What is Star Wars: Battlefront?

Star Wars Battlefront puts you in some of the most intense battles from the Star Wars universe. Taking on the role of a foot soldier for either The Rebels or The Empire, you can take part in historic battles from the fight for Hoth to the forest moon of Endor. But fight valiantly enough, soldier, and you can wield the power of legends including Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Han Solo.

Take control of the force and compel your enemies to rage quit.

How the Game Works

When you first load up Battlefront, you can choose to get a crash course in “Master The Force” or hop right into a 40 person battle. These battles, which are playable in both first-person and third-person, can include various modes with different objectives like taking down an AT-AT, defending the Ewoks, or just a hero vs. villain murder fest! After you’ve played around a bit and taken part in a few battles you can customize your loadout using the credits you’ve earned from said battles. It’s nowhere near the complexity of other tactical shooters, but you’re offered a fair bit of customization. You can change the look of your trooper as well as choose what weapon and special gadgets they will have when you go into a battle.

Score: 9/10

The World

The world is beautifully rendered and immersive. Each map is intelligently structured as well. Battlefront gives you 12 maps to choose from across 4 different planets, and that number will rocket up to 36 when the constant stream of DLC being added finally comes to a close. Places like Hoth don’t fall prey to how barren they can be; instead there is lots of cover to take from incoming gunfire. After playing for about an hour, you can really get lost in how great everything looks. Just try not to get killed while you’re admiring the rock formations on Tatooine.

Score: 10/10

These graphics are a beautiful trap!

Factions

The Rebels and The Empire’s troops are almost evenly matched. Almost. Even though both sides have access to the same abilities and weapons, The Empire seems to have an advantage in terms of the vehicles it can use. Besides the use of an imperial walker on missions where The Rebels try to take out an AT-AT, the tie fighter and snowspeeder seem to handle a bit better than their rebellion counterparts. Though it’s a matter of opinion, the imperials might look a bit cooler when compared side by side with a rebel.

Score: 7/10

Combat

Here’s the real meat and potatoes of Battlefront. Every bullet you fire is very responsive and logical. There are few moments in which you die and question the game’s credibility. This game is truly hard to rage at. The polished combat, mixed with the variety of tools the game lets you have, makes for an amazing experience. Troopers have access to tons of weapons as well as their special star cards, as well as a basic melee attack. As a hero, you gain access to iconic weapons like Chewbacca’s bowcaster, and the legendary signature weapons of the Jedi, lightsabers. The one criticism is that there may be too may players to let you build up that confidence you get in 6 on 6 battles, since it’s so easy to die just because of how high the probability is that you’ll round the corner and eat a blaster.

Score: 9.5/10

Weapons

Battlefront doesn’t leave any type of soldier in the dust. There are blasters for a myriad of playing styles. There’s blasters for mid-range, there’s blasters with scopes, there’s blasters that work like shotguns, there’s blasters that have rapid fire, there’s blasters that have burst fire, there’s blasters that shoot fire. There’s a lot of blasters. The real variety comes in the form of star cards. Star cards are unlockables that represent specialized items and weapons that a soldier can bring into battle. They range from high powered sniper shots to cluster grenades to jetpacks. Just fire one off and wait for it to cool down so you can use it again. After that there’s charged star cards, which have shorter cool downs, but act as boosts to your attacks, defense, and recoil. There’s tons of star cards to choose from, and you’ll definitely be wanting to sink your credits into trying as many as possible.

Score: 8/10

The DH-17 is one of many well-balanced blasters in the world of Star Wars:Battlefront

Balance

DICE obviously worked and tested to make sure Battlefront would be as well balanced as possible. None of the weapons are an automatic kill, they rely much more on play skill and your positioning than their own stats. Beside some imperial advantages,(Empire vehicles seem to feel faster and easier to control), the vehicles are able to have good, competitive dog fights with each other. Troops can effectively kill these vehicles as well, so jumping in a tie fighter doesn’t make you invincible to everything except X-Wings.

Score: 9/10

The heroes aren't the only things that are legendary. Milennium Falcon, AWAY!

Graphics

The graphics of the characters themselves look pretty, but that’s about it. There isn’t much variety in terms of emotes or other animations. One thing that really stands out, though, is player interaction with AT-AT’s. Battlefront’s graphics and character models really shine when you just barely don’t get squashed by an imperial walker. There’s also an incredible feeling of nostalgia and awe when you pan your camera up to the sky to see a beautiful horizon filled with lasers and X-Wing dogfights.

Score: 9/10 

The heroes themselves could have been more fleshed out. The well known ways characters walk and talk are there, like Darth Vader never wanting to break into a run, or Han Solo always lifting his offhand into the air when shooting, but the developers could have taken us into new realms had they implemented hero interactions. What happens when Han Solo meets the emperor? Do they exchange quips? Threats? Oh.. they just kill each other straight away, then the loser just kneels. Besides that, the rest of the animations are well polished. There’s no unwanted clipping of character models, or falling through the game world. Though I would have liked an emote to make my Stormtrooper yell out “Rebel Scum!” the developers did a good job of making sure the animation department didn’t stop the game from being playable. Long story short, the animations are exactly what they should be.

Score: 7/10

Sound Effects

This was an area where DICE tried not to go too far off of the reservation. All of the expected pew pews and famous music scores are there, (Imperial March, Ewok Parade, etc..) but it’s nothing we haven’t heard sound bytes of 100 times before. Though DICE didn’t bend over backwards to introduce cutting edge sound effects, the ones they did include make you really feel like you’re in an icon Star Wars battle. You can hear the zoom of X-Wings, the famous sound of blaster discharge, and the subtle imperial radio chatter as you make your way across Hoth.

Score: 6/10

How Fun is it?

Aside from the issue of the fact that 20 vs 20 makes it hard to live for an extended amount of time, this game is super fun. While you’re playing, you never really think about all of these issues (even they’re happening to you) just because of the sheer amount of fun you’re having. Even while waiting for a game to start, I found myself just admiring my character and feeling giddy at the whole experience. Star Wars: Battlefront can suck you in for hours at a time. You’re no longer on Earth. You are where the battle for universal peace takes you. Play at your own risk: this game will sap you of your productivity. It’s that tantalizing.

Score: 9/10

Final Verdict

Battlefront is tons of fun for what it is; a pure multiplayer experience. Unfortunately though, it’s in a market where it may be too outclassed by its competitors. For a gamer who owns all the AAA titles, you may find yourself just wanting to play Battlefield or Titan Fall after the awe of “It’s Star Wars” wears off. But, if you can find a copy at a good price, you’d be a fool not to buy it.

Final Score: 8/10