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 second (and also penultimate) mission of the Resurrection DLC: Ashes of the Empire
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
- Project Resurrection
After finding out at the end of the last mission that Del had been captured by Gleb, Iden travels to Vardos in the Corvus with Shriv and Zay. Arriving in atmosphere, Zay stays on the Corvus while Iden and Shriv go to the surface in the X-wings. Leaving the fighters on a landing pad, we begin one of those walking cutscenes to make the game feel longer, as the pair make their way through the deserted city – still showing the devastation from Operation Cinder almost 30 years earlier. As they walk through the city, they notice a red light in the sky, they don’t know what it is but rightfully assume it’s something to do with the First Order, while the use of John Williams’ “The Starkiller” makes it clear to us that what we are seeing is the Hosnian Cataclysm: the destruction of the Hosnian system by Starkiller Base.
“Gleb is a part of my life I’d like to forget. It’s one thing for Zay to know about my past. It’s another for her to stare it in the face.”
As we reach the J-Sec headquarters (the same building where we abandoned the empire), we go into a cutscene of the pair making their way inside the building. Iden and Shriv find Gleb’s body, before being captured by First Order stormtroopers being commanded by none other than Gideon Hask. Hask says that Gleb had outlived her usefulness, and Iden realises the purpose of Project Resurrection: kidnapping children and making them into stormtroopers. As if this reveal wasn’t enough, Hask informs Iden that the Hosnian system, and therefore the New Republic, has been destroyed.
“You see, the Republic spent decades doing nothing. And all along… We were preparing… For this day.”
Hask notes to Iden that they are at the place where she took everything from him and tells her that it is now tie for him to return the favour. Iden is forced to watch as a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer arrives and shoots down the Corvus. Happy with his revenge, Hask returns to his ship while Iden and Shriv are taken away for interrogation. They don’t get very far however, as J-Sec are fighting back against the First Order and attack the troopers, giving Iden and Shriv the chance to escape and reach the remains of the Corvus in the hope that Zay has survived.
For the rest of this mission, we are basically involved in a 3-way battle as we make our way through the city, which is now a warzone as J-Sec fight back against and are slowly defeated by the First Order – though neither side will hesitate to turn their attention to us when we get close. Most of the forces we will find in our way will be infantry, although we can face off against the occasional AT-ST, some belonging to the First Order and some stolen by J-Sec. We also see a First Order AT-M6 involved in the fight, though luckily this is not something that we have to worry about facing at any point. Luckily the first time we face an AT-ST there is a rocket launcher nearby to help us take it out, while there are AT-RTs we can commandeer in order to help us take down the enemy and make our way through the city quickly. However, I prefer to stay on foot and use the tried and trusted technique of Dio’s Scan ability and a blaster turret we can pick up early, placing the turrets in effective vantage points to significantly thin out the enemies I have to deal with myself.
We eventually come across one of the Corvus‘ escape pods and order Dio to slice into a nearby terminal and scan for rescue beacon while we cover him. Dio finds 2 signals, and we fight our way to both, clear out the area of hostiles and open the escape pod. Unfortunately they are both empty with no sign of Zay.
Dio manages to pick up a third signal and we fight our way to the source, finding Zay nearby in a sniping position with a lot of troops and a couple of AT-STs coming for her. My technique of the blaster turret, Dio’s scan, an impact grenade and a decent blaster rifle may not have been the safest, but it did the job and that is the mission over, leading to the ending custcene.
“We still gotta get up there. Hey, Shriv?”
“You got a bad idea? Welcome to the Resistance”
With the area cleared of hostiles, Iden reunites with Zay, before breaking the news to her that Del is dead and Hask is alive. Iden is full of hate and wants to go after Hask for vengeance, blaming everything that has happened on her decision to not join the Resistance – a story that we don’t currently know but I would love to see in a novel or series down the line. Zay and Shriv manage to calm her, and instead convince her to sneak onto the Star Destroyer to get intel for the Resistance rather than revenge on Hask. Luckily, Iden has a plan on how to infiltrate the Star Destroyer, and as the cutscene ends, we see the trio each commandeer a TIE fighter.
Thanks for reading. May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 