'Battlefront II' Reinvents 'Star Wars' Video Game Space Battles

Firefights in space will never be the same for Star Wars once Battlefront II hits the scene this November.

On Tuesday, the new Battlefront II trailer dropped during Gamescom. And it includes perspectives from numerous sides in a firefight over an Imperial Star Destroyer. At almost 10-minutes long, the video details everything from mission parameters to fighter ship classes. All in all, it looks like Battlefront II might offer the most robust space battles that Star Wars has ever seen in video game form. A squadron of Rebel pilots can assault an entire Imperial Star Destroyer as a team in a 360-degree environment above the planet Fondor in the Starfighter Assault game mode. Or, the more evil pilots out there can hop in their TIE fighters to defend the same ship.

The match featured in the gameplay demo shows a team of Rebels assaulting an Imperial Star Destroyer with A-, Y-, and X-wings. Players can choose between the various ships, and each specific class of fighter has its own strengths and weaknesses mainly related to firepower, speed, and turn ratings.

Any given match allows players the opportunity to focus on straightforward dog fighting, tackling direct objectives, or even just playing on the defense. And yes, many objectives are in the same style as the classic trench run for players looking to live their wildest Star Wars dreams in video game form.

Those dreams can and do include flying Boba Fett’s ship apparently:

Similar to ground battles in Battlefront II, kills and other successes rack up Hero Points that can be used to transform into special characters. On the ground, that means you go from generic Stormtrooper to Darth Vader or Kylo Ren. Here, that means Rebels can fly the Millennium Falcon or Poe Dameron’s special X-wing. And that totally means the Imperial fighters can fly Boba Fett’s ship or Darth Maul’s Scimitar.

Star Wars: Battlefront II will be released November 17, 2017 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.