With the hype train of Star Wars: The Force Awakens release EA and Dice decided to release the long awaited Battlefront sequel. However, the wait might not have been worth it. Battlefront capture the scenery of the original films and makes improvement on the classic Battlefront , but this doesn’t save the game from the disappointing lack of content overall.
Games like Call of Duty aren’t bought for their stories, but they still have them in the full release. However, EA saw this as an opportunity to anger many fans of the series, by removing the single player elements that fans loved and made the game only multiplayer. This was a major stab in the back to fans and EA’s other decisions didn’t help their case. Which caused many to either avoid the purchase of this game or to just buy it and never bother to play it.
Technically there are really 13 maps that are a part of the overall game, but those 13 maps are only tiny chunks of four overall maps. Each map lets you play on iconic locations from the original trilogy and were beautifully designed to make you feel a part of the movies they’re from. Planets Sullust, Endor, Hoth and Tatooine are apart of the current roster of maps and successfully bring a nostalgic feel to the experience. However, that’s all they are. If it weren’t for the beautiful scenery and nostalgic feel, they would be just like any other Battlefield map made by Dice.
Battlefront continues to disappoint when it comes to content with only nine multiplayer game modes. Of these nine there are of few standard game modes like Blast which is just standard team deathmatch and Cargo which is the games capture the flag mode. But just because there are mostly standard game modes doesn’t mean there aren’t some creative ones.
Walker assault is a 20 v 20 game mode, where you defend a shield generator from the oncoming assault of AT-ATs like in Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back. As the Rebels it’s your job to destroy the AT-ATs before they can destroy the shields, while the Empire comes at you with full force. This game mode does an amazing job of making you feel in the battle with intense action amazing sound design and the unlimited amount of possibilities to attack the enemies. However, my only problem with this mode is that it’s very one-dimensional when it comes to the Rebels side. You are put on a side that doesn’t have many vehicles and are put up against a team full of overpowered vehicles that are hard to destroy which occasionally makes the game get a bit annoying.
Another gamemode that strays away from traditional shooters is Fighter Squadron, which is a 10 v 10 game mode where you’re put into the seat of either an X-Wing or Tie Fighter in an air battle. The best part of the game mode is that you can be the pilot of the Millennium Falcon, making my dreams of becoming a part of the Star Wars universe. Fighter Squadron is an amazing game mode that is a lot of fun. However, it still has the same problem with many of the other features in this game, where it gets boring after a couple of hours of playing.
Last but not least, Heroes v Villains and Hero Hunt are two game modes that can only be accomplished in the Battlefront games, because of their inclusion of heroes for each team. Heroes have been a staple of The series since it original release since it gives you the opportunity to play as iconic star wars heroes and villains like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Heroes v Villains is exactly like it sounds. Each team has three heroes or villains who go head to head in a close quarters map. This game mode shows exactly how fast past the game can get, since seeing all of the films most popular characters attack each other is amazing. Then in Hero Hunt, one player plays as a random hero and is then hunted down by ten other players who either play as storm troopers or rebels. These two game modes are the high point of Star Wars Battlefront and some of the most interesting game modes I’ve seen in awhile.
Overall Star Wars Battlefront is a great game, but it has many flaws. It’s lack of variety when it comes to maps made me feel held back when it came to immersing myself into the Star Wars universe. But two of the biggest flaws have to be its DLC or developer locked content that can only be accessed through future expansions and its removal of interesting components of previous entries like space battles. However, even though it has its flaws there are still some signs of hope for the game with it’s beautiful maps and Heroes that truly make you feel a part of the Star Wars universe. In the end, I rate Star wars Battlefront 6/10.