Eight years ago, on June 29, 2017, a select group of lucky players got their first hands-on experience with Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) during its closed Alpha on PC. If you were part of that early wave, you probably still remember the sheer chaos of Naboo, the strangely OP Boba Fett builds, and the wildly mixed expectations hanging over EA DICE like a Death Star. It wasn’t just a test—it was a statement. And depending on who you asked, it was either a teaser of greatness to come or a glimpse of the Battlefront’s brewing identity crisis. What Was the Star Wars Battlefront II Alpha? The Alpha was a tightly controlled early-access test that gave PC players a bite-sized preview of what DICE and EA had cooked up for their next-gen Star Wars shooter. Unlike the controversial 2015 reboot, Battlefront II promised more content at launch, more eras, and—most…
game anniversaries
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens Turns 9 — And It’s Still Full of Charm (and Bricks)
On this very day, nine years ago, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens crash-landed into our consoles like a Resistance pilot in need of an insurance claim. Developed by TT Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive, it marked the triumphant return of the LEGO-Star Wars partnership after a bit of a break—and boy, did it deliver. June 28, 2016. A simpler time. A pre-Last Jedi world. A world where BB-8 was just an adorable new droid and not yet a spark for endless forum debates. But in LEGO form? Pure joy. A LEGO Game with Movie-Exclusive Filler (That Actually Works) One of the biggest surprises of this entry was its original content. Unlike previous LEGO Star Wars games that covered entire trilogies, this one focused solely on The Force Awakens. To flesh it out, TT Games inserted bridge content—new storylines not seen in the film but considered semi-canon at…