BattleFront Dice (number 1)

BattleFront Dice (number 1)

Star Wars: Battlefront is a first and third-person video game based on battles in the Star Wars film series. It was developed by Pandemic Studios and LucasArts, and released on September 21, 2004 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows to coincide the release of the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. Aspyr released a Macintosh port in July 2005. A cellular phone version, entitled Star Wars Battlefront Mobile was released November 1, 2005. A sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront II, was also released on November 1, 2005 for Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. The game is primarily played as a conquest game, however other modes such as Galactic Conquest bring strategy elements to the title.

Battlefront features several locales from major Star Wars battles, and includes voice acting from veteran voice actors Temuera Morrison, Tom Kane, and Nick Jameson. It received generally favorable reviews from critics, averaging approximately an 80% approval rating across all platforms at aggregate websites GameRankings and Metacritic. Critics praised the multiplayer component and the ability to play a part in major Star Wars battles, howStar Wars: Battlefront encompasses battles between four main factions from both the original and prequel trilogies: the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS) from the prequel era, and the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire from the original trilogy. In each faction, five different classes of character become available. Four main classes are similar for each faction, infantry, heavy weapons, pilot and sniper, while the fifth is unique. Each faction also has an non-playable hero character that participates in battle for a limited amount of time:Count Dooku (CIS), Mace Windu (Republic), Luke Skywalker (Rebels), and Darth Vader (Empire).^[1]

Gameplay in Battlefront is conquest-based. Each faction has a finite amount of reinforcements, and each is given control of a set number of command posts in a given level.^[2] The object is to either eliminate enemy forces or capture and hold all command posts simultaneously for 20 seconds. Several ground and air vehicles are available on the battlefield. These range from the hulking AT-AT to the fast speeder bike and vary based on the level. There are more than 25 vehicles in-game. Some larger vehicles also function as mobile command posts, which cannot be captured, but are lost if the vehicle is destroyed. In addition, some maps have indigenous forces. These can be neutral to both factions, such asJawas, hostile to one faction, such as Wookies, or hostile to both factions, such as Tusken Raiders. Command posts belonging to hostile natives can also be captured to minimize their presence.^[1]

The Microsoft Windows and Macintosh versions of Star Wars: Battlefront can be played online with up to 64 players on via local area network(LAN) or over the internet via GameSpy.^[3] The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions can accommodate up to 32 players or can be played in splitscreen mode with two players. The PlayStation 2 version utilizes specialized GameSpy servers, while the Xbox utilized Microsoft's Xbox Live network.^[3] Xbox online play is no longer available as the original Xbox Live servers were shut down on April 15, 2010.^[4]

Single-player modes[edit]

While the game is played similarly in every mode, each is a unique scenario which utilizes mode-specific features to further extend gameplay. Three modes are presented to the player: Campaign, which serves as the game's story mode, Galactic Conquest, in which the player must conquer planets, and Instant Action, which allows the player to select the battle they wish to play and adjust settings such as reinforcements to their liking.^[3]

Campaign groups several battles together in a set order loosely based on the historical campaign of either the Clone Wars or the Galactic Civil War. As Episode III had not been released at the time, the Clone Wars campaign ends with the Battle of Kashyyyk. Footage from the five films then released are used as cutscenes between battles.^[5] The player starts the campaign as either a member of the Separatist army or an Imperial Stormtrooper. Around halfway through the chosen campaign the perspective switches to the Clone Troopers or Rebels. To maintain continuity, missions prior to the battle of Geonosis pit the Separatists against native forces only, and for the first two missions the super battle droid is unavailable, replaced with a standard battle droid.^[5]

In Galactic Conquest, the player uses strategy to take control of planets and dominate an area of the galaxy. First the player chooses a map configuration based on conflicts from both eras of Star Wars history.^[2] Some maps start both sides evenly while others favor one faction. Next, the player chooses which faction to play as. The game is played in turns, with the player starting first. The player can select an enemy-controlled or neutral planet to attack. After selecting what planet to attack, the player is able to activate a bonus from one of his already owned planets (if any). Each planet provides its own unique bonus, but must be captured before the player can use it. Bonuses help the player in battle by impeding the enemy or assisting the player's team. If one side manages to win four battles (not necessarily in a row), they gain access to their faction's Secret Base bonus. Secret Base bonuses are very powerful and can change the course of a game. They can be used on any enemy planet, except for the enemy's Secret Base. The game is completed when one faction controls all planets on the map.^[1]

Instant Action mode allows the players to jump right into a battle of their choice.^[5] The player can also customize a list of battles, which then can be played through in the order they have chosen, or in a random order. Players can choose between playing as the Republic, the CIS, the Empire, or the Rebels on each of the maps, except Kamino, Geonosis, Endor and Hoth, which do not allow the player to select their battle era, as these follow their canonical settings. Players can also choose whether or not they would like to have heroes fight for each side.^[5]

ever the lacking single player component and poor AI were points of concern.