Star Wars Battlefront (PC) Review

The Frostbite 3 engine has achieved the impossible, by offering to the world the best recreation of the Star Wars universe. It's hard not to drown in an ocean of nostalgia while flying around Tatooine's canyons in an X-Wing, blasting Imperial Stormtroopers inside Hoth's icy caverns, or moving around the dense woods of Endor as Darth Vader, kicking rebel booty left and right, all sprinkled with magnificent music and sound effects, which were taken straight from the movies - and although the use of different voice actors might disappoint the hardcore fanbase, everything is done very professionally. Yes, without a single doubt, the whole thing oozes style from every pore, and it feels awesome.

Unfortunately, the worst fears of the community have become a bitter reality, with Star Wars Battlefront being nothing more than a dazzling, albeit simplistic, Battlefield 4 with a Star Wars skin, with everything leaving a somewhat casual and arcade-y taste - a change in direction that clearly aims to empty the wallets of as many as possible, be it fanboys and fangirls, easy-to-impress young'uns, or even those creatures that believe videogames begin and end with the Call of Duty series. Before explaining why, however, note that apart from a few -surprisingly shallow - single-player modes, the focus is mainly placed on the online, PvP action.

In terms of multiplayer, originality was thrown out of the window, and while names such as Supremacy, Drop Zone, Blast, Cargo, and so on, might sound new, they are actually slight variations of the typical Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and King of the Hill available in most third/first-person shooters. Is that a problem? When the action is fast and the war atmosphere so strong, the answer rapidly becomes: not at all, as long as the factor of balance stays out of view, that is, with one noticeable example being the fact that the Galactic Empire is currently somewhat better than the Rebel Alliance.

The casual approach becomes even more evident in gunplay, with the only strategy being, #1: stay in third-person in order to have a better FOV and no visibility penalties, and, #2: forget sights and scopes since they make things slower without really being that helpful. Also, bear in mind that Battlefront uses a ranking system, where acquiring additional weapons means gathering experience by playing lots of multiplayer matches; a lame idea whose only purpose is to conceal three-hours-long worth of content under an EXP-grind, and which leads to the frequent slaughter of newcomers by a bunch of "pros," since top-rank weapons are better, instead of just different.

Additionally, skills called Star Cards can be unlocked and equipped, which range from various grenades, to temporary specialised rifles amongst others. While this idea could spice things up, the ever-present imbalance ruins things once more, with Cards also using the EXP system of unlocking, and the fact that some are clearly better than others, like the jump pack, for instance. Things get a bit better on the field, with secondary abilities that are scattered around the map that enable deployable turrets, drones, or even vehicles and heroes, although, and as mentioned, time and time again, the balance is all over the place.

Is everything so bad? To be honest, no; it's not bad, just disappointing. Battles can get insanely fun at times, but it will be hard to not get annoyed by the various design flaws, like a spawning system that - especially in large maps - tends to resurrect players in the midst of blaster fire, the horrible matchmaking that doesn't take rank into consideration, or the lack of a helpful browser, plus various connectivity issues, like the challenge of finding available people to play in non-USA countries, with lobbies regularly being empty for more than 10 minutes.

Then again, getting to control an AT-ST, the Millennium Falcon, or even heroes like Luke Skywalker and villains like Boba Fett, can wipe out the various shortcomings, right? To be honest, not really, because, apart from both vehicles and heroes suffering from - what else? - balance issues, it's the serious lack of depth that turns everything into a repetitive chore, which is a shame when even Star Wars: Battlefront II had more things to do. Take maps, for example: while most will only find their small number disappointing, the real issue with them is their poorly thought-out layouts, like the ones found in the "signature mode," Walker Assault, which have an epic scale matched only by their subpar design, but at least smaller locations are better structured, with logical spawn points, and a better control of the action.

Of course, the big, fat, and ugly elephant in the room, is none other than the fact that EA has struck a gold mine with its 10-year license to produce more things Star Wars, which, given the company's history, translates to even more incomplete messes, whose purpose will be none other than to make as much money with the least effort possible, something evident by the stack of soon-to-come DLC that has been announced; DLC that costs almost as much as the main game, and which will probably add just a couple of maps, Star Cards, or character customisation options…and the worse thing is that few will escape this shrewdly-constructed trap.