For months (or even for what seems like years) I’ve been keeping a close watch on the development of DICE’s newest Star Wars title through ups and downs, latching onto every crumb of rumor and soaking in every second of published game-footage with great thirst. The time has apparently come though to deliver a full and fair assessment of the game, a sort of objective review without regards to my status as a fan of the universe/canon.
Star Wars: Battlefront is indeed here in all its glory and while some of its aspects are truly awe-inspiring, in some respects the mark is missed. I’ll admit that I was so taken in by its positives that I found it extremely difficult to pinpoint any of its faults, but having logged enough playing time, some of the problems do indeed poke through the thin fabric of perfectionist authenticity covering the game.
This game is obviously one created by Star Wars fans for Star Wars fans. Having had access to some (all?) of the original props used in the making of the iconic trilogy, the creators have made it clear from the get-go that authenticity would be a major part of the new Battlefront experience. In this respect, they have indeed hit a home run: the environments are superb, Star Wars paraphernalia everywhere, making players feel like they have indeed stepped into the trilogy. I have done several reviews about this aspect of the game so I’m not going into further details on it here: at the end of the day, this “feel” is something that has to be experienced anyway, and make no mistake, on its account alone, I feel the game is indeed fully worth the £50 price.
Under this pall of perfection though – at least according to some reviewers out there – there is little substance. Casting the atmosphere and authenticity aside, the game is little more than a mediocre FPS riding the perpetual and all-too-worn-out recipe of kill-die-kill-die-earnXP-upgrade-kill-die…
Others have spoken out about the much-hyped aerial battles pitting TIE fighters against the X-Wings, which are considered unchallenging, with weightless controls. Accessing vehicles is a tad peculiar too: players pick up spinning power-ups which they then activate to suddenly find themselves in a vehicle.
To make a long story short: the most flawless part of the FPS experience is condensed in the 40-person battles, where the sheer amount of mayhem will suck in everyone in a heartbeat and the above detailed imperfections simply do not get a chance to surface.
