> Star Wars: BattleFront: Written by: Chris "CBN" Nimmo 

 Publisher: LucasArts  Price: 49.99  Genre: Action   T for Teen

 

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… Okay, you know what? Let’s skip that line. Rogue Squadron taught us what SW was from the air pilot’s perspective, and KoToR taught us what it was to live as a Jedi. But, there’s more missing. Star Wars Battlefront aims to fix that. This game wants to show us what it’s like to be a galactic military grunt battling it out on the ground. Does the game really do this? 

Oh, absolutely! The game does it so well, in fact; you can actually smell the Banthas. No, I’m not kidding—well, yes, I am…but that’s not the point. The point is, the game has such a way of delivering the feel of ground combat it’s almost ethereal. From the distant sound of the blaster rifles, to the echoing war cry of a wookie as he charges you, the atmosphere and overall feel of the game is just awesome. 

You play as a grunt on any of the major Star Wars sides in both major eras. The objective is to either wipe every enemy off the field, or capture all the command posts. You choose a unit (a sharpshooter, a pilot, etc) and you’re off to grill some enemies. If you are to die—no problem, just re-spawn and get back in the fray. But, watch those reinforcements numbers, you don’t want them to drop too low or it’s game over. This one has very addictive gameplay, and when combined with the afore mentioned Star Wars environment, the results are spectacular. 

The offline mode of the game contains a bit of a plot, but it’s nothing more than what you’ve seen in the films. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s great. I’m just saying if you’re looking for story, this isn’t the game for you. By no means is this any sort of an RPG at all. This is pure Third-Person-Shooting action at its finest. I found that even the offline mode was pretty fun, not something I’m used to in this type of game. 

All the frenzy really starts when you get online and start blasting fools from all corners of the globe. You will probably grow tired of the game offline, but that’s what online is for, so gear up. 

Although the graphics are a little hazy at times, for the most part the graphics are nice. The beam weaponry looks slick, the character models are nice, and the resolution is at times picturesque. Notice how I said “at times” there? Yeah, sometimes it can be a little muddled as I said…or choppy…or…slow… But, for the most part you’ll enjoy these graphics, as I did. 

The game sounds just like the films, it really is amazing. The sound of the blasters and the natives had me sold… But then I got to the music. Some of the tunes are messed with slightly to put a different feel on traditional Star Wars music. No, I don’t mean that Star Wars has gone techno; I just mean they re-worked some of the notes in the songs. 

While the control may take you a little while to get used to—it's a little awkward at first—soon you’ll be fine. It’s just that sometimes the joystick controls for vehicles will be a little messy, and you may not grasp the concepts if you’re not already prone to these types of games. Most people should be fine with the running/shooting controls, however the vehicles are a different story. I could never seem to get them to go in the right direction for the longest time! Well, as I said: you get used to it. 

With a campaign mode, a Galactic Conquest mode, and an insanely addictive online mode, there’s plenty of replay. I don’t recommend buying the game simply for the online mode…it’s just not worth it.  

Overall, when it all comes together, we have a pretty solid game here. I didn’t find any real flaws in it… I don’t recommend buying this one purely for the offline mode, though. It’s worth a rental to play offline, but $50 is a lot to ask for about 10 hours offline. Online junkies will surely kill for the multiplayer modes, though. Any multiplayer aficionados should look no further to get their fix.  

Graphics: 8.0 | Sound: 9.0 | Control: 7.5 | Replay: 9.5 | Overall Game Score: 8.5