Photo gallery: Star Wars: BattlefrontWhile many may have lusted after Carrie Fisher in that costume from Return Of The Jedi, or secretly wanted the power to remotely choke enemies with just a raise of our hands, there's no doubt that the real excitement in the Star Wars movies has come from the intense battle sequences. There have been games that have covered off the space combat side of things, but precious few that have managed to capture the thrills of weilding a blaster in hand, shooting down waves upon waves of rebel scum.. ahem.. or empire loyalists, depending on your perspective. Star Wars: Battlefront has a really solid crack at making those ground-based battles a reality, and while initially you'll be rapt with its attention to detail, it's one of those games that shows its cracks all to quickly. Still, we can't ignore the fact that it does allow you to pilot an AT-AT and crush your foes underneath your mighty steel toes. We're not giving away too much of a bias here, are we?
Star Wars: Battlefront's basic gameplay mechanic allows for large scale battles set in the Star Wars universe, and initially you'll be a tad overwhelmed by the number of choices on offer. Should you drop into the historical mode, crushing the either the rebel or CIS insurgents (there we go again), or try for Galactic Conquest mode, which allows for more free-form play? Should you choose the stock-standard Stormtrooper, the heavy weapons Stormtrooper or the sniper variant? AT-ST, Speeder Bike or shank's pony? As with the remarkably similar Battlefield: 1942, battles are won or lost by a combination of attrition and by capturing command points on the field, making it more than just a question of who can blast who first. Hold all the command points on the field and you'll win in just 20 seconds; fail to defend what you've got and you'll find yourself running mighty thin on troops. Be ready, also, for a running and repetitive commentary when you take, lose and re-take the same command point five times in a row -- all part of the fun, really.
The two main single player game variants on offer are historical battles and galactic conquest. The historical battles sections are probably the bigger draw for Star Wars fans, as they offer the opportunity for you to jump into either the original trilogy or the newer set of films, playing out key battles throughtout each set of flicks. The big problem here becomes almost immediately apparent, however, as in order to remain true to the film's core plots, certain battles have to be lost by certain sides.
Battlefront's approach to this is to deny you the choice of sides for each battle, so you'll flip between the mighty imperial forces or the rebel scum forces with no choice, and no real attention paid to plot anyway. The end result is rather unsatisfying, as you're essentially robbed of choice and just jammed into the plot regardless of how well you've done in previous battles. Why, exactly, can't we squash the rebel scum on Yavin 4, and be done with it?
Galactic Conquest has a little more meat on its bones -- you're fighting a number of set-piece battles over a selection of classic star wars planets, and as you win planets, you unlock special abilities to be used in the next battle. These range from blocking enemy radar to having a Jedi fight alongside you and, if you're the fine and upstanding Empire (and who in their right mind wouldn't be?) using a certain well-known planet-destroying weapon. There is a certain amount of satisfaction to be had in blasting Kashykk, home of the Wookies, into so many particles of space dust, for what it's worth.
The big problem in the single player mode -- aside from the relatively simple gameplay model, something that plagues the multiplayer as well -- is that all of the combatants on the field who aren't you have the combined intelligence of a three week old toasted crumpet. You'll feel a thrill of large-scale combat when you first rush into battle surrounded by your fellow combatants, but that's a thrill that'll quickly fade when you see soldiers from your own side suddenly duck to the side for no reason, or run around in circles.
We nearly expired from laughter on one level where we fought alongside the mighty dark lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader, only to watch him run around a stone pillar as though he was chasing his own tail. Things are no better on the enemy side -- you'll rack up countless kills from enemy troops who simply stand there and let you blast them in the face until they drop down dead. The problem is somewhat masked by the scale of the combat -- you will die from pure attrition quite a bit -- but it's a problem that could have been resolved with a bit of AI tweaking.
The end result of this is that the single player modes are a touch too easy, and it's only if you obsess stupidly over capturing certain checkpoints or want to play only in the vehicles that you run any serious risk of losing a battle. Once the initial thrill of running around a Star Wars battleground fades, you'll also run the risk of getting somewhat bored.
This is, undoubtedly, a big disappointment, especially as Battlefront fits into that category of games that you feel could probably have been a really, really great game with only a modicum of tweaking, especially on the AI side. The historical battles are good for getting Star Wars enthusiasts really enthused, and the Galactic Conquest mode could be exceptionally deep and challenging -- but it isn't.
The bigger draw for Battlefront is undoubtedly the multiplayer play. Battlefront's available on the PS2, Xbox and PC platforms, and while we didn't test the PC version, we can't imagine it capturing too much of the rather crowded market for this type of game -- while it's a competent enough clone of Battlefield: 1942, it's not as though this type of game is unique on the PC. On the console platforms there aren't that many similar titles -- although for the PS2, the comparison to SOCOM II is inevitable -- and it stands out a little better there. As with most things that scale up to multiplayer, things are a little more hectic and a little more fun, but the biggest problem we hit with Battlefield's online play with PS2 or Xbox was that it was remarkably laggy.
Battlefront's visual presentation is well done - we tested on the PS2 and Xbox versions, although it does highlight how badly the rebel forces dressed in the first three films. Haven't these people recruited a decent and stylish tailor yet? There's not really any great visual standout points, however. By this stage, there have been so many Star Wars games that the realistic depiction, of, say, AT-ATs, is no big thing. Likewise, the John Williams-inspired score is solid but not terribly unusual for a game bearing the Star Wars moniker.
Star Wars fans will no doubt go crazy for Battlefield, and that's fair enough -- they've been betrayed with so many sub-par Star Wars games by now (Force Commander, Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan, Clone Wars, etc, etc, etc) that having an actual decent Star Wars game must come as something of a shock. If you look beyond the Star Wars trappings, however, what you're left with is a game that's not quite as good as it really should be, which is a pity.
