There’s no getting around it: 2015’s Star Wars: Battlefront, from developers EA and DICE, was a colossal disappointment. An enormous lack of longevity and fun, a greedy reliance on downloadable content, bare-bones gameplay, and a failure to greatly utilize the Star Wars name solidified the shooter title as a case of missed potential on nearly all fronts. While the game certainly looked and sounded like Star Wars, it didn’t feel like Star Wars. It just felt like a watered-down Call of Duty game that just so happens to look a lot like Star Wars.

To nobody’s surprise, EA and DICE are partnering together for a sequel, Star Wars Battlefront II. Only a few weeks ago at this year’s Star Wars Celebration, a trailer for the game was released, detailing what is to come in the sequel. Like its predecessor, it boasts the aesthetic and auditory aspects of the beloved Star Wars franchise.

But that’s where the similarities end, friends. Because Star Wars Battlefront II looks good. And I mean “I’m probably going to pre-order good.”

Of course, given EA’s notorious involvement with cheap, half-baked games like Battlefield 4, someone will most likely think, “Oh, EA is just pulling your leg; they’re not going to improve with this one.” But the trailer I saw seemed--dare I say it--genuine. Why? Because it effortlessly, incredibly, surprisingly addresses all of the criticisms people had with the first Battlefront--point by point. So, while some skepticism is good, it isn’t fair to completely shut out EA with this one.

First of all, THEY’RE PUTTING IN A CAMPAIGN. Yes. Finally.

Something that really annoyed players about the first game was that we were given a Star Wars game--a game based on a franchise built on lore, mythos, and intriguing story--with absolutely nothing resembling a narrative. For those who haven’t seen the trailer, Battlefront II puts us in the shoes of the (Female!) Imperial soldier Iden Versio, leader of the infamous Inferno Squadron. After the second Death Star is destroyed at the end of “Return of the Jedi,” Versio and her team seek vengeance for the comrades they lost on the star station.

I praise the story for deciding to have a female lead in a first-person shooter; it truly is something you don’t see that often in this day and age. On top of that, the idea is compelling, with the potential to be something truly magnificent and worthy of the Star Wars mantle. It is certainly a step up from the lackluster single-player offerings the first Battlefront had to offer. In a world where people have this strange notion that single player content has no place in the making of financially successful video games, it is nice to see that EA and DICE have come to their senses regarding the relevance of story--especially for a game tied to the Star Wars universe.

Oh, but that’s not to say that multiplayer and such isn’t important. The original LucasArts Battlefront games prided themselves on their core concept: letting players duke it out as various grunts in large space and ground battles. The first Battlefront did attempt to feature both, but a number of factors--including the dull customization system and unacceptably low amount of multiplayer maps--made the experience something less than the Battlefront games we got more than ten years ago. Battlefront II aims to recapture that magic in a very big way.

Out is the customization system from the first Battlefront, and in is the class-based gameplay that the original games had. This adds a dimension of versatility and flavor that this game desperately needs to stand out in the highly competitive shooter game market. Now of course, class-based gameplay isn’t the most original idea--last year’s Overwatch, which to this day has an enormous global player base, utilizes this style--but it is something that EA and DICE will hopefully use to their advantage in order to create something distinct, fresh, appealing to Star Wars fans, and also appealing to those who grew up with the old Battlefront series.

Besides the new gameplay style, there is also the matter of content. EA and DICE’s first attempt went sour due to only having a paltry handful of maps and limiting players to mediocre aerial dogfights, ground battles with unoriginal or broken modes, and not letting them experience any other Star Wars eras outside of the timeline of the original trilogy. With Battlefront II, the developers are allowing players to explore not one, but three different eras: the beloved Clone Wars era, the original trilogy timeline, and the recently-established continuity that starts with “The Force Awakens.”

Giving players access to all major timelines of the Star Wars saga is a plus in my book, and is an absolutely fantastic way to give this game replay value. Moreover, space battles--a staple of the original Battlefront games--have returned, and lots of different battlegrounds have been shown off or teased. Make no mistake, EA and DICE must know that they screwed up with the multiplayer and gameplay content in the first game and want to make it up by going all out.

Yes, I realize that trailers are not always indicative of the final product. Battlefront II could very well be terrible, and there could be untold horrors that haven’t been shown yet. However, you can’t deny that Battlefront II’s features are the complete antithesis to the inadequate offerings of its predecessor; nor can you deny that its status as antithesis is just a coincidence. I want to believe that EA and DICE want to do right by us Star Wars fans--and they’ll have their chance to do so come November of this year.