Star Wars: Battlefront E3 preview
Star Wars gaming has certainly gone through it’s paces. LucasArts has literally provided genre defining games and shameful shells of computer entertainment. This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo brought with it a plethora of games from the house that George built. When Doom and Quake were high on the list of gamers, LucasArts re-imagined the gameplay into one of the most successful series of first person shooters ever, Dark Forces. Halls and arenas of monsters were replaced with Stormtroopers and aliens of the Star Wars universe.
Eventually, the first person shooter, or FPS, evolved and took on more of a strategic element, first coming out the gate with Quake: Team Fortress and peaking with Battlefield 1942. The first person element blended with team play in order to complete various objectives instead of flat out run and gun. Until now, the Star Wars universe of games hadn’t given gamers that sense. After all, it is called Star WARS. The movies clearly had the team based feel and gamers wanted it to.
Enter Star Wars: Battlefront. Finally, a chance for the Rebel Alliance to go head to head against the Imperial forces of the Galactic Empire. Rebel soldiers against Imperial Stormtroopers. Even Republic Forces against the Droid Army. Not to mention blasting a few Ewoks and Gungans off the battlefield. The preview we saw at E3 could very easily have been a finished product. Players started the round by choosing one of 2 sides of the battle they wanted to fight for, basic good or evil kinda stuff. Then you are given the choice of one of 5 unique classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The first level we got to experience was on the PS2. The lush green forests of Endor was the setting for the second best ground battle of the original trilogy of movies, and Battlefront captured it excellently. Choosing the rebel army, you are given the task of capturing keypoints on a very large map by holding and defending something of a flag. This control point method is identical to Battlefield 1942, so fans of the series, or the Star Wars modification to the game, Galactic Conquest, shouldn’t have a difficult time picking up a controller and jumping right in. Bushes and downed trees provided cover from blaster fire but not from AI controlled Ewoks looking for a Stormtrooper helmet to use as a drum.
With a promise of over 30 weapons, 30 pilotable vehicles and 15 seperate battle environments, the game promises to be epic, not only to the fanboys, but to first person gamers all over. Icing on the galactic cake, on-line multiplayer will ship right out of the box not only for the PC, but for the PS2 and Xbox live users alike. For console gamers, 16 human players can participate in the fire fight over the internet, a promise of 32 via local area network! A first for Xbox players. PC gamers will of course have 32 players total regardless and all systems will support voice chat via their individual systems. No word yet on stats tracking for Xbox Live users.
Due out late September 2004, those looking to whet their online shooter appetities before Halo 2 is released should give serious consideration to Star Wars: Battlefront.
