Star Wars Battlefront

Editor's Notes

Xbox One disc version reviewed.

Introduction

It is the year of 'Star Wars', and along with the movie that is sure to break many records, gamers have a new 'Battlefront'. The original series, developed by Pandemic (since shut down), was well received, with the last release in 2005. A PSP spin-off series by Rebellion Developments concluded in 2009. This multiplayer-centric reboot was developed by EA’s DICE studio ('Battlefield', 'Mirror’s Edge'), with help from Criterion and Visceral.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

'Star Wars Battlefront' is a multiplayer shooter with a variable perspective. Players can switch back and forth between first- and third-person as their hearts desire. In true 'Star Wars' fashion, the battlefields are awash in blaster fire, thermal detonators, X-wings, walkers, and even lightsabers. At the beginning of the match, players are assigned to the Rebel or Imperial side and proceed to mercilessly gun each other down while protecting some objective (except in the case of the Supremacy gametype, which is standard deathmatch). 'Battlefront' is more light-hearted in style than many modern shooters that try to focus on edginess and technical acumen. Pick-ups litter the maps and award a player with gadgets or other goodies, and each side can periodically field a hero character, such as Han Solo or Boba Fett.

I really enjoyed the sweeping, epic space opera feel that the 'Star Wars' license brings to the table. In multiplayer (which is really the only way to play this game - more on that later), games can field up to 40 players, which is absolute bedlam. There is so much happening on screen that it can be overwhelming, but the radar is a huge boon. Some maps tend to squeeze both sides into a central bottleneck, especially during king of the hill matches, and that was when the fun factor was highest and the lives were shortest. Health regenerates quickly and respawns are instantaneous, so death wasn’t that painful unless I was carrying a nice power-up, which I was keen to use as quickly as I could.

The controls and gunplay are not as technical as other shooters, but they don’t need to be. Combat is fluid and intuitive, and even though all of the basic blaster rifle variants are pretty similar, I was rarely frustrated by sticky reticles or latency issues. The vehicle and spacefighter segments are equally light and responsive, particularly X-wing dogfighting. The Walker Assault gametypes is one of the strongest, although it often feels as though the brick tanked AT-ATs overpower the meager Rebel forces. Other gametypes are the usual multiplayer shooter suspects. I liked Supremacy just for the sheer spectacle of it - even though the maps are huge, action is easy to find. With so many players available, there are several small battles scattered across the level at any given time.

Characters are pretty customizable (although I’d like to see more stormtrooper variants), with the nicer skins and equipment available only after playing for awhile and earning lots of credits. Each character starts with only a blaster rifle to their name - other equipment comes in the form of cards, also purchased via credits. Cards recharge throughout the battle, and account for grenades, sidearms, heavy weapons, and so on.