Star Wars Battlefront (PC)

Star Wars Battlefront. Very few games this year were so eagerly anticipated; and very few games have aroused as much controversy. Those of us here at DLH who had a chance to play the Beta couldn’t even agree. Keep reading our review to find out about the light side as well as the dark side of Star Wars Battlefront.

Star Wars vs. Battlefield 

Gameplay

The game allows you to switch between first-person and various third-person perspectives, both on foot and in vehicles. The only time you can’t use third-person POV is when you’re playing as a hero or controlling an AT-ST.

Unlike in other games developed by DICE, you can’t start the game inside a vehicle or just find one waiting for you on the side of the road. Vehicles as well as special weapons are found in the form of small “tokens” spread across the map, which have to be activated by the player. These tokens aren’t randomly placed on the battlefield, either, but are always located in the exact same spot on each map.

The various game modes featured in Battlefront call for a relatively fast-paced style of play. The way mission objectives work tends to result in some pretty intense battles around the few hot spots on the map crowded with players from both sides. Even on the huge maps used for the "Walker Assault" and "Supremacy" game modes, you’re going to find most of the 40 players taking part in the match fighting over the same few mission-relevant patches of ground. If you’re trying to defend one of these spots or capture one, expect little time to catch your breath. There’s almost always going to be an enemy nearby, and the average life expectancy of a simple soldier is not exactly promising. And the practically unlimited number of grenades available to players only serves to underscore this fact of life in Battlefront.

Limited Perspective, but Predictable

Since the mission objectives are always located in the same place on a given map, large battles especially are lacking in the kind of dynamic that characterizes, say, the "Conquest" maps in Battlefield 4. Battles break down into the same segments each time, following roughly the same exact sequence, and it doesn’t take long before they become routine. Enemy movements are predictable, and after just a few minutes it’s easy to figure out who’s going to win the match if you’re familiar with the map and the game mode. If you play the same game mode five times on the same map, you’re unlikely to experience anything new.

Another thing that’s really frustrating is the somewhat poor balancing in "Walker Assault". On the densely forested moon of Endor, there’s very little a single Imperial walker can do against the Rebels striking from among the trees. And the same holds for other planets: if the Rebels are halfway clever with their tactics, the chances for the Imperials to win are going to be rather slim. By collecting certain special items like grenades and holding onto them until the next assault on the massive AT-ATs, the battle can quickly be decided in favor of the Rebels. The only way for the Imperials to counter this is by using extremely aggressive tactics.

Vehicles and Heroes

While they did a great job designing the controls for the relatively small AT-ST, the controls for the flying units are rather crude, and don’t compare with classic Star Wars space combat sims like X-Wing and TIE Fighter. Limited thrust controls, stock maneuvers performed with the simple push of a button, and somewhat odd handling in the air is sure to leave many X-Wing veterans pining for the gool ol’ days. Without the epic space battles with huge starships that are so integral to the Star Wars experience, and drastically simplified controls, real fans are going to have to accept some pretty major limitations. The aerial combat stuff is a nice change of pace, but Battlefront II had a lot more to offer ten years ago.

In addition to the vehicles, there are also hero tokens, which the player can pick up to step into the role of (depending on the faction) a major hero or a major villain from the Trilogy. The Empire has Darth Vader, the Emperor, and the dreaded bounty hunter Boba Fett, while the Rebel Alliance gets Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo. They’re presumably going to add additional characters in upcoming DLC packs, like Jedi master Yoda. All of them possess a variety of special abilities, and are really hard to defeat using regular weapons. Any player can pick up the tokens used to activate these heroes, which raises the question as to whether control over such powerful heroes should really be left to chance, or would it be better to have some kind of rewards system, like for completing a mission objective or something. As it stands, being a hero or not is pretty much a matter of luck.

Weapons and Gear

Just like with the vehicles, there are also several different tokens spread all over the map that give players access to a variety of special weapons and gear. But while the vehicle tokens indicate which vehicle you’re dealing with, power-ups (mostly weapons) all have the same generic symbol. Automatic rifles, rocket launchers, and air strikes are just some of the possibilities. You can either use them right away, or you can save them until you run into a situation where you need them. In any event, though, you can only carry one power-up at a time. This whole luck-of-the-draw system is a bit too reminiscent of games like Super Mario Kart, and was one of the reasons we felt that this game was not as mature as other, similar games.

But most extra weapons and gear rely on a rather unusual system. DICE has more or less completely done away with the class system typical for the genre, instead allowing the player to create a deck of “Star Cards” consisting of previously unlocked weapons and equipment items. A deck consists of three cards: a primary card that has to be charged by collecting energy tokens on the battlefield, such as a personal shield, and up to two secondary cards. These secondary cards can be grenades of various types, or a jump pack. You can use them as often as you like, and the only limit is a short cooldown time. Items like defibrillators or ammo packs that encourage you to work together on a team are not available.

In addition to the Star Cards, there are also a variety of firearms and clothing options to choose from. There are eleven different kinds of guns available corresponding to familiar weapons classes like sniper rifles, assault rifles, machine guns, etc. in other games. But as I mentioned above, in contrast to real-world projectile weapons, blaster rifles are relatively accurate, even over long distances; distance isn’t really an issue when you’re using laser bolts, which really makes aiming at long range a lot easier.

There isn’t really any significant difference between the two factions in terms of the weapons and equipment they can use. And they don’t appear to be planning to add any kind of system allowing you to upgrade weapons by say, adding a scope or something. All you can do is improve some of your special weapons/items by shortening the cooldown, for instance.

Imperial Stormtroopers really only differ from Rebel soldiers in their appearance. While this does guarantee a balanced playing field in terms of each team’s respective firepower, it still comes off as rather uninspired. Just a few faction-unique attributes or abilities could have made for a more interesting game.

The Dark Side: Team Play

During the fast-paced battles it’s nigh on impossible to actually work together with friends to achieve a particular goal. If you do in fact manage to do so, expect your enjoyment to be short-lived, as there’s no possibility of reviving your teammates, or even providing them with ammo, repairing damaged vehicles, or helping them in any other way. It’s every man for himself, more or less. There’s also no voice chat, nor is there an ability to mark enemies or set targets, all of which severely limit your options for communicating and discussing tactics with your teammates. The emotes, which you can select via three shortcut buttons, are kind of entertaining, but apparently don’t serve any practical purpose whatsoever.

The Light Side: The Atmosphere

And the sound is also pretty awesome. The most impressive part is the countless explosions that rock the battlefield. The sound waves don’t just blast through your ears; you can feel them, too. And the familiar blaster fire, great vehicle sounds, and well done voice acting only add to the impression. For the playable heroes and villains, Battlefront uses the voices of the original actors, once again showing an authentic love of detail. And the whole thing is rounded out by classic Star Wars background music for a truly authentic audio experience.

Multiplayer Game Modes: An Overview

Heroes vs Villains: In this mode, two teams of 6 face off against one another, each team consisting of 3 heroes or villains, plus 3 ordinary soldiers. From round to round, players stay on the same team, but the individual roles are rotated. The objective is to eliminate the enemy heroes/villains. The first team to win five rounds wins the match.

Hero Hunt: In "Hero Hunt", 8 players face off against one another, with one player playing as a hero/villain, whom the other players will have to hunt down and take out. It’s essentially every player for himself, and if you do manage to kill the hero, you become take on that role yourself, and the other players will then all be against you. It doesn’t matter how much damage any particular player deals on the hero – all that counts is the final shot. The winner is the player who killed the most enemies while in the role of hero/villain.

Droid Alarm: In this mode, two teams of 6 fight for control of three power droids that move around the battlefield. All you have to do to capture a droid is get close to it; to win, a team has to capture all three droids and then hold them for 20 seconds while defending against the enemy. If neither team manages to do this (which is what usually happens), then the winning team is the one that’s in control of two or three droids when the time runs out.

Drop Zone: This mode pits two teams against one another on a map that acts as the landing site of several escape pods. Your objective is to take these pods and hold them for a certain amount of time. The first team to control five capsules wins.

Cargo: In this mode, two teams of 12 attempt to seize cargo boxes from inside the other team’s base. Each team starts with five of these boxes, and they have to be stolen one by one. If one team manages to get all of the cargo boxes into their own base, the match is over. If this doesn’t happen, the team that has the most boxes when the time runs out wins. The gameplay here is reminiscent of a classic capture-the-flag match.

Blast: This is a classic 10v10 team deathmatch mode, where the objective is simply to kill as many members of the opposing team as possible. The first team to rack up 100 kills wins.

Fighter Squadron: This is another variation of the 10v10 team deathmatch. In this case, players control either Rebel or Imperial fighters in an intense aerial battle that also includes AI drones. Every now and then a transporter will also appear, which you will either have to defend or destroy.

Supremacy: The Empire and the Rebel Alliance go head to head in a 20v20 battle for control of five key points on the map. These must be taken in a specific order, requiring you to defend the last one you’ve taken while at the same time trying to take the next one. The winner is the team that captures all five key points or the team that controls the most positions when the time is up.

Walker Assault: In "Walker Assault" two teams of up to 20 players face off against one another on the ice planet of Hoth. For the Rebels, the objective is to destroy two advancing Imperial Walkers before they can get within range of the Rebel base’s shield generator. To do this, players have to reach and activate an uplink station, then defend it for a short time, until a team of Y-Wing bombers show up and temporarily incapacitate the walkers. It will take them a little while to recover, during which time they are vulnerable to attack. The Rebels have to use this time to deal as much damage as possible to the gigantic war machines. Then the whole thing starts over. On the other side, the Empire does their best to deactivate the uplink stations, or prevent them from being activated altogether, to protect the advancing AT-ATs.

Turning Point: This mode came with the the free DLC pack The Battle of Jakku, which was released on Dec. 8th. In this 20v20 battle, the attacking Rebel team must capture a series of control points in a certain amount of time. The attack takes place in four distinct phases – in the first phase, there are five control points to choose from, and you only need to capture one of them. The fighting intensifies with each new round, as the number of available control points to capture steadily decreases. The final round is an all-out battle over a single Imperial control point.

Missions