Fans of the Star Wars Battlefront series have been waiting a long time for a new game in the beloved series. And it seems that finally the next Battlefront game will be released this year. EA revealed November 17, 2015 as the launch date for Star Wars Battlefront. It will be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
No Actual Gameplay Shown.
A lot of info about the upcoming game was revealed at Star Wars Celebration. But if you were hoping for any actual gameplay to be revealed you will be disappointed to hear that no gameplay was shown. Instead EA released a trailer which contains "In-Engine" footage of the game. Which is a weird way of saying "Not CGI, but also not gameplay." I highly doubt the game will look that good on a console and to get it to look that good on a PC you will need a pretty beefy rig. Some press there did get a behind closed doors look at the game and it sounds impressive, but it wasn't a live demo so... who knows.
Even though we got no gameplay EA was happy to explain why people should preorder the game. Thankfully, they also talked about some of the features in Star Wars Battlefront.
DICE is focusing on the original trilogy, New Hope, Empire and Jedi. The levels that they talked about were Hoth, Endor and Tatooine. On these planets players will find power ups which will give them shields, let them play as a AT-ST or even allow them to step into the boots of Darth Vader himself. DICE wasn't talking about who else players could play as, but it seems likely other heroes and villains will be playable as well. Players will be able to pilot classic and iconic vehicles during battles. AT-STs, Speeders, X-wings and even the Millenium Falcon were confirmed as playable.
Less awesome was the news that there are no space battles. All ships will fly within the atomsphere of the planet. Really disappointed to hear this as Star Wars Battlefront 2's space battles were great. And some of the PSP games let you fly from ground to space seamlessly during a battle. Maybe at some point in the future DICE could add this feature in as a expansion. But for now DICE is focusing on ground battles.
Modes, Player Counts and Perspective
DICE has confirmed that players will be able to choose between a first person perspective or a third person perspective. You can do this during the game at anytime, similar to older Battlefront games. The third person model looks good, according to those who saw it, with the head actually tracking enemies.
The max number of players in Star Wars Battlefront will be 40. DICE also confirmed that players will be able to play online or offline splitscreen with another player. The minimum player count will be 8.
DICE wasn't ready to talk about any game modes out side of one that was shown to some press behind closed doors. Walker Assault. Classic gamemodes like Galactic Conquest, Hunt, Conquest, CTF were not confirmed or denied. They aren't talking about other modes right now. We will probably get more info about modes and more at E3. Maybe even some gameplay will be shown.
No Campaign, Missions, Free DLC
There is no single player story driven campaign. Star Wars Battlefront will instead have a series of smaller missions that players can do either alone or in co-op. DICE was hesitant to talk about these missions beyond saying they will be playable in online or offline, splitscreen as well. I'm not sure what these missions will be or how long they will be, but I wouldn't expect anything like Rise of The Empire from Battlefront 2.
A nice surprise was the announcement that a couple of weeks after launch DICE and EA will be releasing a free DLC. This free DLC is called The Battle of Jakku. It will be released December 8th and is set on the newly revealed desert planet that will be seen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. If you pre-order the game you will get early access to the level on December 1st. DICE said that if you want to know how that Star Destroyer crashed, the one from the opening shot of the trailer, you need to play this level. That is interesting. And it is really nice to see a piece of free DLC, even if it seems like it's advertising the upcoming film. (Which releases on December 18th.)
Star Wars Battlefront sounds like it could be fun. I have some issues with the lack of space battles and the lack of a campaign. And not showing any gameplay seems like a strange thing. Regardless, as a Battlefront fan I'm excited to see more. Hopefully at E3.
Star Wars Battlefront will be released November 17, 2015 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
