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. Today looks at the 4th mission The Observatory
Please be aware there will be spoilers for the story
Previous missions:
Inferno’s next mission is to the planet Pillio, where one of the Emperor’s Observatories can be found. The intelligence they have been given states that the Observatory contains dangerous artefacts that the Rebels could use against the galaxy. Due to the defence system protecting the Observatory, Del Meeko is assigned the mission as he has the technical abilities to disable the system. Del is ordered to take a team to the surface to destroy the Observatory.
“Looks like the Empire is searching for something too.”
An exciting moment as it looks like we will be playing this mission from the POV of a different member of Inferno, but that quickly changes as we reach Pillio and if anything, things get more exciting. The cutscene moves away from the shuttle Del and his team are on and focuses instead on Luke Skywalker, who has been drawn to the planet but is unsure why.
We begin to explore with Luke and, frankly, things are pretty easy. The joys of having a lightsaber and the Force means that it is easy to not just defend yourself, but also take out any stormtroopers. I do really like a line of Luke’s during the fighting of “This isn’t what I wanted” showing that he does not want to attack the troopers, but is instead just defending himself like a true Jedi. Fighting is way through the troopers, Luke reaches and enters a cave system. Here we start to get an idea of what has happened to Del and his team, as we see them being attacked by swarms of insect-like creatures.
We continue to fight through and eventually come to a cutscene where we find Del trapped in amber, how the insects hold their targets in place. Luke frees Del from the Amber with his lightsaber. Del comments that he knows who Luke is and asks why he helped, to which Luke explains that Del asked (we previously heard him calling for assistance as we went deeper into the cave). The critters return in numbers and Del throws a detonator at them, which breaks the floor they are on and causes them to fall. Landing in a lower chamber, Luke uses the Force to stop the falling rock crushing Del and we get a beautiful moment of hearing the Force theme, something that I hadn’t expected to hear in the game due to the group we were following. Del mentions to Luke that he used to be terrified of the stories he heard about the Jedi, but that Luke feels different.
“You’re looking for something. So am I. It seems the Force has brought us together.”
Still controlling Luke, we begin to make our way out of the caves with Del. While we walk, Luke apologises to Del for killing his team. Del asks why he is still alive and Luke explains that while the troopers didn’t give Luke a choice, Del did. Luke notes that the critters are attacking them as they are angry at their home being invaded. Del explains to Luke that he is there to destroy the Observatory. The pair set off the defence system, Del has to disable it at 2 points, while you protect him from waves of the critters. The critters can be easily dispatched with a Force ability or lightsaber attack, so this section becomes rather tedious as there is no real challenge. After a period of time, Del will successfully disable the defence system at both points and you can make your way to the entrance of the Observatory, triggering the final cutscene.
Del can’t find a way to open the doors, but Luke realises that the Force is needed and manages to open them. Del questions why the Emperor’s observatory would only be able to be opened with the Force, initially asking if that meant Palpatine was actually a Jedi, but Luke tells him that as a boy he was frightened of the wrong thing. They enter the Observatory and find nothing but “junk”. Luke agrees to let Del destroy the Observatory and Del allows Luke to take a compass that he has found.
Leaving the Observatory after completing the mission, Del asks what happens now. Luke says that he can feel the conflict in Del. Del admits he knows what the Empire is capable of, but doesn’t know what other option he has. Luke tells him that has “a choice to be better” and the pair part ways, Del returning to the Corvus.
Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 