As much as I'm not usually big on either of the things that this is... those a being a game based on an already existing(and popular!) one(if this doesn't, right down to the name, remind you of the Battlefield series, then surely you are the only one... and that's coming from someone who hasn't played a second of any of them), and a war VG... I gotta admit, this is an awful lot of fun, and it's easier to start playing it than to stop again(and it doesn't have any unlockables or other things to raise the replayability value; it simply does not need them). In spite of being licensed, this is great. It includes all four major forces of the whole saga, and they all get the arsenal and equipment they ought to, and are well-balanced. With few exceptions, every soldier has a reasonably accurate and useful enough damage-dealing-wise Blaster Pistol with infinite ammo, as well as at least one type of grenades, so you'll hardly ever be out of options. The sides all have five classes each, including one that can repair and restock. Rebels also get a Wookie, and CIS(Separatists) do, indeed, get the Destroyer Droid, or Droideka. It demands mention, because it is one of the best aspects of this. So very successful, for something so potentially unfair. Its shield can be drained by sustained fire(or a few hits by a rocket/missile launcher, and all teams can spawn a unit who starts out with one of those), and it can then only be recharged by leaving it off. The rolling, which is an immensely fast method of travel, leaves it rather vulnerable, and it does take a second or so to unfurl when you stop. It does shoot rapidly, though that can't be kept up for long without requiring a pause, and it turns slowly. It all adds up and makes it *awesome* to play as, without making it impossible to waste. There's next to no weapon or vehicle(over 30 total!) seen in the six films(that makes sense to include) that isn't here. The X-Wing, Speeder Bike, AT-ST, as well as various hovering tanks and aircrafts. You can steal the enemy's, if they're not occupied. Most of them take more than one person, too... heck, with a friend, you can reenact the bit of Luke taking out an AT-AT with the tow-cable. This has every major location that you could imagine it to, such as Hoth, Bespin, Geonosis(oh yeah!), heck, Kamino's there(and oh my, how it rocks). Honestly, just about everything from the SW universe that fits here, is present. And the only thing that can really be called an unfortunate addition is the Jedi that you can find fighting with or against you in some situations. It seems unkillable, and it is nothing other than a gimmick. This is obviously a MP VG, and I've not had a single problem running them across Internet or LAN. There are bots, so you can play by yourself and still face an army(and be backed up by one, and you can issue them orders, and they will follow them), and the AI is excellent. SP consists of 4 things. You can try every of the well-designed(and neither small nor excessively large) levels in Instant Action. Then there are two Campaigns, where you gradually play through both trilogies. Story-telling consists of clips from the movies, occasionally awkwardly and slightly edited, and a short briefing prior to the missions with voice actors doing poor(once or twice downright astonishingly so) impersonations of characters from the films. It switches back and forth who you're playing as so often(for every win, perhaps?) that you barely into playing as one before it's time for the next one, and it doesn't always seem logical who you're playing as. Finally, there's Galactic Conquest. There are a half a dozen or so suspiciously similar ones, about half of them allowing you to choose between 2 opposing groups, and where you take over all of the 6-7 or so planets, defeating the others on them once or twice. You get to select an advantage before you play, and that's all the variation there is to that. The focus here was definitely put upon the game-play(and boy did it pay off), and particularly on multi-player. With that said, the graphics are marvelous, with smooth and natural animation, enabling the non-stop action to be intense with no lag, without needing that high-end a computer. The audio is crisp and fantastic(I tested out my new sub-woofer with this... nicely done, LucasArts), and absolutely *everything* sounds exactly the way it should. This has tons of music that all us fans instantly recognize, and it further helps the atmosphere and mood. There is only one "mode" to play this... there are counters at the top of the well-done interface showing how many men remain available(starting towards 250) to the alliances involved in the conflict, and once one of them reaches zero, they lose the match(they tend to take between five and fifteen minutes, it hardly goes above that at all). The other stated goals that do appear here and there don't matter that much. There are checkpoints that can be captured, and that is what is gone for, almost all of the time. It is a little disappointing once you realize that you'll seldom get your victory by other means than wearing out the others. That gets tedious and repetitive, and you'll be missing other options, or bonus stuff... "smash this or that", "do this or that in x amount of time", etc. Something, anything. On the plus side, you won't at any time be unsure what you are to do, and the rules are extremely quickly learned. There are nearly no bugs or glitches, and no big ones. This contains no blood or gore, and is in general utterly inoffensive. I recommend this to anyone who can see themselves enjoying this, because they're likely to be right in thinking that they will. 7/10
Review of Star Wars: Battlefront
