Image Credits: Berduu + Geon
Felling an Imperial Walker against a backdrop of powdered mountains and frozen Rebel garrisons evokes all of the pomp and spectacle synonymous with the galactic fantasy at Battlefront’s heart. The sight of a burning AT-AT is more than just a sign of victory, but rather a portrait of Star Wars’ very essence. It’s the small overcoming the insurmountable, the meek triumphing over the mighty. At the point of the behemoths destruction, the Rebel Alliance has been pushed back and back across the bright white tundra, the fight barrelling remorselessly beyond snowcapped clifftops and through darkly ice caverns. But to bring down the beast is worth it if just to revel in its final pathetic slump to the ground, with the burgeoning flicks and whirs of the unmistakable orchestral score heralding another successful mission.
DICE have given no quarter in their take on the series typically eclectic battle atmosphere. Such is the depth of detail in regaling the player with the all too familiar sounds of screaming blaster shots and starship engine moans, that even the smallest skirmish across planet and moon alike remains steeped in an unbreakable authenticity. There’s a presence to every interaction on the battlefield, the Star Wars sheen that DICE have put at the forefront of their project assaulting the senses in the most wonderful way possible. For be it on the barren snow planet of Hoth or beneath the sweltering dual-suns of an arid Tatooine, Battlefront is an outright sensory delight that feels completely attuned to its filmic roots.
Beneath the flawless veneer of its presentation, Battlefront boasts enough variety in its initial hours to even seem a little daunting. For fans who grew up mesmerised by Death Star trench runs and the image of the iconic X-Wing, Fighter Squadron allows you to take flight against flocks of TIE craft in the bustling skies above the games four distinct worlds. For those looking to lace up the boots of the inimitable rogue Han Solo, or even subject him to the might of the Emperor’s Force Lightning, the Heroes versus Villains mode pits the series most notable characters against one another in small but focused duels to the death. And if you’re intent on immersing yourself with the chaos inherent to large scale warfare, then the aforementioned Walker Assault mode is as hectic as it is brilliantly original. But whatever objective you choose to pursue, your success on the battlefield will largely be dictated by whether or not you choose to actively handicap yourself. Choice is definitely present, but it’s tantamount to an illusion so as long as certain imbalanced weapons and unchecked tactics clearly provide a greater chance of success than others.
In Fighter Squadron for example, the impetus lies with the Rebels seeing as they have access to the A-Wing, a craft nimbler, faster and generally more powerful than any of its counterparts. To play smaller modes such as Blast or Cargo is to court demise via the DL-44, the last purchasable primary weapon that the game has to offer, and by far the leading weapon in any class beyond those that specialise in long-range combat. Star Cards too tend to seem a lot less diverse after only minimal experimentation. The Cycler Rifle will always be redundant when weighed against the merits of the similar Pulse Cannon, whilst the lure of a cheap kill via the Homing Shot has made it an instant favourite.
TERRAIN DESIGN IS METICULOUS – FAUNA SCURRY, CANOPIES QUIVER
And as for player perspective, to choose first-person over third is to impair yourself with a complete lack of spatial awareness, personal immersion be damned. But not only in terms of player versus player, Battlefront remains rife with issues blighting its core experience. The game has no server browser, no team-balancing, and some rather atrocious player spawn locations. The necessity of variety may encourage you to hop from one game-mode to another in a single play session, but once you’ve sampled them all, you’ll find yourself stumbling across the same issues in succession.
Sadly, the more that you find yourself returning to Star Wars Battlefront, the more noticeable its lightweight frame becomes. Beyond the immaculate ice-white menu interface and its delicately chiseled sculptures is a level indicator that shows just how far your multiplayer career has progressed. Actions out in the field such as killing opposing players and pursuing objectives earns you score which is in turn converted into both currency and experience points. It’s a well-worn system that remains thoroughly unremarkable, its only noticeable application in Battlefront in keeping your own personal well of credits from running dry. Ascending the ladder for the first 25 levels makes available the bulk of the games weapons and equipment, but beyond that you’re only looking at only a few additional character skins, each having been cordoned off behind a high ranking and plied with an artificial rarity. If you’re an Imperial, you’ll be aiming for the Shadow Trooper garb. As a Rebel, it’s likely the Twi’lek getup. And finally attaining either of these gives little sense of accomplishment, particularly when many other players, all with a similar desire to stand out amongst a legion of copies, have already broken in the shiny black pauldrons long before.
Outside of playing as a Hero, there’s a distinct lack of individuality present in Battlefront. Depending on the world that you find yourself fighting on, your attire will vary slightly, yet there is no system in place for the tailoring of your character to your own chosen specifics. The extent of customisation for both factions lies only in altering facial structures and hairstyles, rather than ripping and hacking at your leather cuirass or smearing red warpaint across the eyes of your Trooper helmet. Aside from a few changes to race available solely to the Rebel faction, there exists only a sea of blonde pigtailed grenadiers and silver-haired shock troopers, half wearing the drab earthly colours of the Rebel Alliance, and half draped in diatonic Imperial mail from the neck down. Of course, the Empire prides itself on the application of uniformity, which is why the complete casting aside of the iconic Stormtrooper helmet in favour of relaxed principles is akin to heresy, and particularly confusing when so many armour variants already exist within the established canon. There were far more creative routes to explore when it came to maintaining the cohesiveness of the lore at hand, and they certainly didn’t revolve around disrobing the entire Imperial Order.
It’s an odd sight to be killed by a Stormtrooper who is very clearly grinning as he drives blaster bolts into your abdomen, but odder still is the rock, paper, scissors system that seems to govern the combat of Star Wars Battlefront. No approach to gunfighting improves or even impedes your accuracy when firing, save for the gradual overheating of your blaster. Crouching, strafing, running, aiming down the sights and pinning the trigger all lead to the same outcome, with the accuracy of your shots determined by a readily inconsistent mixture luck, persistence and the dedicated accuracy stat of your chosen armament.
IN BEING WIDELY ACCESSIBLE, BATTLEFRONT ENDS UP LACKING FOCUS
There seems to be no basis to just how accurate each gun actually is, however. Sometimes you’ll fire three shots and hit all three true. Other times you’ll catch another player completely unaware and only manage to fire a silhouette around them before they turn around and rattle you to death in an instant. It’s a simple system that tries to put more emphasis on player preference than it does on nuanced statistics, and one that ultimately contradicts itself as a result. Particularly in smaller game modes, that oh-so powerful blaster pistol dominates proceedings, with those who wield it doomed to only be killed by it. The same well-worn Star Cards take point, the same spawn points become exploited and the same problems continue to fester. It’s then that the frost-bitten caves of Hoth and the brightly-lit canopies of Endor begin to lose a little bit of their lustre, the maligned experience of the Battlefront carousel bringing with it a fatigue hard that’s hard to shake.
And it’s why Battlefront’s greatest caveat comes in the form of the friction between its endearing source material and its lasting appeal as an arcade shooter. The Star Wars name almost demands a grand, lasting experience, yet Battlefront remains so light on content that it becomes increasingly more difficult to get excited about another trip to Sullust, and at times feels so inherently flawed that wide-eyed wonderment quickly turns to disdain.
As evident in the marketing of the game prior to its release, Battlefront is not aimed at those looking for a sequel to its namesakes, nor at those looking to explore another segment of rich Star Wars lore. Battlefront instead tugs on the strings of youthful remembrance and of heartwarming nostalgia. It’s a game with as broad of an appeal as the films themselves, but unlike every one of its cinematic derivatives, Battlefront just doesn’t have the depth necessary to attain immortality.
Yet, in spite of its shortcomings, Star Wars Battlefront remains exactly what it means to be – a low-risk, streamlined shooter that is effortlessly approachable and built upon a foundation of future expansions. But in trying to cater for all play-styles, and in trying to be as all-encompassing as the films its pays homage to, Battlefront ends up lacking a distinct identity beyond that of its branding. It’s hard to discount the satisfaction of mowing down a corridor of Imperial Stormtroopers with a well-timed swing of the Saber, but it’s everything else in between these injections of gleeful destruction that sees Battlefront’s shine quickly fade, the fantastic alien worlds that we’ve long since familiarised ourselves with unavoidably becoming theatres of frustration and disillusionment.