Time for the weekly redux of everything I’ve written with some things by others. Monday, I did the last weekly Prime Gaming Article with this month’s 5 games, as it seems, I also spoke about the Figment 2 prologue that’s now available. Tuesday, I rambled about Cyberpunk 2077‘s legal issues and its coming future with consumer protection agencies. Wednesday, I went on about Bethesda’s new Indy game, and Alexx spoke of who you’ll be planting or will be planted by in the latest Story of Seasons game. Thursday, I talked of an astroturfer’s magic school of feces being delayed, Zoë covered Cyberpunk 2077‘s latest corner to be painted into, and Mike doesn’t like the look of this year’s sparse release calendar.

Oh, back when I was a young lad I would play this game called Star Wars: Battlefront II. It was a chaotic game of this thing called a war happening in the stars, an apt name I think you’ll agree then. Compared to many of the other games of the time, it felt huge; because it was. If you played on PC, you could take on 63 other players with XL maps having 300-some units… per side. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 gives you 39 other players with 24 AI-controlled units. Which one released in 2017? Was it the one with the stupidly fun size and chaotic battles, or was it the one microtransactions and loot boxes?

“Why don’t you just get over it?” Because the game that was released in 2005 with hundreds of units is still fantastic fun, while this one from 2017 is bland and doesn’t live up to the name. This is why I can’t stand this push to 4K, HDR, and RTX lighting. We focus on the pretty bits and lose what games should be about, the fun gameplay. Honestly, Battlefront 2 (the 2017 one, if that wasn’t clear enough) is hardly Star Wars. It is barely Sci-fi Kerfuffle: Battlefront 2; it is the Disneyland: Star Wars – The Teacups ride. I would rarely call myself “a Star Wars fan,” but the game which this one stole its name from is the reason I love the universe. I loved the idea of these huge battles alone, I have no idea why that would ever be off-putting.

I’m not angry. I am just disappointed that a game from twelve-years prior could be far greater than what we have now; that’s not progress. Are games better now than they were in years-gone-by? In many ways, yes, and in several ways, no. There are days where I sit and day-dream about the 4X-lite mode from the “Classic” game, back when you could have a great single-player in a game. It is (in principle) a very simple mode that creates these huge story-like battles as you fight for control of the galaxy. That’s gone, now EA refuses to sell you a pink Darth Vader.

Truth is, I’ve not played Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2017), and I don’t plan to. If all you want is a Star Wars-themed multiplayer shooter, that’s what you’ll get. Though it will be a smaller and tightly controlled experience that the previous game didn’t have because that’s not the point. This is the problem I have; every time I try to talk about the rebooted version of the game I fell in love with, I end up kicking it to death because it isn’t what I want. Take it for what it is: A free multiplayer shooter in the Star Wars universe with fancy graphics and a meager single player mode that isn’t worth mentioning. At least owning it on PC means you don’t have to pay Sony and Microsoft their subscription fees to play online, that’s the greatest upside about all of this.

All this week, you can pick up Star Wars: Battlefront 2: Celebration Edition on the Epic Games Store until the morning of the 21st of January. Next week, you’ll be able to pick up a 4X grand strategy sequel to a game I thought had a dated UI back in 2011, it is Galactic Civilization III. Depending on your preference for messy UI, millions and millions of bits of information that make about as much sense as a politician’s apology, and space battles with blokes you’ll just call Kevin because his action name is unpronounceable by humans with only one anus, you’ll have a great time! I’ll probably still be in the ship designed moaning that my battle cruiser can’t be in luminous yellow because “it doesn’t blend in with the background.“

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