Star Wars Battlefront Review

by Rally

A well done first person shooter in the Star Wars universe. The game offers good instant action and three campaigns. The multiplayer is also very good. Unlike some of the other FPS multiplayer games, this one offers large numbers of AI players to play with and against. This is one of the strong points of the game, as the humans like to gang up on the computer. There are 5 different characters to choose from each time you respawn. They each have their own advantages, but the basic trooper is the most useful. The missile trooper is good against enemy vehicles, but needs support to last very long. The pilot can repair things, but there isn't too much call for that. He can also fly the starfighters, but until the game allows for configuring the controls for the joystick, they are not very good. The maps are excellent. You drop into a map, and immediately recognize the planet. The feeling of being in the movie is amazing. There are about a dozen maps to choose from, so there is enough variety to keep things interesting. The AI plays well, and there are 3 different levels of AI intelligence to choose from. The differences are subtle in play, but it helps to be able to adjust the difficulty, especially in single player mode.

The only other minor complaint is that sometimes it is hard to find the key you need to do something. You have to hit spacebar to take off in a fighter, which should not be needed. We also had trouble figuring out the way to switch sides at the start of a game. I also would like to the AI players not run in front of me when I'm shooting. It shouldn't be that hard to program a little more common sense in avoiding friendly fire. The voice over for the announcements is pretty useless. You get what sound like random announcements that you are losing, even 2 seconds into the game. The sum of it is that this is a game which is a lot of fun. We sat down to play for an hour, and got up 3 hours later, still willing to go for more. I think that about says it all.

In summary, the good points are:

• Great immersion in the Star Wars universe
• Easy to pick up and play
• Different player types to choose from
• Great multiplayer implementation
• Solid coding, I've never had a crash
• Vehicles are useful, and varied
• You get to shoot Gungans

Improvements :

• The starfighters are useless until the joystick controls work
• More maps
• Greater difference between 'Easy' and 'Hard'
• On screen prompts, in 'Easy' mode ala Call of Duty for commands
• Some functions are not as obvious as they should be
• Remove the random announcements

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