A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... why is it that all Star Wars articles have to start off that way? Forget that, I'm not starting my article that way. Okay, so I just did, but whatever, I'm talking about Star Wars: Battlefront II so forget the intro and keep reading. LucasArts invited me out to take a look at Battlefront II, and I have to say, it was a good time. I checked out every console version of the game, but there really weren't any significant differences beyond the visuals.

Battlefront II has several different modes of play. It kind of felt like the end all, be all Star Wars title that you don't have to pay monthly for. I started my Battlefront duty in what looked like an Imperial star base. Upon entering the game I was prompted to select my character. There were several options (some available, some not) ranging from a Rebel trooper equipped with a rocket launcher to a Wookie with a crossbow. I went for the heavy artillery, the rocket launcher.

The game was set to capture the flag, so I had to make my way to the flag that was flashing yellow on my radar. The force was strong with the opposing team as I was fragged several times before I figured out all of the controls. Battlefront II gives you a few evasive maneuvers, including the ability to do a rolling dive out of the way of incoming fire. Once I had the controls down, it wasn't long before the flag was in hand and I was headed back to my base.

After the first game was completed, the map was changed to a starship battle in space. I selected an Imperial pilot and was spawned in the space dock of my team's ship. Several space craft were available, including a TIE fighter and TIE bomber. I went with the TIE fighter, hopped in and headed out into the space battlefield. The objective of this game was to fly my TIE to the Rebel starship, dock, and head out on foot to take out their shields. From there, my teammates would take down several key points along the outside of the ship marked with red circles on the HUD. This in turn would take down the ship.

This was by far my favorite game type as it combined space battles with on-foot battles and a lot of team work. Each fighter had different attributes for speed and firepower, along with a primary and secondary weapon. You really had to select a ship that suited your space battle play style.

After running through the space battle stage, it was time to head to what looked suspiciously like Tatooine. While this was probably my least favorite stage, it was still a blast to play through. Again I was given a selection of characters, this time ranging from a number a Jedi, to Leia and Han Solo. The first thing I noticed after selecting Mace Windu (come on it's Sam Jackson!) was the music. Do you remember all the funky music from the Jabba the Hunt's place, and the various clubs in the Star Wars films? The music seemed like it was pulled directly from those scenes. It was great!

Anyway, after marveling at the music, I decided to try out my force powers. Mace could use his lightsaber as a standard issue sword at close range, or throw it like a projectile from afar. He also had the ability to use force throw and toss any opponent away from him. Yoda and the rest of the Jedi's had similar force abilities. Meanwhile, Han Solo and Leia had the ability to use blasters and thermal detonators.

Star Wars Battlefront II is looking to be a must have Star Wars title for fans of the SW universe. It offers play mechanics for just about everyone, while still keeping a nice balance to the gameplay. The PC version looked the best out of all the versions present, but the PS2 and Xbox builds weren't looking too shabby in their own right. Of course I'd love an Xbox 360 version of the game, but we may have to wait until next year before we see a Star Wars game on X360. We'll have a full review of Star Wars Battlefront II in the near future.