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.
With the original story now over, Today looks at the first mission of the Resurrection DLC: Project Resurrection
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
- Cache Grab
- The Battle of Jakku
- Until Ashes
- Discoveries
As the story starts, we find Iden and her daughter Zay (not Rey, as many people assumed when a daughter was mentioned during “Discoveries”) practicing manoeuvres in a pair of X-Wings together through the Kiara’s Comet Cluster, when they get a transmission from the Corvus, but rather than Del, it is Shriv, who sends them coordinates to join him above Pilio in the Jinata system.
The pair jump to Pilio and join Shriv – but only Shriv – aboard the Corvus. Shriv explains that he has been working for the Resistance, chasing rumours of something called Project Resurrection. People have been vanishing and General Leia suspects the First Order are involved. Shriv explains that he found the Corvus on Pilio. There was no sign of Del, but he had checked the logs to find that he had recently been to Athulla, another planet in the Jinata system.
Arriving above Athulla, they receive a transmission from the planet: the locals, expecting Del. They explain that Del went to Pilio in search of their missing people, who had been kidnapped by Jinata Security. The transmission is jammed by an arriving J-Sec fleet, led by Leema Kai under the orders of Protectorate Gleb. Iden orders Shriv to stay on the bridge due to his experience and tactical analysis, while she and Zay go out in their X-wings.
“Zay… Look I know this is sudden, but you’re ready. Meet me in the hangar.”
Straight away, one of the things I love about this level is the variety of starfighters on display, with Iden flying a T-65B X-wing (which it’s easy enough to imagine that she’s had since the early days of the New Republic, and Zay in a slightly newer (but even now outdated) T-70 X-wing, while the J-Sec fleet is somewhat of a hodgepodge of ships that you can imagine they were able to get cheap, with their flagship, the Opportunity being a Nebulon-B frigate and the majority of the fighters being either ARC-170s or V-wings, which are both even more outdated than Iden’s X-wing. One little difference in Iden’s X-wing to others here is its third ability: rather than the usual Weapon Overcharge, we instead have an Ion Pulse, which I struggle to find as much use for but comes in very handy later in the mission.
With the J-Sec ships attacking, battle begins and the first stages are fairly easy, as long as you watch where you’re flying due to the battle taking place in the ring around Athulla. First up is a simple dogfight against fighters, quickly followed by taking out a number of transport ships that have been fitted with defensive weapons. Following this you have to stop the Opportunity from escaping by chasing it and taking out its engines, again relatively easy as long as you fly safely and take evasive action when needed.
Taking out the engines draws Leema Kai himself into the dogfight in a modified N-1 starfighter. While Zay distracts Leema Kai, we get the easy job of taking out his wingmen – a bunch of ARC-170s. As we finish off the wingmen, we hear that Zay’s fighter has been hit, but not serious enough to stop her getting safely back to the Corvus. And so we face off against Leema Kai, and while he’s probably a little ore formidable than Hask was in “Until Ashes”, he just runs from us, which makes the fight easier. He isn’t defenceless though, as he frequently drops seismic charges like the Slave I. These are easily dealt with though, either by staying well away from them to avoid the blast, or else by using the Ion Pulse when prompted (making this too easy in my opinion) to nullify the charges. Once you successfully shoot down the throwaway villain Leema Kai (who we disappointingly never even get to see), the mission is over.
“I know it’s a strong word and all, but… I really hated that guy.”
Iden prepares to go back to finish off the Opportunity, but Zay reveals that the remaining forces have surrendered, having believed Zay’s bluff that the Corvus would fire all of its (non-existent) concussion missiles. The Opportunity also gives up all the information they know about Del: that he was captured by Gleb’s forces. And where else would Gleb be, but on Vardos?
Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 