Wonderful, but could have more new aspects.

Overview:
Me being a huge Star Wars fan, I already experienced the thrill of the first Battlefront. So, naturally, I buy the second one afterwards. It still has that Battlefront feel, with some new Episode III aspects like new maps and the Episode III clone trooper armor, but they could have added some more things to it.

Graphics:
Even though this game was made for the same platform as the first, the graphics seem to be better. The soldiers have a more layered look to them, instead of just textures put on a blocky soldier. Now you can see that they are much smoother and have some more defined features than the first game. The landscape is better too, now it has more detail on the far reaches of the background to give it that worldly feel. In some maps, there are some little details that bring the map to life. For example, on the planet of Flurocea, the planet is mostly made up of giant flowers. So in the map, there are giant particles of pollen floating around. One bad aspect of these graphics are that there are some 3D glitches in the game, especially in Mos Eisley. But if you stay to the map, and don't go looking for them, you should be alright.

Audio:
The audio is still as good as the first, with solid blaster sounds and good explosion noises. There are more background noises now, including the distant cry of giant birds in Kashyyyk, and the everlasting drone of news from neighboring buildings. This give the game a feel of being in just a small part of a much larger planet. One downside to the audio now is that they seemed to put in more phrases for the soldiers to say. This is all fine and brings more life into the AI, but they recorders didn't record much, and some of the phrases can get REALLY repetitive. Thankfully you can turn off the speech in the options menu if you just can't stand it.

Gameplay:
This game managed to achieve the Battlefront feel while still improving some minor flaws in controls, now you can lock on enemies if you really have a vendetta against an opponent. And instead of running sideways and pressing "X" to roll, now it's "O" and you can roll side to side and ,newly, forward. Another nice addition is the press of the analog stick to get a sprint going if you're running out of time. I always was willing myself to go just a little bit faster to catch an enemy before he captured a base in the first one, but now I can sprint there easily and take him out. The actual combat seems to be more intense than the it's predecessor. But not to the point of impossibility. The general objective of each mission is more layered and has a better feeling of war instead of just running around and shooting. Now, in some points, you have to make should a vehicle gets to a certain point without being destroyed to blow up some crucial strongpoint of the enemy. Fail to do so, and the enemy will get a huge upper hand. Some new additions is Space Dogfights. These I really enjoyed, they took any possibility in some space battle and put it in. You can just fly around while avoiding auto tracking turrets and just blast ships into dust, or you can go stealth and sneak into the enemy ship and blow it up from the inside out. There are also some flanking warships that protect the flagship from any annoying bombers. Those can get really annoying. The major addition in this game is the playable Jedi or Sith. Now, if you do good enough on the field, you will be given a choice if you want to play a certain character from the movies. Anyone who has seen all the movies will recognize all the characters easily. These "heroes" have better weapons and can take a lot more damage. Plus, if you kill a lot of enemies, you health bar will keep replenishing, but don't kill any for a while, and it will start to drain. Personally, I'm not a fan of the "Heroes", but that's just me. Other players have played them and they love the heroes. One really great thing they put in is that; if you go to one of your own bases, you can swap different soldiers without killing yourself. For example:

Battlefront I: You're shooting and you see a tank coming, now you have to kill yourself to get the soldier with the rocket launcher.

Battlefront II: You're protecting a base and you see a tank rumbling toward you. You simply press "triangle" and bam! You have a rocket launcher to unload on the tank.

My only complaint that they still didn't fix was that there is no Melee button, and you can't pick up enemy weapons once you kill that enemy.

Story:
There is much more of a story than the first one. In the Story, you follow the elite 501st division through their eyes before, during, and after Order 66. It is a good plot with a good view point of how the soldiers hated to do things, but they had orders and were forced to carry them out. During gameplay, there are certain objectives that must be carried out in a certain order to complete the mission. In the story mode, killing all the enemies isn't the main objective anymore. With these objectives, there is no problem repeated twice, all missions are different and unique.

Online:
In my Battlefront I review, I stated that the challenge was really in online. It still is. More than ever I find myself shouting and cursing and taunting the opponents with great enthusiasm. You have to really be a master of the single player if you want to hold you own against the other players online. These people know how to move to throw your aiming off, and still hit you in the head. So you have to be able to hit them once, and that's it. Great Hiding spots are crucial too. They can take the glitches and use them to their advantage to hide but also attack easily.

Closing Comments: Star Wars Battlefront II still proudly holds up the Battlefront name. Anybody, Star Wars fan or not, can learn to appreciate what this Battlefront has to offer. We wanted more, and they gave it to us.