Star Wars Battlefront Review

"Authentically Alright"

Multiplayer

Star Wars Battlefront is possibly one of the most well known Star Wars franchise names and one I personally grew up playing along with many others I know so we've all been awaiting some sort of continuation. DICE has been given the privilege to continue this series with a complete reboot adapting it to their latest engine.

While this does do wonders in terms of graphics it's odd to see them not really take advantage of destructible environments as is the usual within Battlefront. Now, for the review I can't compare it to the previous entries as this title is something of its own.

This is not at all like the titles of past and moves Battlefront towards the multiplayer only experience. The change guts many aspects of what made those games great in favor of a new direction moving forwards. For now in the review I'll be breaking down each of the nine modes present within this experience.

Supremacy
This is basically the largest mode having a fourty player clash happen over a series of command posts in order to win the game. This felt like a more traditional Battlefield mode and largely translated over with ease.

Within this mode infinity battle it out with each other while they collect the tokens for abilities, vehicles and heroes. These aspects well be discussed a bit more under gameplay as I'm just covering the particular modes. I picked this to be one of my preference modes as it presented the largest maps along with the most balanced combat for players all while being in a massive theater of war.

Fighter Squadron
For all the ship dog fighting enthusiasts out there we have fighter squadron that pits the Rebel selection of ships versus the Empire's.

There are multiple tiers of these flying vehicles so I decided not to name them though yes you can control a Tie Fighter for the Empire or a X-Wing for the Rebels among some others. This battle takes place far above the surface of the planet though not in space as many individuals were clamoring for and it's just a straight up battle with no real objectives.


Cargo
This mode is basically capture the flag where you're constantly running back and forth with these packages in order to capture them.

There's a general stockpile of ten cargo pieces in this game and all can be returned in a tug of war fashion. This mode was an interesting take on CTF though really not something I was a fan of, the matches were also played in the smaller arenas. of combat.

Droid Run
Another one of the smaller game modes which is a neat tweak to domination in that you need to capture and hold droids in order to win. It's actually somewhat odd to play and not a busy game type though something that is different for sure.

Walker Assault
Another one of the larger game modes present within the game pits fourty players against each other as the Rebels fight to send bombers in while the Empire attempts to guide their AT-AT walkers against the Rebels.

This is incredibly one sided at times and not a favorite mode of mine though I can see why people like this objective focused large scale combat area. While being like Supremacy it does takes major strides to be much more objective focused despite the battle feeling uneven constantly.

Blast
A straight up smaller deathmatch mode consisting of twenty players in the smaller arenas of battle which also features some extra bonus markers to assist in combat.

It's really simplistic and not something I enjoyed since the spawning system wasn't the best for this mode. I can appreciate that some players will prefer this mode to the other choices and that's mostly why it's in the game.


Drop Zone
One of my most favorite modes has these escape pods show up in random yet certain locations across the map while smaller teams of players battle it out for control of them. It's basically a play on king of the hill with a position that constantly shuffles across the map. It can get quite crazy and hectic with teams constantly clashing for control of the escape pod.

Heroes vs Villains
This is actually my favorite mode within the game which is a round based gametype where the game resets after one alliance is eliminated. Being another one of the more intimate sizes of matches both teams have three heroes controlled by players and everyone else just plays as a standard trooper.

The extra players are mostly to improve the feeling of being a hero by giving some easy kills, but they can also play a key distraction part. The mode is mostly balanced though I can't help but feel that a couple of the heroes are useless out there in the battle.

Hero Hunt
A play of juggernaut has everyone battling to become the hero while everyone works to kill them. I really hated this mode as it gives a huge edge to the player that initially is the hero and it's just a slaughter fest against all the regular troops. This is especially dependant on which hero is on the map as some are much stronger than others that will result in many deaths.

Single Player/Cooperative Missions

There were many that complained that Battlefront was all about local play back in the day and honestly it was a strong element of it. With the side areas added to this game they feel largely uninspired and should have just been gutted from the overall package since it's a waste of space within the game.

It all feels very lame and doesn't at all fit into the design of the game. The first part is the training area where you learn things, it's rather boring. The second part is survival where waves of enemies poor in across the smaller maps and while alright with a friend wasn't that great of a game mode.

The last two modes are battle and hero battle which are just pre-selected AI battles on some levels. This is a sad attempt at doing local play and it's really just an attempt to quiet those that wanted a proper instant action like area. There are also some collectible type icons to grab while playing these levels which I thought should also be mentioned.

Gameplay

Finally getting to the graphics this game is stunning, the visuals are far above any other DICE title I've seen. Every little rock, frost of snow or ruffle of floral is outstanding and incredibly realistic. It's also perfectly authentic to Star Wars in the looks of the environments.

While I did find it weird they didn't actually use any iconic areas, there were some small set pieces within the levels that were well known. The levels are few in numbers, but they sure do look amazing to a degree I can't even describe.

This is also present within the sound of the game, the character designs and small hidden creatures like Jawas or Ewoks roaming around. I have to also say that the Endor level particularly stands out for me as they captured that planet from the movies perfectly. There were many spawning issues on some of the levels which could get annoying and no it wasn't due to squad joining between two players.

The game itself does however feel like a Battlefield re-skin no matter what you say against it, that's really what it is. The controls feel smooth while making sense for their placement in regular troopers and heroes alike.

They have created a really interesting character creation area that allows all sorts of custom troops for both sides and the credit system allows for further customization of loadout.

You can buy all sorts of extra gadgets, weapons or even emotes for out there on the battlefield which was great. The amount of credits earned across your battles worked fairly and the leveling system also was well done.

Going back towards discussing heroes and bonus tokens on levels I felt this was poorly handled. A hero should be given based on skill or randomly allocated to a player for objective play instead of just picking it up on levels.

It's so weird walking around and just grabbing an icon which grants items. The system honestly makes no sense and doesn't make it at all balanced out. I also found that some heroes were poorly designed from their looks (Luke looks really creepy) to the sound they make where Darth Vader shoots out laughable lines of dialogue.

The Conclusion

DICE's Star Wars Battlefront is an alright multiplayer game mostly in regards of creating an authentic space for Star Wars fans not seen in years. The biggest issue here is lack of content, for the price of a full game you're not getting the value out of the game.

Sure it's got some fun online action, but this becomes stale very quickly having to play on the same maps over and over again. The fact that many of these spaces take place on the same planet also don't help much and that aspect is sad. It feels like a Battlefield re-skin with some poorly designed heroes thrown into the mix.

That's not to say that the planets don't look phenomenal which they do, it's just that the feeling is too similar to their other series despite them saying the opposite. While I did have fun with the title there just really isn't much in the game at launch and I can't help but feel the season pass will be the only way to truly get a proper amount of content in the game. For the ones that have waited a long time to see this franchise return this isn't the Star Wars game you've been waiting.

Star Wars Battlefront Review on Xbox One
Review code provided by 47

Rating Overall: 7.0