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After spending hours upon hours playing the Star Wars Battlefront Beta I came to the conclusion that despite being just a ‘Beta’ it’s one of the most fun and enjoyable multi-player games I’ve played in several years. From dive bombing the Empire in an X-Wing , to force choking Rebel scum as Lord Vader himself, Battlefront seems set to deliver the Star Wars experience I’ve been waiting for.

The Star Wars license has been slightly bastardised in the past few years with games like Star Wars Kinect and Force Unleashed 2. Upon hearing about Battlefront for the first time there were a few concerns and those worries grew larger after reading countless articles focusing on what wasn’t going to be in the game. After finally playing the beta it put many worries to bed, some criticisms still linger but overall my experience with the Star Wars Battlefront is a positive one.

Join me or die!

Jumping straight into Walker assault I was blown away by the visuals and sound design, Hoth looks stunning, seeing Tie fighters fly overhead, watching the AT-AT lumber into battle and witnessing a fight between Luke and Vader is a remarkable sight. Laser fire fills the battlefield, and the sound design is incredibly authentic. It’s almost as if you’re there. The level of detail is brilliant, from the sheen of Darth’s helm to the movement of an AT-RT, and the snow is probably the best I’ve seen in a video game. Game play is also pretty basic; there aren’t tonnes of weapons with 15 different dot-sights or anything like that. It’s all very simple; you have a few laser guns and choice of equipment such as grenades to jump packs. Navigating through the menus to customize your loadout is pretty elementary, although there’s only a few unlocks available, it will be interesting to see what else is ready for use in the full game.

After a few hours of playing it became apparent that Walker Assault is pretty unbalanced with the majority of wins going to the Empire since all they need to do is steamroll Rebel defences. Rebels have to work a lot harder by activating and defending uplink stations, the longer they hold them the more Y-Wing bombers will aid Rebel forces in dropping the AT-AT’s shield. Once the shields are down the Rebels need to fire everything they’ve got. The balance issues are in regard to the walkers taking too much punishment. Playing devil’s advocate I’d say it’s also due to a Rebel team simply not knowing what to do. I’ve seen many people simply not interacting with uplink stations, whether it’s a case of not understanding the objective or ignoring it, perhaps the fault lies with the players rather than the game itself. I have seen both AT-AT’s fall by the second set of Uplink stations when you’re with a team that know what to do. Weakening the AT-AT’s might not balance the game at all; maybe people just need time to learn the mechanics.

star wars battlefront beta impressions the rebels

The Rebels are no match for the Darkside!

The way you access vehicles or heroes are from simple icon pick-ups which are located around a spawn point, there are a few complaints here, in which the Empire has a larger selection (such as AT-AT’s & AT-RT’s) while the Rebels only have access to various aircraft; no Tauntauns sadly. Hero icons have also upset people due to the fact anyone can be one, instead of earning heroes through performance they can be simply collected. Personally, I think it’s great that anyone (no matter the skill level) has a chance to be Darth Vader. It also makes it fair in the fact that if you have several good players, then you’re not going to have several heroes running around. I keeps things balanced. Playing as the heroes can be little disappointing due to how weak they are they can be killed quite quickly before even making their presence felt, so a slight buff would be welcome.

It’s not all large-scale warfare; there are also other game modes to experience in the beta such as 8vs8 Drop Zone and a Co-Op survival mode. Drop Zone is quite basic where teams fight to capture drop pods around the battlefield. To be honest Drop zone is pretty dull, matches are over quickly, and it doesn’t feel very satisfying, it’s useful in helping new players learn the ropes, but I don’t think it will be a game mode people will be playing for long. Survival mode pits you against hordes of AI enemies, which are good fun with a friend; the AI is also pretty impressive too especially staying true to the fact some Storm troopers couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn. Overall Survival mode presents a decent challenge for those wanting a break from large-scale warfare.

star wars battlefront beta iimpressions darth vader

Kneel before me you fool!

Taking the fight to the skies is an interesting change of pace, the flying controls did feel a little odd but after inverting the controls I was soon chasing down rebel scum in my Tie Interceptor spouting “I have you now” in my worst Vader impression. Flying is pretty simple compared to Battlefield, you don’t have the issue of crashing on take-off, nor does it feel like you’re going to lose control at any second. Using the left stick as throttle and the right to manoeuvre makes flying simple, you can also do various evasive manoeuvres using the D-pad; you can also switch in-between 3rd person and a cockpit view. As the rebels, you’ll spend time trying to dive bomb the AT-AT when the shields are down while dodging Empire attackers. However, there is a spawning issue where you can be shot down within seconds of entering combat by awaiting fighters, perhaps being invulnerable after spawning for a few seconds will fix this problem, as it gives the players a fair chance to survive.

Spawning is unfortunately awful overall. It’s it’s easy to spawn trap and spawn kill. It can break the flow of the game and turn what should be a fun experience into an extremely frustrating one. Once again, it’s the Rebels who suffer from these issues as the Empire can easily flood the defences thanks to their variable artillery. You can choose to spawn on a buddy but after a hotfix it can only be done while they are not in active combat. There have been games where I found myself being killed after spawning several times over. Hopefully, the issues will be fixed for release but if not I can see people being turned off pretty quick.

star wars battlefront beta impressions rebel

Being a Rebel in the beta is hard life, so is winning a match as one.

The Battlefront beta has left a lasting impression; a visually stunning game with fantastic sound design and for the most part, fun game play. However there are a few concerns still lingering and some players may not enjoy the casual accessibility of Battlefront. Recently, EA announced a £40 Season pass which has not been met with a positive reception. It’s also confirmed that Battlefront is running at a smooth 60FPS 900p resolution on PS4, 60FPS 720p on Xbox One and god knows what your PC can do. Let’s just hope the base game is brimming with content delivering the best Star Wars experience possible.

Despite a few glaring issues, it’s a fun Multiplayer experience. Hopefully, DICE will iron out the flaws and deliver the Star wars experience we’ve all been waiting for.

Title: Star Wars Battlefront
Developer: DICE
Format: PS4, Xbox One & PC
Genre: FPS
Resolution: 900p PS4, 720p Xbox One
Release date: 2015-11-17
Difficulty: Variable
Spent time: +20 hours
Average grade internationally: TBA Version tested PS4
PEGI age rating: 16
Price: £43.99 Season Pass £39.99