For a long time now there has been a steady stream of Star Wars games released. They have ranged from truly great games, Knights of the Old Republic to name but one, to the downright terrible; I’m looking at you Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace! This week’s game focuses on a Star Wars series that is screaming out for a sequel, let alone an HD remake. As a sequel is not forthcoming, we at least need an HD remake to tide us over until the next game is inevitably released.
Star Wars: Battlefront
The first time I played Battlefront, I was round a friend’s house, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. I wandered in and we fired up the Xbox and as it booted up he told me about Battlefront. I knew nothing of the game going into it but I was told in no uncertain terms that I had to play it. So we started playing through Galactic Conquest, the game’s campaign mode, and after some time we ended up completing it. No sooner had this happened, we jumped straight back into the mode again looking to take over the map once more. Eight hours later the Xbox got a well deserved rest as we stopped playing for a while and I reflected on what just happened. I knew I had to get a copy as quickly as I could and I had to play more.
The games main mode is Galactic Conquest which consists of an overworld map made up of a number of planets. Some are allied planets, some are neutral and some are enemy controlled. The objective of the game is to control all of the planets to ultimately conquer the galaxy. This is done by waging small scale wars on each planet and if your are victorious you will acquire that planet for your side and along with it, you will receive a bonus power that can be used in subsequent battles to help you gain the upper hand. These bonuses can range from giving your units better blaster accuracy or having a Jedi fight alongside you.
The action plays out in both first and third person. When you start a battle you are giving a selection of classes to choose from ranging from your heavies with rocket launchers to a standard blaster wielding grunt. Each team starts with a number on the screen, let’s say 200 for this example. That is the number of troops you have at your disposal for the battle ahead. If you or any of your AI squad mates get taken out by the enemy your number decreases by one until one team hits zero and they are completely wiped out.
There is no story line to speak of past ‘conquer the galaxy’ so if you come into the game hoping for a fresh slice of Star Wars fiction you will be disappointed. If you come into the game hoping for fast paced, all out action then you most certainly will not be disappointed. Star Wars: Battlefront has a great campaign that will have you playing through to entirety in one sitting and it also has instant action so if you only have time for one or two skirmishes you can jump in and out with no problem.
At present, not including the PSP offshoots, there are two Battlefront games available. In my opinion, the first one is the superior game. The Galactic Conquest mode of the second game introduces space combat which should have made it better, but as you move your ship around the galaxy map you find yourself being constantly attacked by the opponent’s ships. During my time playing Battlefront 2 it got to the point where I was doing more space combat than I was on the ground. If an HD remake was on the cards it would most likely come in the form of a double pack including both games, so in order to get the original, I would happily buy both and ignore the second.
Check in again for another game that should adorn our screens once again. Parts 1, 2 and 3 of this series can be found here, here and here respectively.
