In the new Star Wars: Battlefront you will be able to fly in an X-Wing or TIE Fighter, but don’t even think about space battles or leaving the atmosphere.
“Are we going to see space battles?” I asked DICE producer Craig Mcleod. His answer was a bit more politic than “no,” but didn’t leave much room for ambiguity. “We’re focusing on epic planetary battles for this game,” he said.
Mcleod stated that Battlefront’s maps will be on four different planets; these are Hoth, Endor, Tatooine, and Sullust. Now, you will be seeing dogfights above these planets and in the trailer that was released by EA you can see a Star Destroyer hanging out in the background. Does this mean that just maybe there will be one level set on a Star Destroyer?
Mcleod only gave me a vague answer when I asked.
“It’s very important for us to create a true Star Wars environment,” he said. “We want it to feel real. There are so many different aspects to this. It goes from the ground up, really. So when you think about that initial layer of infantry combat on the ground, then you add ground vehicles and the walker combat on top of that, then you go into another layer of dogfighting between X-Wings and TIE Fighters, and there was a Star Destroyer in the trailer, so yes they do exist within our game. It’s important that you build this in layers so it feels like a real Star Wars environment.”
It’s not entirely impossible for Battlefront to give its players a brief moment with space on mission mode or small single player/co-op battles that are specifically designed to bring back those special moments from the trilogy. DICE showed off a model of Admiral Ackbar during their demo session and you can see Ackbar leading the Rebellion against the deadly Empire during the Battle of Endor.
At the end of the day, it seems that most of the gameplay will be based on land, or just hovering around in the skies.