Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005 video game)

Star Wars: Battlefront II is a 2005 first-person shooter and third-person shooter video game based on the Star Wars film franchise. Developed by Pandemic Studios and published by LucasArts, it is a sequel to 2004's Star Wars: Battlefront and the second game in the Star Wars: Battlefront series. The game was released in PAL regions on October 31, 2005, on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable (PSP), Microsoft Windows, and Xbox platforms, and in North America on November 1 of the same year. It was released on the PlayStation Store on October 20, 2009, for download on the PSP. The PSP version was developed by Savage Entertainment.
The game features new vehicles, characters, game mechanics, maps, and missions compared to the original Battlefront. Unlike its predecessor, Battlefront II features a more narrative-based campaign, retelling portions of the Star Wars story from the point of view of a veteran Imperial Stormtrooper, reminiscing about his tour of duty in service of both the Galactic Republic and the Galactic Empire. Gameplay additions over Battlefront include the use of Jedi and Sith, additional game modes such as hero assault, and objective-based space battles.
Battlefront II was well received, with the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions scoring in the mid 80s at aggregators GameRankings and Metacritic. The PC version scored slightly lower at both sites, scoring a 76.60% at GameRankings and 78 at Metacritic. The PSP version was the worst received, scoring 70.93% at GameRankings and 69 at Metacritic. Reviewers generally praised the narrative-based story; however, some felt that the upgrades from the original were not enough to merit the price. Like the original game, it was a commercial success.
GameSpy Technology scheduled a shut-down across all titles using the service for May 31, 2014, which included Star Wars: Battlefront II for PC, PS2, and Xbox. Electronic Arts announced it would extend support for Battlefront II until June 30, 2014. The extended support ended on July 25, 2014, taking all GameSpy online video games across all platforms offline. The Windows version was added to a list of supported games on GameRanger on May 31, 2014, which allows for continued online play. On October 2, 2017, multiplayer for the Windows version was again enabled, allowing for Steam and GOG cross-play. As of April 26, 2018, Battlefront II is now backwards compatible on the Xbox One and has enhanced graphics for the Xbox One X. The DLC that originally came out exclusively for the original Xbox version of the game was released for the Xbox One version in June 2019.
Category:Video Games