Battlefront II Revisited: Cache Grab

Welcome back to my series “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 10^th mission Cache Grab

Please be aware there will be spoilers for the story

Previous missions:

• The Cleaner
• The Battle of Endor
• The Dauntless
• The Observatory
• The Storm
• Outcasts
• Royalty
• General Distress
• Under Covered Skies

With Iden and Del having acted on the intel directing Inferno Squad to Bespin, Shriv was the one to act on the intel directing them to Sullust, accompanied by old “friend” Lando Calrissian. The intel says that Admiral Versio is going to get a weapons cache from an abandoned Imperial factory, it’s up to Shriv and Lando to steal the cache first, before calling in the Corvus for an extraction.

On the surface of Sullust, Shriv and Lando approach the factory, but it there appears to be a heavy Imperial presence, including a Lambda-class shuttle landing on the nearby platform. Shriv considers arranging an extraction, but Lando pulls rank and decides to go in anyway. I said previously about how I loved Shriv’s attitude in conversations with Iden and Del and by the end of this mission, I knew that I loved him, as he and Lando have such a great chemistry throughout the mission. Through this dialogue, we learn that Shriv was involved in the liberation of Sullust, which leaves me wondering if he was a member of Twilight Company.

And so the mission begins, with us once again using a hero in Lando Calrissian. I’ll say now that I love his X-8 Night Sniper and it’s thermal scope, along with his sharpshot ability, but his other abilities have not necessarily suited my playing style. We sneak our way up to the factory, where we overhear an officer demanding the factory’s output be doubled as the goods are needed in the Western Reaches. That’s 2 missions in a row that the we have heard about troops/supplies going to the Western Reaches, it’s clear that something is building out there. Now after overhearing this conversation, it may be possible to sneak into the factory, but I decided to take advantage of sharpshot to shoot the officer and his troops all in one go, which led to a sizeable force coming out of the factory to fight us… oops!

“Come on. You and me, back in action! Tell me you don’t miss this!”

“I absolutely do not miss this.”

Having survived that, we sneak into the factory, where we find an AT-AT assembly line. The door into the next room jams after only rising a few inches, so Lando improvises a way through, turning the assembly line back on and having the pair carried through to the next room in the cockpit of an AT-AT. Coming into the second room, they find that the factory is in full production. Lando decides to add shutting down the factory to the list of mission objectives. We leave the AT-AT cockpit and have to make our way to the control room on the far wall. So I tried sneaking here, but I soon found myself in combat with the stormtroopers and I must admit that I found a use for the disabler as a way to show up nearby enemies in a room full of cover and smoke. Having taken out the troopers and made it into the control room, Lando tries using the terminal to shut the factory down, but an unauthorised access shuts down the system, forcing Lando to improvise again. He sends Shriv to find a vehicle to escape in, while fighting his way through more stormtroopers to the pump system.

The factory is being powered by the lava, but Lando sabotages the pumps, leading to the lava levels rising and beginning to destroy the factory around us – so there’s no time to find the weapons cache! We begin a mad escape through the factory, taking out any stortroopers brave/stupid/devoted enough to prioritise shooting at us over escaping. Eventually we find ourselves at a point where the gap between platforms is too large to jump across – time for more Lando improvisation! There is an AT-AT hanging nearby, which we can try to move to create a bridge across the lava. A series of objective descriptions perfectly shows Lando’s mind: “Create an exit” The AT-AT is moved away from us. “Push some buttons?” The walker is brought forward, but still not far or low enough to help us. “Just Shoot the Thing” Ah the classic Star Wars trope of shooting any type of terminal seemingly doing exactly what the hero needs, as in this case the AT-AT is dropped perfectly to use as a bridge, allowing us to reach an exit.

“Iden, it’s time.”

“Great! How many weapons are we picking up?”

“Um, zero? We seem to have melted them.”

“Then what’s our cargo?”

“One desperate Duros and one ridiculous man in a cape.”

Making it outside, we find that Shriv has commandeered an AT-ST, which Lando jumps into, giving us control of this for the rest of the mission. As everything is blowing up around us, we make for high ground and an Imperial shuttle as Shriv contacts Iden for extraction. While doing so, there are a few turbolaser turrets to take out in order to protect us, while I must admit a sadistic joy in watching large groups of stormtroopers flee from the factory only to be taken out moments later by a volley of concussion grenades.

“If I die here… I’m glad you will too.”

As we reach the landing platform, the shuttle flies away, leaving us stranded as the lava rises around us. It looks like Lando and Shriv have reached the end, but the Corvus arrives and the pair prepare to escape – though Lando does almost knock Shriv into the lava patting him on the back!