Earlier this week, I booted upStar Wars Battlefront 2for the first time since 2017. I’d seen the news: player counts for DICE’sBattlefield-styled,Star Wars-set shooter were on the rise, and no one really knew why. I figured I had nothing to lose. I’d been a big fan of the originalBattlefront 2, and had enjoyed the first of the reboot series well enough. I’d also been around for the disastrous launch of its sequel, though, so I was a little bit skeptical. I’d lost or sold my original copy somewhere in the aftermath of that debacle, but hey,it was on Game Pass.
What I found, almost immediately, was thatStar Wars Battlefront 2is an entirely different game today from what it was eight years ago. I was immediately thrust into a chaotic battle on Naboo. I followed my squad, I captured points, I unlocked new characters and vehicles - and I loved every second of it. Sometime in the past eight years,Battlefront 2had become good, and no one had told me. Now, I’m here to find out exactly when and how.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 Suffered From A Rocky Launch
Microtransactions, Pride, & Accomplishment
Star Wars Battlefront 2was first released in 2017 to mixed reviews from critics, and outrage from fans. It had a number of issues, but chief among them wasthe structure of its rewards system and microtransactions.Battlefront 2had a system of loot crates - bundles that give players random rewards that aren’t tied to their performance in-game. These were as controversial then as they are now, but today, most loot crates only grant cosmetic items. Back then,loot crate rewards could actually affect your gameplay.
That’s becausecrates often contained Star Cards, equippable perks for your characters inBattlefront 2. Star Cards have a variety of different effects: increasing the power of your skills, restoring your HP when you eliminate an enemy, et cetera. But in the launch version, what you got was based on the luck of the draw. The only way to improve your odds was to get more loot crates, which you could do easily by spending real-world money.
So already, it was becoming apparent that the more you spent on the game, the higher likelihood you had of obtaining high-powered items that gave you a significant advantage in battle. In other words,Battlefront 2was pay-to-win, which likely would have been enough to deter a large subset of players in and of itself.
But then, there was the Hero system. InBattlefront 2,once you’ve accrued enough Battle Points, you can cash them in to play as a more powerful character- usually a recognizable figure from theStar Warsmovies, like Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. These are called Heroes. Heroes have unique abilities and higher maximum HP. They’re not all-powerful, but they represent a significant advantage to the team that summons them. Moreover, they’re arguably a major part of the game’s draw. Most players boughtBattlefrontto play as a Jedi or a Sith Lord, not anonymous droid #3568.
Battle Points are easy enough to earn by playing the game. The issue was that, in the launch version ofBattlefront 2,you had to pay 60,000 credits just to unlock high-profile heroes. You could earn credits through gameplay, but it would take tens of hours to earn enough to unlock Vader or Skywalker. Otherwise, you could simply buy the credits required with real money.
This led towidespread outrage among theBattlefront 2community. And EA felt compelled to respond. A Reddit thread byMBMMaverick, expressing frustration over their inability to play Darth Vader after spending $80 on the Deluxe Edition of the game (ah, remember those days?), received a now-infamous comment from the official accountEACommunityTeam:
But they’d only fan the flames. This comment achieved a record 668,000 downvotes - and I mean literally a record. It made theGuinness World Records2020for “Most-downvoted comment on Reddit” (viaPC Gamer). “Pride and accomplishment” became something of a buzzword among the community, used to poke fun at the game’s rampant microtransactions and the publisher’s lackluster response. Thinking its reputation unsalvageable,players - myself included - wrote the game offin droves, canceled their preorders, and barely thought about it for years.
Why It’s So Different Today
Between that and theBattlefront Classic Collectiondebacle, I assumedBattlefrontwas basically a defunct series until last week. But no -DICE has been quietly making improvements toBattlefront 2in the years since, and it’s actually become a decent game. These improvements began just a month after release, when the cost of unlocking its most powerful Heroes was slashed from 60,000 credits a pop to 15,000. Later, in 2018,all Heroes were unlocked for free. You can now play as Darth Vader as soon as you earn the requisite Battle Points.
Around the same time,Battlefront 2also made changes to its progression and rewards systems. You can’t buy loot crates anymore (although you can receive them through gameplay), and what’s inside is always cosmetic, never functional. Star Cards are no longer obtained through loot crates, either. Now, you unlock them through a much more typical and less predatory skill point system.
Battlefront 2still has microtransactions, but they’re entirely optional, even if you want to play the game at the highest level possible. You can now buy a premium currency called crystals with real-world money, but crystals can only be exchanged for cosmetics.
In 2025, Battlefront 2 Is A Totally Different Game
Even Though Not Much Has Changed
Returning toBattlefront 2, I’ve discovered that,buried under all that controversy, there were the makings of a good game. I’ve certainly had fun with it the past few days.
It’s not hard to see why, even thoughnot that much has really changed about the gameplaysinceBattlefront 2was released. Lots of new content has been added, sure, but at its core, it’s still a solid FPS with a well-executedStar Warscoat of paint. Even though I’m not a big FPS player, I’ve always had a soft spot for the more strategic heart of theBattlefieldseries. And I grew up playing everyStar Warsvideo game I could get my hands on, so for me, it was a match made in heaven.
Being able to fly X-wings over Hoth, making bombing runs over enemy bases; sending blaster bolts back at enemies with expert twists of my lightsaber; rolling around as a Droideka, then deploying my shield and firing those characteristic double-barreled blasts flying - it’s a smorgasbord ofStar Warsfun.Battlefront2is intense and cinematic, just like the films it’s based on, and it always was that way. My judgment was just clouded by my (justified) frustration over its rampant microtransactions and unfair methods of progression.
Battlefront 2still has its issues. Its microtransactions are pretty innocuous now, but you’ll still encounter hackers from time to time. And it doesn’t always play nice with modern hardware. But it looks pretty, it plays smoothly, and it’s a lot of fun. Its sudden resurgence has fansdemanding aBattlefront 3. I’m right there with them, but at the same time, I’m perfectly happy just playingStar Wars Battlefront 2.
