The combat is both snappy and clumsy, less precise than a modern military shooter but fast and punchy enough to feel chaotic. The flowing staccato energy of its laser gunfights, the thrown-together look of the Rebel case on Yavin IV and the lush, echoing forests of Endor: from isolated plots of land to deep space, Battlefront II understands exactly how it should look and feel.

As in the first game-also created by DICE, the developers behind the popular shooter franchise Battlefield- Battlefront II dedicatedly captures everything players enjoy about the spectacle of Star Wars. On one side is the incredible craftsmanship of the levels, weapons, sights and sounds at play in every competitive map and single-player excursion. In many cases, that would sound like a battle between art and commerce, but with a property like Star Wars it's never that simple. It just has to be mimetic-to skilfully imitate its source in a way that engages and thrills its fans. From a certain perspective, a game like Battlefront II doesn't even have to be good in and of itself. The combat, level design, and team play dynamics don't have to necessary add to the genre, nor do they have to match the best practices of other games. As such, the criteria for success are a bit different in Battlefront II than they would be in most multiplayer shooters. It offers the fantasy of Star Wars as a real location, a place where you can breathe, fight, and die. The promise of Star Wars Battlefront II, EA's second game in the revived series of multiplayer shooters, is the same as any other Star Wars videogame: It wants to turn the story of Star Wars into a place.

I hunker down inside a grounded clone dropship and fire my blaster rifle into the breach, droid bombers circling overhead, until my enemies stop coming. I'm one of the Republic's clones, holding the line at a landing pad, firing barrages of blood red laser fire at a platform across the water, pushing back a seemingly endless tide of beige battle droids. A perennially overcast ocean world pockmarked with high-tech research platforms, Kamino is the home of the Clone Troopers serving the Galactic Republic during the war. Now, as rain lashes down, the droids try to tear it apart.

The planet Kamino has always been one of my favorite Star Wars settings: moody, original, and striking.

Game star wars battlefront