Official_Xbox_Magazine_USA_Issue_202_July_2017

aTTlefronT ii
Xbox One owners will be able to play the game before PS4 players, thanks to an EA Access trial starting 9th November
hen the very first Star Wars hit cinemas
back in 1977 viewers were treated to a
swashbuckling space opera told with wideeyed
excitement. Princesses were rescued,
blasters were fired, and the plucky good
guys triumphed over the imperial meanies.
even the subtitle—a new hope—was almost
childlike in its jaunty optimism. but with
the release of a sequel, the empire Strikes
back, Star Wars became something different.
Suddenly, the universe wasn’t quite so
wholesome, safe, or morally clear-cut. and
now, ea is looking to pull a similar trick with
its own Star Wars sequel: battlefront ii.
an extensive single-player campaign
is central to this ambition, and ea has
assembled a massive development team to
realize its expanded vision. Dice, the Swedish
studio responsible for battlefront’s 2015
reboot, is back at the helm for the game’s
multiplayer modes, but this time it’s joined by
criterion games in the UK and motive Studios
in montreal, and together they plan to create
a blockbuster solo experience with all the
dark grandeur of the empire Strikes back.
to that end, battlefront ii casts you as
iden Versio, commander of the empire’s elite
special operations outfit inferno Squad. at the
game’s outset, Versio has it all: She comes
“We wanted to take the helmet
off a Stormtrooper and find out
why they believed in the Empire”
from a prosperous imperial planet, her father’s
a respected admiral, and her job involves
lots of exotic travel and Rebel-murder. life is
pretty good as far as she’s concerned.
What’s more, iden is beloved by her own
people, as motive Studio’s game director
mark thompson explains. “the Rebellion has
its heroes—heroes like Skywalker, like Jyn
erso—but who are the heroes of the empire?
Who are the soldiers that can inspire the
empire in the galactic civil war? Who were
the elite pilots that kids in the galaxy grew
up dreaming of being?” iden Versio isn’t just
a capable soldier—she’s a role model for
imperials everywhere.
“that was the starting point for this story,”
thompson continues. “We wanted to take off
the helmet of a Stormtrooper and find out who
they were; why they believed in the empire.”
So, when those pesky Rebel scum destroy the
second Death Star at the battle of endor, iden
and her comrades aren’t about to lay down
arms or negotiate peace. these are devout
believers in the imperial way of life, and they
aren’t about to let it crumble.
“We thought about this idea: What would
it be like to be a Stormtrooper on the ground,
to look up to the sky and see the Death Star
explode, and for that to be a moment of loss?
a moment of defeat,” explains thompson.
“and so when you take off the helmet in
disbelief, and you look up at the sky, you
immediately put that helmet back on with a
new hardened resolve about how you need to
take that fight back to the Rebellion, that the
Rebellion needs to die.”
Life begins at 30
the campaign that follows explores the
30-year gap between Return of the Jedi and
the force awakens, following iden and her
squadmates as the fusty old galactic empire
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