Movie Battles

Movie Battles II or MBII is a team-based, last man standing multiplayer mod of the shooter game Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.[2] The primary purpose of the mod is to allow players to experience setpiece battle scenes straight from the nine main Star Wars films and the expanded universe, immersing themselves directly in parts of the three Star Wars trilogies.[3] This means that most of the original aspects of the game have been changed and only a few of the original gameplay features remain. The game pits one team of Galactic Empire/ Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS) / First Order forces against the Rebel Alliance / Galactic Republic / Resistance forces, either of which attempt to complete an objective, or to eliminate all members of the enemy team.

"MBII" redirects here. For other uses, see List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom).
Movie Battles
Developer(s)Movie Battles Team
SeriesStar Wars: Jedi Knight
Engineid Tech 3
Platform(s)Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Linux
ReleaseInitial; 2003 (2003)[1]

Latest Version: v1.5.5 (Oct. 2019)

Development Status: On-going
Genre(s)First-person / third-person shooter
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Gameplay
Screenshot of version 1.4.1 taken in June 2016.

Movie Battles II is a team based shooter game, in which the player joins the Dark Side of the Force (represented by the Galactic Empire, the Separatists, or the First Order), or the Lights Side (the Rebel Alliance, the Galactic Republic, or the Resistance). Both teams usually have objectives which can be completed to win the round. The player also gets a number of points which he can spend on upgrades for his character.[4] Any players who are killed before the end of the round become spectators. They may follow certain players who are still alive or free-roam in the spectator cam, similar to other first-person shooters, such as Battlefield 2.[5]

The lightsaber combat in Movie Battles is changed from the original system substantially. Blocking and defensive moves are favored over the unmodded game's "swing-spam". There are meters for both force pool and block stamina which deplete as the player intercepts incoming blaster and lightsaber attacks.[6] Similar to Counter-Strike, Movie Battles uses an objective system, where one team defends and the other one attacks one or more objectives. Objective types are usually variants on common themes,[4] such as "slicing panels", or NPC guarding. By using such a system, it is significantly different from most Star Wars games, where the goal is often simply to kill everyone on the other team.

MBII includes five main game modes: Open, Semi-Authentic, Full Authentic, Legends, and Duel. Depending on the gametype, the characters and features such as weapons a player can choose can be limited or not. In Open mode, everything can be chosen, while in Semi Authentic and Full Authentic only the models that fit to the current map can be chosen, and in Legends there are the same predefined models on all maps; in Full Authentic and Legends the features are also predefined, the difference being that in Full Authentic the features are map-determined, while in Legends they are the same on all maps.[4][7] The Duel game mode is similar to Open, the difference being that players may only choose between Jedi or Sith character models, and that there are unlimited lives; the purpose of the Duel mode is to allow players to recreate lightsaber duels from the films or other Star Wars media.[8]

MBII features a customizable character class systems, similarly to games like Battlefield 2; it is mainly utilized in the Open, Semi-Authentic, and Duel game modes, as the others have predefined classes. Aside from appearance, based on various characters from the Star Wars franchise, each class also has a customizable set of abilities, which cost a specific number of points; there are a total of 80 points to be spent. The Rebel, Republic or Resistance side (map dependent) have access to a number of specific classes, including Clone troopers (armed with repeater blaster rifles), ARC troopers (who are either very agile and equipped with light weapons, or use heavy weapons, such as rocket launchers, depending on the player's choice), and Wookiees (who are strongest melee class in the game, but may also wield weapons such as bowcasters or frag grenades). The Imperial, Separatist or First Order side (map dependent) have access to a number of specific classes as well: Droidekas (who are the fastest class in the game when they roll, and are equipped with arm blasters and protective shields), Super battle droids (who move slowly, but have a high amount of health and may knock down opponents with a single melee attack), and Mandalorians (who can adapt to almost any situation they find themselves in, as they utilize a wide arsenal of weapons, including flamethrowers, wrist rockets, pistols and sniper rifles, as well as jetpacks). Both teams also have access to a number of similar classes, namely soldiers (whose main trait is that they can have multiple lives, at the expense of low health and a moderate arsenal), commanders (who, similarly to soldiers, may have multiple lives, but have a better arsenal and may have an ability that allows soldiers to spawn at their current location), heroes / bounty hunters (a sniper class, who move fast and have access to several other weapons, including blasters and grenades, as well as unique abilities such as regenerative health for the heroes, or tracking and poisonous darts for the bounty hunters), and Jedi / Sith (who can wield lightsabers - normal, dual, or double-bladed - that deal high amounts of damage or deflect blaster fire, and have access to a number of Force abilities - jump, push, pull, and sense, as well as either mind trick and speed for the Jedi, or grip and lighting for the Sith).[9][10]

Development

The Movie Battles mod was started by Richard Hart (online alias RenegadeOfPhunk) in 2003,[1] with the goal of mixing the round- and objective based gameplay of Counter-Strike with the lightsaber and gun mechanics of Star Wars.[2] The first versions of the mod were developed for Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, the previous game in the Jedi Knight series.[1] This version already had the key elements of Movie Battles in it, such as the modified lightsaber combat and the last man standing system. The mod was later remade for Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy which is the version worked on and played today. An offspring to Movie Battles, mod titled The New Era (TNE) was in development for the Source engine which would have allowed for improved graphics and a better physics engine, but the game was cancelled in 2013. It was thought of as a successor to Movie Battles, but TNE was moving into a different, more Deathmatch like genre. Many of the development team for TNE were members of the Movie Battles development team.[11][12] On April 2, 2011, a trailer revealing a sequel was released.[13] Movie Battles 3 was going to be a standalone, free game developed on the Unreal Engine,[14] but due to a general disinterest among developers and the game's community, coupled with the lack of developers willing to stay on board the project to begin with, it was cancelled after a few years in development, and Movie Battles 2 development was resumed. The latest update, 1.6.2.2,[15] was released on July 8, 2020.

Reception

In 2005 the UK edition of PC Gamer printed an article covering the mod. In the same year Sky News mentioned Movie Battles alongside other user-made game modifications.[10][16] It was also mentioned by Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Alec Meer in the sites 2015 list of best Star Wars video games. Of the mod, Meer said the mod was something players should "probably [...] check out."[17] Matthew Znadowicz of Eurogamer Poland called the game's action "unique and fresh", yet noted that battles often became "stressful, intense, but extremely pleasant."[18] As of June 2016, 400 users on the website Mod DB have rated the game with the average score of 9.4.[19]

References
  1. "'Movie Battles' has gone open Beta". LucasForums. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  2. "This is what Siege mode should have been..." The Jedi Academy. Archived from the original on 6 June 2004. Retrieved 1 January 2008.
  3. "Movie Battles II". ModDB. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  4. "The Forms Of Combat". Movie Battles Website. Archived from the original on 27 October 2006.
  5. "20 Kickass mods". Games Radar. Archived from the original on 10 January 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2007.
  6. "Art of the Saber". Movie Battles Website. Archived from the original on 5 November 2006.
  7. "Mbch values". MB2 Wiki. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  8. "New Duel Mode". Movie Battles Forums. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
  9. Plunkett, Luke (6 February 2017). "You Can't Kill A Good Star Wars Game". Kotaku. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  10. "The Importance Of Mods". Sky News. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  11. "Team". Star Wars: The New Era. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
  12. "Credits". Movie Battles Website. Archived from the original on 5 October 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
  13. "Moviebattles 3 Official Reveal Trailer". Youtube. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  14. "Moviebattles 3 states the usage of Unreal Engine @1:17". Youtube. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
  15. "MovieBattles II V1.6.2.2 Released". Movie Battles II Community. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  16. "PC Gamer". PC Gamer (UK Edition) (152). September 2005. p. 111.
  17. Meer, Alec (22 December 2015). "The 10 Best Star Wars PC games". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  18. >Znadowicz, Matthew (12 July 2016). "Jedi Knight: Movie Battles - mod, w którym Moc była silna". Eurogamer Poland. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  19. "Mod DB Movie battles 2 reviews". Mod DB. Retrieved 21 June 2016.

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