'Star Wars: Battlefront' game review: The Force is weak with this multiplayer shooter
- For every moment 'Star Wars Battlefront' is amazing, exciting and surprising, there is another part that is frustrating, boring and entirely predictable
- Many game modes are buggy and lifeless
For every moment Star Wars Battlefront is amazing, exciting and surprising, there is another part that is frustrating, boring and entirely predictable. In the game you play one of the numerous unnamed soldiers, loyally following the commands of the movie’s main characters. Along with the slightly retro-feeling maps and skins, this perfectly recreates the original trilogy.
In single player mode you play as either a nameless rebel or Stormtrooper, or one of the main characters in the saga. Each hero has three abilities that give them a different advantage. The two most famous characters, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, both use lightsabers rather than guns (as everybody knows) so they can reflect enemy fire back at them. This makes for some interesting battles.
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However, multiplayer mode is the exact opposite. The games are pretty messy and incomprehensible with no absolute goal other than surviving as long as possible. There are, of course, exceptions, such as the “supremacy” and “walker assault” game modes. You can drive vehicles and use amazing weapons, but the rest is not so glamorous. Running around on rocky terrain to chase after enemies who will kill you in a few shots is a core part of many multiplayer modes.
But there is a fantastic attention to detail in Battlefront, making it one of the most surprising games in terms of landscape. The stunning visuals are even stronger on PC thanks to its modifiable settings. Battlefront looks, feels, and sounds like the original trilogy in almost every way, from the battle damage on X-wings to the spark-smoke combo upon blaster fire impacts. The audiovisual experience is so convincingly authentic that anything that was carelessly drawn sticks out like a sore thumb.
The creators of this game put a lot of heart into it, but dreamed a bit too big. The game could be much better if the game modes were slightly tweaked, so let’s hope Battlefront 2 does a better job at this.