Star Wars Battlefront

I can’t think of a licensed franchise that carries more weight than the Star Wars brand. The universe alone allows for so many consumer passes, particularly in the realm of video games. For instance, I’m not convinced The Force Unleashed was actually a good game, but I enjoyed it because of its implementation of the Star Wars franchise. 2015’s Star Wars: Battlefront is in that same general category for me. I’ve had a blast with this game since the day it was released, and I’ve never seen a more authentic ode to the brand, but would I have enjoyed this game as much without the Star Wars license and aesthetic? Absolutely not.

Let’s go back to the year 2004; Revenge of the Sith was less than a year away, Call of Duty was a brand new franchise, and several people traded away their social life [World of Warcraft]. Amongst all that commotion, the original Star Wars: Battlefront was created by Pandemic, crafted in the vain of Battlefield 1942 to “feature battles and worlds from every one of the Star Wars films." The game was particularly a success on consoles, the PS2 and the original Xbox, so much so to warrant a sequel just a year later. Battlefront II was bigger and better than the original, featuring more modes and improved gameplay attributes. However, despite being very commercially successful yet again, an entire decade would go by without another iteration in the series. Over the course of those ten years, we’d get a multitude of rumors about the long-awaited Battlefront III, but also within that duration Pandemic Studios would close down. Free Radical picked up the series to develop the third game themselves, but they too would be shutdown once purchased by Crytek after the absolute “classic” Haze. News of Battlefront III went quiet for a couple years, but a few months following the already historic Disney purchase, EA obtained the rights to the making of all Star Wars property games. Now in the hands of DICE, the team behind the Battlefield franchise, Battlefront III turned into plain Battlefront to disassociate itself as a direct sequel after a full ten years. On November 17 of 2015, the game would finally be released.

As I’m sure you already know, we are in a galaxy far far away, taking place a long time ago. The game is situated on four planets: Hoth, Tatooine, the forest moon of Endor, and Sullust (my guess, to be featured in The Force Awakens); with Jakku as upcoming free DLC (also presumably to be derived from The Force Awakens). It’s the collective Rebel Alliance pitted against the Galactic Empire, and you’ll find no Midichlorians hiding anywhere here, because 2015’s Star Wars: Battlefront is completely devoid of anything prequel-related. It’s actually quite comical how much they went out of their way to just focus on the original trilogy and the upcoming one. My guess: DICE wanted to annoy the least amount of fans as possible, but what they didn’t foresee were certain other aspects of the game to be criticized by that very crowd.

Let’s put everything that’s great about this game up front; first of all, the shooting here is great. On the flip-side to Battlefront one or two, the game is primarily a first-person shooter with an option to change to third-person. It’s perfectly playable within its third-person perspective, but first-person is definitely the way to go. These controls are very responsive, and I wouldn’t mind these mechanics being carried over to future titles. Battlefront successfully manages to straddle the line to appeal to general fans of shooters and the avid fan of Star Wars. Personally, I have always absolutely sucked at competitive online shooters, so seeing a more casual approach to the genre alongside the Star Wars aesthetic is a plus in my book. Even though the origins of Battlefront are with Battlefield, the game mainly deviates from this with its pickups. You’ll find holograms scattered across the map that could contain a turret, a special gun, or even something as significant as a full-blown vehicle. I actually like this system, as it adheres to that more casual approach, where I would normally suck so much that I would never be able to obtain these elements within a given match. All of these mechanisms are brought over to all nine modes, with the exception of Fighter Squadron. I’ll admit, on a broad scale, I actually found enjoyment within each one, even though each has their own problems. For the most part, they all manage to capture the grand scale of the Star Wars universe, and these multiplayer battles could appear downright epic given the right moment. I also have to say that I’m impressed by the UI; it’s clean and gives you all the information you need without being intrusive at all.

Now on to the bad things; of course, there is no campaign in here at all. Some people are taking this to heart very strongly, and while I certainly wish there one here with these excellent mechanics, the Battlefront series never had a particularly engaging single-player experience. They were always set-pieces against bots with very minimal story to begin with; but yes, it was still there, and not just the wave-based mode that’s in here. Also, while I did say I found enjoyment in all the modes, that does not mean they’re completely flawless. For instance, Blast is a basic deathmatch and somewhat uninspired, and Fighter Squadron has the spectacle of awesome dogfighting, but the whole experience comes up short in the end. The vehicles themselves don’t control particularly bad, but most of the time I just end of crashing them. Modes like Hero Hunt would be cool and interesting, if it wasn’t for the fact that I was abysmal at them; to the point I that did so bad and would actually stop playing the time being because it was losing its fun. Even though seeing the words “Hunt Down Princess Leia” always proved to be fairly humorous. However, perhaps the largest buzz-kill within Star Wars: Battlefront is its bad progression system. Given the type of multiplayer shooter that it is, there is no set matchmaking, so you have yourself a round-up of players of fluctuating experience. For the most part, the progression system doesn’t present much worthwhile to aim for, with the lone exception of that one pistol people the most experienced leveled players seem to always kill me in one hit with.

Star Wars authenticity has never been greater than in this Battlefront reboot. The music, the sound effects, the atmosphere, you name it; I’ve never seen more pristine fan service, let alone for a Star Wars brand. Often times when playing, I just found myself getting lost in nostalgia, because literally countless aspects of this game have a large amount of passionate detail put into it. On top of that, this is simply one of the best-looking titles to ever hit the industry. Hoth’s landscape has been more appealing in this medium; from the awesome skybox to the sights of trench warfare.

Star Wars: Battlefront II is one of my favorite games of all-time, but the fact remains that those original games seem to be objectively better than this. With a class system that allowed more strategy, alongside features like an actual campaign and the iconic Galactic Conquest, it doesn’t make much sense why so much has been left out. Sure, this Battlefront is meant to be a reboot of some sort, but for a game that plays and feels this great, the game’s lack of general content is just disappointing. If you refuse to buy Star Wars: Battlefront, I will not fault you, but don’t make redundant claims like that it’s “really a $110 game!” $50 season passes, like microtransactions, are here to stay whether we like it or not. This is not the first time we’ve seen it, and it won’t be the last. I personally will not be buying it, and I urge you not to as well because DLC has almost always been overpriced in my experience; this is no different from that, and simply just a round-up of possibly a much larger issue. However, despite all that, the mechanics here really go a long way. Shooting a blaster has never been more satisfying, and good luck finding a better way to immerse yourself in the Star Wars universe through a video game. Call me part of the problem, but yes, I will to continue to casually play Star Wars: Battlefront as I see fit because I genuinely enjoy it. Maybe I’m succumbing to the powers of the dark side, but Battlefront may be the definition of a guilty pleasure for me.