Score
Gameplay:	8
Graphics:	7
Sound:	9
FunFactor:	8
PlasmaFactor:	8
Overall:	8

Star Wars Battlefront Review
December 14, 2004 by Brian Callam

by BrianC - December 14, 2004

The announcement of Star Wars: Battlefront, a Battlefield 1942 style game, over a year ago excited many Star Wars fanatics. The ability to play as characters with the use of weapons and vehicles that have been dreamt about by fans for ages is now available at your fingertips. Large maps, on foot gunning, and vehicle attacks are just what were delivered with the release of this game.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Battlefront is Star Wars meets Battlefield 1942. Massive armies clash on large maps with the help of computer controlled units or a friend playing along side or against you. The first mode available that most people will probably start with to get a feel for the game is instant action mode. This mode allows the player to choose whichever battle he wants and you can also make a customized list of battles and play through them all. Another mode available is the historical campaign. This lets you get the feel of fighting right along side either the Empire or the Rebellion in the Galactic Civil War, or as the Republic or CIS in the Clone Wars. You play through battles in a chronological order and unlocks certain bonus items as you make your way through it. Galactic Conquest is the third and last mode available for single-player. This mode is where you as the player use your strategy to one by one take control of the planets in the galaxy. While all of this seems like a lot of choices, the gameplay for each is the same. The maps are full of bots with almost but not quite a decent amount of artificial intelligence. The bots are for the most part geographically challenged. That is to say that if they are standing next to a turret, they will occupy it. The same goes for vehicles and star fighters. Pilots will toss you ammo and health that are next to you. Other than this though they, for the most part, stand around and do not do a whole lot. With four options for an army to pick, the reality is that you only get to pick one of two pairs. The Galactic Empire won�t fight against droids and the Rebellion won�t fight them either. Poor droids. With 16 maps over 10 planets, to win you must kill everyone, or like the Battlefield 1942 conquest mode, take over command posts. The online play of Battlefront can support up to 16 players, but only with the help of special software needed for your computer to run the server. If you run the server directly from your PS2, a maximum of 4 players can be present. The game also allows for 6 additional bots in the game. As far as online play, it�s fun�but it�s no match to the PC or Xbox versions of this game. Another downside for online play is that a 1.8MB patch must be downloaded before you can proceed to play online. The offline multiplayer mode is by far the best part of the game. The split screen can get old but it far more enjoyable then single-player and if you don�t have a network adapter.

Your eyes can deceive you, don�t trust them.

Lucas Arts and Pandemic don�t offer anything ground breaking as far as graphics go, though not groundbreaking but good. The classic scenes that are presented make up for the mediocre graphics. The video clips shown are decent quality as well. Explosions and laser blasts are great. Character models could have used a little more development. Vehicles get pixilated and frames pop out of place from time to time. Though this is what is to be expected from slightly better than average graphics.

Noisy noisy noisy

As you could expect of anything related to Star Wars, John Williams offers great music for our listening enjoyment. The sound effects such as blaster fire and vehicle noises would seem as if they were cut right from the movies. The sounds are of the most enjoyable cosmetic aspects of the game.

Hokey religions, and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.

Star Wars: Battlefront is a great game for any Star Wars fan. It provides loads of fun for anyone who appreciates Star Wars and for those who enjoy Battlefield 1942 type games. Multiplayer mode leads to hours of good old battling your friends and capturing their command post until they tire of getting beaten. Online play adds another dimension of fun for those with access to a network adapter and a broadband connection.

A Great Disturbance in the Force

While this game is great for Star Wars fans and other gamers alike, one thing can be said about this for sure; it gets old. Playing for a day or two single-player and multiplayer alike the urge to go back to other team/squad based-shooters was too great to resist. One of the facts I can rest on is that Star Wars will forever be enjoyed by many and as such this game will never sit on the shelf for too long and collect too much dust. It is this reason that the purchase of this game wasn�t a complete waste of money. There are definite down sides such as the gameplay never changing and lagging online play. For this reason a just-above-average rating for replay value is what is awarded to Battlefront.

 

Conclusion

Star Wars: Battlefront is a team-based shooter game that will be thoroughly enjoyed by many hardcore Star Wars fans. Though the PC version is superior, this game offers an enjoyable experience and a new opportunity for people to play team-based games online. Nothing too new other than it being a new Star Wars game is delivered, this game is worthy of belonging in any PS2 gamers library of games.