There have been many games that have attempted to recreate the battles from the Star Wars movies over the past two decades. Luckily for fans of the feature films, most have succeeded in delivering experiences that seem to justify George Lucas’ masterpieces during the time they were created. In the modern day of gaming, while Bioware’s Knights of the Old Republic may be heralded as the best game to ever feature the Star Wars brand name, Factor 5’s Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader is arguably the best game when it comes to recreating aerial and space shooter sequences from the original Star Wars Trilogy. However during the advent of popular PC shooters like Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam, which allows players to experience both the aerial and ground battles of those two great and historical wars, it has become the time to recreate, not just the aerial action, but also the ground battles of the greatest war of all time in Star Wars Battlefront. This is Star Wars depicted in video-game form on the grandest scale to date.
Grand Battle
The scale of Battlefront’s battles are huge. Simply because battles can occur both on the ground and in the air, the sense of war is just amazingly well executed and grand.
While grounded, you can go head on into battle on foot, on a Speeder Bike, in a tank-like sort of vehicle, or even in the monstrous AT-AT walker from Empire Strikes Back. Then when you take into consideration the aerial aspect of things, you can jump into an X-Wing, Y-Wing, Tie Fighter, Jedi Starfighter, etc., to shoot down enemies in the sky, or the unsuspecting grunts below. There is just so much variety to actual battles that the experience is just thrilling, for not just Star Wars fans, but for anyone in search of an enjoyable 1st/3rd person shooter.
Thankfully, it’s not just as if all these elements are tossed onto barren wastelands to let chaos run wild. No. The game’s levels are designed well enough to contain all this chaos and present it to players in a respectable way. They can be used strategically by players, thanks to the inclusion of underground tunnels, multi-tiered environments, trenches dug into the snow, sniper spots, etc. Although, I must admit that some of the smaller maps in the game aren’t designed as well as the larger ones such as Hoth, Endor, Kamino, and both of those on Bespin. At times these smaller maps make players feel like they can be killed as soon as they appear in the game.
Could’ve Been Better
The main draw of Star Wars Battlefront isn’t its single-player campaign modes. In all the truth, those modes, both Historical Campaign and Galactic Conquest, are shallow. Although both single-player modes feature different titles, they’re not much different than the multi-player side of the game, with the only difference being that you’re the only human character on the battlefield, instead of playing alongside others.
In Historical Campaign players recreate a handful of battles from George Lucas’ space opera, either directly from the films or fictional battles meant to take place during the Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War. After choosing the Star Wars era, players will enter battle with no choice of which side they can fight on. The only choice they have is the type of soldier or unit they can take to battle and at which command post they may spawn at. While it may seem that the lack of a
"This is Star Wars depicted in video-game form on the grandest scale to date "
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choice to choose sides is a negative factor, it becomes understandable since its done to progress a chopped up story of the Star Wars Saga, and luckily you’re not just restricted to playing as the good guys. Thankfully, in this mode, Pandemic has even included a level which lets players recreate the Gungan vs. Trade Federation ground battle from The Phantom Menace, allowing players to slaughter dozens upon dozens of Jar Jar Binks look-alikes. This is an incredibly satisfying feeling for any Star Wars fan who’s wished that Jar Jar Binks would die an incredibly horrible, painful, and gruesome death. Mesa liken dis!
As for Galactic Conquest, it has some very simple board game-like ideas to it. You choose the planet to fight on, most of which have two maps each, and after becoming victorious on both maps of each world, it will be under your control. Then you move onto the next planet and try to acquire it as well. So on and so forth. However, there are a handful of interesting factors that can affect each battle. These factors range from the assistance of a Jedi hero or villain in battle (who cannot be killed, mind you) to the sabotage of enemy vehicles. These wild card-like factors are unlocked with each planet that rallies behind you, but your enemy can use them on you as well. However, from my experience I’ve learned that these x-factors don’t affect battle much at all. The only one that provides any real use is the ability to disrupt an enemy’s radar system. Additionally, while the Jedi hero and villain feature does sound pretty interesting, and while it is somewhat useful, for the most part these heroes and villains (which include Luke Skywalker, Mace Windu, Count Dooku, and Darth Vader), aren’t too useful, due to the fact they often stay in the most remote places of the battlefield, never really giving you a real advantage or disadvantage. Also, what players have to take into consideration is that Galactic Conquest, just like any of the single-player modes in the game, isn’t too difficult unless you have the CPU AI set on the "Hard" difficulty setting. Skilled players will be winning battles way too easily on any other setting, and without any real risk of a loss, gameplay isn’t all too appealing. But when things get difficult and the challenge is there, the fear of losing will haunt even the most experienced players, making the battle more intense than it would be otherwise.
Now, what makes this game shallow is the fact that there aren’t any real mission goals given to players in order to add some variety and appeal to the single-player experience. What’s interesting is that the objectives given during battle which tell players things like "Destroy the Shield Generator," etc., are pointless. There’s no point in doing anything of the sort. It doesn’t make much of a difference, if any, in battle.
"interaction between human players is what makes Battlefront enjoyable online"
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Just like the multi-player game, all you really have to do is mow down hundreds of enemies and capture command posts (spawning areas).
While simply blasting away at enemies is interesting, much more could’ve been done to make the single-player experience feel unique. Instead, it’s just a watered-down version of the game’s online multi-player. Simply put, Battlefront’s multi-player experience is far, far superior.
Online Fun; Online Problems
The level of interaction between human players is what makes Battlefront enjoyable online. Imagine you’re a Rebel soldier recreating the "Battle of Hoth" from Empire Strikes Back. As you hop into the cockpit of a Snowspeeder, a fellow human soldier will jump inside the speeder along with you as he or she mans the tow cable gun. Together, you fly out onto the battlefield, while watching your fellow ground troops take on the Empire on-foot, you begin to fly towards one of the nearby enemy AT-ATs, while your buddy fires the tow cable gun at it in order to hook onto the enemy walker, which then allows for you as the pilot to fly circles around it, causing it to trip and collapse to the ground. Thus destroying it, just like in the classic film. This level of interaction between human players is just incredible, and, of course, it’s an incredible thrill for any Star Wars fan. While the Battle of Hoth has been featured in most movie-based Star Wars games over the past two decades, none recreates it better than the online multi-player experience of Star Wars Battlefront.
Unfortunately, not everything is fine and dandy in the land of online multi-player. It seems that in games with a large amount of human players on the server, Battlefront can lag severely. At times it’s just a minor hindrance in gameplay, but it’s also not rare to come across a serious case that makes the game unplayable. In fact, it happens quite often. When it comes to the point where enemies appear out of thin air, you know something isn’t right. Hopefully, Pandemic and LucasArts will be able to remedy these issues in the near future, but in their current state, at times it takes the fun out of the online experience, and it’s a shame, because the online portion of the game is extremely enjoyable when running smoothly.
The Weak Minded
When Obi-Wan Kenobi referred to Stormtroopers as being weak minded, he wasn’t kidding. Although in Battlefront this reference applies to more than just Stormtroopers.
Unfortunately, the AI in the game isn’t all that intelligent. While enemy bots seem to provide quite the offensive, there have been times when I’ve seen fellow AI controlled teammates standing idle off in some remote corner of the map while battle was ensuing, with our side receiving casualties in large numbers. Any attempt to issue a command to call them towards me never seemed to be too effective either, but these button commands never seem to be too useful at any time. Only a handful of teammates seem to follow your orders. This is yet another reason as to why the online experience is far superior. With a simple voice command, human teammates can join you in rushing an enemy command post from one side, or even multiple sides depending on the strategies used. The cooperation between players is a very satisfying experience. In online multi-player, you’re no longer an army of one.
"Control, Control! You must learn control!"
Fans of the Xbox version of Halo will be pleased to hear that the control scheme used in Star Wars Battlefront is pretty much identical to the one used in the Xbox killer-app. The R Trigger is used to fire your primary weapon, while the L trigger is used for secondary weapons like grenades and the rocket launchers of CIS droids. Additionally, land-based vehicles use the dual analog control setup for steering and acceleration similarly to the Warthog in Halo. While this functions well, when jumping into the cockpits of aerial vehicles things don’t work too great. In my earlier experiences with flying vehicles, it was not rare to find myself accidently crashing into a mountain side or some sort of other large structure. I would’ve much preferred a control scheme that mimics that used in Factor 5’s Rogue Squadron games.
Of course, for the console version of the game an auto-aim feature has been added, and not only does it make aiming easier, but it also locks-on to players and enemies, sometimes making gunfire difficult to avoid. Purists or fans of the PC version of Battlefront may think this is blasphemy, but in all truth, it shouldn’t make much of a difference to owners of the console version of the game. Also, if players choose to do so, they may turn off this auto-aim feature to hone their targeting skills as easily as it is to switch from third to first person perspectives in the game’s options menu.
If you’re possibly fearing that online games will be affected by this auto-aim feature, don’t sweat it much. Online games either allow this feature, or restrict it
"It’s just incredibly satisfying to jump into a game as easy to pick up as Battlefront is"
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completely. Simple as that. And, as players across the nation get accustomed the game, I’m sure you’ll be able to find plenty of online multi-player battles that restrict the auto-aim feature.
Will Players Keep Coming Back?
With the game’s shallow single-player and laggy online modes, you would think that players will not want to play Battlefront for too long. However, while it is possible that some players may be turned off by these issues, when it comes down to it Battlefront is still a fun game. Because of this, players will not feel robbed when they discover that the single-player isn’t much different than the online multi-player. And when the online aspect is running smoothly, it truly is a thrilling experience that players will want to experience over and over again. Of course, Pandemic has also included some un-lockable treats, including some of the original art designs for the original films by the legendary Ralph McQuarrie, but these treats are somewhat trivial.
Visually Pleasing... No more. No less.
There isn’t anything spectacular about Battlefront visually, but, at the same time, there isn’t anything terrible about it either. The environments in the game are, at times, are quite large. In particular, that of Endor is quite impressive, but not only because of it’s scale, but also because many trees fill up the map. An impressive technical achievement when running at a solid frame rate with some sixteen players blasting away and attempting blow up each other. As for the game’s characters themselves, they’re rendered very well. Clone Troopers, Stormtroopers, and droids look very much like they do in the films, but they could be improved with a few polygons added here and there. Simply put, Star Wars Battlefront is a good looking game; a good looking game that would benefit greatly from higher quality textures, lighting, and perhaps a better draw distance.
Auditory Goodness
There isn’t much that hasn’t been said about John Williams’ soundtrack to the Star Wars films. They’re emotional, menacing, powerful, and just amazing in every imaginable way. There isn’t a piece of music in these films that isn’t memorable, or immediately recognizable.
Star Wars video games have been featuring these orchestrated themes for decades. The only real difference between each game is that over the years the audio capabilities of game consoles have improved with each passing generation, improving the quality of tracks. Star Wars Battlefront, as you could imagine, uses these tracks to the best of its use.
Fairly lengthy orchestrated themes from the films loop in battle, and the various themes played not only depend on the planet you’re on, but as well as the era of Star Wars characters that are in battle. For instance, if fighting on the gaseous planet of Bespin, a recognizable theme from Empire Strikes Back will play if the players on the battlefield are Rebels Soldiers and Stormtroopers. However, if Clone Troopers and Trade Federation troops are on the field, you’ll hear a theme from the Prequel Trilogy, which will most likely be "Duel of the Fates" (the dramatic choir theme that plays during the climax of The Phantom Menace).
As for the sound effects and dialogue, it’s a similar scenario. Most are pulled straight from the films, and in the case of Clone Troopers, they’re voiced by Jango Fett actor Temuera Morrison. So, you know Pandemic is staying true to the source material. Of course, the blaster fire, etc., has the intensity you would expect from a Star Wars game, and that, my friends, is a very good thing because Star Wars Sound Engineer Ben Burtt and his team at Skywalker Sound did an amazing job using "organic" sounds for the sound effects of the films.
The Force is Strong with this One
I’ve played my fair share of Battlefront over the past few weeks to say that, while the game has some issues, it really is one of the most enjoyable Xbox Live games available today. It’s just incredibly satisfying to jump into a game as easy to pick up as Battlefront is. It actually reminds me of how fun the PC version of CounterStrike is because of its playability. Simply because of this characteristic, the game is worth a look from any kind of gamer. However, those who will find the game the most satisfying are Star Wars fans themselves. Hopefully, I expressed that clear enough above with all the fanboy material. May the force be with you.
