GAME REVIEW: Star Wars: Battlefront — The Force Woke Too Soon
Raves
Rants
The Star Wars franchise had been re-awoken. Lead by a plethora of movies schedule for release in the coming years, the franchise looks to spread it’s influence in just about everything, including video games. The first of which seeks to rekindle the Battlefront series, and who better to make such a game than EA DICE, who’ve proven their prowess […]
The Star Wars franchise had been re-awoken. Lead by a plethora of movies schedule for release in the coming years, the franchise looks to spread it’s influence in just about everything, including video games. The first of which seeks to rekindle the Battlefront series, and who better to make such a game than EA DICE, who’ve proven their prowess when it comes to creating really immersive shooters.
S T O R Y
There is virtually no Story Mode here. There are several offline missions that have brief intros and outros but that’s about it. You’ll be better off re-watching the films for the 501st time. For most people, this is already enough of a downer to opt out of getting the game. For me, the lack of story would have been fine if it was compensated by a highly replayable multiplayer mode. Nope.
G A M E P L A Y
Battlefront is essentially Battlefield in a galaxy far, far away. Gameplay is well refined thanks to the many years EA DICE have spent making Battlefield games.
Perhaps the best feature of Battlefront is the ability to easily switch between third person and first person view on the fly, mainly because this feature is not only for aesthetics. Switching between both perspectives in battle is a tactical decision. In third person mode, you can take advantage of peeking through corners and checking out your peripheral. Switching to first person view allows for landing more precise shots and sniping enemies at the distance.
Like the last battlefront game, this one also comes with split screen game modes but don’t get your hopes up. This feature feels so tacked on, almost like it was only implemented so they could say so.You can’t take your splitscreen partner online, and offline splitscreen modes are very limited. There is also no way to play a match with your split screen pal with all open slots filled up by bots. After trying out split screen for about 20 mins, you’ll probably never touch this mode again.
Battlefront does an impeccable job of simulating iconic Star Wars battles and making you feel like you’re a part of it. Alas, this immersion is squandered by it’s absolute lack of content. From weapons to perks, and even cosmetic unlocks, the sheer amount of unlockables are way below industry standards, adversely affecting replayablility. Being very limited and with lack of a good reason to grind, Battlefront gets old fast. At this point, your only hope would be to wait for the game’s much needed expansions. With the seasons pass costing over $40, almost as much as the core game, It’s clear that much of the content had been held back when the core game should never have been shipped with what it had to offer. A decision I’m willing to bet is beyond the developers control.
V I S U A L S & P E R F O R M A N C E
To put it frankly, Star Wars: Battlefront is one of the most gorgeous games I’ve ever seen in recent memory. The game may have a limited number of maps but if it’s any consolation, they are all very vibrant and stunning. The game’s visuals are the main ingredients to the immersive experience and manages to run in full 1080p and 60FPS on all platforms. The combination of motion blur, bloom, and all sorts of graphical effects coupled with authentic character animations and superb, highly accurate sound effects, makes for a frantic, immersive, and exciting combat experience. They’ve got a solid engine going here which could mean the foundation of a new franchise, ideally with more content, like seriously way, WAY more.
V E R D I C T
Oh, and did I mention that the game lacks content?
EA DICE was more than equipped to take up the Battlefront franchise; there was never any doubt. It’s a shame that the game was severely crippled by it’s disturbing lack of content. I simply cannot recommend this game right now as I feel there just isn’t enough content in the core game to justify it’s price. However, It is apparent that when all the expansions and updates are released, Battlefront is set to be the definitive Star Wars game fans have been dreaming of. My advice? Hold off ’til you get a decent deal. The game has already gone on sale on several occasions at the time of this writing.