‘Star Wars Battlefront’ revels in the chaos of large-scale combat

“Star Wars” is the most recognizable science fiction epic of our time. Anyone developing a product based on the galaxy far, far away has a lot of expectations to fulfill.

“Star Wars Battlefront” is as authentic to the pre-Jar Jar Binks era of “Star Wars” as Han Solo shooting first. The environments presented are beautiful in their ruggedness, exhibiting none of the artificial sterility of the prequels’. The in-universe tech boasts all the retro charm we’ve all come to know. Even the beards and hairstyles of the various troops look like they were manufactured between the late 70s and early 80s.

The game sounds as glorious as it looks. Nothing immerses you in the heat of battle quite like a tug-of-war between triumphant war cries and the howls of the dying, the shrill cacophony of laser fire, the raucous shrieks of low-flying TIE fighters and A-wings, and the distant rumble of encroaching AT-ATs. And behind the chaos of war, John Williams’ undying score elevates the action to mythical levels.

From a purely artistic standpoint, “Star Wars Battlefront” is the perfect representation of the “Star Wars” universe in video game format. The rest of the game, however, flounders to attain what the visuals and sound have achieved.



Duel of the fates

Let’s get one thing out of the way. “Star Wars Battlefront” has no story campaign that can be soloed or shared with friends in multiplayer co-op. Anyone expecting a grand tale founded on the themes of valor, sacrifice, and redemption – themes the series is particularly fond of milking – will have to look elsewhere.

What “Star Wars Battlefront” does have is a great number of modes that emphasize multiplayer first-person shooting. Nine online-only multiplayer variants exist, each one pitting Imperial against Rebel forces. Some, such as the excellent Supremacy, are colossal battles of up to forty players, while others like Cargo accommodate a maximum of a dozen.

Some of these competitive modes take the most ingenious aspects of “Star Wars” warfare and translate them into amazing experiences. The standout is Walker Assault, which has the Imperials escorting the AT-ATs in their slow, relentless march towards their objective, and the Rebels activating and defending uplinks that allow bombers to strike the mechanical behemoths. If you’re with the good guys, having a pair of those monsters lumbering towards your base seems like a hopeless situation. And therein lies the drama, the thrill of the whole scenario – the idea that you’re fighting a losing battle. Which is why there are few things more gratifying than firing en masse at a bomber-weakened AT-AT, and nothing quite as euphoric as actually bringing it down.

As an Imperial Stormtrooper, the sentiment is reversed. You are seeing the conflict through to its inevitable conclusion: the Rebels crushed under the supreme might of the Empire. You have Darth Vader himself carving a path through the traitorous scum. You are unstoppable.

The other modes are less successful at eliciting such strong emotional responses. There’s Droid Run, in which twelve players capture and defend mobile robots. Then you have Blast, which is nothing more than an opportunity for the winning team to brag about performing the most kills. A universe rich in sci-fi mythology, and DICE couldn’t come up with something more sophisticated than “kill more enemies than the other guys.”

Still, when “Star Wars Battlefront” gets it right, it gets it right. The most compelling directives unite all players against the other team. They also encourage finding inventive ways to use the environment’s features to one’s advantage. Pinned down by heavy fire? Duck into a tunnel, circle around the opposition, and catch them unawares from behind. That AT-ST proving a menace? Jump into a turret and bombard it with missiles until it’s nothing but a smoking husk. Endor’s dense foliage can make you harder to spot, while its many treetop walkways provide a vantage point for all you annoying snipers out there. The maps are as enormous as they are chock-full of features, including gorges, subterranean corridors, rocky outcrops, outposts, hangars, lava streams, and more.

Special power-ups randomly spawn around the map. Sometimes, they let you drop an infantry turret that automatically cuts down foes, or call down an orbital strike that exterminates enemies in a large area. At other times, they let you fly a TIE fighter, which isn’t as entertaining as it sounds. The maps are gargantuan – if you’re on foot. Controlling a starfighter, it takes less than five seconds to go from one end of the designated battlefield to the other. Strafing is almost pointless, and you’ll find yourself doing lots of circles. It’s much more fun to control land vehicles such as AT-STs.

Sometimes, power-ups put you in the shoes of a hero.

There’s no finer way to go than getting Force choked to death by the Darth Vader himself. Except, perhaps, getting royally offed by a trigger-happy Princess Leia. The effect these heroes have on the battlefield is profound; soldiers rally to these instant morale boosters and beacons of inspiration. It certainly helps that they’re total badasses, too.

The amount of fun you’ll have in these online modes, however, will depend on your skill.

Imagine spawning at a great distance from your objective. Then running towards said objective for half a minute while shooting at tiny moving dots in the distance. Then getting blasted to kingdom come by a flyby of X-Wings, vaporized by a thermal detonator, or sniped by some potty-mouthed twelve-year-old who’s obsessed with “Destiny” and “Call of Duty.” Then once more respawning a great distance from your objective, and having to do the entire process again ad infinitum.

It doesn’t help that it often takes less than three hits to get killed. Or that most of the time, you’ll never even know who or what killed you. To be fair, this “realism” is a problem endemic to a majority of modern first-person shooters. When even the best players can die as many as twenty times per round of Walker Assault, casual action fans will find themselves more frustrated than gratified.

The other modes are categorized under Survival and Battles.

Survival is the closest thing “Star Wars Battlefront” has to a single-player or two-player co-op campaign. Here, you’re tasked with fending off wave after wave of enemies, while completing side missions such as securing pods. As bare-bones as that sounds, it’s actually quite enjoyable, especially if you’re playing with a friend. It’s less chaotic than the mammoth battles of online multiplayer, and there’s a lot of room for satisfying teamwork. Working together to put down hordes of Stormtroopers and those vicious AT-STs? Truly delightful.

In Battles, you play online or locally against a single friend. Sadly, the objectives in these modes are of the uninspired, race-to-100-points variety.

When it comes down to it, “Star Wars Battlefront” can be as dull as Anakin and Padme’s forced romance. So what is it that keeps you coming back? It’s seeing Endor’s majestic redwoods straining heavenwards. Or darting between the AT-AT’s massive legs. Running into Darth Vader in the freezing corridors beneath Hoth. The thunder of battle reverberating through the walls of your base. An X-Wing crashing just inches from where you stand. It’s the small, precious moments like these that make it all worthwhile.

A new hope?

“Star Wars Battlefront” is a flawed game that exhibits glimpses of genius. As far as its aesthetics and sound design are concerned, its fidelity to the “Star Wars” universe is second to none. The maps are superbly detailed, beautiful, and varied, and some modes even provide a multitude of ways to create epic experiences befitting of the space opera. Still, with a number of modes that reek of the generic and the lack of a story campaign, the whole package feels incomplete and, worse, like a wasted opportunity. Perhaps, in future DLCs, we will find for this game a new hope. But for now, it is best enjoyed as a simple yet welcome distraction from other, more refined shooters. — BM, GMA News

Rating – 7/10
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One