The original Battlefront 2 is considered one of the best shoot em up games in the expanded universe. It’s a well deserved view. In the game you basically start as the good guy, being a clone serving the Republic, only to end up the bad guy as a Stormtrooper without even knowing it.
One of the most interesting things about Battlefront 2 is the voice-over by the Clone, who, starting from Geonosis, walks us through the major galactic events he was involved in as a member of Vader’s Fist, the 501st legion. The last campaign battle is on Hoth. During gameplay, one can choose initially to play various clones, later various stormtroopers, with different weapons. At certain points, you can play as Jedi or Vader.
Commander Cody, the time has come. Execute Order Sixty-Six.
~ Chancellor Palpatine, AKA Darth Sidious
While the quote is in the movie, not the game, the phrasing gives a hint that the primary clone commanders directly answering to Jedi had some inkling they may be ordered to turn on the Jedi Generals. Battlefront 2 has missions that the Jedi Generals are not entirely aware of. There were no chips to control them, Order 66 is one of many orders, including one to arrest the Supreme Chancellor. (Chips in any case make no sense, if you look at the scars. Clones, like any organic, need medical treatment. And not all medics are clones, they would’ve noticed a chip!)
The Campaigns of Battlefront 2
Prequel Trilogy
- Geonosis. (Tutorial) You can play as Mace Windu
- Mygeeto, Among the Ruins (searching for something for a super laser!) Ki-Adi leads the campaign. He is playable.
- Coruscant Space battle.
- Felucia. Plants and Acklay abound. Led by Aayla Secura and she is playable.
- Kashyyyk (space)
- Kashyyyk (ground) Defend the wookiees! Yoda is playable.
- Utapau (ground) Take down Grievous with Kenobi
- Coruscant Operation Knightfall (Take down the Jedi in the Temple)
Dark Times
- Naboo – Imperial Diplomacy – kill the Queen Apailana, who is leading resistance
- Mustafar space
- Mustafar, tying up Loose ends. A Geonosian as fired up a droid plant to create his own battle droid army
- Kamino – changing of the guards. This is the Clone Revolt. Play as the merc leader, Boba Fett
- Death Star Prison Break. Not only are they breaking out, they have the Death Star plans
- Polis Massa – Birth of the Rebellion or so it’s called.
Original Trilogy
- Tantive IV recovering the plans
- Yavin Space, Vader’s Fist strikes back
- Yavin 4, Revenge of the Empire
- Hoth, our Finest Hour
The Campaigns Stories
As I noted before, the Jedi only know part of the Clones mission. So here we discover the official mission on Mygeeto is to destroy a CIS power plant, but unbeknownst to General Mundi, we are after a power crystal for super laser testing. Such a weapon is mentioned as the reason why the spy joined the CIS in the Medstar books!
The Dark Times era of Battlefront 2 is all new information. How Naboo was forced into submission by the Empire, Mustafar, and especially critically, the Kamino Clone Revolt. This critical battle explains that Boba Fett has worked for the Empire and why they didn’t just keep using Jango Fett clones as stormtroopers. The prison break is just another retelling of the Death Star plans. But the Death Star novel by Michael Reaves suggests plans were sent from the Death Star to Danuta, partly due to the manipulations of an archivist with a taste for collecting things. Polis Massa’s events are not huge, even if it claims to be the birth of the rebellion.
Battlefront 2 Reviews
This is a shooter game, not an RPG, but I enjoyed hearing the story from the clone’s point of view. It was fun to play. Ground vehicles were a bit slow, not only the AT-AT, but even the hover tanks. This might’ve been affected by the forested area the tanks were in, running into trees and the like. There were wild animations for when your character dies, which is just as well, given how often it happened. Some NPC named Tighe really had it in for me! I really enjoyed playing the Jedi and as Vader. I was quite uncomfortable killing Jedi and the Queen though! Playing the villain isn’t really my thing.
The different types of clone or trooper to play in Battlefront 2 was a bit confusing. I usually stuck to plain clone trooper or stormtrooper, though I did experiment with those with heavier guns and even a Dark Trooper. Officer was interesting, but I didn’t get the hang of it. The next most useful to me was engineer. I did a lot of repairing of medical droids, so they could return the favor!
Battlefront 2 Story Continuity and Lore
Geonosis is shared by Republic Commando as a starter level. The missions are different.
Felucia you can see in Revenge of the Sith. It is where Aayla Secura is killed during Order 66.
The only ‘glitch’ in continuity I have found is the A-Wing fighters in the Yavin section. While they were shown pre OT in the Droids cartoon, officially they were not yet available when the Rebels were on Yavin 4. The one in the Droids cartoon was labeled an A22 (and was likely used in the show to sell toys. They were retconned into being A-22 spearheads).
Apparently, the Dark Forces Trooper option to play in this game is a cyborg, rather than the Droids as seen in the Dark Forces missions.
Polis Massa as birth of the Rebellion? I have no idea where they got that. But it’s coming from the clone point of view, and I doubt he cares about the diplomatic end of it.
Queen Apailana appears in The Last of the Jedi series by Jude Watson, allied with former Jedi padawan Ferus Olin. The replacement Queen Kylantha appears in Star Wars Galaxies and, in spite of being installed by the Empire, largely kept a democratic government and has secret ties to the Rebellion.
The takedown on Yavin 4 probably ties into Classic Star Wars comics. While most of the fleet escapes, General Jan Dodonna stayed to set mines in the base and was captured alive. His rescue is later detailed in the X-Wing novels by Michael Stackpole.
The Death Star plans and other events on the battle station,are detailed in the novel Death Star by Michael Reaves.
Helpful Links
You can find more details on this game on my primary game page.
You can listen to the voiceover here.
