Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsA Piece of Dog Food Flying out the Door on a Cold Fall Morning
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2015
I have two dogs. Max, a mastiff, and Mona, a St. Bernard (Max Payne and Mona Sax for anyone into such things back in the day). Max will eat anything you throw at him. A pill he’s spit out multiple times? Apparently flying through the air makes it delicious. The air popper shoots out an errant kernel? Get the kids out of the way. He doesn’t want to go outside on a cold morning? Throw a piece of food from his bowl out the door. Mona, on the other hand, doesn’t really care for food, but knows Max really wants it. Hand her a piece of bacon treat and she’ll hold it in her mouth, staring at you, until you open the door and she can induce Max into chasing her around. It’s not throwing anything through the air and it’s delicious, it’s not a shotgun approach to see what works. Mona knows exactly what she wants, airborne or otherwise. When it comes to video games, I think most people are more Mona than they are Max. They know what they want, they know what they like. Options are always nice, but sometimes you can find yourself on the other side and realize you’re standing outside on a cold morning chasing something that wasn’t that special. Battlefront is a fun, and beautiful, game with a lot of modes but most feel more like throwing out everything they can rather than focusing on things that work. There are a lot of options, but they’re not all that deep.
The first thing you’ll come notice in Battlefront is how beautiful it is. The maps are extremely detailed, character models look good and vehicle effects really bring the world alive. The outstanding visuals are complemented by great ambient sound effects that really make you feel like you’re in the environment. Playing the sound on my television I didn’t really get the full effect of the ambient sounds, but wearing headphones paired up to the PS4 the sounds really came alive. Some of the special effects sounds are great, with a lot of weight to them. They make you feel like you’re truly in a battle. The soundtrack is what you would expect, but to be honest I found myself just ignoring it most of the time. A few minutes In I had to make a concerted effort to listen for it since it just back background static. In terms of presentation there isn’t much to say beyond Battlefront really stands out. There isn’t a lot of voice acting, but the imperial person doing tactical communications is the same guy from Star Wars Rebellion, which warmed my heart a little. They may have just used sound clips from that game. Nostalgia.
The maps themselves are well designed, and have the same visual appeal as everything else, but they felt like they were built to fit into the themes of the original scenes from Star Wars rather than built for tactical combat. There are lots of open spaces, and when the maps do get into more urban areas they don’t feel like they flow well. I spent quite a bit of time just looking for people. Maps also don’t support the number of players that Battlefield 4 could. While those numbers rarely actually came into play in Battlefield, the smaller numbers on large maps is noticeable in Battlefront as there can be a sense of emptiness in the open spaces.
Battlefront does come with a lot of modes. Some are better than others. Walker Assault, where you are either trying to support an AT-AT moving toward a rebel base or repel it as one of the said rebels can be intense at the end. Pushing to control enough points to bombard the AT-AT or hold the points to prevent it all while the ominous vehicle looms in the backdrop makes for a genuine feeling of urgency. The survival mode is fun, but doesn’t have a lot of long term appeal. There is a standard fare death match and the usual capture the flag modes, which are as fun as they’ve been in the Battlefield games but with the smaller scale of battles they aren’t as fun. While it may not be the second coming of Tie Fighter the mode I had the most fun was the Fighter mode, where you either pilot a Rebel or Imperial ship in aerial combat. I wish there was more variety to ships, there are only two on each side along with a hero ship, and the matches tend to be short, but it’s still a lot of fun. There is a hero hunt mode which is frustrating unless you are the said hero which can blow away the other characters trying to kill them. The heroes are mostly just frustrating in general unless you are actually the hero. While I rarely noticed benefits to my side from a hero I felt frustrated whenever I came across the enemy hero who could easily kill me.
There are a few unique twists to the game. Powerups allow you to spawn as a hero to help your team. Rather than traditional classes you unlock items through progression to let you make your own unique character.
Battlefront is a fun game, and worth playing at least for a little while for the spectacle, but for a game that’s built for sustained long term playing I get the feeling it won’t last in the long haul. The game is unfocused. Given the options it’s easy for everyone to find something they may like, but nothing seems deep enough to love. There’s a lot of great spectacle, and a lot of good content, but there’s not really a lot of great or deep content. There aren’t a lot of weapons to choose from and you can’t modify them like in the battlefield games. The modes themselves are a little on the shallow side. I’ve had the game for only a day and I’ve already started to feel somewhat listless playing it.
Battlefront is more of a Max game than a Mona game. There’s a lot to do and a lot to chase, but the modes I did find myself enjoying started to feel repetitive after a couple matches, and the modes I didn’t like I don’t see getting better. There’s a lot “oh, ah” but not a lot I’m seeing that would make the game appealing for the long haul. It really makes giving a recommendation one way or the other difficult. Normally I would say rent and see if you like it, but I think this is the kind of game you need to play for a while to see if it does actually get repetitive. I’ve only had it for a day, so maybe it takes a little while to get into, but it’s still new and shiny and I don’t feel terribly excited about getting back into it. I’m extrapolating from what I’ve seen in other games. On one hand a lot of the content doesn’t look like it would be appealing in the long run. On the other hand with the new movies coming Battlefront will probably see a lot of quality content and support coming in the already announced DLC’s. In the end it is a high quality Star Wars shooter, something we haven’t seen in a long time, and there is a lot of content. If you’re a Star Wars fan looking for a Star Wars game it’s worth the dive, and if you’re someone who values graphics and presentation a lot it will probably win you over. If you’re on the fence you’re probably better off holding off for a few weeks for time to tell whether Battlefront’s modes hold up.
