Star Wars Battlefront for Xbox

by MaxPower

Along with KOTOR II, Star Wars Battlefront ? developed by Pandemic Studios – is one of the highly anticipated games due to be released this month. However, unlike the KOTOR series, Battlefront offers a more diverse field of play with a more diverse cast of characters. We wandered up to the LucasArts booth at X?04, attracted by a yell ?Get that droid!? to which the guy playing responded with ?Booya? and a little garbage-can droid on Tatooine went up in a ball of fire. That was just one impressive demonstration of the detailed nature of the game.

Star Wars Battlefront is an action/shooter game that gives gamers the opportunity to re-live and participate in all of the classic Star Wars battles. This includes all battles from Episodes I ? VI (obviously not III). To which I replied: yes, the battle on Hoth rules! Star Wars Battlefront gives you that opportunity and places it in a nicely graphical (nice not superb) package.

Players can select from a number of different soldier types, and get into vehicles and turrets on the battlefield in order to conquer the 10 planet galaxy in a 16-person multiplayer online mode or offline in a variety of single player modes or split-screen multiplayer mode. Additionally, tables and tables of stats are generated from a multiplayer game which should allow you to enjoy the fruits of your battle afterwards.

Players have a diverse range of options ? you can chose to fight on a number of different sides (Empire, Rebels, Republic Clones or Separatist Battle droids) in twelve environments on ten planets. All of the cool weapons, gadgets and vehicles from the entire series are available to be fought with. My favorite ? the Imperial walker ? was in evidence on Hoth. There are a total of 25 ground and air vehicles including the AT-ST, X-Wing, and speeder bike, as well as the Republic Gunship that can hold up to five different soldiers.

The multiplayer game plays like an updated version of Half Life/Counter-Strike where you can pick to play with different soldiers depending on what weapons you would like to use. Like Counter-Strike, when you die in battle you re-spawn at the back of the field and you have to make your way to the front to join in the action, which the AI will continue in your absence. The different soldiers all have different specialties. If you want to do some damage to vehicles, I would suggest picking the heavy weapons solider, for example. Scouts on the other hand can be snipers, and pilots can repair vehicles they are riding in (it also appears they don?t die when they are in a vehicle that explodes). There are also third-party AI controlled figures running around the giant battlefield. When I was playing on Tatooine, Jawas ran around and generally helped me to the extent they could. The LucasArts rep explained that for example, if you?re on Endor and playing as the Rebels the Ewoks will come to your aid through the battle.

Like Halo 2, the single-player game with the storytelling element looks like it will be fun, but it seems obvious that the Xbox is heading strongly towards the ideal that the multiplayer action is where the replay value will be. I?d like to see the graphics tightened up a bit as things in the distance appeared a bit fuzzy, but when you are dealing with dozens of players, both AI and human-controlled running around, the performance of Star Wars Battlefront is admirable. Another very attractive gaming option ? look for it this month.

MaxPower