Bit of background to start. "Star Wars: Battlefront" has, as of time of writing, had 68 hours of playtime from me. I didn't start playing it at release, but rather was inspired to pull it from the "to play" pile when the downloadable content was made available for free - ahead of the release of the sequel. This is just my feeling, but the Indian summer that the game enjoyed with the release of the DLC appears to now be dying off, you can always get a game on the 20 vs 20 server, but some of the smaller games, particularly in the DLC areas only have enough players to start games in the evenings.
If I'm going on about the Downloadable extras a lot, it's because it leads me to what would have been my first criticism of "Star Wars: Battlefront" had I have bought it on release, the amount of game that you actual get. With the single player game essentially just a glorified tutorial - the entire game is based around the multiplayer experience. There were the usual game modes that you'd anticipate in a modern first person shooter but with one addition that I loved, Walker Assault. This has you attacking or defending giant AT-AT Walkers as they trudge towards an Alliance target. However, these various game modes were initially only spread over four planets from the Star Wars Universe, each presumably chosen for their striking visual differences to each other. Hoth, is snow covered hills and Ice Caverns; Endor is Forests and treetop Ewok villages; Tattoine is sand dunes and strewn with wreckage from previous battles and Sullust is lava flows, Igneous rock and the Empires industrial Tie fighter production base. Despite the large maps, and a couple of variations depending on game type, these four planets become very familiar very quickly. I can imagine that a number of early adopters were disappointed with how little actual game was available to them. However, from my point of view, each DLC package added another world to the point the game has now double the variety that it was upon release.
Despite the lack of content one this you can't accuse DICE of is lacking fan service. The game is all about fantasy fulfilment, series weapons, vehicles and armour have been faithfully recreated. The score and sound effects are exactly what you've known and loved for 40 years. You generally play the game as a nondescript Imperial Soldier or Alliance Rebel, however, the game tries to autobalance matches by offering access to the "heroes". Each of the characters has their own unique weapons and traits. Luke Skywalker, for example, wields his lightsabre that can (for a short time) deflect laser weaponry and he gains instant kills by swinging his blade. He can also use The Force to push Imperials off platforms or into walls. The trade off with these characters is that their life does not replenish from avoiding combat for a while, like it does with the standard characters.
The gameplay is great. Weapons hits feel substantial and hit collection is really good. The maps are large and sprawling and generally manage to avoid pinch points except for certain mission types that require one side to defend a small area for a certain amount of time. Like other Battlefield titles, the game encourages players to play in different ways, some sniping from distance and some charging in for close combat battles.
One further criticism of the game is its lengthy loading times and occur between games and particularly as you enter a game for the first time. You can easily sit for three to four minutes once the game has found a suitable server for you.
But the complaints are small weighed against an excellent and entertaining game that has provided me with hours of fun. On to the sequel (I never pay for any microtransactions, so this one might be interesting!).
If I'm going on about the Downloadable extras a lot, it's because it leads me to what would have been my first criticism of "Star Wars: Battlefront" had I have bought it on release, the amount of game that you actual get. With the single player game essentially just a glorified tutorial - the entire game is based around the multiplayer experience. There were the usual game modes that you'd anticipate in a modern first person shooter but with one addition that I loved, Walker Assault. This has you attacking or defending giant AT-AT Walkers as they trudge towards an Alliance target. However, these various game modes were initially only spread over four planets from the Star Wars Universe, each presumably chosen for their striking visual differences to each other. Hoth, is snow covered hills and Ice Caverns; Endor is Forests and treetop Ewok villages; Tattoine is sand dunes and strewn with wreckage from previous battles and Sullust is lava flows, Igneous rock and the Empires industrial Tie fighter production base. Despite the large maps, and a couple of variations depending on game type, these four planets become very familiar very quickly. I can imagine that a number of early adopters were disappointed with how little actual game was available to them. However, from my point of view, each DLC package added another world to the point the game has now double the variety that it was upon release.
Despite the lack of content one this you can't accuse DICE of is lacking fan service. The game is all about fantasy fulfilment, series weapons, vehicles and armour have been faithfully recreated. The score and sound effects are exactly what you've known and loved for 40 years. You generally play the game as a nondescript Imperial Soldier or Alliance Rebel, however, the game tries to autobalance matches by offering access to the "heroes". Each of the characters has their own unique weapons and traits. Luke Skywalker, for example, wields his lightsabre that can (for a short time) deflect laser weaponry and he gains instant kills by swinging his blade. He can also use The Force to push Imperials off platforms or into walls. The trade off with these characters is that their life does not replenish from avoiding combat for a while, like it does with the standard characters.
The gameplay is great. Weapons hits feel substantial and hit collection is really good. The maps are large and sprawling and generally manage to avoid pinch points except for certain mission types that require one side to defend a small area for a certain amount of time. Like other Battlefield titles, the game encourages players to play in different ways, some sniping from distance and some charging in for close combat battles.
One further criticism of the game is its lengthy loading times and occur between games and particularly as you enter a game for the first time. You can easily sit for three to four minutes once the game has found a suitable server for you.
But the complaints are small weighed against an excellent and entertaining game that has provided me with hours of fun. On to the sequel (I never pay for any microtransactions, so this one might be interesting!).