Back in the day, my friends and I were on the original two ‘Star Wars: Battlefront’ games almost daily. They ranked among the best multiplayer games and the best Star Wars games, and the combination was irresistible.
One of my fondest memories of gaming was a dogfight I had with a buddy, he in a TIE Interceptor, me in a Y-Wing bomber. He chased me around as I slowly but surely pummelled his Star Destroyer’s sections, constantly on my tail with barrages of lazer fire. My sturdy Y-Wing, with a pilot constantly working at repairs could handle the beating he was sending my way, but the longer I survived the worse off his capital ship was getting. For me, the constant harassment was making it more tricky to bomb the Star Destroyer than I’d like, so I turned my guns on him. His Interceptor was a lot faster and more manoeuvrable than my Y-Wing, and he was running rings around me. Then, somehow, as though I’d followed Luke Skywalker’s example and switched off my targeting computer to let the Force guide me, I switched from lazer guns to a single bomb launch. That solo bomb launched out and landed a direct hit on his cockpit, killing him and destroying his TIE Interceptor in one hit. It was glorious!
The release of the new ‘Star Wars: Battlefront’ from DICE is getting ever closer, and as it approaches let’s take a look at some of the features we’re hoping to enjoy in the long awaited latest instalment in the franchise. (Available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC from 19th November 2015)
New Locations
‘Star Wars: Battlefront’ is going to be the first game that lets us explore worlds from the new/upcoming sequel trilogy beginning with the desert planet Jakku.
Possibly more interesting is that it will be the first time we see Sullust at all, which has not yet been realised in a movie. Hopefully we might get to finally see a representation of Corellia too.
Well Balanced Jedi
In the first Battlefront, Jedi and Sith were a force to be reckoned with. If you were a rebel soldier and you heard Vader breathing, you knew your time was up.
About the only way to kill a Jedi or Sith was to land a grenade near enough to blast them off of a ledge, or to land a vehicle on their heads.
It was great.
In the second Battlefront, we finally were given the ability to play as Jedi and Sith heroes. However, the playable force users had been watered down. They were flimsy, difficult to control, and a trooper who was fast on his feet could easily dispatch them.
I’m hoping that the new game finds a balance. From the trailer it looks like Jedi and Sith who meet on the battlefield will also be able to duel properly with blocks and parries. If that’s the case, it will be a massive improvement over the wild swinging from ‘Battlefront II’.
Decent Customisation
I was never opposed to simply having a class structure for the troopers: snipers being equipped with a set load-out, heavies with a different set load-out etc.
The Battlefront games for portable devices introduced character customisation. You could choose your weapons, sidearms, accessories, helmet, colours etc. To an extent, this is great, and you can experiment with different combinations, but I found for any group apart from the Rebels, it made the army look messy.
The Republic and the Empire should be about uniform and removing individual humanity. The Rebels were a ragtag group and could look a bit all over the place with many species filling the ranks, but the armoured clones and stormtroopers should look like a well oiled unit. This is a personal niggle really, but I think it detracted from what the universe is about, especially in a game where the whole point is that you aren’t playing as a hero, but simply one of the troops.
Dogfights
Rumour has it that there aren’t going to be any space battles this time around, but there will be access to the classic fighters and you will be able to dogfight within planetary atmospheres. Hopefully the good balance of different crafts still remains that can be used to suit different playstyles and tactics.
It does seem strange that a ‘Star Wars’ game all about battles has no space combat, but the first one didn’t either so it’s not without precedent. Perhaps we will see it included in future DLC.
A Good Galactic Conquest Mode
As far as I am aware, Galactic Conquest is also not returning. Again, maybe it will be added in an update. I would hope so anyway. A good mixture of the features from the previous games would be ideal.
In the first Battlefront each planet had two maps, so each faction could be in control of one map and the planet would be contested. You would have to take both maps to have control of the planet. Owning a planet gave you a bonus.
In Battlefront II there was a Galactic Map that you could move your fleets around and send to invade enemy or unowned planets. You could also send your fleet to attack enemy fleets and weaken their forces.
You could buy heroes, extra fleets, and power-ups. I think heroes should be assigned to specific fleets and will attack any planet that they are sent to with the specific fleet rather than the old style of having heroes designated to specific planets.
