Review of Star Wars Battlefront 2 Alpha featuring screenshots.
Review of Star Wars Battlefront 2 Alpha featuring screenshots.
So the Alpha wrapped up on July 3rd and shut down the Alpha boards on Friday. I was accepted into the closed Alpha on Thursday, and the game kicked off on Friday. In short, everything matches what we saw at E3—no new characters were added, the experience is smooth and looks promising, though some tweaks are still needed. The gameplay mechanics are solid, but there are a few areas that need improvement.
As for the details, the class selection and Battle Points system follows the same structure as revealed at E3: four main classes, all accessible (Assault, Heavy, Officer, and Specialist/Sniper). Points accumulate by defeating enemies and working toward goals, staying with your team, and spending them on upgrades like B2 Super droids or jump troops. There are limits on how many can be active at once, making the system rewarding but fair. It’s a great design because it encourages earning rather than rushing to vehicles or chasing points.
Currently, the strategy leans toward collecting 5000 points quickly, aiming for hero upgrades such as B2 Super droids or AT-RTs, AATs, air vehicles, and Hero characters (worth 5000 points). Each upgrade has a cap on how many can be active simultaneously. This system is impressive—it removes the temptation to rush and ensures everyone earns their rewards.
On the downside, there’s a tendency to focus on speed rather than strategy, especially in the early stages. Some characters like Darth Maul and Rey were the most powerful, but they often died quickly because they’d rush in, fight, and then flee. Han Solo was used sparingly, and Boba Fett appeared only a few times. I’m not worried about the “Rey being in the Prequel” issue; it’s just part of the character showcase.
The card system has seen some changes since Battlefield. New passive classes offer specific bonuses, and you can upgrade them multiple times. Loot boxes provide upgrades, and scrap lets you craft your own gear. There’s a slight concern about a “pay-to-win” model, but it usually involves minor buffs or cooldowns rather than major advantages.
Squads are handled differently here. Unlike Battlefield, you don’t get to pick your squad at the start—every match resets them. You’re paired with three others, and getting all three speeds up your progress. Staying close to teammates gives you squad points, which help reduce cooldowns on cards later. This feature is a big plus, though it can feel a bit restrictive if you’re not in sync with your team.
The game mode at Naboo was new, but it’s straightforward: three stages—MTT advancing, capturing the East and West Atriums, and seizing the Throne Room. The Throne Room stage is well balanced overall, offering fun flanking and picking opportunities. It’s where I enjoy the most, especially when teamwork pays off.
Phase 1 is the biggest challenge for me. The MTT is a massive droid unit that slowly pushes forward, aiming to destroy the temple. The Republic side has ion cannons that can blast through it, but they’re poorly explained and hard to target. Droids also have maps showing ion cannon locations, making them predictable. I’ve never seen the MTT drop below 65-70 health, and there’s no clear way to stop them early. This phase often turns into a chaotic skirmish with limited success.
From a graphics perspective, everything ran smoothly on my system—no frame drops beyond 60 fps. The game was stable across different settings, though I’m not sure about the exact numbers. I’m happy to have tested it, but I’ll hold off sharing screenshots until they confirm the update.
Overall, I’m satisfied with the Alpha testing. I’m planning to pre-order the game as long as they deliver on their promises about DLC. The experience is solid, and I’m excited to see how it evolves.
Oh I did, just there's not much point sharing it, since theres nothing super new or interesting about it. Plus I died a lot LOL Maybe I'll get some screenshots later when I'm home
It seems promising! The release should work smoothly at 1440p on your 980 Ti processor. Excited to see it come out!
Great job from EA, they clearly improved after Battlefront. The problems people mentioned are mostly resolved.
Yeah, most of what I heard was that it massively lacked content, but it looks like they've fixed that here. And the new campaign mode looks awesome! It'll be cool to see everything from an Imperial trooper's perspective.
It looks like someone at DICE didn’t update the cap settings, possibly using a test value of 60 in alpha. Frostbite 3 games typically launch with default frame rates around 200 FPS, which can be adjusted via console commands like gametime.maxvariablefps 0. Despite DICE’s track record of issues, this shouldn’t cause major concern. I’m aware it’s too late, but for future use you can enable an FPS overlay by running perfoverlay.drawfps 0 in other Frostbite titles (and it might work in Battlefront 2 too) if third-party tools aren’t available.