In the midst of the release of Overwatch and the anticipation of titles such as Infinite Warfare and Battlefield 1, I am still playing Star Wars Battlefront and I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future.
I will defend the game to no end and for good reason: it’s one hell of a great shooter.
Battlefront was hated on by a lot of people ever since release. It almost mirrored what happened the year previous with Destiny, another game I also love and put over 80 hours into. Both games also have similar problems that pretty much everyone complained about: a lack of content. I am not here to defend DICE or EA and the obviously rushed release of Star Wars Battlefront. The game lacks content. I’m not going to deny that, but does that make it a bad game by default? Absolutely not, it has serious redeeming qualities.
For one thing, it’s one of the prettiest games I’ve ever played and the Star Wars Universe is really shown off. I feel like I’m in the original trilogy of Star Wars while playing this game and that’s what really matters in my eyes. The maps are fully realized even if there clearly weren’t a lot of them at launch and there still needs to be more. I could easily just walk around the maps for fun just to explore the Star Wars universe.
On another note, the shooting mechanics are on point. One of the things that kept me going back to Destiny for so long was the shooting mechanics. The game has some of the best gunplay in any shooter I’ve ever played. Despite this, people continuously complained that Destiny lacked content and it was repetitive. Some of the criticism is legitimate, but I found myself repeating strikes and not even getting bored. In the same sense, Battlefront has done the same thing. I love the way Battlefront plays. I love that the game doesn’t have a conventional reloading system and your guns overheat instead. The loadout system involving different cards is fantastic and some of the weapons you can use through those are awesome. The variety of weapons (especially now with Hutt Contracts which offers an even larger selection of weapons) makes the game not become too stale. I find myself switching from Blaster Rifles to Blaster Pistols to Heavy Rifles all in the same play session to test things out (though I seem to always go back to the E-11 anyhow). The point is, the gunplay just feels right, even if everyone wants to claim the game is Battlefield with a Star Wars skin, which still feels like a strange criticism to me.
One of the biggest criticisms I do agree with is the lack of single player content. I really wish there was more of a campaign of sorts. The single player missions are very fun, for the most part. I wanted to see more missions like the speeder bike mission or flying around in an X-Wing. Unfortunately, DICE was basically forced to get the game out as quick as possible before The Force Awakens was released for promotional reasons. Despite the lack of a single player campaign, the multiplayer is hefty enough that I feel okay without one, even if I’m not too crazy about multiplayer-only games.
One of the other things people complain about is the selection of game modes. Most people seem to claim that Walker Assault is one of the only game modes worth playing, which I find quite hilarious considering it’s one of my least played game modes. I actually prefer the smaller game types and the close quarters combat. I absolutely love just playing Blast and shooting guys down. In addition, I’ve put a decent chunk of my time into Heroes Vs. Villains because it actually gives the player a real opportunity to play as the Heroes and Villains unlike Walker Assault. My only real complaint with Heroes Vs. Villains is that every player should get to play as a Hero and a Villain, but of course, there aren’t enough in the game yet, which is problematic.
I also really enjoy Cargo, which is Battlefront’s version of Capture The Flag. It’s frantic and the only mode where I feel justified running around with a shotgun and can actually do great with one. Droid Run and Drop Zone are also some of the best gameplay modes. Droid Run is basically Call of Duty’s Domination but put into hardcore mode. You have to capture every single point and hold them for a certain period of time to actually win. There are no points. It’s winner takes all. Drop Zone is simply capturing a single pod at a time and everyone has to go sprint like a madman and try to capture it. These modes are slight alterations on preexisting game modes in other shooters and that is the precise reason I enjoy them so much. They are different and Battlefront’s mechanics are much different than most shooters, which allows for these slight alterations.
Lastly, DICE has supported the hell out of Battlefront since launch. They’ve given free maps out (even if they maybe should have already existed) and they’ve added new gameplay elements such as Hutt Contracts to make unlocking more content more fun. The first DLC drop, Outer Rim, came with plenty of content for the small gameplay type lover and added a wonderful mode called Extraction, which is basically Payload from Team Fortress 2. In addition, Extraction does a great job of implementing Heroes and Villains for the first time in a small game type and it works wonders. Greedo and Nien Nunb play really well and add interesting depth to the Heroes and Villains. (Despite the fact that Greedo and Nien Nunb being the first choices for Heroes and Villains are completely absurd. Where is Chewbacca? Old Man Obi-Wan? And for the love of God, can we just dip into the prequel era and sequel era now? If anything, that’s my biggest complaint about Star Wars Battlefront.) I cannot wait for the Bespin DLC coming out next month. Who the hell doesn’t want to play as Lando?
I love Star Wars Battlefront. I love Star Wars. I’ve been a fan since I was about 12 years old and the new Renaissance era of Star Wars that we are living in makes me have a big, stupid smile on my face quite often. The Force Awakens made me so happy. Star Wars Battlefront makes me just as happy. It isn’t a perfect game by any means and I agree with some of the criticisms, but the game has been hit way too harshly since release. I look forward to playing the game until the sequel comes out. I’ve put over 30 hours in now and this is coming from someone who doesn’t usually get too hardcore into most multiplayer games. Basically, you can expect me to probably defend this game till the end of time while everyone else is probably playing Overwatch and ignoring me.
