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Star Wars Battlefront is essentially Battlefield 1942 set a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. The gameplay is similar, and the battles are on just as big of a scale.


When you play Star Wars Battlefront you really feel like you are in the middle of an epic battle. Star Wars Battlefront looks good, and runs smoothly on a moderate gaming machine. On the other hand, the smoothing effects seem to be an excuse for what would otherwise be relatively unimpressive textures and models. For the first 30 minutes you'll be too busy saying wow to notice. After the novelty of taking down an AT-AT walker or blasting through the forest in a speeder bike wares down.. reality starts to set in.

Fighting for the Dark Side on Endor

Star Wars Battlefront clearly has a great deal of potential. Any one who has seen the Star Wars movies, hardcore fan or not, would love to be thrown into the middle of all the gigantic trademark battles which usually occur one or two times in every movie. In Star Wars Battlefront you can participate in battles across the galaxy fighting for either side, during the Clone Wars or the Galactic Civil War. You can fight on Hoth, Ender, and many other quite familiar locales.

Each class gets a unique gun, but it still doesn't feel like enough

There are plenty of familiar vehicles and tamed animals for you to pilot in Star Wars Battlefront as well. You can hop in an AT-AT walker, AT-ST, speeder bike, and more. In fact, if you've seen it in one of the Star Wars movies there is a good chance you'll be able to fly or drive it in Star Wars Battlefront.

Does any of this look familiar?

For the coolness factor, Star Wars Battlefront gets a high rating. The effects in some of the levels make you feel like you are really there. Unfortunately when you boil the game down to its core elements Star Wars Battlefront feels like a budget version of Battlefield 1942.

 

The environments in Star Wars Battlefront make you feel like you really are on the battlefield.

There are plenty of games out there that could be so much more if another game hadn't already done it. We've seen massive-battle FPS games such as Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam. We know how these games play when they are done right. Unfortunately Star Wars Battlefront is just missing certain gameplay elements which make it feel like an inferior product. It can be difficult to pin point an exact example, but the signs of shortcuts are there.


On the positive side, there are plenty of different player classes to choose from in Star Wars Battlefront, each which looks different and has its own different gun. All the classes (with a couple special exceptions) receive a unique gun, grenades, and a blaster pistol. Certain classes receive special abilities as well. There are stormtroopers with jetpacks. These guys have a big advantage on certain scenarios and are a blast to play.

Taking a shot at Darth with a sentry canon

 

Although not a critical part of gameplay, you do not see any reload animations for the guns. This and other similar details add up to make a game that somehow feels incomplete. I'm sure that Star Wars Battlefront will give a great return on the investment put into it. I expect to see it on the top seller list shortly. Sadly it would have taken just a little more attention to the details to have made Battlefront so much more. Without the Star Wars part in Battlefront, this game simply would not be worth buying.

The Bottom Line.

For the critical FPS fan, Star Wars Battlefront is hardly worth your time. The demo may be worth it, but little more than that. If you consider yourself a Star Wars fan you really should check out Star Wars Battlefront. There are few games that put you in the middle of the action during so many memorable Star Wars moments.

 

Graphics.......... Good
Sound.............. Fair
Gameplay.... Fair
Overall Rating...... 81%

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