Star Wars Battlefront Review

Publisher: Lucas Arts

Rating: Teen (T)

About the Game

Star Wars Battlefront is an action-packed game where you get to participate in many of the key battles of the blockbuster movies. Play as the Rebels, Empire, Republic and Separatists (robot army). Capture command posts and pacify your enemies. Immerse yourself into battles with Wookies, Stormtroopers, Rebels, Gungans and Robot armies. Control the galaxy and use powerful allies and ultimate destructive weapons.

Difficulty Level/Modes of Play

Star Wars Battlefront offers three levels of difficulty, Easy, Medium and Hard. Modes of play are single player, multiplayer and online play.

In single player and multiplayer mode, you have a choice between the Historical campaign, Galactic Conquest and Instant Action.

In the Historical Campaign, you can choose the era you would like to play in: Galactic Civil War or the Clone Wars. In Galactic Civil War you play key battles from the original Star Wars Trilogy (IV-V), while the Clone wars focuses on specific scenarios from the Star Wars prequel movies. Although you get to choose the era, you do not have the option to choose which side you wish to play on. Despite that, you will still get a chance to try out all four factions.

In the Galactic Conquest option, you battle your enemy one planet at a time for total control of the galaxy. You get a few maps to choose from at the start and can select which side you would like to play on- the Rebels, Empire, Republic, or CIS (Separatist's robot army) depending on the scenario. You need to take out two battlefields on each individual planet to gain control over it. The winner of each battle determines where to attack next. Each planet you take control over you receive a planetary bonus to help your troops or sabotage your enemies in upcoming galactic battles. Four successful planetary conquests grants you access to the ultimate weapon available to your faction. For example, the Empire’s Death Star.

In the Instant Action mode you can pick specific battles and the side you want to fight on- Bespin: Cloud City, Endor, Geonsis, Hoth, Kamino, Kashyyk and Naboo, Rhen Var, Tatooine and Yavin.

Star Wars Battlefront also offers a Tutorial section where it gives you useful information on command posts, soldiers, vehicles, pilots, snipers, heavy weapons and the Galactic Conquest scenarios.

Star Wars Battlefront Troops

Each faction, whether it is the Rebels, Empire, Republic, CIS (Separatist’s robot army) will have their own version of four specific types of fighters:

• A basic soldier with a blaster rifle, detonator and some type of grenade
• A marksman who has a sniper rifle, pistol and thermal detonator, and recon droid
• The pilot who can operate vehicles, and use a blaster cannon, blaster pistol, fusion cutter, and has the ability dispense health and ammunition to himself and others on your side
• A demolitions fighter that has a missile launcher, blaster pistol, thermal detonator and mines

Fun Factor

If you are a die-hard Star Wars fan, you will enjoy this game. It is cool to not only play the good guys (Rebels), but also have the opportunity to try the dark side (Empire). I especially enjoyed the battles at Naboo, where I played the Separatist’s Robot army against the Gungans. Every time I saw a Gungan that looked like Jar Jar Binks, I just wanted to blast him! The robot army also has some neat looking guys. The Droideka have a cool ability to roll around quickly to dodge and confront enemies.

Another great part of Star Wars Battlefront is that you can try out many of the neat vehicles used in the movies; land speeders, X-Wing fighters and quite a few others.

The unique conquest style of gameplay incorporated into the classic Star Wars universe is what makes this game so enjoyable. Being able to engage in futuristic combat on a massive floating platform is fun on its own, but doing it Stormtrooper style makes it a heck of a lot better.

Graphics/Audio

The graphics in Star Wars Battlefront are pretty decent. The detail could be a little sharper, though. Specific clips from the Star Wars movies really add to the game. To see some screenshots, go to the Lucas Arts website.

Audio sounds, music and dialog are great. The music soundtrack is directly from the blockbuster movies. Most of the dialog is also taken from the movies, while the rest is pretty close to the real deal.

Summary

Star Wars Battlefront is an action-packed game where you get to participate in many of the key battles of the series. Play Galactic Conquest, Historical Campaigns, or select a specific battle to play in Instant Action mode. Fight as the Empire, Rebels, Republic or Separatist’s robot army. Play as four different types of fighters, a marksman, pilot, demolitions specialist and basic grunt unit. Control the galaxy, gain bonuses, get powerful allies to help you and use the ultimate destructive weapon.