SWBF2 (2005) Celebrates 16th Anniversary; 5 Classic SWBF2 Mods Just Like The Simulations feature

The 31st of October 2021 means sixteen years have passed since the classic Star Wars Battlefront II released. Its modding community is well known for producing high-quality content and played an important part in keeping the nostalgia alive all these years. Here’s five mods for the game to help you celebrate the occasion!

Star Wars Clone Wars Era Mod

By Benoz

There’s many high-quality Clone Wars-era mods for SWBF2, which is no surprise - with one of the two eras shipping with the game being focused on the Clone Wars and the extra characterisation given to them as a whole over the course of the series, they are a popular era to remake. This mod, however, takes a different spin on the concept, aiming to fall in line with the grimmer reality of the warfare seen in the movies instead. Many new characters are still introduced that come straight from the films, and overall the mod takes a very grounded approach to this era of Star Wars.

Star Wars Battlefront Republic Commando

By [GT]Anakin

Ah, Republic Commando. Another fantastic Star Wars game that unlike many of its other prestigious brethren did not receive a sequel. That hasn’t stopped the Commandos from becoming deeply ingrained in Star Wars culture, however, and so many mods exist to pick up Republic Commando’s visual style, presentation, and gameplay. This mod brings an approximation of the game’s highly-focused squad-based tactics to Battlefront, complete with weapons and HUD effects that really help seal the deal. It’s a hell of a time being a badass Commando in the huge and frenetic fights of Battlefront II.

Battlefront Ultimate Commander

By CdtFox

Ultimate Commander happily lives up to its name, for the scale of this mod cannot be overstated. More than two hundred new playable classes wage war across almost a dozen new maps, five new gamemodes, and two new eras, with many additional features like total compatibility with the first Battlefront’s maps, new visual and audio FX, a new menu, and increased AI competency. Ultimate Commander ups the ante on almost all fronts and makes for a very respectable feature list all things considered.

The Dark Times

By Maveritchell

With so many years of modding history, covering a slightly older mod on this list is not out of the question. The Dark Times focuses on the early Galactic Civil War period, adding twenty new heroes from around the canon to branch out during this iconic period of Star Wars history. Meanwhile, more offerings for the singleplayer - including the popular wave survival mode - give both multiplayer and singleplayer additional depth. The Dark Times may be old, but it’s still gold.

Mass Effect: Unification

By Marth8880

Most mods for BF2 remain within the confines of Star Wars, sometimes bringing new factions, units, or entirely new eras into the mix, but sticking to the source material. However, some modders set an altogether different goal, and the total conversion mod Mass Effect: Unification sets an impressive bar for this kind of mod. Bringing the also highly popular Mass Effect franchise into the large-scale battles of Battlefront II, several factions feature with more on the way and the mod still in active development. There’s a lot of innovative features here and the mod is well-worth a go if you want to see a very different take on the Battlefront formula.

For the Chancellor

Star Wars Battlefront II is a sequel to the also fondly-remembered Star Wars Battlefront, and originally released in 2005. Bringing large-scale space combat to the table as well as a galactic conquest mode and highly-engaging singleplayer story that added a lot of personality to the Clonetroopers in the days before the Clone Wars TV show, it is widely regarded as one of the best games in the Star Wars lineup

Sector is Clear

The title carried so much nostalgia EA was able to play off of it effectively for their remake in 2015 and the sequel to that remake in 2017. Whilst both carried their fair share of criticisms, many would say the newer entry of the two has received so much free post-launch support it stands beside the classics quite comfortably.

New mods are released regularly for 2005’s Battlefront II, the community having been creating projects like the above for years and never ceasing to amaze with their creativity. We’re confident classic BF2 will see healthy community engagement for years to come, thanks to the endeavours of hard-working modders who, year in and year out, continue to Change The Game.