Star Wars: Battlefront

PROS * The game's photorealism is among the best I have seen by 2015's standards. / Although SWBF now offers the liberty to customize characters, select pistols, rifles, and secondary items (rocket launchers, jump packs, grenades, bacta bombs), there are principally no classes, and positions in gameplay are limited to staying in gunfight with primaries and often no strategy (since health regenerates and ammunition is infinite), with secondaries only occasionally accessible throughout.

CONS SWBF is perhaps the most poorly implemented game of 2015. Faithless and with no Galactic Conquest, prequel content, or campaign (which they were developing) and only 4 worlds and minimal communication among players and AI bots, it tends to 10 uncustomizable game modes (14 with expansions) which ultimately could have been merged into 4 (or 6). Of the 27 maps, 20 are multiplayer underutilized for numerous game modes, and only 7 of them (excluding 1 from expansions) are also available in single-player.

CONCLUSION: For casuals, EA SWBF is a visually awesome but overall mediocre FPS indistinct from other more original competitors; for veterans, with the developer's ungenerosity and lazy care, it is a callous experience that exposes Electronic Arts as having joined the Dark Side. For a game with a high budget, high expectations, aggressive advertising, and the enthusiastically hyped-up media, EA SWBF is the apex of the 2015 games that are critically disappointing. I never bought anything from EA since. (Actually I did purchase a large expansion pack, but that turned out to be ungenerous and equally callous, which made for an even worse experience. Fortunately, I fully refunded for that, and that is--and will be--the only exception to my refusing EA's services.)

Star Wars Battlefront is definitely a Star Wars game through-and-through, but it's still an EA-DLC-scam that demands you pay Season-Passes all-up. There are modes to enjoy here and there, but the game feels like it's just a placeholder for EA's future Star Wars games. Not too bad, but not all that special either.

At least with Battlefront II it seems that EA's apparently learnt that content over emptiness is the real way to sell their games. The older N64 Star Wars games, Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron and PodRacer are more complete than this 2015 game. AND THOSE GAMES CAME OUT NEARLY TWO DECADES AGO!

If there was any bad to have come out of Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012, it was the resulting deal with EA that was their real mistake. That and their shutting down LucasArts' developing arm.

If you're a fan, get this. But if you want a more complete gaming package, look elsewhere. That, or just wait for the next EA Star Wars games.

The hopes were high when a reboot of Batlefront was announced at 2013 E3, even more knowing that the game would be in charge of no other than DICE, the developers of the acclaimed Battlefield series, which inspired the original Star Wars Battlefront games. Sadly, DICE it's under EA's wing, which from a extremely objective point of view, could be seen easily as a non too consumer-friendly company. As the months and then years passed, the speculation and excitement was bigger and bigger from the fans, especially after the gameplay trailer shown at Star Wars Celebration earlier this year. Finally, the game came out; after having played over 20 hours, I can't deny that I've had an awesome time playing it, but the feeling about what could've been generates on me a sensation between rage and disappointment. On the graphics and sound department, the game is absolutely flawless (excepting the awful voice acting in most heroes and villains), the game looks and sounds like Star Wars and because of that, it's one of the most immersive game to date. Then, the gameplay; it's pretty "arcade" or casual, really easy to get into, something that could bother some "hardcore gamers", to me it's fine because keeps the accessibility that the original games had and almost every other Star Wars game have had. The main problem of the game comes when we dive into the content of the main game, a game that costs full retail price. The developers said some months before release that the game would be multiplayer focused, without a conventional campaign, the first bad sign. With that said, it can be expected that the game would have a really complete multiplayer experience (like every other modern multilayer based game), but what we get in Battlefront it's an extremely limited experience; the main game only come with four planets (Hoth, Endor, Tatooine and Sullust), with a new one being added later this month (Jakku), the number of planets was alarming and worried a lot of fans when it was announced, but then they (Dice) said that every planet would have different maps. Yes, in fact, every planet have different maps (something like 4 or 5 each), so, the main problem lies into the game modes. There are something like 10 game modes, which sounds like a decent number, the problem is that only two of those apply all the features that the games disposes (Heroes/Villains, vehicles, massive ground battles; basically what the original games were all about), but almost every other game mode (excepting Fighter Squadron and Heroes vs Villains) feels like just a fill in (like Blast, a painfully generic team deathmatch), modes that that end up as bland and too different from what people used to love about the older games, massive Star Wars battles (like the ones on the two "big" modes, Walker Assault and Supremacy). Summaryzing, we end up having: two "real" modes, whit four maps each (which are all pretty similar), 6 heroes and villains to pick (3 each), 4 ships in total, two ground vehicles (both from the empire side), 11 blasters, 25 "star cards" (perks and various equipment), an almost empty and lazy character customization and a laughable single player "experience"; plus, when you first boot up the game, you already have a text box on the main screen offering you the fifty dollar season pass (almost the same price of the main game), almost saying that you can't have the full experience without it. I could dive more into the game aspects, but you get my point. This game could've been one of the best game in history, but the developers messed up, the game had a rushed release, which causes an almost sickening dependence on future DLC. If you don't like Star Wars nor arcade/casual shooters, I wouldn't recommend this game to you, lacks on content and, consequently, replay-ability.

Star Wars Battlefront III or rather the uninspired "reboot" of the original two games, shows DICE and EA pumped all their resources into making the game nice and pretty but lack in the game play department. Perhaps instead of taking a glorified field trip to Skywalker Ranch and all the filming locations of the Star Wars films, DICE would have better spent their time playing the original two Battlefront games and refining all the fine elements from them and weeding out the weaker elements. But instead they fall back onto making the game like every other first-person-shooter to have come out in the last several years. With half of the worlds as the original two Battlefront games with no first-player campaign mode, (Galactic Conquest, Story Mode, Instant Action) and most of the actual meaty content relegated to online play, assuming you can shell out the money for XBox Live.

The game's main modes are glorified tutorial quests, survival campaigns and death matches all feeling so underwhelming and just not fun. Star Wars has a plethora of planets, worlds, concepts to use but DICE went with the familiar few with the addition of one or two more to make it look like they're actually trying. There is aerial combat in the game but it's very stilted and just kind of boring; though I never cared much for the space battles in the original Battlefront. Oh but there is more content if you give EA Games even more money for a "season pass." In other words pay twice for the price of one game! I had little hope when I heard EA was going to be the one behind this game and the end result was exactly as a I expected, dull, inspired Call of Duty Clone catered to the annoying little kids who have been raised on Call of Duty. The missions are dull most of the content is online and multiplayer because apparently EA thinks nobody plays games alone anymore. The graphics are pretty but that's no surprise there and the game does control very well and shockingly you actually get the option to play first or third person. Battlefront is garbage, the originals were far better and it's hard to say why EA couldn't stick to that concept.

The graphics and the gameplay make this game but everything else is lacking content. There is some fun to be had but the more you play it the more repetitive it gets and eventually it just gets boring. Compared to the original battlefront this game is just a disappointment and that's why its a 6/10. Its not bad game but it should of been a lot better than it was.