Star Wars: Battlefront – Relive the Glory of the Star Wars Trilogy
Written: Oct 13 '04
Product Rating:
Pros: great multi-player, sweeping soundtrack, nice visuals, wonderful gameplay engine, has Wookies
Cons: the single-player modes are on the short and easy side, poor AI
The Bottom Line: Star Wars: Battlefront is like a dream come true for most Star Wars fan. Even without a Star Wars tag, it would be a pretty good shooter.
vadimio's Full Review: Star Wars : Battlefront for Xbox
This past September was quite a month for Star Wars fans. Not only was the original Stars Wars trilogy finally released on DVD, a game called Star Wars: Battlefront hit the shelves. This third and first-person shooter was widely anticipating because it promised to contain all of the key battles from the five movies and to deliver multi-player mayhem. Did Star Wars: Battlefront live up to its hype or is it yet another rushed and sub-par game based on a movie? Read on to find out whether this game is worth your time.
Battlefront does not feature an original storyline, it is simply a game based on the original Stars War trilogy and the two predecessors. All of the battles and events were taken straight out of the movie, so don’t expect any new twists or circumstances. Basing a game on an entire series of movies cherished by millions is a hard enough task, and doing a good job seems to be even more daunting.
The single-player aspect of the game consists of three modes: Galactic Conquest, Historical Campaigns and Instant Action. Instant Action is like a Play It Now function, where you dive into a single mission right away. Galactic Conquest and Historical Campaigns, on the other hand, are a bit more deep. Historical Campaigns was the mode that appealed the most to me at first. In this mode, you basically choose a side and fight through the big battles in Star Wars history in chronological order. In total, there are 16 battles that you will participate in that will take place on 10 different planets. The major downside to this mode was the fact that at certain points in the campaign, you were forced to actually switch sides and fight for the enemy. This was annoying and in a way defeats the purpose of a campaign, although it makes sense because the game follows the events in the movie. Since the events are followed exactly, there are times in the movie when it is obvious which side won, which is why you must fight for them in several missions. Between missions, you will be shown actual footage from the movies to move the story along.
Galactic Conquest is a bit different from Historical Campaigns, mainly because you, not the movies, control your destiny. In Galactic Conquest, you must first pick the faction that you wish to join. You can choose to be a part of the Rebel units, the Galactic Empire, the Republic or the C.I.S. (droids). After having chosen a faction, you will be presented with a galactic chart, which shows the planets where you can battle. You must choose a planet, and if you manage to win the battle and conquer the planet, you get the option to choose again. If you fail to capture the planet, then the CPU gets to choose the planet on which war will be waged. Each planet actually consists of two maps, and if you manage to win both maps, you will be rewarded with a bonus. The bonus is having a Jedi Hero on your side. If you are with the Galactic Empire, for example, Darth Vader will join your forces. However, you must choose prior to every battle whether you wish to activate this bonus or not because activating the Jedi Hero will prevent you from health regeneration and a few other details that will make battle more difficult. The whole point of this mode is to eventually conquer all of the planets.
Winning a battle can happen in two ways. The most obvious way is to simply destroy all of your opponents. This certainly isn’t the easiest task, as taking out all of the enemies that are controlling various vehicles is sometimes very difficult. The other way of winning is to capture all of the spawn points. When the battle begins, each side has a set amount of spawn points. If you approach an enemy spawn point and stand there long enough, you will eventually earn possession of that spawn point for your own faction.
Now that you know a little about the modes, let’s delve into gameplay. This is a wholehearted shooter, with a few other elements thrown in to the mix. Each faction has five different classes: Soldier, Rocket Man, Pilot, Sniper/Spy and Artillery unit. Prior to every battle and when you respawn, you must choose which of the units you wish to be. Each of the units has their advantages and purposes. Snipers tend to stay away from the action and pick off enemies from a distance. Soldiers carry blaster rifles or pistols, and are the most combat ready units. The Rocket Men carry huge rocket launchers and heavy grenades, while pilots are better for controlling the vehicles. Speaking of vehicles, Battlefront features plenty of them. All of your favorite vehicles from the movies, including the Speeder Bikes, Chicken Walkers, X-Wings and Tie Bombers will be fully functional and available for your use. The implementation of vehicles really makes this a great Star Wars experience.
In Star Wars: Battlefront, you are not only responsible for your own whereabouts, you will also be responsible for issuing orders to the computer-controller players on your faction. You will have to constantly tell them to stay behind, attack, and get out or into vehicles. This definitely gives the game more of a strategic twist, although the poor AI hurts the game badly. First of all, it is understandable as to why the AI suffers – the fact that there are dozens of troops running around shooting at each other makes the AI harder to program. However, the lack of advanced AI is easy to notice. If CPUs are not in the middle of a battle, they will just stand in circles or stand in one place, even if there is a battle raging not too far off. Another quirk is that in the beginning of each mission, they tend to run to the nearest vehicles and take off as quickly as possible, sometimes leaving you without a vehicle.
Generally speaking, the single player modes are not the highlight of Battlefront. Even though you will find a few spots a bit challenging, this is a relatively easy game that will not take too long to complete. You could beat the Historical Campaigns in a matter of some hours. Completing Galaxy Conquest and Historical Campaigns can easily be done in one weekend. The replay value of the single player modes isn’t too long either, as beating each mode two-three times should make even the largest of Star Wars fans sick of it. If it weren’t for the multi-player, Battlefront would probably be a very average title.
Fortunately, this was developed as a multi-player game. First of all, you have the option of going through Historical Campaigns or Galaxy Conquest with a friend in co-op mode via split-screen. This definitely enhances the experience. If you have Xbox Live, though, the experience is simply unbelievable. You can have up to 24 players going against each other at the same time. Unfortunately, only the maps from Galaxy Conquest and Historical Campaigns can be used, yet this does not detract from the fun. Having human players with their group of CPUs running around enhances the gameplay because human players are always more intelligent than CPUs. You will have to second-guess all of your decisions, and the game will not seem so simple anymore. Interacting with your teammates is crucial, as taking down vehicles, gaining new spawn locations and accomplishing goals is quicker and easier. The only thing that I disliked about the maps is that on some of them, there is virtually only one way of attaining a victory (which I coincidentally usually the route taken by the characters in the movies), and since there is no point in searching for a new way of winning, the replay value suffers a bit.
Graphically, Star Wars: Battlefront is a gorgeous game. All of the planets, ranging from Naboo to Tatooine to Endor very recreated in such a way that they are nearly mirror images of the sets in the movies. The characters too (including not only the likes of characters such as Luke Skywalker but also the favorite Ewoks and Jawas) were recreated in a perfect fashion. The character animations are fluid and smooth, and some look so cool that you just want to stop playing and simply observe what is going on around you. The implementation of clips from the movies was also a good decision. I did experience a little slowdown when I tried it out on Xbox Live, but this can only be expected when you have dozens of characters and constant action.
The audio department also managed to do a commendable job, mostly in part to the sweeping soundtrack with classic tunes from the Star Wars movies. The soundtrack really sets the tone for most of the missions, and I enjoyed it. The sound effects were also done well, as all of the sound effects from the movies were imported into the game. Everything, from the “zing” of a pistol to the “whir” of a lightsaber seem authentic. The only downside to the audio are the bland and repetitive mission briefings that take place between missions.
Overall, Star Wars: Battlefront is probably the best non-RPG Star Wars game that I have played to date. The somewhat limited single-player mode keep this from being one of the best titles of 2004, yet the multi-player options definitely make this game worth checking out. I absolutely recommend this game to all Star Wars fans, although people that just enjoy first-person shooters should only rent this. You’ll certainly have fun with this one for a while.
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