Welcome to the start of a new series of articles: “Battlefront II Revisited”. When Star Wars Battlefront II was released in November 2017, a large part of my excitement was directed towards the inclusion of a single player story mode, which would be telling a new story in the canon and following a new set of characters: Inferno Squad. Having completed the story mode rather quickly, I have only really played the game in patches since as online multiplayer shooters are not really my thing, but all the recent improvements and new content have had me playing a bit more recently and I decided it would be fun to return to the story mode and give my thoughts on each level. Next up is the 2ⁿᵈ mission The Battle of Endor
Please be aware there will be spoilers for the story
Previous missions:
The mission starts with a cutscene in the space around the Death Star, showing the Executor’s plunge into the battle station. Seeing this, Admiral Versio makes contact with Inferno squad – who are on the forest moon – from his ship the Eviscerator. Iden reports that the shield generator has been destroyed with no way to repair or reactivate it. Rebel troops are exploring a bunker just ahead of them; they are told to kill the rebels and find a way back to the Corvus.
At this point we take control of Iden and, along with Hask while Del covers from an elevated position, we move forward to take out 2 individual rebels then 2 groups of troopers, though a 3rd group arrives as we finish off the originals. With all the cover provided by foliage and debris, the droid scan ability is invaluable throughout this mission, while a range of guns would be suitable. Once they are all down, the trio come back together, where they make a plan to head for Platform 4, where they can take some TIE fighters and fly them back to the Corvus. Their discussion is interrupted by the explosion of the Death Star overhead, shocking them all, but Iden keeps the group focused and they move out. Iden contacts Admiral Versio, who informs her that Vice Admiral Sloane has ordered a retreat. He tells her to get Inferno back to the Corvus, where he will send them rendezvous coordinates. While Del scouts ahead, Iden lays the blame for the loss at the feet of Palpatine and the high command for underestimating the Rebels again, however Hask warns her how treasonous her words sound.
“Look alive, Agents. We can grieve later. Right now, we need to move.”
As they make their way through the forest, Inferno come into contact with a few more squads of Rebels and eventually meet up with a squad of stormtroopers who had been ambushed by rebels, saving them. Inferno and the squad move on together, taking out more rebel squads that have recently been dropped off by U-wings and eventually mounting an attack on Platform 4, which has fallen into rebel hands. As this stage of the mission progresses, there are chances to pick up a rocket launcher, which will come in handy in the next encounter. After taking out all the rebels on the ground – including a stolen AT-ST – Inferno travel to the top of the platform, where they fight through more troopers (there is a chance to exchange the rocket launcher for an explosive barrage) to steal the last 3 TIES. During this battle I really found myself wishing here was some form of cover mechanic as I found myself taking heavy damage too often, but I finally managed to draw the troopers into a bottleneck and take them out with a combination of impact grenade, barrage, droid stun, blaster and vanguard.
“The admiral created Inferno so something like this wouldn’t happen again.”
At this point, we take over Iden’s TIE for the remainder of the mission. Hask has gone on ahead to prepare the Corvus, while we follow Del through the wreckage of the Death Star and destroyed ships. When Hask reaches the Corvus he informs us that the engines were damaged in the battle station’s explosion but he crew are in the process of repairing them. Getting close the Corvus, we have to deal with waves of X-wings and Y-wings and take them all out before they can destroy theCorvus. Having not used Iden’s TIE much, I made the mistake of forgetting that the Special Forces TIE doesn’t have the lock-on Ion Torpedoes, but once I remembered this and got used to the abilities, I quickly found myself taking out the AI, though trying to follow a Y-wing too close made it very difficult to hit them.
Once successful, Del makes his way to the ship, but Admiral Versio orders Iden to the Eviscerator. Both ships jump to lightspeed once she is aboard. Above the Versios’ home planet of Vardos, Iden makes her way to the bridge of the Eviscerator. Admiral Versio informs her that the Emperor is dead, but that they have new orders to strike back at the Rebellion. Both Versios are given a message by a Sentinel droid holding a message from the Emperor. Versio tells Iden that they are taking part in Operation: Cinder, however the Sentinel will not verify her to let her know the targets. Versio explains that he will give her a series of tasks, some of which will be unusual. As Iden goes to leave, it’s clear that she feels uneasy about the situation.
Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 