Star Wars: Battlefront II is scheduled to release later this week, meaning that the embargo for the reviews should lift in the coming days. When the final scores do start arriving from different publications, it is important to note that a troubling aspect in regard to the controversial progression system might have been completely missed.
According to AllGamesDelta, every review copy of Star Wars: Battlefront II was altered by Electronic Arts (EA) to feature heavily reduced prices for all heroes. The players are expected to spend 60,000 Credits (in-game currency) to unlock a single character. The review copies, though, apparently ask for just 10,000 Credits.
It is not uncommon for a publisher and developer to modify certain aspects of a game in order to make it easier to be reviewed in the given short period. However, Star Wars: Battlefront II is being blasted by the community since the weekend for its blatant pay-to-win model and this is exactly what has been toned down from the review copies.
The base price means that players will have to grind roughly 40 hours before unlocking a single hero. In addition, a recent leak claimed that future heroes are going to be priced much higher. The whole design is set up to force players to cave in and simply buy the heroes with Crystals (real-world currency).
The issue around the progression and currency is something that reviewers might completely miss out before presenting favorable scores for Star Wars: Battlefront II. The reduced pricing in the review copies certainly made sure of that.
If you were unaware, EA achieved the most down-voted comment in the history of Reddit earlier today when it tried to defend the enforced microtransactions in the game.
Star Wars: Battlefront II is scheduled to release on November 17 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
