Judalene Cheetham
With the Disney takeover of the Star Wars franchise and all the new merchandise and a new movie on the verge of release it only made sense for the gaming world to take advantage of this cash cow. EA did so when they got exclusive rights to making games for the Star Wars universe. But have they been responsible with this great power?
The new Star Wars Battlefront was developed by EA Digital Illusions CE, if they sound familiar it is because they are also responsible for the Battlefield series. Who better to have create the next Battlefront game than the experts in First Person Shooters, though you can play in third person if you so choose.
Unfortunately, while being known for solid shooting mechanics, they are not known for fantastic storylines. This sadly shows strongly in the latest Star Wars Battlefront. It can be said the game is Battlefield, but with a Star Wars skin. Though this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Star Wars Battlefront has two play options. Multiplayer and Missions. I will start with Missions. This is essentially the offline component they provide. Missions allow you to select from three objective types.
Training, which is simply learning combat and using vehicles.
Battles, which is a bit more interesting, offers two types. Simple Battles where you can verse a friend or AI in small arena type maps with the objective to collect tokens from the enemies’ corpses. This was fun against a friend but playing against only the AI didn’t go down as well. There are different difficulties if it all gets a bit too easy but overall it just lacked excitement. There is also a Hero Battle mode with the same objective but you can play as one of the iconic Star Wars characters be it Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. This does add to the fun but once again playing against the AI wasn’t as exciting as destroying a good friend.
Survival, the last of the three overall modes, pits you, and possibly a friend, against 15 waves of the Imperial army. Each wave is abit harder with tougher and more enemies being introduced.
There are 3 difficulties and I would recommend starting on the Hard difficultly if with a friend, as it lacks a bit of challenge. Playing solo on the other hand is just a bit dull. Running in circles around a tree to avoid the AT-ST shots is not as exciting as it might sound. There are only four Levels to play in. After playing through each Level once there isn’t much to bring you back to play it again.
You do unlock stars for certain objectives but this is not enough to get me to sit through it all a second time. Sadly, these Missions are as close as the game gets to a Campaign mode.
The multiplayer is the more weighted section of the game.
There are 11 game modes and some of those cover the more generic FPS modes from the team death match (Blast) to a capture the flag game type (Cargo). The most fun and engaging mode would have to be Walker Assault. This is where they actually incorporate what the Star Wars universe has to offer. You play an intense battle where one side has to stop the AT-AT advance and the other has to do all in their power to simply destroy the enemy and defend the AT-ATs. This is easily the most fun of all the modes. Either crushing the rebel scum or destroying those AT-ATs as the rebel scum is all very satisfactory.
There is a couple of game modes that allow you to cycle through playing as Star Wars heroes and villains.
It was fun to play as Emperor Palpatine or Princess Leia and to likewise defend them when not your turn but this only held so much entertainment. Except for Darth Vader, as choking people with the force never gets old. The character models are amazing but this isn’t enough to keep the modes interesting for too long. There is one game mode that has you jump into air craft of some kind and fight in the skies. This too was okay but lacked in fervor.
The game does offer new equipment and items through Star Cards. These can be unlocked and purchased by playing the online multiplayer to level up and earn credits. The most useful and fun upgrade would be the jetpack which allows a much higher level of maneuverability and access to previously inaccessible vantage points.
Star Wars Battlefront is outright beautiful. It is just a gorgeous game. The environments are stunning and character models hold great level of detail as well.
The iconic Star Wars universe is very well portrayed. Visually I can’t pick fault with this game. The Levels are large and visuals are excellently done in every inch of them. Being in the middle of an epic battle in these well-presented environments had me feeling I was there and it was brilliant.
Star Wars is a very in depth universe and there is just so much on offer I felt it was seriously a missed opportunity. They could have provided players with a truly impressive Star Wars game that had a bit more to it than online multiplayer. Their game has not been out long and yet there are already game modes that don’t always find a match.
The online multiplayer is great but I would have liked more from a full price game. The offline content is certainly not worth the price tag and neither is solely the multiplayer… infact even together I wouldn’t say this content quite equates to a full game. The game is beautiful and gameplay mechanics are solid but there is quite a limited selection of game to actually play. It lacks personality. Playing Battlefield with a Star Wars skin is a lot of fun but it soon wears thin and you find yourself sick of sitting in the shallows. It does what it does well but I wish it did more.