I am not a huge Star Wars fan. I thoroughly enjoyed the movies but that really is about the end of it; I’ve never really understood the love for the series transmedia properties. I’m even okay to admit that I have no idea why there is so much hate for Jar Jar Binks. I say this because Star Wars Battlefront has not been made for me and that is abundantly clear from the outset.
But having said that I’m also a massive fan of shooter games like Destiny, Call of Duty, Battlefield and the rest so this game should be right up my alley right?
Well no. You see, in the few hours I’ve had with the game one thing has become clear to me and that is that this game is the most generic and mechanically unambitious shooter I’ve played since Spec Ops: The Line. But unlike that brilliant game this one has no storyline of any consequence.
Battlefront is an entirely multiplayer experience, boring training missions aside, and as such the game can only stand on its gameplay mechanic and how it looks. While Battlefront looks amazing, the gameplay is so frustratingly shallow. There is a progression system where you can grind away to unlock new weapons and cards, but all the weapons feel so eerily similar that I have zero desire to unlock any new ones.
The cards are a nice touch and allow some level of customisation of your characters but again the entire thing always seems to come down to running around and shooting at each other with absolutely no requirement for tactics, skills or team work.
There are different modes and I will readily admit that I thoroughly enjoyed. The dogfight mode where you are given a choice of two space ships to use, (both of which feel identical), and are then thrust into a massive dogfight where you need to destroy the enemy transports while protecting your own. It’s a whole lot of fun but after around 10 games you start to notice the lack of depth once again.
People may be raving about the game but in reality it feels like it has been entirely made for superfans of the franchise and that’s fine. From my time there is very little depth to the game and if you aren’t a fan of the Star Wars universe then rather watch the YouTube videos.
My time was spent in the Xbox One version that I got because I’m subscribed to EA Access. We are still waiting for a review copy and if/when it arrives I will not be reviewing the game. I’ve had my fill.
Last Updated: November 17, 2015
Jonah Cash
November 17, 2015 at 09:09
As I said on the other article. This game is an online multiplayer shooter. And it does that very badly! If you think of shooter you think of great gun play, some customization and a lot of different weapons that handle uniquely. By all accounts it fails at almost all of the above. So even giving it 7/10 is a bit too high in my opinion. Review the game for what it is, not for its name.
Pieter Kruger
November 17, 2015 at 09:10
Agree, still have like 4 hours of play left on EA Access but cant be bothered!
Jonah Cash
November 17, 2015 at 09:11
This makes me sad. They could really have done so much with it and they truly went and screwed it up.
Hammersteyn
November 17, 2015 at 09:37
Three upvotes? I feel a disturbance in the force 😀
Captain JJ the Goo
November 17, 2015 at 09:12
A run & gun shooter. Star Wars or not, it’s just not exciting these days anymore.
Brett Henning
November 17, 2015 at 23:55
Wait for DOOM 4, at least that looks fun and interesting with SNAPMAP
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 17, 2015 at 09:15
And people wonder why movie tie-in games have a bad reputation.
Hammersteyn
November 17, 2015 at 09:17
Still a better game than Battlefront 3
https://media.giphy.com/media/RbXIlh6c4h82I/giphy.gif
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 17, 2015 at 09:19
There’s a licensed Star Wars porno game? I never saw that co… um… happening.
Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja
November 17, 2015 at 09:27
So slavegirl Leia’s certain area is GREAT ?
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 17, 2015 at 09:30
I know right? Even better is the SPLOOSH!
Captain JJ the Goo
November 17, 2015 at 09:30
“sploosh”
Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja
November 17, 2015 at 09:30
Aaaafaaaah?
WitWolfy
November 17, 2015 at 09:31
Things she had to do to survive…
Nikola
November 17, 2015 at 09:24
I really thing if they added a single player campaign would have made the game and the overall experience a lot better!
Captain JJ the Goo
November 17, 2015 at 09:25
Then I would have maybe considered it
Hammersteyn
November 17, 2015 at 09:26
I “thing” you’re right 😛
Captain JJ the Goo
November 17, 2015 at 09:26
He’s on to somethink
Hammersteyn
November 17, 2015 at 09:28
XD
Grand Admiral Chief SpaceNinja
November 17, 2015 at 09:29
*fink
Nikola
November 17, 2015 at 09:27
F*** you!! Hahahah:)
Captain JJ the Goo
November 17, 2015 at 09:29
XD
miaau
November 17, 2015 at 12:27
Totally. There is nothing for me there, I, a huge star wars fan, may have bought it just for single player.
We’ll salvage what we can. But I can tell you, dear God, for the father, nothing. (Obscure, I know)
Zubayr Bhyat
November 17, 2015 at 19:40
Don’t think so. Even if the made a generic Jedi plot like Jedi Knight and Jedi Academy had, it’d still be multiplayer focused. Like with Evolve, Battlefront won’t last. After playing KOTOR and getting new lore / characters every other star wars game tends to suck, even The Old Republic.
Brett Henning
November 17, 2015 at 23:57
Yup, as they should have noticed after b4’s terrible campaign. Their logic is impeccable!
K1FF J1MB0B (sizzle edition)
November 17, 2015 at 10:50
Too busy to read Gavin’s thoughts, but fair to assume he didn’t like it because not enough COD?
Brett Henning
November 17, 2015 at 23:55
I figured people would have wised up after b4’s fiasco. No surprise here that battlefront is gonna be the same pos let loose from EA and DICE.
Charl van der Merwe
November 19, 2015 at 14:37
lol what fiasco ? BF4 is brilliant
Sean Carbutt
November 20, 2015 at 07:26
Yah, I was also wondering what B4 means, definitely not battlefield 4
Brett Henning
November 20, 2015 at 21:18
I meant bf4. typo mesquzy
Brett Henning
November 20, 2015 at 21:20
http://www.pcgamer.com/battlefield-4-dogged-by-major-launch-issues-connection-errors-glitches-dodgy-netcode/
Brett Henning
November 20, 2015 at 21:17
When BF4 was first released you should have noticed that many people had issues with constant random crashes, the amount of fixes they threw at the players that fixed jack shit, and all the lag problems. It took them almost 6 months to have the game playable as it is today without these problems. Devs need to stop letting the games get released before they do adequate testing. This is a joke. If you don’t believe me go and read some articles about it. The fact that you say this game is brilliant is mind boggling. Did you even but the game on release? If you did, you should know that even if you had the best vid card, you would STILL have the issues. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/04/battlefield-4-problems-halt-future-projects-and-expansions —read date, this is just 1 article, Also, read the comments smarty pants. BF4’s release was just like Halo the Masterchief collection. Come on get back to reality mang
Brett Henning
November 20, 2015 at 21:20
http://www.pcgamer.com/battlefield-4-dogged-by-major-launch-issues-connection-errors-glitches-dodgy-netcode/ — more notes for yah brah
Brett Henning
November 20, 2015 at 21:21
and another http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/12/ea-stock-dips-as-company-struggles-to-fix-battlefield-4-issues/
Brett Henning
November 20, 2015 at 21:21
and another http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2013/12/12/did-ea-lie-about-battlefield-4-now-under-investigation/
Hammersteyn
November 23, 2015 at 07:37
Then there’s this O_o
http://gearsiege.com/2015/11/22/ea-is-trying-to-pay-off-famous-people-to-say-they-like-battlefront/
Brett Henning
November 20, 2015 at 21:23
Did I mention, another one bites the dust?
Charl van der Merwe
November 21, 2015 at 08:40
haha well done, you quoted some lovely articles,Like did you actually play the game, or are you the type of gamer that takes everyone else’s moaning as gospel and jumps on the gravy train of bitching ?
Because I played it, yes it had some bugs early on, but they were fixed , and most people I know who played bf4 thought it was great.
so tired of armchair critics that have no clue what they commenting on.
Hammersteyn
November 23, 2015 at 07:36
There were tons of issues in the first few months
Hell-RaizeR
November 19, 2015 at 03:20
You have to be crazy to pay full price for a multiplayer only game. Screw that. Better games are out anyways. Pass!
Brett Henning
November 20, 2015 at 21:18
Wait for DOOM, has both, and map editor/creator
Hammersteyn
November 23, 2015 at 07:36
Yes!
Darren Peach
November 23, 2015 at 11:31
I wish I read this last week.