Jan 16, 2016 4 min read

Following the release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the famous film series is in the spotlight once again. For gamers, this goes along perfectly with the release of “Star Wars Battlefront,” published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on Nov. 17.

As a long-awaited sequel to the “Star Wars”-themed “Battlefront” series, whose last game was released in 2005, fans had high expectations for this new entry.

But, was it worth the wait?

The first thing that greets players upon loading the game is an EA login screen. An EA account is required for online play, which is bit tedious on its own. However, this also allows players to compete across different platforms, which makes it easier to play with friends and find online opponents.

“Battlefront” offers a number of different game modes for play. For instance, “Battles” features two local game modes: head-to-head combat between Rebel and Imperial forces and cooperative survival against waves of enemy Stormtroopers. Most game modes, however, are found in the online “multiplayer” section. These include “Blast,” a basic team death match, and “Walker Assault,” a mode where Rebels must take down AT-AT walkers escorted by Imperial troops.

In most of these modes, players are limited to using generic rebel grunts and Stormtroopers, depending on the team. However, some game modes feature classic heroes and villains from the franchise, like Luke Skywalker for the Rebels, and Darth Vader for the Empire. These additional characters spice up the game a bit, since playing as generic soldiers gets a little boring after a while. Without them, the game is kind of bland. However, the players selected to play as heroes are practically unstoppable killing machines, which makes it harder for others to enjoy the gameplay.

The heroes’ voice actors are also not the original actors from the movie. This isn’t usually an issue, but diehard Star Wars fan will be able to tell the difference right away.

“Battlefront” features a weapon unlock system that, honestly, isn’t that great. Playing games results in gaining experience over time, and players rank up after getting enough. Higher ranks unlock different blasters and power ups, such as ion grenades and thermal imploders. However, this puts new players at a disadvantage since higher ranked players can easily decimate them with their superior weapons.

Thankfully – flaws aside – there are a handful of good points. The overall atmosphere of the game is great. All of the levels are locations directly from the “Star Wars” movies, such as Endor, Hoth, and even the new planet, Jakku, from “The Force Awakens.” The graphics are gorgeous, and the music sounds like it’s directly from the movies. These factors combined make the “Star Wars” theme shine. While the gameplay does get boring after a while, there are a few modes that are fun to go back to, such as the “Heroes vs. Villains” mode, where players have to defeat all of the other team’s heroes to win.

There are also four expansion packs to be released in the future, which will add more content to the game. Currently, a season pass is available for $50, which includes access to all future DLC, or downloadable content. While the game is somewhat empty now, these expansions will hopefully fill the gaps left out in the base game. However, additional content shouldn’t be necessary for a complete experience.

Overall, I rate “Star Wars: Battlefront” 7 out of 10. While it’s a little light on content, the game maintains a “Star Wars” atmosphere and provides fun gameplay experiences for “Star Wars” and shooting game fans alike.

By Aaron York

7th grade, Commonwealth Connections