I’ll admit it. I have never played Battlefield 4. Call of Duty has always been my FPS fix. Now that that’s been said, open beta for Star Wars: Battlefront has been highly anticipated even by those who were able to playtest it during recent local conventions, and we now had the opportunity to see what EA has been up to for the last few years. Battlefront was announced two years ago at E3 after EA acquired licensing for a multi-year deal to develop video games within the popular Star Wars franchise. This game, being the third in the series, has had plenty of early criticism due to its differences with its predecessors. This criticism was met head on with open beta in season.
The first thing players will notice is a new simple fact that may take some some getting used to; Laser bolts are not bullets. This is not the same modern spec op future tech FPS you were looking for. The star wars universe is very present from the sounds and sights.Like you'd imagine, red or green blaster bolts fire at a different rate and speed than contemporary weaponry. Bolts float through the air with a slight delay that mostly require the player to lead the shot for most moving targets. This gave me flashbacks of playing the first of Battlefield installments, Battlefield 1942, and times when sniping a moving target took calculation with a bit of luck. Never tell me the odds, right? It seems like everything except starfighters had a delay for hit-contact. That means dog fighting is intense but you’ll still be leading the shot anyways I guess. Speaking about delays, the melee abilities stops the player cold on their tracks… and I’m not referring to the snowy fields of Hoth. It's a very different tool than the Call of Duty formula we're used too. Reloading is a thing of the past (or I guess technically the future...) as it does not exist. Overheating is used to moderate weapons as it creates a major delay when peaked. You’ll find yourself going quickly into hiding, healing up for your next attack. Multiplayer comes with a basic leveling system that can create a loadout for your player. Obviously it was easy to Max the level cap of 5 and unlock all the abilities using the insane currency. When jump packs became available, strategic battle placements became a key factor when trying to keep the upper hand. This may frustrate players from the previous games as using the prestige system may not be wanted.
The most talked about game mode featured in the open beta was Walker Assault, which hosted a 40 man multiplayer match. Assault tells the tale of the imperial march to the outgunned rebel base and shield generator. Both armies are fighting in the war torn battlefields of ice and snow which includes a fun and surprising return to trench warfare. Both teams are expected to rush into the middle of combat and either defend or deactivate a tactical yet not strategically placed point from a constant barrage of laser fire. Rebels have the more difficult job of having to destroy two very strong and slow imperial walkers. It’s assumed that this role given to these poor alliance soldiers has more meaning and less assured suicidal tendencies once more options are available to use against these hulking piles of steel… this is a beta after all. This mode also shows us our first glimpse of vehicular combat which is represented as a power-up that must be picked up in this snowy region. Getting to jump to lightspeed in an instant is quickly satisfying by the exhilarating feeling of piloting one of these iconic starfighters and its role in the fight below. The role of dropping bombs or dog-fighting other interceptors is clear by the controls and available abilities given. Even watching from the ground up is exciting and something we don’t necessarily get from the films. Speaking about the films, Luke and Vader also make a surprise appearance as power-ups. These limited time heroes not only have their health deplete as time passes but are also vulnerable to ranged combat but I definitely wouldn’t want to be stuck indoors with one of these guys. This leaves me thinking, how strong will Boba Fett actually be?
With beta comes the hiccups. It's not clear what DICE plan to do with early quitters seeing how 8v2 is not a very eventful nor rewarding game and happened quite often. On the second to last night of open beta,the EA servers were hit with huge lag spikes causing frequent rubber banding. These minor issues including the imbalanced Assault mode aside, Star Wars: Battlefront has been a fun victory for those skeptical of its gameplay. With its release date of November 17th just around the corner, there are a few more questions that may grab some concern. Will each game mode be specific to a certain map? Is this enough content without forking over a season pass? How long will it take to prestige and has the beta allowed time to simmer down the hype? We will see soon enough. And may the force be you...EA.
Stay Kultured,
-DAsilvanator
The first thing players will notice is a new simple fact that may take some some getting used to; Laser bolts are not bullets. This is not the same modern spec op future tech FPS you were looking for. The star wars universe is very present from the sounds and sights.Like you'd imagine, red or green blaster bolts fire at a different rate and speed than contemporary weaponry. Bolts float through the air with a slight delay that mostly require the player to lead the shot for most moving targets. This gave me flashbacks of playing the first of Battlefield installments, Battlefield 1942, and times when sniping a moving target took calculation with a bit of luck. Never tell me the odds, right? It seems like everything except starfighters had a delay for hit-contact. That means dog fighting is intense but you’ll still be leading the shot anyways I guess. Speaking about delays, the melee abilities stops the player cold on their tracks… and I’m not referring to the snowy fields of Hoth. It's a very different tool than the Call of Duty formula we're used too. Reloading is a thing of the past (or I guess technically the future...) as it does not exist. Overheating is used to moderate weapons as it creates a major delay when peaked. You’ll find yourself going quickly into hiding, healing up for your next attack. Multiplayer comes with a basic leveling system that can create a loadout for your player. Obviously it was easy to Max the level cap of 5 and unlock all the abilities using the insane currency. When jump packs became available, strategic battle placements became a key factor when trying to keep the upper hand. This may frustrate players from the previous games as using the prestige system may not be wanted.
The most talked about game mode featured in the open beta was Walker Assault, which hosted a 40 man multiplayer match. Assault tells the tale of the imperial march to the outgunned rebel base and shield generator. Both armies are fighting in the war torn battlefields of ice and snow which includes a fun and surprising return to trench warfare. Both teams are expected to rush into the middle of combat and either defend or deactivate a tactical yet not strategically placed point from a constant barrage of laser fire. Rebels have the more difficult job of having to destroy two very strong and slow imperial walkers. It’s assumed that this role given to these poor alliance soldiers has more meaning and less assured suicidal tendencies once more options are available to use against these hulking piles of steel… this is a beta after all. This mode also shows us our first glimpse of vehicular combat which is represented as a power-up that must be picked up in this snowy region. Getting to jump to lightspeed in an instant is quickly satisfying by the exhilarating feeling of piloting one of these iconic starfighters and its role in the fight below. The role of dropping bombs or dog-fighting other interceptors is clear by the controls and available abilities given. Even watching from the ground up is exciting and something we don’t necessarily get from the films. Speaking about the films, Luke and Vader also make a surprise appearance as power-ups. These limited time heroes not only have their health deplete as time passes but are also vulnerable to ranged combat but I definitely wouldn’t want to be stuck indoors with one of these guys. This leaves me thinking, how strong will Boba Fett actually be?
With beta comes the hiccups. It's not clear what DICE plan to do with early quitters seeing how 8v2 is not a very eventful nor rewarding game and happened quite often. On the second to last night of open beta,the EA servers were hit with huge lag spikes causing frequent rubber banding. These minor issues including the imbalanced Assault mode aside, Star Wars: Battlefront has been a fun victory for those skeptical of its gameplay. With its release date of November 17th just around the corner, there are a few more questions that may grab some concern. Will each game mode be specific to a certain map? Is this enough content without forking over a season pass? How long will it take to prestige and has the beta allowed time to simmer down the hype? We will see soon enough. And may the force be you...EA.
Stay Kultured,
-DAsilvanator