Star Wars: Battlefront II

Excellent gameplay and battle point system undermined by progression tied entirely to loot boxes.

A standout classic with vast content: 16 locations, many classes, modes like Galactic Conquest, and superb space-to-ground flight that feels far slicker than modern equivalents. The Jedi classes, fluid controls, and pinpoint aiming make it one of the best shooters on PC, even if multiplayer has decayed to laggy, sparsely populated servers years on. Still well worth it for the bot matches and single-player fun.

At its core this is an excellent, often great Star Wars game: the Starfighter Assault space combat is a triumph with superb handling, the campaign delivers memorable nostalgic moments, and the environment and aesthetic design are phenomenal. But the campaign story collapses early into a generic, disjointed mess, the multiplayer is shallow, and the experience is fundamentally undermined by a broken, grind-heavy RPG progression system tied to predatory loot boxes that make it pay-to-win.

ZP: unexciting grab bag that funnels to multiplayer.

AJ: 6/10 — impressive maps; insulting loot boxes.

Fun multiplayer with great heroes; boring campaign and pay-to-win loot crates undermine progression.