A Long Time Ago, At an E3 Far, Far Away

Yes---I finally got my big grubby paws on Star Wars Battlefront! This game has been tantalizing some of us folks here at Gamehelper since E3, and the even more recent LucasArts Summer Press Event…which they wouldn't let me attend because I wanted to dress up like a wookie… Not the LucasArts folks, I'm sure they would have *loved* it---Pachoey and S.A.M. said they would disown me… *sigh* No one loves an obsessed Star Wars junkie---well, other obsessed Star Wars junkies do, but sometimes there's a subtle rivalry that breaks out as one tries to "out-geek" the other. It's sad really…but I digress…today it's all about Battlefront. So just how does the game fare? To be honest, not all that bad---though there could have been some improvements. Read on young Padawan learners to get the whole scoop!

Hey! You Got BF:1942 in my Star Wars---You Got Star Wars in my BF:1942!

For those of you who don't get the reference in the header there, I apologize, but I think you get the gist of what I'm saying. Pandemic and Lucasarts ripped a page straight out of DICE's Battlefield series' book---however they brewed it up with a healthy dose of Star Wars flavoring to create something compelling enough for the average fan of team-based shooters. For fans of Star Wars who have always longed for a game to recreate the feel of the famous battles portrayed in the films [Hoth anyone? – ED] it is a marriage made in heaven. The game is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it delivers what it promises without giving any more than that.

If you've played Battlefield: 1942, or BF: Vietnam, then you'll be right at home with a majority of the gameplay---no innovation is made to advance the game genre, yet the game still satisfies. Battlefront is primarily Xbox Live multiplayer focused (and also includes a System Link option for those Xbox LANners out there), although there are several single player campaign modes to enjoy (Historical Campaign, Galactic Conquest, or Instant Action), as well as an option for split-screen play for co-op or head-to-head battles (again a Historical Campaign, Galactic Conquest, and Instant Action are offered up). For those in the dark about team-based shooters, Battlefront allows you to control a soldier representing either the Rebellion, the Empire, the Republic or CIS sides of the battle (from the film hexad's Galactic Civil War, and Clone Wars eras, respectively).

Each side has 5 soldier classes for you to choose from---among them Wookie Smugglers (Rebels), Dark Troopers (Empire), Droidekas (CIS), and Jet Troopers (Republic) --- the kick ass specialty classes for each side. Every class has a set weapons loadout, and the classes are standard fare for this genre: soldier, sniper, anti-vehicle heavy weapons, pilot (which is an interesting blend of a medic and an engineer---they also have the ability to automatically regenerate any vehicle they inhabit), and finally, the specialty class bad ass mo-fos mentioned above. Each time you are about to spawn, you may pick which Command Point (spawn point) on the map you will appear at and you may also change classes at that time if you wish. When you appear, your objective is to capture the enemies' Command Points by holding the Command Point's location until it turns green indicating that your side now holds that point. Each side has a number of "reinforcements" (tickets for you BF heads out there) that slowly depletes as their soldiers die and re-spawn, as well as losing their previously-held Command Points.

The Command Points are usually not just free for the taking however---many times the AI will be defending the positions and putting up stiff resistance, as well as manning laser turrets near the Command Points and using the surroundings to their advantage. The AI plays well enough, as indicated above, and the pilots are especially helpful as they toss you health and ammo and go around building turrets---though at times they can place those in some pretty odd locations. Breaking through and taking control of an enemy Command Point is a highlight in the game the feeling of satisfaction found in working as a unit to overcome the opposition adds a lot to the game. Now, it is here I should mention that the AI can also be used to your advantage. You can issue simple squad commands such as 'follow-me' or 'hold this position' to nearby AI squad-mates and they will respond accordingly. This took a moment to sink in as most battles are so hectic you can easily forget about this feature. But the reward for those who utilize this feature will be immediately evident as you rush a Command Point with four of your AI squad-mates in tow. Learn to use this function!

The only problem with having all this fun is the amount of time it may take to get from one Command Point to another. The biggest complaint I have about this game is that the running speed of the characters is on the slow side. An Endurance Meter that depletes while sprinting and refills when moving at normal speed would have alleviated this problem. I believe the speed was set this way so that once you're in a vehicle it would seem like a dramatic improvement. But then, even the vehicles (aside from speeder-bikes) often seem slow. And, well heck, I think with a bit of balancing the team could have allowed for faster player movement without sacrificing the 'feel' of the vehicles movement rate. And of course there's the option of selecting Dark Trooper, Jet Trooper, or Droideka for your class, as they all have different capabilities that can be used to speed up travel time. Jet packing around the levels – especially across the rooftops of Mos Eisley - allow for some added tactical options which opens the game up quite a bit.

As mentioned above, there are also drivable vehicles available to get your frag on in which appear at certain Command Points. Many of the favorites from the movies are available: speeder bikes, TIE fighters, X-Wings, AT-ATs, AT-STs, snow speeders, tauntauns, and many more are available for your driving/flying pleasure. Each vehicle class, more or less, feels like you might expect it would from years of Star Wars Trilogy viewing…you did buy the new DVD release didn't you?? Moreover they are fun to maneuver (with the snow-speeder being the most difficult)---I do wish you could have made your tauntaun jump however…again maybe some sort of meter that depletes when you use it and refills over time could have balanced the gameplay and fun factor accordingly. Many of the maps are conducive to the vehicles that inhabit them, but the flying vehicles suffer from the map's somewhat cramped limitations in terms of dogfighting space, we saw this same limitation crop up most recently in Battlefield: Vietnam with it's jet figher class. The speeder bikes are my favorite vehicle due to the speed effect (sort of a blur), though most of the maps they appear in are deadly to the incautious driver (think Stormtroopers crashing into huge trees a la Return of the Jedi, and you can imagine the whole world of ouch awaiting your head) --- the speeder bikes are the most effective method of moving about quickly over the battlefront aside from the flying vehicles.

Another somewhat odd/somewhat cool gameplay element is the addition of a Jedi Hero for your side of the battle. The Jedi Heroes (Luke Skywalker and Mace Windu for the Rebels and Republic---Darth Vader and Count Dooku for the Empire and the Separatists) are indestructible and unfortunately not playable. In Galactic Conquest mode, the option to include a Jedi Hero during a battle has to be earned by conquering Tattooine, in Historical Campaign mode it is automatically assigned during points in the series' continuity where it would make sense. I feel that perhaps a better use of the idea of a Jedi Hero would have been to allow them to be playable, but only after a player earned the option by excelling at team play. In reality, most of the time the AI of the Jedi Heroes is passable, though at times they can fall into patterns of questionable behavior (Um, Lord Vader---please don't choke me out, but shouldn't you be out killing people rather than standing there inspecting the rebel wall construction……sir?).

Great Graphics, Kid! Now Don't Get Cocky!!

The graphics are all lush as one would expect from the Xbox. The use of textures is excellent especially evident on some of the more 'green' environments like Yavin as the bushes sway in the breeze. Many of the animations are smooth and well-done with little touches that fans of Star Wars will enjoy---during the game it's always a joy to watch an AT-ST go down…unless you're the driver, of course! The framerate never drops noticeably, which is always a plus. The color schemes for each of the maps make sense (i.e. a lot of white for Hoth, greens and browns for Endor), and all of the colors are rich and vibrant. As we had mentioned in our first hands-on articles the Playstation version had an almost dream-like feel as everything seemed a bit air-brushed giving a fantasy feel to the environments. The Xbox version we had seen earlier was still using placeholder PS2 textures and wasn't as compelling visually. The final Xbox build we've been playing is now up to snuff with the rest and not far short of the PC version.

Speaking of the maps, overall there are 16 available spread throughout 10 different worlds which we all know and love from the movies (except for Rhen Var, which is an ice planet very similar to Hoth and new to the series). The maps are all well-done, providing plenty of cover, opportunities for ambush, and available sniper positions. It's difficult to balance maps in a class-based multiplayer title as some environments just don't offer the types of terrain which provide fun gameplay for each unit type. Lucas & Pandemic definitely went to great lengths to provide maps which benefit teams using all classes. I really couldn't pick a favorite map out of the bunch since they are all so much fun to play. The intense firefights in which one can engage in Mos Eisley's cramped streets does give quite the thrill, however. The best Command Point is the one in the cantina, complete with the cantina's incessant theme from the movies.

And Like A Pimp, He Says, "I Know"

The header refers to an episode of VH1's "When Star Wars Ruled the World"---it's a quote from superfan Kevin Smith on the infamous Empire Strikes Back "I love you" scene where Leia stops Han just before he goes into the Carbon Freezing Chamber (which is a Command Point in one of the game's Bespin levels, by the way). Of course you should *know* that audio is one of the areas where Lucasarts games always shine---all of the John Williams pieces you'd expect are here and all of the game's voices are well-done. The blasters, vehicle sounds, and explosions are all familiar favorites immersing you in the Star Wars universe---just like the movies, yeah go figure!. The gronk! of the squarish power-droid (as seen in the Jawa Sandcrawler in Ep. IV) as it gives you ammo is entertaining the first few times you hear it, and just blends in with the rest of the sounds of battle as you play further into the game. "Gronk!" One extra grenade…,"Gronk!", two! Keep'em coming buddy.

One puzzling omission is that the Rebel sniper, which is the game's only female character (unless there's something about the wookie I don't know/couldn't tell…) didn't have an audible voice associated with her when issuing squad commands, whereas all of the other characters do. It was somewhat jarring, but easily ignored during the heat of the battle however it does take the player a little out of the game if they notice this oddity. Another problem I experienced was random bursts of "garbage" sound---so loud I had to quickly grab the remote and crank down the volume. This has happened twice so far---maybe I got a bad burn of the game---either way I feel I should mention it. Other audio problems of a different type that the devs have no control over crop up when playing with random folks on Xbox live, as I mention below…

Use the Mute, Luke!

The game is centered solidly on delivering a satisfying amount of playability on the Xbox Live service. For what it's worth, it delivers on that. There are options for just jumping into a "Quickmatch" which will find the first available server for you, or an "Optimatch" which will allow you to customize the kind of experience you're searching for (i.e. being able to choose which side you join, max players, max bots, and so forth). As always, being able to mute the voices of your more…'outspoken'…opponents is always a plus. I am puzzled why more games don't give you the choice to "mute all" on the player list, though. An option like that would come in handy in some of the more rowdy servers on Xbox Live.

May the Force Be With You, Always…

Overall, Battlefront delivers a satisfying experience to the team-based shooter fans out there, and a huge thrill for Star Wars fans as they live out their dreams of destroying the shield bunker on Endor (or just placing a well-aimed blaster bolt straight between the eyes of a Gungan or Ewok…) The major complaints I have with the game is directly related to the slow player movement which we brought to the developers attention at both press events and in our hands-on articles (you guys aren't reading our articles are you? ) and that you can't play a Jedi Hero---on every other count the game succeeds in delivering on its promise to give the feel of participating in the battles of the movies. And that, my young Padawan learners, makes it well worth a purchase by hardcore fans and, at the very least, an extended 'rental' by fans of team-based shooters.