Star Wars Battlefront (X-Box)
Developed by: Pandemic Studios
Published by: Lucasarts

There are so many Star Wars games out there nowadays that it’s next to impossible to keep track of which ones are good and which ones are crap… and there is plenty of crap, believe me.Personally I find it hard to understand how you can make a crappy Star Wars game in the first place, because when you think about it, just about any game can be improved just by adding a Star Wars theme.First person shooters, racing games, flight sims, RPGs… hell I bet you could even make a decent Star Wars football game if you really wanted to.

Star Wars Battlefront takes the addictive WWII multiplayer shooter Battlefield 1942 and improves it by adapting it to the Star Wars universe. Hardcore Battlefield fans will claim that the game needs no improvement, but I think this takes the concept a step further. Star Wars has such a plethora of cool weapons, vehicles and settings that it translates extremely well to the large scale combat style. After all, the movies are called Star WARS and the key battles are a huge part of the experience that, up until now, haven’t been fully realized in a videogame.

This is what Star Wars Battlefront does best, it puts you right in the middle of all the epic battles from the Star Wars movies. You’ve got the battle on the ice planet Hoth from the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back, with Imperial AT-ATs and AT-STs wreaking havoc on Rebel ground troops on Tauntauns and Snowspeeders. You’ve got the battle on Endor from Return Of The Jedi, with the Rebels trying to destroy a shield generator while Ewoks lend a hand by setting their primitive traps in the trees. You’ve even got battles from the new Star Wars movies where the Clone Army takes on waves and waves of Droids, or the battle on Naboo where the Gungans fight alongside (or against) you.

For those who have never played Battlefield 1942 before, the game is very simple, and set up to maximize fun for continuous multiplayer combat. It is a third person shooter (or first person, if that is your preference) where two opposing armies attempt to take control of their enemy’s bases and/or eliminate all their reinforcements. Whenever you die in combat, you can restart from any of the bases under your team’s control as part of the next reinforcement wave (a maximum 15 second wait). That’s really all there is to it. Whichever team can capture and hold all the bases on a map or exhaust the reinforcements of its opponent first wins. There is no story involved, the game is simply set up to offer up many different combat scenarios following these rules, all based on the Star Wars movies.

One of the key elements that adds depth to the game is the number of different soldier types you can choose to be. There are 4 or 5 classes of soldier (depending on which team you ally yourself with), each with different weapons, equipment and abilities. Every time you die and respawn you can choose to enter the game as a different class, which prevents boredom and repetitiveness especially during longer battles. In addition to your standard infantry trooper, each side has a sniper class (usually equipped with a sniper rifle and a recon droid), and some sort of heavy ammunition class like a Rebel Vanguard or Imperial Shock Trooper (who both come prepared with missile launchers). There is also a pilot class, who serve as medics and engineers by having the ability to dispense health and ammo packs, as well as repair destroyed gun turrets. Some of the more unique classes include the Rebel Wookiees (armed with a bowcaster and a timebomb), the Imperial Dark Troopers (equipped with short burst jet packs), and the uber-cool Droideka/Destroyer Droid who roll around in a ball and then set up shields and unload with heavy blaster fire. You can’t be a Jedi unfortunately, but armies are occasionally joined in battle by a CPU-controlled Jedi hero depending on the setting and/or team bonuses. These include Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Count Dooku and Obi-Wan, all of whom are essentially invincible, deflecting all blaster fire with their lightsabers.

The other thing that adds variety to the different levels are the various vehicles available. There are over 30 in the game, from X-wing Fighters and Speeder Bikes, to AT-ATs and spider droids. Some are harder to control than others, and some are more useful than others, but they all make the game distinctly a part of the Star Wars universe.

There are 3 game modes in Star Wars Battlefront: Historical Campaign, Galactic Conquest and Instant Action. Historical Campaign drops you into a particular era in Star Wars history and takes you through the battles in chronological order. You must achieve victory in each battle before you can progress. Galactic Conquest is a game mode where you vie for control of a number of planets, with the objective of eventually conquering them all. For each battle you win, you capture a planet and gain an associated planetary bonus which you can then activate in the next battle. These planetary bonuses range from Sabotage (enemy vehicles start partially damaged) and Regeneration (your soldiers regain health over time), to assistance from a Jedi Hero. Instant Action allows you to choose from any battle scenario you want, or queue up a number of them for play. All of the game modes support two-player split-screen gameplay, but I believe System Link and X-Box Live multiplayer games can only be in Instant Action mode.

It’s interesting to note that many of the scenarios also involve third party groups such as the Ewoks, Sandpeople or Jawas. These sides are not playable, but they do take part in the battles, sometimes helping you and sometimes getting in your way.

While the A.I. in Battlefront can best be described as “unintelligent”, the individual strategies of CPU-controlled soldiers are not as important in this game as they would be in something more strategic like Counterstrike. Battlefront gives you that feeling of being able to run in and take down tons of nameless infantry soldiers and really turn the tide of a battle. If the enemies were too smart this game would be way too difficult, although I have to admit, you can really fly through the single player campaigns. Sometimes it can be annoying when your teammates constantly take control of the vehicles near a spawn point or otherwise get in your way, but at least you can give them basic commands using the D-pad, to which they tend to respond well. Let’s face it, the game aims for a multiplayer experience, and that’s what it does best.

Now, you’d think that when a game that is so focused on a single style of gameplay, the developers would have time to really make the game solid and bug-free. Not so in this case, as there are some noticeable glitches in Battlefront, such as players vibrating awkwardly in mid-air when they stand on skiffs and certain platforms. The game also suffers from a lack of variety of animations. For example, when a soldier enters a gun turret or exposed vehicle of some sort, there is no animation for the transition — he simply disappears and then pops up in place in his seat. There are no seriously restrictive problems that get in the way of gameplay, but the game is far from perfect. Thankfully, the online connectivity is surprisingly robust and I have yet to encounter any network issues.

The best part about Star Wars Battlefront (and the original Battlefield 1942, for that matter) is that the game style is perfectly suited for casual gamers and for quick, non-committal game sessions. As much as I love story-based games, I have to admit that a big problem with them is that sometimes you just don’t have time for them. Star Wars Battlefront is an excellent and addictive game that requires no advance set up and no time investment. It may not have enough depth to hold your interest for months, but as a multiplayer game and an X-Box Live game, there’s not much else out there as fun as this. It’s definitely the best large scale X-Box Live game available right now, at least until Halo 2 comes out next month. You can take away points for lack of originality, but sometimes when it ain’t broke, you shouldn’t fix it. Lucasarts and Pandemic Studios stole an idea but implemented it well, and that’s what makes Star Wars Battlefront a winner. — Sean

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