Star Wars Battlefront & Battlefront II Review – 932 Hours Later, Which One Still Holds Up?

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I have spent nearly 932 hours across EA’s two modern Star Wars Battlefront games. Going back to both on Xbox Series X in 2026 reminded me why Battlefront II became the more complete game — and why I still prefer the original.

Quick Verdict

Star Wars Battlefront II is the better all-round package, but Battlefront 2015 is still my favourite. The sequel has more eras, more heroes, proper infantry classes, a campaign and much better space combat. After a dreadful start with its original progression system, it also improved enormously through later updates.

But I never had quite the same urge to keep going back to it. Battlefront 2015 is simpler and noticeably lighter on content, yet Walker Assault, the punchy arcade gunplay and DICE’s recreation of the original trilogy gave it an atmosphere the sequel never quite matched for me.

Tech Torque Media scores: Star Wars Battlefront — 8/10 | Star Wars Battlefront II — 8.5/10

Review Information

	Star Wars Battlefront	Star Wars Battlefront II
Platform tested	Xbox Series X	Xbox Series X
Hours played	834 hours 59 minutes	96 hours 58 minutes
Achievements	21/63	25/43
Gamerscore	530/1,690	560/1,045
Developer	DICE	DICE, with Motive and Criterion
Publisher	Electronic Arts	Electronic Arts
Original release	2015	2017
Review status	Long-term hands-on retrospective	Long-term hands-on retrospective
Overall score	8/10	8.5/10

Why I Kept Coming Back to Battlefront 2015

Battlefront 2015 has been part of my Xbox library for years, and the playtime still makes me do a double take: 834 hours and 59 minutes. I have spent a lot of time with Xbox over the years — something I have written about in my Nearly 25 Years With Xbox feature — but very few games have kept me coming back for anything like that long.

The main reason is simple: it felt like Star Wars.

DICE got the look and sound of the original trilogy spot on. Hoth felt vast and exposed, Endor was dense and dangerous, and the later Bespin maps were among the best-looking locations in the game. Add blaster fire, TIE fighters screaming overhead, AT-ATs moving across the battlefield and John Williams’ music swelling at just the right moment, and it could feel remarkably close to being dropped into the films.

The gunplay was a big part of it too. It was fast, simple and easy to pick up, and that simplicity worked in its favour. I did not need to spend ages thinking about a class build before every match. I could take the EE-3, jump into Walker Assault and get on with it.

Walker Assault Was Battlefront at Its Best

If one mode explains why I spent so much time with the first game, it is Walker Assault.

The 40-player battles had the right sense of scale, but they also gave both sides a clear job to do. The Rebels had to activate and defend uplinks before the AT-ATs reached the end of their route, while the Empire tried to shut those uplinks down and keep the walkers moving. It felt like a proper battle rather than a large map filled with players chasing kills.

Hoth was the perfect setting for it. One minute I would be fighting around an uplink on foot, the next an X-wing or TIE fighter would tear across the sky, and then Vader or Luke would arrive and suddenly everyone nearby had a much bigger problem. It was chaotic, but in exactly the way a Star Wars battle should be.

Endor changed the pace with tighter sightlines and far less open space, while Bespin later brought another set of maps that looked superb and felt instantly familiar. For me, that mix of strong maps, clear objectives and uncomplicated gunplay was the heart of Battlefront 2015.

Battlefront II Fixed Most of the Obvious Gaps

Battlefront II is clearly the more ambitious game. It brings in the prequel and sequel eras, adds a much bigger hero roster, introduces proper infantry classes and gives you far more to work towards. On paper, it answers almost every obvious criticism of the first game.

The class system was a real improvement. Assault, Heavy, Officer and Specialist gave infantry combat more structure, and Heavy and Officer became my favourites because both suited the way I like to push objectives. Building battle points and then spending them on reinforcements, vehicles or heroes also made each match feel as though it was building towards something.

Even with all of that, I still prefer the way the first game shoots. Battlefront II has more depth, but its blasters never felt quite as sharp or as satisfying to me. It is a small thing on paper, but in a game built around hundreds of firefights it makes a big difference.

The Campaign Starts With the Right Idea

Battlefront II also fixed one of the first game’s biggest omissions by adding a proper single-player campaign.

The opening with Iden Versio and Inferno Squad is still a strong setup. Starting from the Empire’s point of view just after the Battle of Endor gives the story an angle Star Wars games do not explore very often, and I would happily have spent much longer on that side of the conflict.

That is why Iden’s move away from the Empire feels rushed. The direction itself is not the problem; it is how quickly the story gets there. Staying with Inferno Squad for longer would have made the eventual change feel more earned.

The hero cameos are good fun, especially the chance to play as Luke Skywalker, and they help break up the campaign. At the same time, they sometimes take attention away from Iden and her squad, who were interesting enough to carry more of the story themselves.

Starfighter Assault Is Battlefront II at Its Best

Starfighter Assault is the part of Battlefront II I enjoyed most.

Criterion’s work on Starfighter Assault is much tighter and more responsive than the floatier system in the first game. Ships feel easier to place exactly where you want them, roll control is more useful and the Fighter, Interceptor and Bomber classes give different craft clearer roles.

The objectives are what really make the mode work, though. Fondor is still the example I think of first: weaving through debris and enemy fighters while attacking different sections of a huge Imperial installation feels far more cinematic than simply flying in circles looking for the next target.

For me, it remains some of the best Star Wars space combat in a modern multiplayer game.

Heroes vs Villains Is Pure Star Wars Chaos

Heroes vs Villains was another Battlefront II mode I kept returning to. Moving to a focused 4v4 format gave the hero combat much more room than it had in the first game.

Part of the appeal is obvious: it is great fun throwing some of the biggest names in Star Wars into the same fight. But there is more going on underneath. Learning when to dodge, when to block and how different abilities work together gives the combat more depth than simply swinging a lightsabre until somebody drops.

I still loved playing as Vader and Luke in the original because heroes felt frighteningly powerful when they appeared in a normal battle. Battlefront II gives them more mechanical depth, and that makes its dedicated hero mode much better over longer sessions.

They Still Look and Sound Superb

Going back to both games in 2026 reminded me just how strong DICE’s presentation was.

Battlefront 2015 still looks excellent. The lighting, ground textures and environmental detail have aged far better than I expected, and the focus on the original trilogy gives the whole game a very consistent look. Hoth, Endor and Bespin are completely different environments, but they all feel as though they belong in the same game.

Battlefront II has a much broader job because it covers three eras. Geonosis is the map that stands out most for me, with its dusty colour palette and huge open spaces giving the Clone Wars side of the game the scale it needed.

The sound is every bit as important. The thermal imploder is still one of the most satisfying effects in either game, while blasters, TIE fighters, lightsabres and the heavy movement of an AT-AT all sound exactly as they should.

Battlefront 2015 still has the edge for atmosphere, though. When the music starts to build during a close Walker Assault match on Hoth and everything around you is kicking off at once, the game still has a way of making you forget how old it is.

Excellent DLC, but a Poor Way to Sell It

The biggest weakness of Battlefront 2015 was always the amount of content it launched with. There was no campaign, it stayed within the original-trilogy era, and some of its best later additions arrived through a paid Season Pass.

The frustrating part is that the DLC itself was excellent. Bespin looked fantastic, the Death Star content added a proper trench run, and Rogue One: Scarif gave the game another brilliant Star Wars setting.

The problem was how it was sold. Locking those maps behind paid expansions split the community, and as the player base became smaller it became harder to find matches in some of the DLC playlists.

Battlefront II avoided that particular mistake by keeping its post-launch gameplay content together, although it managed to create a much bigger problem of its own at launch.

Battlefront II Had to Earn Its Second Chance

It is impossible to talk about Battlefront II without mentioning its original loot-box progression system.

The backlash around launch completely overshadowed a lot of what the game did well. In March 2018, EA overhauled the progression system, removing purchasable Star Cards and making progression linear through play and levelling individual classes, heroes and ships.

That change, followed by a long run of free updates, transformed the game. By April 2020, EA said Battlefront II had received 25 free content updates and was moving away from regular new content. By then, it felt much closer to the complete Star Wars multiplayer game people had expected in the first place.

The launch should not be brushed aside, but it would be just as unfair to judge the game in 2026 as though none of those later improvements happened. Battlefront II recovered, and that recovery is a big part of why it earns the higher score here.

Xbox Series X Performance

I returned to both games on Xbox Series X for this review, and both have held up very well.

My recent experience with both has been smooth and stable, with none of the long waits I remember from the Xbox One days. Faster storage makes getting into a match much less of a chore, and once you are playing both games still feel responsive.

Battlefront 2015’s menus are probably the part that shows its age most clearly now. The interface feels like it belongs to an older console generation, but once a match starts the game itself still looks and feels surprisingly current.

Accessibility and Controls

I did not revisit either game specifically to carry out a full accessibility assessment, so I would not overstate what I tested here.

My recent play has been with a standard Xbox controller. Battlefront 2015 is still very easy to pick up because its infantry systems are so straightforward, while Battlefront II asks more of the player through classes, abilities, battle points and deeper hero mechanics.

Starfighter Assault takes more practice if you want to become genuinely good at it, but the tighter handling makes that learning curve feel worthwhile rather than frustrating.

Multiplayer in 2026

This is where the two games now feel furthest apart.

Battlefront 2015 is still playable, but for me it has become more of a nostalgia game. Finding a full 40-player Walker Assault lobby on Xbox can depend on playing at the right time, with weekends usually giving you the best chance. When a proper lobby comes together it is still brilliant, but I would not buy the game today expecting every mode to be busy whenever I wanted to play.

Battlefront II is much easier to return to. In my recent sessions I have been able to get into Supremacy, Galactic Assault and the hero modes without much trouble. If you want a Battlefront game to play regularly in 2026 rather than simply revisit, this is the obvious choice.

Achievements

My Xbox profile shows 21 of 63 achievements unlocked in Battlefront for 530 of 1,690 Gamerscore, while Battlefront II sits at 25 of 43 achievements and 560 of 1,045 Gamerscore.

Neither game was something I played mainly for achievements. Most of my time went into multiplayer because I enjoyed the matches themselves, so the achievement totals are really just a record of what I picked up along the way rather than something I was actively chasing.

Pros and Cons

Star Wars Battlefront (2015)

Star Wars Battlefront II (2017)

Category Scores

Category	Battlefront	Battlefront II
Story / campaign	N/A	7.5/10
Gameplay	9.0/10	8.5/10
Graphics	9.0/10	9.0/10
Sound	10/10	9.5/10
Content	7.0/10	9.5/10
Performance in 2026	9.0/10	9.0/10
Longevity	9.0/10	9.0/10
Overall	8/10	8.5/10

Tech Torque Verdict

These two games are a good example of why the bigger sequel is not always the one you end up loving most.

Battlefront II eventually became the better package. It has more content, more variety, a campaign, a stronger class system and one of the best Star Wars space-combat modes in years. Once the original progression system was replaced and the free updates started arriving, it grew into a game that is far easier to recommend now than it was at launch.

Battlefront 2015 is much more limited, and in 2026 its smaller online population makes those limitations harder to ignore. But when it is at its best — especially in Walker Assault — it still captures the look, sound and feel of the original trilogy better than any multiplayer Star Wars game I have played.

That is why the scores tell only part of the story. Battlefront II earns the higher mark because it is the more complete game. Battlefront 2015 loses points for its lack of content and old DLC model, but it is still the one that left the stronger impression on me.

Star Wars Battlefront: 8/10
Star Wars Battlefront II: 8.5/10

Should You Play Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefront II in 2026?

Yes, but for different reasons.

Battlefront 2015 is worth revisiting if you love the original trilogy and want to see just how well DICE recreated its battles, locations and sound. I would not buy it purely for a busy online multiplayer experience in 2026, because finding the mode you want can take patience, but when Walker Assault comes together it can still be superb.

Battlefront II is the easier recommendation today. It has more to do, its major multiplayer modes have been much easier to find in my recent Xbox experience, and Starfighter Assault, Heroes vs Villains and Supremacy still give it plenty of reasons to keep playing.

If you already subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, there is very little barrier to trying either game. EA Play is included with Ultimate, and both Battlefront and Battlefront II are available through EA’s service on Xbox. That makes Battlefront II an especially easy recommendation in 2026, and it also makes revisiting the original far more appealing if you want the atmosphere of Walker Assault without buying an older multiplayer game outright.

If you are a Star Wars fan and have access to both, I would play both. Battlefront II shows how far the formula eventually developed, while Battlefront 2015 still captures the simple thrill of being dropped into the middle of the original trilogy better than anything that followed it.

Reviewed by Ben Oliver on Xbox Series X after 834 hours and 59 minutes in Star Wars Battlefront and 96 hours and 58 minutes in Star Wars Battlefront II.