Video Games Weekly: Star Wars Battlefront

I hope everyone has survived their Fall Break! As I wrote in an earlier post, Star Wars Battlefront recently came out for the holiday season and as predicted, it’s pretty popular at my library. However, it isn’t doing as well in sales because it is competing with big ticketed games like Fallout 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops III. As such, the gaming community has given it mixed reviews, depending on who has played earlier versions of Battlefront. I was able to play Star Wars Battlefront on our library’s PS4 with tweens and teens on International Games Day, and I LOVED IT. Without further ado, here is my review!

Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC

Rated: “T” for Teen, for violence. There isn’t any blood.

Single or Multiplayer: Both. Multiplayer is way better though.

Series Quick Synopsis: Star Wars Battlefront is certainly not the first Star Wars video game. The first Star Wars Battlefront game was released in 2004, followed by sequels in 2005-2009. The 2015 version of Star Wars Battlefront is not exactly a sequel to the 2004 version but rather, a reboot.

This is why it has received mixed reviews; some players believe it’s a waste of money to buy the same game but with significantly better graphics while players like me are happy to replay old games for the sake of nostalgia. Take a look below to see 2015 compare to 2005:

Picture: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/axKN8h2ROso/maxresdefault.jpg

Solo and Co-Op Missions: Players have the option of playing through missions either as single player or co-op mode. There are different kinds of missions like training, survival, or battles. Training isn’t too long, probably about ten minutes. Training is the game’s way of teaching you the controls, which is great because it’s been a few years since I’ve played Battlefront!

Survival mode is where you and another player try to survive waves of enemies coming towards you. The longer you survive, the more difficult it gets. I played one survival battle with a teen, and we got decently far! This is for players who want to play with each other, not against.

At International Games Day, I had the tweens/teens play battles against one another on a split screen. Players can choose between a regular Battle or a Hero Battle. Hero Battle was the popular choice because players can choose to play as main characters like Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, and Darth Vader.

Picture: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wW6ccK9RJ3I/maxresdefault.jpg

One thing I noticed is whomever plays as Boba Fett has a crazy advantage over everyone else. Boba Fett has a jetpack, which means he can fly around the map and get to higher ground. I was playing as Luke Skywalker and a teen was playing as Boba Fett, and he would fly on top of a ship to try to snipe me. Like the movies, Luke Skywalker has the ability to use his lightsaber to deflect shootings, but this is a special capability that has a time limit. So if you have teens playing against one another, be sure you enforce the rule that they have to change their “hero” after every battle.

Players win battles by getting 100 points. You win points by killing your opponents. The cool part about battles is you can choose to have AI bots in the game, or just play each other. So even though the teen who was playing as Boba Fett was sniping me, I still beat him because I was running around killing his AI.

The one thing that is missing from battles is…THERE ARE NO SPACE BATTLES! This makes me sad because space battles have appeared in previous Star Wars Battlefront games. They’re really fun, but I’ve heard rumors that a new Star Wars Battlefront has been green lit and will include space battles. However, you can play in space in multiplayer mode.

Multiplayer: Online multiplayer mode is probably Battlefront’s best asset. This does mean that players have to have an online account in order to play online, which can get annoying because that is an extra cost. Some justify that cost with the different kinds of accessible multiplayer modes, and players can play with 8-40 players. That’s right, 40! There are five different online player modes: Fighter Squadron, Supremacy, Cargo, Blast, Droid Run, and Walker Assault. I haven’t had the chance to play all of them yet because of the holiday…sorry! I’ll talk about my two favorite ones, and give you links to the others I haven’t played yet.

Fighter Squadron: This is a space battle where you can fly Star Wars ships. Players can play either in first person or third person. Playing in first person means you can see what you’re doing from inside the cockpit, which means your shooting will be more accurate. If you play with a third person view outside of the ship, you have a better idea of who is around you, but your aiming will be less accurate. Players get points for killing enemies: one point for AI, three for a human player. Players also can control hero ships, like the Millenium Falcon or Slave. Like most space games, the experience can make you dizzy, but it’s really fun!

Supremacy: Players go against another team in a 10 minute battle. Each team tries to take over five control points that are all over a large map, while taking enemies out. This is probably the most chaotic type of multiplayer game because there are 40 players on the map, and there are vehicles both on the ground and in the air. This multiplayer map is definitely for people who are looking for a challenge and don’t mind playing online.

Verdict: A good purchase for core collections. Patrons of all ages, not just teens, will enjoy it!

Questions? Comments? Tweet them at me!

By: Alanna Graves
Twitter: @LannaLibrarian

Pricing

$59.99 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Battlefront-Standard-PlayStation-4/dp/B00W8FYFBA/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1448755442&sr=1-1&keywords=battlefront

Filed under: Tech Talk, Technology, Video Games, Video Games Weekly