After originally being announced back in December, it appears that next week BB-8 will finally be a playable character in Star Wars: Battlefront II. The fan favorite droid, first introduced in 2015's The Force Awakens, will be one of the game's fastest characters, and its speed will most definitely be one of its strongest attributes in battle.
Taking direct inspiration from BB-8's role in the Star Wars movies, developer DICE is making certain that the droid's speed is a main feature of gameplay. According to an EA community post covering the update, BB-8 will be one of, if not the, fastest character in the game. Not only will the droid move at a high speed throughout the battlefield, but it will also have the ability to capture command posts faster than any other character.
BB-8 is a great example of good things coming in small packages, and Battlefront II is going to do its best to represent that fact. On top of the character's increased speed, BB-8 will have a Resistance Backing ability, which will reveal enemies in the general vicinity and make those enemies more vulnerable to attacks. The droid may only come with a Shock Prod as an attack, but it will without a doubt add a new and exciting layer of high speed gameplay to Battlefront II.
In order to counter BB-8's addition to the light side of the force, the upcoming update will also come with a new dark side hero as well: BB-9E. BB-9E, as you might imagine, is essentially BB-8 with a slick Empire black paint job. EA explains that, unlike BB-8, BB-9E will serve more of a support role, and will be "cold and calculating". The droid will also come with a smokescreen attack, and will have a wider variety of Shock Prod attacks than BB-8.
Overall, the BB-8 update serves as yet another example of why Battlefront II has grown into something so much better than the game we saw at launch. With continued updates and enhancements that listen to player feedback and stay current with the Star Wars canon, Battlefront II has evolved from being a dud into one of the best Star Wars titles that you can find.