Star Wars boasts some of the coolest science fiction locations to ever hit the big screen. Be it the endless dune seas of Tatooine, the lush fields and waterfalls of Naboo, or the salty red dustbin of Crait. We’re lucky that so many Star Wars games have given us the pleasure of living out our dreams and playing in these fantastic locations. As game graphics get more and more advanced, these locales are looking better and better, too.
Ever notice, though, how many of these planets are defined by a single topographical feature?
In all seriousness, though, EA Star Wars Battlefront II has some of the most cutting-edge graphics to date, and their released maps are nothing if not stunning. We were particularly excited to see the faithful recreations of fan favorites like Theed and Echo Base.
Still, there are a plethora of locations from the series that we’re longing to explore, score kills, and inevitably die on. We’ve narrowed the list down to our top five.
If you haven’t experienced EA’s superb imagining of your favorite Star Wars locations, be sure to pick up the game here:
It’s impressive. Most impressive.
Carrie Fisher returning in Star Wars IX
Read how they'll pull that off ►5. Coruscant
Think of Coruscant and you’ll soon be thinking of the Jedi temple where so much time was spent in the prequels. There are a ton of scenes and encounters that take place on this planet, making it an excellent candidate for inclusion in EA’s Battlefront 2.
The biggest plot points that come to mind are the two fights from “Revenge of the Sith” that take place here – Palpatine vs. Mace Windu (who we’d love to see added as a playable hero!) and later Palpatine vs. Yoda. Though we’re not sure which factions would be present were EA to include it, we’d sure love to march on the library like in “Episode III.”
Playing a heroes vs. villains match in this huge open room full of moving podiums would also be a blast, and would make for some really chaotic lightsaber duels. Oh, and let’s not forget about that huge chase scene with Zam Wessell in the beginning of “Attack of the Clones” – that was on Coruscant, too.
4. Utapau
Like Coruscant, Utapau was also present in Pandemic’s 2005 Star Wars Battlefront 2. Utapau is the massive sinkhole planet where Obi-Wan famously confronted and dispatched the fearsome commander of the droid army, General Grievous. In the time that we got to follow General Kenobi’s escapades at this location, we got to see a flashy lightsaber fight, a retaliatory clone strike force, and a chase sequence leading to the final confrontation with Grievous. We’re getting antsy just thinking about how cool it would look to run down clone players with a massive wheel bike.
Since “Revenge of the Sith” was fresh out the gate at the time of 2005 Battlefront, this map was featured heavily in the trailers, and was one of the maps we got to play on in the demo. The scale of the map seems extremely small when compared to massive maps in EA’s Battlefront 2 (Kashyyyk and Yavin come especially to mind) and we’d love to see what they can do to expand upon it.
The hive network of the sinkhole would also allow for the map to have more verticality to it – something that we haven’t seen in abundance on the ground maps in EA’s Battlefront 2. We can envision some excellent ambush opportunities for flying classes like the jet trooper or Boba Fett.
Utapau also seems the logical choice with the game’s inclusion of both Grievous and Obi-Wan.
3. Scarif
Added to the first EA Star Wars Battlefront, “Rogue One’s” Scarif came along with the same downloadable content that added playable characters like Jyn Erso and Director Krennic. An oceanic paradise world rife with tropical islands and teeming with beaches and palm trees, Scarif was also home to a high-security Imperial base. Hidden inside were the schematics that revealed the Death Star’s one weakness.
Galactic Assault matches on Scarif would in all likelihood play similarly to the walker pushback like the one on Crait. A neat difference would be if the late-game stage put more focus on stealing the plans and escaping, almost like a Capture the Flag mission from Pandemic’s original Battlefront 2.
If DICE went in this direction, it would certainly be a great way to put the focus on team cohesion, and would likely call for a vastly different choice of class and hero than the earlier phases. Plus this locale looks like it was straight out of James Bond, and that can never be a bad thing.
2. Mustafar
The battle of the heroes, the duel to end all duels, Mustafar is the volatile volcanic world where Obi-Wan faced off with Anakin Skywalker at the end of “Revenge of the Sith.” Covered in molten lakes and laced with rivers of lava, this treacherous terrain would make any match exciting and challenging, be it Heroes vs. Villains, Blast, or even a full-on Galactic Assault.
In addition to the multiple stages that we see in Galactic Assault, we think it would also be cool if sections of the map became covered in lava and were rendered inaccessible as the match went on. It would increase the intensity and make the most of the planet’s awesome atmosphere. Maybe even destructible and repairable bridge platforms? But alas, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We probably shouldn’t even bring up how awesome it would be to PvP on a collapsing platform over a river of lava …
1. Jabba’s Palace
Another fan favorite from Battlefront 2 2005, this was one of the coolest maps in the game. Boasting sadistic droid torture chambers, ruthless Gamorrean Guards, A vicious Rancor, and even Jabba himself in the center throne room, this map really had it all.
What we loved so much about this map was how much it pushed the close-quarters chaos: Small rooms, cramped stairwells, tight corners, and brutal firefights peppering all across the map in a desperate attempt to hold back the horde of enemies. We can only imagine how crazy a Blast match would get on a map like this!
Not to mention that with EA Battlefront 2’s multi-stage games, we think it’d be pretty sweet to skirmish on the Sail Barge like the heroes in “Return of the Jedi.” Considering how much of the cast was present during that fight (Luke, Han, Chewbacca, Lando, Boba Fett), it actually seems pretty remiss not to have put this map in yet. Not to mention that EA has finally nailed the way sand looks and behaves in Battlefront. If there were two sail barges in the later phase of the match, it would almost amount to a ship-to-ship battle for control, all with heroes running around and people ducking in and out of the barge itself.
Any of these maps sound like a Star Wars fan’s dream come true? Let us know which ones are on your wish list!
