I want to make a thread about Battlefront 2's, in my opinion, insanely misguided singleplayer campaign. Forget the fact it starts with a goddamn insta-fail stealth bit, I'd like to talk about tone and the campaign's angle.
This concerns the trial missions only, but I feel they're problematic enough on their own to warrant this discussion. You spend the first hours of it playing as an Empire special ops soldier. As the Empire, you're mowing down hordes of Rebels and talking to your squadmates about the Rebellion being 'fueled by hate' and how they're monsters for destroying the Death Star. Meanwhile, the game presents this to you without any reservations. Shooting dozens of rebels is presented in the same matter-of-fact way that it would be if it were opposite. The game, in the opening hours, keeps telling you to murder the good guys. I kept getting flashbacks to 'No Russian'.
I'm sure the game will pull the protagonist over to the light side eventually, but for now...what the hell? Where Wolfenstein is scoring points with their marketing and topical treatment of extreme right-wing views, EA and Battlefront seem to be completely tone-deaf. It's wholly uncomfortable playing as, essentially, fully converted Space Nazis in this thing.
Now, any topic can be perfectly fine if done well. A comedy about Hitler, a drama about a neo-nazi, or a game where you play as Vader's badass lackey. There's room for all of that. I imagine many of you think this campaign will be refreshing, because it allows you to cut down those goody two shoes Rebels. But BF II doesn't make it feel satisfying at all. There's no interesting or enlightening angle to any of this. No new insights or fresh takes. All the game has presented in the first two hours is 'Space Nazis are just like the Rebels! Many sides!' Who the fuck asked for that? Does anyone want that from a Star Wars campaign?
Of course, these are only the opening missions. The full campaign will likely feature redemption and all that predictable nonsense. However, that still adds up to hours of the game asking you to straight up murder the good guys as a Special Ops Space Nazi.
Also, these are the missions EA is using to hype up the full release. The missions everyone with an Origin Access/EA Access pass will play.
I'm not saying EA is endorsing Nazism, and I'm not saying the campaign is shit for this reason (it's pretty awful on its own merits, but that's a story for another thread). But jesus, TIMING MATTERS. Of all the stories to tell in this universe, DICE/EA went with one about a badass space Nazi in a time where Nazis are very real again.
And don't give me that shit about how the Empire isn't Space Nazis.
The Empire = Space Nazis. Please don't come in here and argue otherwise.
Check some of it out yourself right here:
https://youtu.be/Ww6Bdo-uKGc
*Thread was created for contributor/member "GinoFelino" as part of Adopt a User Program. If you any specific questions or comments in regards to the content of the OP, please reach out to him directly: https://www.resetera.com/members/ginofelino.15761/
This concerns the trial missions only, but I feel they're problematic enough on their own to warrant this discussion. You spend the first hours of it playing as an Empire special ops soldier. As the Empire, you're mowing down hordes of Rebels and talking to your squadmates about the Rebellion being 'fueled by hate' and how they're monsters for destroying the Death Star. Meanwhile, the game presents this to you without any reservations. Shooting dozens of rebels is presented in the same matter-of-fact way that it would be if it were opposite. The game, in the opening hours, keeps telling you to murder the good guys. I kept getting flashbacks to 'No Russian'.
I'm sure the game will pull the protagonist over to the light side eventually, but for now...what the hell? Where Wolfenstein is scoring points with their marketing and topical treatment of extreme right-wing views, EA and Battlefront seem to be completely tone-deaf. It's wholly uncomfortable playing as, essentially, fully converted Space Nazis in this thing.
Now, any topic can be perfectly fine if done well. A comedy about Hitler, a drama about a neo-nazi, or a game where you play as Vader's badass lackey. There's room for all of that. I imagine many of you think this campaign will be refreshing, because it allows you to cut down those goody two shoes Rebels. But BF II doesn't make it feel satisfying at all. There's no interesting or enlightening angle to any of this. No new insights or fresh takes. All the game has presented in the first two hours is 'Space Nazis are just like the Rebels! Many sides!' Who the fuck asked for that? Does anyone want that from a Star Wars campaign?
Of course, these are only the opening missions. The full campaign will likely feature redemption and all that predictable nonsense. However, that still adds up to hours of the game asking you to straight up murder the good guys as a Special Ops Space Nazi.
Also, these are the missions EA is using to hype up the full release. The missions everyone with an Origin Access/EA Access pass will play.
I'm not saying EA is endorsing Nazism, and I'm not saying the campaign is shit for this reason (it's pretty awful on its own merits, but that's a story for another thread). But jesus, TIMING MATTERS. Of all the stories to tell in this universe, DICE/EA went with one about a badass space Nazi in a time where Nazis are very real again.
And don't give me that shit about how the Empire isn't Space Nazis.
The Empire = Space Nazis. Please don't come in here and argue otherwise.
Check some of it out yourself right here:
https://youtu.be/Ww6Bdo-uKGc
*Thread was created for contributor/member "GinoFelino" as part of Adopt a User Program. If you any specific questions or comments in regards to the content of the OP, please reach out to him directly: https://www.resetera.com/members/ginofelino.15761/
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