Commandos, jungles and bot-matches: Battlefront 2's next update is a 14-year throwback
Going commando
I dearly wish I had something funny or relatable to say about the year 2005, dear reader. But I was 10, too young to care that Star Wars was in a bit of a funk and deeply out of touch with the culture. The games were good, mind, even if I hadn't quite discovered PC gaming. Nope, I was cracking out rounds of Star Wars Battlefront bot matches on the sofa or replaying that one Republic Commando demo a few dozen times. Time being a flat circle, EA have detailed tomorrow's big Star Wars Battlefront 2 Cooperation Update. It's bringing back bot matches, the Republic Commando, and a forgotten jungle world from the depths of 2005.
The Republic Commando, of Republic Commando fame, is a one-clone killing machine meant for destructive strikes into enemy territory. His Repulsor let him knock down baddies, while Battle Focus buffs up nearby allies and lets him siphon health from foes like some kinda vampire-slash-stormtrooper. The Commando's blaster also comes with a wee grenade launcher tucked away for explosive negotiations.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you can stab a droid in the neck with a wee wrist-blade. Slowly watching it spray ludicrously Kurosawa amounts of oily blood over your visor, lingering for a second in the artificial death you've inflicted before the helmet wipers kick in and you continue the cold, calculated murder. Republic Commando didn't pull punches.
Tomorrow's update also adds a new Felucia map, a fungal forest that shows up for a whole 25 seconds in Revenge Of The Sith. Y'know, in that short montage where all the Jedi utterly beef it. It was also one of the weirdest and worst maps in the other Battlefront 2, with fog as deadly as the vicious alien Acklay. It looks quite a bit nicer in 2019, full of wobbly No Man's Sky-esque flora. They've even nailed those annoying poison blasting spores. Thankfully, the six-legged screamers are nowhere to be seen.
In another Battlefront nostalgia trip, Instant Action is back! Neat! Poor me only had online connectivity for about a month back then, but Pandemic's Battlefronts were all about jumping into a bot match and dunking on droids for half an hour. Friends, who needs 'em? You, actually, because there's also a new 3-player co-op mode for teaming up against computer-controlled hordes. Both modes launch across Clone Wars-era maps and modes for the time being.
There's the usual grab-bag of extra cosmetic guff too, including Luke Skywalker's farmboy digs. Catch a full rundown of tomorrow's update over on EA's Cooperation Update announcement post.