.

The verdict:

The clone wars is a great addition to the Lego Star Wars game. It's fantastic looking, sounds great, it's actually very funny and hey....it's Star Wars. Some overly long battles, a few in a row in one case, can allow boredom to set in, and it's hard to give two shits about what happens to some of the characters, but a couple of niggles shouldn't put you off getting this game as soon as you can.

Rating: 7/10




Lego Star Wars: The Clone wars is available now.
Xbox 360 version reviewed. Available on most systems.

Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone wars preview.

Hey guys, thanks for dropping by again.

As you probably know, Lego Star Wars 3 was released last week. This one however is based on the recent Clone Wars series that's been doing the rounds. I watched all the hand drawn stuff, and that CGI film where the son of Jabba the Hutt has been kidnapped.....hilarious that.....but i've only caught a few episodes of the latest CGI show....i'll wait until they all get released in a boxed set for a decent price.

However, i'm enjoying this game quite a lot. I'm not going into detail here, as i'm going to pop up a review in the next couple of days. I played through the first level of the game for your viewing pleasure however, which is set in the arena of Geonosis seen in Episode 2 of the Star Wars films.

Have a watch!!




Tune back in for my review, just as soon as i've digested the game some more.