Star Wars Battlefront II Single Player Campaign Review

Last night I finished the single player campaign for Star Wars Battlefront II and…wow.  Battlefront II may be getting a lot of hate right now, but that story mode was incredible!  The story mode continues the story of Iden Versio and the rest of Inferno Squad (minus Seyn Marana).  If you have not read the book Inferno Squad and played the story mode,  suggest you do so before continuing to read this post!  Major Spoiler Warnings!!!…

 

The game goes through the fall of the Empire from the perspective of Inferno Squad and the results are very pleasing.  I’ve always wanted to see something from the Imperial perspective and even though it might not have lasted (I’ll get to that in a minute) it was very cool.  We see the battle of Endor and the destruction of the second Death Star.  This is when the Empire executes Operation: Cinder.  Operation: Cinder is something the Emperor came up with.  It means that if the Empire outlives him, then they are deemed failures and are destroyed.  Yikes!  So Inferno Squad is tasked with helping out.  They go to multiple Imperial worlds and literally wipe the population out.  It isn’t until they come to Vardos that everything goes downhill.  You see, Vardos is Iden’s home world, and when she learns that their going to devastate the place she freaks out.  She doesn’t want innocent people to die.  It’s nice to see that there are some Imperials who have a heart, and two of those is Iden Versio and Del Meeko.  When they are sent in to extract Gleb, the headmaster of the Future Imperial Leaders Military Preparatory school, things become clear to the two of them that the Empire isn’t what they thought it was.  An earlier run in with Luke Skywalker makes this apparent to Del.  Though, Gideon Hask is loyal to a fault, and does not stand beside his longtime friends.  This leads to Iden shooting Gideon and betraying the Empire.  That’s what I meant when I said that the Imperial point of view didn’t last long.  Gideon survives and goes on to be promoted to commander.  Iden and Del join the Rebellion and ultimately take part in the famed Battle of Jakku.  Of course, the Rebellion wins and Iden’s father, Admiral Garrick Versio is killed, and Gideon seemingly so.  Then, decades later, the most devastating thing in the game happens.  Del travels back to Pillio, where he first met Luke, hoping to find the Jedi again.  But the ex-soldier is captured and held in his ship, The Corvus.  Kylo Ren confronts him and we learn that Del had given part of the map to Luke Skywalker to Lor San Tekka, the old guy at the beginning of The Force Awakens.  Kylo Ren performs the Mind Probe on Del and enters his mind.  This was one of the coolest moments in the entire game!  You get to search through Del’s memories trying to find the map.  So I’m sitting there just geeking out as I wander around through my favorite characters memories!  His memories of the Battle of Scarif and Endor, the devastation of Vardos, getting arrested on Pillio.  We here, we even learn that Iden and Del must have gotten married and had a daughter, which I will talk about here in a bit.  When Kylo Ren gets what he came for, he leaves.  And here it is revealed that Commander Gideon Hask survived the Battle of Jakku.  Gideon and Del have a heated discussion, in which we find out that life had become peaceful for Del and his wife after what happened at Jakku.  Del is now a cargo pilot and it is again mentioned that he is a father.  Del begs Gideon not to go after Iden, saying that it will not end well for him.  And then, Gideon, who was like a brother to Del, grabs his blaster and aims.  The scene changes to the Corvus’s window before Gideon shoots Del point blank multiple times.  Gideon leaves and tells Gleb, who is somehow still living, to make sure that she buries Del and his crew and to leave the Corvus alone.  Before it ends, they speak of something called Operation: Resurrection.  After it ended, I proceeded to go and bawl my eyes out.  Hey, don’t judge!  Del was my favorite character and I just watched my favorite Imperial team fall apart! I was literally yelling “Don’t shoot!” the instant Gideon touched his blaster.  I…might get a little to into these games. Anyway, if you’re going to play the story mode, I highly suggest reading the book first because it made it a whole lot more emotional.

Now about Del’s daughter.  In Inferno Squad, it seemed that Gideon and Iden were in some kind of relationship, but through the course of that book and the story mode, that relationship fell apart.  Then, Iden and Del fell in love.  And I kind of liked it better that way!  So I assume that the two of them got married some time after the Battle of Jakku.  It isn’t clear of when exactly their daughter was born, but I think it makes since that it wouldn’t have been long after they got married.  There is a theory going around that they are, in fact, Rey’s parent. Since, like, literally everyone who has a kid in this timeline is a suspect!  So some people (including me) think the daughter that Kylo Ren speaks of is Rey.  You can read more about this in my upcoming post “Star Wars Theories: Who Is Rey?”

Anyway, Battlefront II’s single player campaign is by far on of the best games I’ve ever played.  It was emotional, had great characters and a great story, the graphics and music were beautiful.  I really enjoyed it.  So if you have not played it, (I’m not sure why you’re reading this if you have not) hurry and do so!  Just read the book first for the full effect.  If you have played it, let me know what you thought about it and who you’re favorite Inferno Squad character is and why in the comments!

Battlefront II’s story mode will continue on December 13, 2017 when The Last Jedi DLC releases.  The ‘Resurrection’ chapters will tell the story of the First Order’s rise to power and will hopefully give some explanation on who Del’s daughter is and what Iden has been up to.

 

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