How to Turn Star Wars Battlefront II (2005) into a Single-Player Stealth Game

STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection just came out on Steam!

I’ve mentioned in several places that the original Battlefront II was my very first gaming love, long before I’d ever played Team Fortress 2 or even created a Steam account. I never actually owned it, I played it (and its predecessor) exclusively on my friend’s Xbox, but our neighborhood gang racked up hundreds of hours playing them and they are incredible.

Seriously, these two games are 500% worth playing, even if you just go buy the originals, they work perfectly and have tons of cool mods to boot. The gameplay is addicting and there’s an incredible amount of content, with countless game modes, classes, weapons, and campaigns. I could dedicate this whole article to the many ways they’re among the best games of all time, but tons and tons of people have done that already. So instead, (because this is literally the only chance I’ve ever had to discuss this and have it topical), I want to showcase a ‘custom game mode’ for Battlefront II my friends and I used to play back in the day, like nothing else in the game.

“Lone Rebel” Mode

We had two different names for it (the other was “Sam Fisher Mode” because we were like twelve) and both get the core premise across quite well: You are stranded alone in an imperial-occupied city. Without backup, you must rely on your own skills to retake the entire map, choosing your battles and flipping control points to beat overwhelming odds without dying even a single time. It plays like nothing else in the game, so I encourage you to give it a go if you want to experience Battlefront II in a wholly different way.

Setup

1. From the main menu, click “Instant Action.” Add the map ‘Naboo->Conquest->Galactic Era’ to the queue.

2. Before you launch, go into Global settings, set the AI to Elite, and set the ‘AI Units Per Team’ to 32. (This ensures the Empire snowballs the Rebels)

3. Launch the game, join the rebels, spawn at Control Point 2. (You can be any class you like)

4. Jump into the top basin of the fountain right next to you, toggle crouch, and just wait.

It’ll take about 7-10 minutes, but the rebels will always dwindle and lose ground, until eventually you are the last unit standing with a single contested CP between you and defeat. The fate of the city is now in your hands!

Gameplay

Unlike the regular game, running around like Rambo will probably get you killed, and that’s an immediate Game Over. So you need to play smart, sneaking around to winnable fights and retaking control points to ensure the Empire doesn’t flip the entire city and win by default. Remember where health/ammo droids are and don’t be afraid to switch classes to give yourself an edge in an upcoming skirmish. Each class is still useful; pick off unaware targets from afar as sniper, replenish health and get a shotgun as engineer, deal with enemy vehicles as a vanguard. One reason I really like this ‘game mode’ is that all the pieces of Battlefront II are still there, but you need to leverage them in a tactical new way to adapt to the ever-evolving situation around you.

Even better, you’ll slowly get stronger as you survive! As you rack up kills, you’ll earn awards to improve your stamina, weapons, and survivability. And once you’ve scored enough points, you can unlock the Bothan and Wookie classes for even more versatility. (My headcanon is that you’re a changeling spy like that chick from Episode II.) Normal Battlefront II is too much of a meat grinder to frequently see these awards, so it’s fun that here they feel more like a progression tree rewarding you for your efforts in your ongoing crusade.

And last but not least, at some point one of the enemies will spawn as The Emperor, who feels like a fitting final boss for your one-man warpath. (Grab this mod on PC if heroes aren’t spawning!) Whether you focus on flipping all the control points or hunting down every last imperial trooper, it’ll feel like a well-earned victory either way if you pull it off.

Making It Harder

The easiest way to add another level of difficulty is to ban class-switching; no changeling powers for you, just whatever kit you spawned in with. The next is to do it as a clone, since the droids have much scarier units and stomp the pre-game even harder than the Empire does. And finally, you can try doing it in Battlefront I, which has the same map but an unkillable Vader/Dooku as the enemy hero unit, adding a fun cat-and-mouse element because you will die horribly if he ever catches up to you.

In any way, I think you’ll like it if you give it a go, and you’ll definitely enjoy the rest of the game. If anything, this weird little mode is a testament to how robustly well-designed the core elements of Battlefront II are. Definitely go try it, you won’t regret it!