Star Wars Battlefront Review

Star Wars Battlefront Review

-A New Hope for the franchise, but not yet a Return.

Star Wars Battlefront is a tribute to a universe we all love. It’s immersive and incredibly detailed, pushed forward by a desire to defeat the next hero, capture the next droid, or even take down an AT-AT. By improving on the classic games of two generations ago, and fully embracing the world of Star Wars, DICE has created a game that I know I’ll keep returning back to months and months after release, despite its problems.

What DICE nails, it really nails but when the game falls short, it not only falls but quite frankly, plummets.

This game comes jam packed with an unbelievable amount of detail. Star Wars Battlefront is the most beautiful game I’ve ever seen. The textures never pop and constantly retain a high level of detail, the shafts of light cutting through the trees on Endor look better than ever, and the explosions rival that of any Michael Bay movie. This is the best we’ve ever seen the Star Wars universe. Just like the original trilogy that this game strives to honor, the objects and characters in this game are weathered, creating the sense that this world has been through the ringer far beyond what we are aware of. The AT-AT’s have scratches and scorches, the guns aren’t pretty and certainly not brand new off the shelf, and the planets aren’t untouched. Everything you encounter in this game reminds you that this battle has been going on for quite a while.

The only thing better in this game than the sight, is the sound. DICE’s sound designers have perfected the sounds of Star Wars. The lightsabers rumble and growl, the Tie-Fighters screech and scream as they zoom above, and the guns sound just like you always remembered. Your favorite songs are present including the main theme of Star Wars as well as the Imperial March. DICE has also managed to mix in an original score that sounds so good that I don’t even realize it isn’t music from the movies.

DICE puts this perfection of sight and sound in a hodge-podge of game modes. At best, you’ll find two or three of the eight game modes that you enjoy. The downside is that after playing the other modes once, you’ll never return to them. Battlefront really stretches its wings though in some of the most unique game modes I’ve ever played such as Walker Assault, Heroes vs. Villains, and Drop Zone.

Walker Assault provides the most canon-feeling mode in the game. In this mode, you will either play as the Rebels, who must capture and defend uplinks in an effort to call in a Y-Wing bombing run on the AT-AT, or the Imperials, who must stop the Rebels from capturing uplinks and calling in Y-Wings. While this serves as the games objective, there is so much more to do. You can pick up vehicle cards which allow you to fly around in the iconic Rebel X-Wing or stomp around in the Imperial AT-ST. Hell, if you’re lucky enough to find and pick up the card, you can become the driver of the AT-AT, utilizing Orbital Strikes and other weapons to defeat any and all enemies in your sights. Both teams can pick up the rare Hero card which, depending on your alliance, allows you to call in the likes of Han Solo or Darth Vader (or Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Emperor Palpatine, and Boba Fett) to possibly turn the tides of the battle. When you’re an Imperial, safely escorting the AT-AT feels like a solid accomplishment but taking down the formidable machines as a Rebel comes with the struggle and massive uphill battle (and the subsequent relief of pushing back the Imperial March through your rebel base) that is apparent in Episode V.

Heroes vs. Villains is a simple but extremely addictive game mode. Here, you’ll rotate between Hero (if you’re the Rebels) or Villain (if you’re the Imperials) and simple soldier in an effort to defeat the other team. Rather than relying on finding the elusive Hero card in a different game mode, you’re at least guaranteed a round playing as a hero or villain in this mode. The desire to play as a different hero the next round or the effort to take down a villain when playing as a Rebel soldier, is what keeps me coming back time and time again.

In Drop Zone, you’re in a constant 8v8 race to capture the next drop pod that has fallen out of the sky. Capture a drop pod and your team is granted 4 Power-Up cards, but lose the pod and you’ve just handed that advantage to your enemy. In these pods comes the crushing Orbital Strike, the dubstep bomb aka Thermal Imploder, and some weaker items that you’ll quickly end up relinquishing yourself from such as the Blaster Cannon. Because each player brings his or her own custom player setup to the field, coupled with the randomness of a drop pod, this mode gets wild and chaotic fast, and it’s in these moments that the game really shines.

Unfortunately, not all of the game modes hit their stride like the above-mentioned ones. Hero Hunt, a 7 soldier vs. 1 hero mode, is broken and unbalanced. Blast, DICE’s attempt at Team Deathmatch, is boring and forgettable. Some game modes such as Droid Run (think Destiny’s Control or Call of Duty’s Domination) and Cargo (think Capture the Flag) have hints of greatness but in the wake of modes such as Walker Assault, fall short of becoming anything meaningful that players will often return to. Fighter Squadron is short, sweet, and sadly, lazy. Fly around in an unbalanced match of A-Wings (that are near impossible to defeat) and Tie-Interceptors (that act as paper mache shooting targets for the A-Wings) while dodging the even more unbalanced Hero ships. Finally, Supremacy almost nails it on the head but due to a clear advantage to the rebels (give thanks to the A-Wing for this one), it’s tough to jump into this mode.

The only good that comes from some of the poorer game modes is the maps. Battlefront launches with 13 different maps (4 maps for the large game modes such as Walker Assault and 7 maps for the smaller game modes such as Drop Zone) and each and every map is great. These 13 maps are hosted on the planets of Endor, Hoth, Sullust, and Tattoine and each map is littered with hints of the planet they take place on. On Endor, sneak up on Ewoks in their tree houses. On Hoth, you’ll see the remnants of a local Wampa’s dinner, while on Tattoine, you’ll see Jawas scurry to safety when you arrive. Sullust, although previously never seen in a movie, retains the level of detail that each of the other planets do, making it a welcome addition to the Star Wars universe.

While the design and feel of these maps are great, they suffer from terrible spawn points, bad placement of Power-Up cards, and easy location exploits that allow players to farm kills. It’s a battle between the gorgeous pull of each map and the plague of technical problems each and every time you log into this game. If you’re like me, you’ll be happy enough playing anything Star Wars that looks and sounds this good.

To fans’ dismay, there is no single-player campaign. This game asks you to create your own stories using your battles in the multiplayer side of the game instead. That would be fine had players not been granted some of their favorite Star Wars campaigns in previous iterations of the game. In this day and age, there is almost no excuse for a lack of campaign. To add to that, DICE threw in a single-player (also co-op) wave-based mission mode called Survival. While fun, it’s certainly not a fair substitute from the galactic conquests we’ve been a part of in previous Battlefront games.

In each game mode, you’ll earn experience and subsequently, credits. With each level, you’ll unlock a different lazy character design (you can play as the old man rebel soldier that we all asked for…we all did right? Right?). After 40 levels of new character unlocks such as a woman soldier with a ponytail, or a man with a new style of beard, you’ll get to character unlocks that seem worth it. From levels 40 to 50, you’ll unlock different alien races or Imperial officers to play as such as Sullustians and Rodians (on the Rebel side) and the ever-so-badass Shadowtrooper (on the Imperial Side). The credits that come with experience allow you to unlock new weapons and Power-Up cards. Some weapons such as the Iconic Han Solo DL-44 can be unlocked as well as the classic Imperial E-11. While some of these weapons are great, many are forgettable and serve as placeholders until you get to the weapon you actually want to use. Using credits, you can also purchase new Star cards to put into your custom arsenal. These range from Plasma Cannons to Thermal Detonators, Personal Shields and even traits such as Scout, which allow you to receive special benefits with certain killstreaks. Like the weapons in the game, some star cards fall short while others stand out above the rest.

My favorite and most addicting surprise in the game is the Diorama. Here, by completing challenging and unique objectives, you’ll unlock new figures to add to your Diorama, each with a trophy view that comes with an iconic sound clip. This Diorama is often the only reason I’m jumping into my lesser-favorite modes such as Fighter Squadron or using my least-favorite Hero. It’s a simple yet welcome addition to the game, especially for the tried and true fans of Star Wars.

Star Wars Battlefront serve as the most beautiful and entertaining engagement into the Star Wars universe yet (save for the movies), but falls short in too many places for this game to considered anything beyond good. It’s the perfect example of masterclass perfection in aesthetic and sound design, but a poor example of a multiplayer game. What could’ve shined as one of the best multiplayer shooters this generation, serves only as a platform for DICE to learn what we truly want from the next Battlefront game. What’s there is mostly great, although many hiccups hold it back, but the lack of a single-player campaign makes it hard to justify this as a $60 game. In a few years, maybe DICE will deliver the game we wanted this one to be. DICE, you’re our only hope.

Final Score: 6 out of 10.

With 5 serving as the score for an average game, 6 stands for a game that is good. Star Wars Battlefront is just good. Nothing more, nothing less.