LucasArts and developer Pandemic scored a major hit with Star Wars Battlefront, a Battlefield-esque multiplayer extravaganza chock full of copious amounts of tasty Star Wars goodness. It's plagued by a few nagging issues, but they didn't impact its sales. Actually, Battlefront's the best selling Star Wars game of all time, so it's no surprise that we'll be seeing a sequel this fall. Star Wars Battlefront II retains the core gameplay from its predecessor, but it's been kicked up 50 notches, making it one of 2005's most anticipated titles from a galaxy far, far away.

Battlefront's fans are very appreciative of what Pandemic's done, but at the same time they are very critical and for good reason. Not only are the console versions plagued by lag, but the NPCs are ridiculously strong and capable of wiping out several players at a time. Fortunately, Battlefront II's developers are putting a lot more power into our hands as well as making the gameplay more accessible, and the result is a kick @$$ multiplayer focused title that takes the concept of EA's Battlefield 2 and literally thrusts it into space.

That's really this game's biggest appeal: the ability to hop into one of several space crafts and engage the enemy in thrilling dogfights. One of the game's levels, for example, allows you to take part in the explosive battle above Coruscant, which serves as the opening to Episode III, and you won't necessarily begin it inside of an X-wing, TIE Fighter, Jedi Starfighter, or TIE Interceptor. The level is massive and includes these humongous command ships that are composed of several parts. You may begin the match on foot inside of its armory, and if you want to make the jump into space you'll need to locate its hangar, board a ship, and take off.

That's what I love most about these levels; how seamless everything is. You can be manning a gun turret (more on that in a bit), get out and destroy a rebel boarding party, then race to the hangar, hop into a TIE Bomber, and go blast apart some X-wings!

Of course, there's much more to this scenario than just flying about and performing barrel rolls. As I previously mentioned, it's possible to commandeer a transport ship and actually form a boarding party, the goal being to dock inside a large enemy craft and clear out all those inside. This is why it's important that your entire team doesn't rush to the hangar. Somebody's going to need to hold down the fort, especially since it appears that the goal of these multiplayer matches is to destroy the opposing command ship. Seeing as how various pieces of them can be obliterated, it's a good idea to keep your engineers on board since they'll be able to make necessary repairs, and there should also be people manning gun emplacements, though if you're really good you'll be able to take over a command ship, hop into the turrets, and use them to take out opposing craft as well as annihilate the rest of the vessel's guns, making it one huge sitting duck.

Even better news is how the ships handle. Moving away from the awkward controls of the original, Pandemic has done an excellent job making Battlefront II look more like Factor 5's GameCube title Rogue Leader. As soon as you leave the hangar bay you'll be pulling off all sorts of cool maneuvers in no time.

In addition to space combat there are a lot of other features and notable improvements beginning with the new locations. There are 12 planets, each of which features a single map, and while LucasArts hasn't revealed them all, I do know that we'll be battling on Mustafar and Utapau, which are two planets from Episode III. Battlefront II will actually include a lot of Episode III content, but it will also allow you to wage war in numerous locales from the other films such as the Death Star and Princess Leia's Blockade Runner from Episode IV. All of these environments are rumored to be much larger than those found in the original game, and I'm looking forward to exploring every inch of them.

What's also cool is the ability to play as a Jedi, but don't get too drunk on power. According to LucasArts you'll have to earn the right to become one of these light saber wielding do gooders, and they may only be available for a certain period of time. Still, being able to become Mace Windu and cut through scores of storm troopers is a pretty exciting thought.

Other new stuff includes new modes, a new unit for each squad, the ability to switch character types in game whenever you visit a command post, improved jumping and rolling mechanics, the ability to sprint while on foot and dash while piloting a ship, and online stat tracking. Actually, the coolest feature by far is the game's ability to support up to 64 players at one time, an awesome number that puts Battlefront 2 right up there with Battlefield 2. However, that grand number doesn't apply to consoles, since the PS2 and Xbox versions of the game respectively support 24 and 32 people.

I enjoy Battlefront's multiplayer mode but the same cannot be said for the single player campaign, which is really a mindless series of training missions that prepared me for going online. Not so in the sequel. Pandemic's actually made the game's single player mode more story driven, featuring open ended missions, the details of which are unfortunately a secret.

Flashy explosions, slick bloom lighting, and excellent character designs describe Battlefront II's graphics. In fact, the developers have taken the engine from the previous game (which is impressive in its own right) and completely reworked it, and the result is a title that at times bears a striking resemblance to its predecessor (as it should), but there are enough new improvements to keep it looking fresh and exciting.

Aside from the aforementioned improvements and features very little is known about this game. Take for instance, General Grievous. He appears in the trailers, but LucasArts hasn't said anything about actually getting to play as him, though that would make perfect sense since he's the leader of the droid army. I also haven't heard anything about the new modes or whether the frame rate will remain consistent.

Even though LucasArts hasn't revealed all of the game's details, Battlefront II looks amazing. Pandemic's really done a nice job building on the gameplay from the original, and the visuals are outstanding. LucasArts hasn't announced an official release date, but expect to see the game sometime this November.