The original Star Wars: Battlefront II is turning 16 years old in 2021. That’s pretty amazing, considering the game still has a huge following to this day. Many fans prefer developer Pandemic Studios' smaller scale and deeper approach to the shooter series over DICE’s big, Games-as-a-Service model. And with Pandemic Studios shutting down over a decade ago, we’ll never get another game quite like the original Battlefront games.
But Battlefront II is undoubtedly showing its age these days. Luckily that’s where mods come into play. There are many mods for the game available, some offering simple graphics upgrades, and others that completely change the gameplay. But which ones are the best?
10 Battlefront Republic Commando
With Star Wars: Republic Commando getting re-released on the PS4 and Switch, now is a great time to hop into Battlefront Republic Commando. This mod is a simple one that adds new weapons, enemies, and sounds from Republic Commando to Battlefront II, as well as the classic HUD, too.
It may not sound like much, but the handful of small tweaks added almost turns Battlefront II into the Republic Commando sequel we never got. It doesn’t completely change the game, but if you’re looking to shake things up while staying true to the franchise, this is a great mod to start with.
9 Battlefront 2 – Remastered
If you’re looking for a mod that shakes things up a little more, Battlefront 2 – Remastered might be more your speed. As the name suggests, this is a total overhaul of the original game. Creator Harrisonfog went all-out in improving and enhancing every detail of the base game and adding more to that.
Battlefront 2 – Remastered changes all the assets in each map with new, higher resolution maps. It also adds improved lighting and swaps out character and vehicle models with better, more film-accurate designs. This mod vastly improves the graphics of the original game without altering the gameplay in any way.
8 Zombie Infection
Zombie Infection is the first of several gameplay-changing mods on our list. Based loosely on the Star Wars novel Death Troopers, this mod adds a new mode where your team is turned into zombies, and the human players have to survive as long as possible.
If you get infected, the tables turn, and you have to infect the humans yourself. Whoever survives in the end wins. Zombified players lose their weapons and turn bloody and hunch over like classic cinema zombies. It’s a brilliant gameplay addition that changes the formula up while still remaining true to Star Wars lore.
7 The Dark Times
The Dark Times is one of the most extensive mods available for Star Wars Battlefront II. This mod not only adds new maps, characters, and weapons but also an entirely new single-player story campaign using those new assets.
Set before the events of the Galactic Civil War, the mod follows 20 prominent and lesser-known characters from the original trilogy. The story isn’t canon, and many hardcore Star Wars fans will probably find plot holes and inconsistencies with its story. But for a mod, it’s incredibly well-written and delivered, and adds a fun and unique twist to an old game, and an old story.
6 A New Frontier
If you want more modern Star Wars content in Battlefront II, A New Frontier is the way to go. Adding characters, weapons, vehicles, and maps from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, this mod could easily be viewed as the Battlefront III game we never got.
Take control of the First Republic and Captain Cardinal attacking Jakku, or join the Rebels and Admiral Ackbar to defend Crait. You can expect to see Rey, Old Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren, and General Hux. This mod doesn’t change the game much, but it offers an interesting blend of old and new that you can only get from modded old games like this.
5 Mass Effect: Unification
Mass Effect: Unification might be one of the most impressive mods for Battlefront II for the sheer fact that it turns a Star Wars game into a Mass Effect one. Unification changes every aspect of Battlefront II to make it look and play like a Mass Effect game.
Here, you can play as the Systems Alliance, the Geth, or the Collectors. They each come with their own slate of heroes including Commander Shepard and Jack. Each of these characters features voice lines from the game – in fact, all of the audio from the Mass Effect series was ported over. A lot of passion and time went into this mod, and if you’re a Mass Effect fan, you’re going to love it.
4 TRON: The Grid
Sticking with radical conversions, TRON: The Grid unsurprisingly morphs Battlefront II into the epic TRON video game we never really got. This is easily the most ambitious mod for Battlefront II, offering not only an aesthetic swap to all things TRON but entirely new game modes and gameplay.
There’s a scripted story level set within the TRON world, a horde mode, light cycles, and even an endless runner level that plays like a platformer. This is a great mod for TRON fans certainly, but even if you’re a fan of modding in general, this mod is worth checking out due to its sheer ambition alone.
3 In-Game Skin Changer
Since its release in 2005, a lot has changed in gaming – online gaming in particular. These days the ability to change your character’s looks and weapons is expected, but not so much back then. The In-Game Skin Changer Mod by RayceSkykiller changes that by allowing you to customize your character a bit more than the base version.
2 Battlefront II – KOTOR
Battlefront and Knights of the Old Republic are two of the most iconic and beloved Star Wars games, so it’s no surprise there’s a mod offering to combine the two. Battlefront II – KOTOR is another replacer mod that adds characters, weapons, and vehicles from the KOTOR games to Battlefront.
It’s not as grand or ambitious as other mods, doing little more than character model swaps on a single map, but fans of Knights of the Old Republic should get a kick out of seeing Malachor V and Darth Revan in a Battlefront game.
1 Battlefront III Legacy
Development on Battlefront III was handed to Free Radical Design, but the game was canceled just before it was finished. We never got to see what this new developer had to offer, but Battlefront III Legacy tries to fix that.
What’s notable about this mod is that it takes assets from a leaked alpha build of Free Radical’s Battlefront III and places them in Battlefront II. It adds new maps, new heroes, and a new HUD and menu interface – but unlike other mods, these are technically official creations since they were from the canceled game. If nothing else, this is a fascinating look at a lost piece of gaming history, and a look at what could have been for this franchise.