Star Wars Battlefront II (PlayStation 2, 2005)

Star wars battlefronts II is a very good sequel to the original battlefront saga. This game is fun and has many updated game types. You can play as the rebels, empire, droids, and clones. The graphics are solid as is the gameplay. The grenades could be better.They have added space battles, which can be annoying at times, but are fun.
There is a story mode where you play as the 501st clone troopers and must help, then betray the jedi. This story mode is more of a checkpoint based shooter. You can play this on multi player as well, which is excellent.

Multiplayer is the best part of this title. From galactic conquest to story modes to versus each other, it is addicting. Galactic conquest is a great deal more fun than the original. Now you can buy more upgrades, including a jedi bonus which allows you to control an environment specific hero, as well as purchase character types. The purpose of this conquest is to erradicate the opposite team from the map in either space or land battles. It is great fun and supports up to 4 players on the same system.
Another new addition to the game is player profiles. Now all of your statistics are saved and players are rewarded for certain in- game feats. This includes weapon, skill, and health upgrades. For example, kill 12 people in one life with your assault rifle and you earn a frenzy then receive an award rifle. The award rifle will last for a little while and shoots 3 shot bursts. It is sweet.That's not all! Upon getting 64 frenzies with your profile, you will permanently gain the award weapons. This goes for all the bonuses for each weapon type and character type. Once you have legendary status in all categories you will be the total package of power, endurance, and skill. Being a "legend" helps you immensely in the story and coop modes, but where it would set you apart would be during on line play.Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Online mode is where this game is ludicrously weak. Having an upgraded character does not help you at all.The one player game online has a great deal of hiccups and lags constantly. When compared to a game like Halo 2, this looks like the oregon trail. It is difficult to kill other players online because they randomly disappear from your screen. Also as far as i could tell you cannot play multiplayer online. That means if you have friends and you want to play against worldwide competition you cannot. Why any game nowadays would not have a online coop mode but have an offline coop mode is beyond me.

Overall this game is worth buying in my opinion. It does get repetitive at times but being able to play as quite a few characters makes it enjoyable. The offline multiplayer is my favorite part of this game. four people on one screen in an epic battle is pretty amazing. The addition of the profiles makes the replay value go up. The game stays "fresh" for a while because of all the different galactic conquests and story modes. I hope that this franchise continues, and the online play becomes more of a focus. An arena mode would be fun for multiplayer, similar to a fps like Bond or Halo.