Back to the front...you will die when I say you must die...
Written: Apr 25 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent gameplay, exciting battles.
Cons: Some aspects too unbalanced.
The Bottom Line: One of only a handful of gems in a franchise that has put out its share of flops.
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| hellfudge's Full Review: Star Wars: Battlefront for PlayStation 2 |
Let's face it...most Star Wars games aren't that good. From the early days of Atari's monotonous The Empire Strikes Back to the lame PS1 Star Wars "Mortal Combat ripoff" (I can't remember the title), very few have stood out.
Star Wars Battlefront is one of those few. Instead of casting the player as Luke Skywalker or some other Jedi Knight, in Battlefront you play an ordinary soldier in the army of your choice, dropped in the middle of a large-scale battle. From there, you're on your own.
The game is free-roaming, within marked but generous boundaries, and filled with computer-controlled characters on both sides of the battle, so you're not compelled to follow a set mission objective or, as in the case of Star Wars Battlegrounds, be the strategic commander of an entire army. What's nice about this is that there are 249 other individuals on your team, and they want to win every bit as much as you do. What's bad about it is that, as in a real battle, you have no control over their actions, including their often poor judgement. One classic example of this that anyone who has played for any length of time will recognize, happens mostly when you've chosen to play a sniper or sharpshooter (more on that later). You find a corner or other cover to duck behind, popping out to fire long-ranged and well-aimed shots at the enemy, only to be physically pushed out into the open by another soldier on your team who covets your spot or is too stupid to walk around you. Needless to say, the enemy soldiers are more than happy to light you up with lasers once you've stepped unexpectedly into their path.
The game's other major flaw is an imbalance between the character types. Once you have chosen your side in a battle, you are given a choice of several different types of soldiers, each with its own unique advantages and disadvantages (the sniper can zoom in from long range but must reload often, the pilot can dispense health packs but has poor aim, etc.) However, some classes are much more likely to survive than others, especially within certain armies. The Battle droid army, for example (seen in the new Star Wars movies), allows you to play a Destroyer Droid, which can shield itself with a near-impenetrable force field, which is nice when you're playing it, but which makes beating that army in battle far more difficult than any other. Another imbalance is the concept of "planetary bonuses", awarded when two battles are won on the same world. Once a planet is under your control, you may activate its bonus for each battle afterward. And while the other side gets a bonus as well, some are simply superior to others. Ren Vhar, for example, awards the controller the ability to block enemy sensors, making their position on the map screen invisible to the enemy, an advantage that nearly always determines the winner of the battle before it begins., while Yavin IV offers "elite training," which supposedly makes your soldiers more accurate, but which in reality seems to have little or no effect.
Finally, the least of the game's downpoints is the monotony. Normally, this is the biggest turn-off for me in a game, but in Battlefronts it's actually not that bad. Every battle turns out differently, and your own ability makes far less difference in the final outcome than in a game like Battlegrounds. Each battle is as exciting and fun as the one before, even when you're losing. So what if you're just shooting stormtroopers the whole time? Every stormtrooper that appears is as likely to kill you as the next, and they will sneak up on you and/or surround you before you know it. The monotony here is more akin to poker than Pac-Man...sure, there are only so many cards in a deck and so many hands you can be dealt, but each round is different.
There are several modes of gameplay as well. The "historical campaign" allows you to relive the major battles from all five movies (word is that Rhen Var will be featured in Episode III, so technically, all SIX movies are represented), and then some. The "Galactic Conquest" mode follows the course of an entire war in which the objective is to control every planet in the game.
But by far, the best way to enjoy this game is two-player. The split-screen can be distracting, but knowing that there is one soldier in the enemy's army who is every bit as capable of thinking outside the AI box as you makes for a much more exciting game.
Graphically, Star Wars Battlefront is well-done. The environments are realistic and the characters are distinct and believable, even if every member of any given class has an identical face (all the rebel snipers are female and very reminiscent of Princess Leia, for example).
Even more impressive than the graphics is the sound. As one who has never been involved in a real battle more dangerous than a few trys at paintball, I can only guess, but the chaotic bombardment of distinctive sounds presented during these simulations seems realistic (if you can accept that laser rifles are being fired and not M-16's). But it's mixed in such a way as not to over-confuse. What's close by is loudest, what's far away more faint. Ewoks scream like Ewoks when shot, battle droids bark orders in the electronic voices from the movies.
Gameplay is rarely dull and never slow. From the second your feet hit the ground, you're thrown into a dangerous situation where even the best player can die at any second. There are no stories to follow, no animation cuts, no powers to develop and learn. Is there a guy on your side that annoys you (like Lance Vance in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City)? Feel free to surprise him with a shot to the back of the head with no penalty except possibly being referred to as a traitor in the "awards" screen after the battle. The possibilities for playing style are many. You can play strategically, heading to higher ground and firing down at unsuspecting troops, you can be Rambo and charge the opposition with guns blazing, you can even hide and hope your team takes care of your dirty work. Or find a land or air vehicle and bombard the enemy checkpoints.
Like Star Wars: Battlegrounds, Star Wars: Battlefronts does not require even the slightest interest in the franchise to enjoy the game, so long as your hatred of it isn't so deep-rooted as to make the sound of Wookiees and lasers pain to your ears.
It's about time the Star Wars franchise realized that "the force" isn't the only aspect of the story, and Battlefront excels largely because it focuses on the idea of Star Wars rather than the specifics.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
hellfudge
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Location: Maryland, USA
Reviews written: 91
Trusted by: 25 members
About Me:
My babysitter says to get off the computer but I won't because she's mean.
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