Battlefront 2 Sides Expansion

Description
This sides mod by 666rulerofclones is a step above his previous work. The main thrust of the mod is replacing most of the weapons with rifles, in an attempt to "balance" gameplay.

There are a number of reasons why this doesn't really work that way. The sweeping replacement of most weapons with rifles ([i]pistols[/i] were replaced with rifles) has the exact opposite effect on unit-to-unit balance. Most classes in the stock game are fairly well balanced, but switching up weapons does a number on any mitigating factors in their balance. For example, the heavy trooper class now has both a rifle and a rocket launcher, in addition to his secondary armaments. This puts him a [i]touch[/i] above where he should be. The same effect happens in reverse with the Magnaguard. His miniature rocket launcher (Bulldog) has been replaced with a basic rifle - making him a shadow of what he was.

The thing that confuses me the most though is the Republic officer's chaingun. For all this talk of balance, that is now certainly an unbalanced weapon. It sticks out so badly against all the other weapons, which feel, for the most part, normal. It fires faster, and fires larger ordnances with higher damages. It just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Technically, it's a very sound job, even if most of the changes were minor. The only real issues were that the HUD for the chaingun was wrong and there was no sound on the chaingun.

Give it a try if you want, but I wouldn't buy into it as a "balance" mod. Remember to back up any side files as this will replace default game files.

-Mav