Star Wars: Battlefront II

Star Wars: Battlefront II builds on the first game and expands the sweeping battles of the film saga with a campaign tied to the story of the clone 501st Legion, with space battles, and with hero characters such as Darth Vader, Yoda, or Boba Fett who step directly into ground combat. The player commands units of clones, droids, rebels, and imperial troops across dozens of maps from both trilogies, switching between infantry, vehicles, and spacecraft, and in multiplayer fights over control points in large team battles in modes like Conquest or Capture the Flag. Anyone who gathers enough merit points can transform right on the battlefield into one of the saga's heroes or villains and decide the course of the battle through personal combat, a major addition compared to the first game. The strategic Galactic Conquest layer additionally links individual battles into a campaign to control the entire galaxy.

On Xbox, the game benefited from online play via Xbox Live, which allowed dozens of players in a single battle and became many fans' first encounter with online multiplayer in the Star Wars universe. The audio draws directly on John Williams' film score and sound effects, which together with recognizable settings like Hoth or Kashyyyk creates a strongly atmospheric, straight-out-of-the-movies impression. Technically it was an improvement over its predecessor — better ally AI, smoother combat, and a new space battle as a standalone game mode where the player could leave their fighter and continue fighting directly aboard an enemy ship. The game also offered split screen for two players, making it a popular choice for playing together on one console.

At the time, the game was received as one of the most successful video game adaptations of Star Wars, and many players still remember it today as the series' peak before it was succeeded by the reboot from DICE. On the original Xbox it represented the most complex and accessible experience of the grand battles between the Galactic Republic and the Empire, and even today it still works as reliable fun for fans combining action with fannish nostalgia.

Why play it: For Star Wars fans and lovers of grand battles, it offers the most complex and accessible experience of the Republic-Empire conflict on the original Xbox and still serves up reliable fun today.