Written by Jeff Buckland, 10/25/2004
Played on:
Windows
Few can deny that EA and Digital Illusions were hugely successful with their 2002 World War 2 shooter Battlefield 1942. It wasn't just the WW2 theme that kept people playing, though; the many vehicles and rock-scissors-paper balance of the game did something that most online FPS developers have been trying (and failing) to do for years.
It was kind of peculiar, then, to hear that Pandemic and LucasArts were working on a game that that took the BF1942 gameplay and applied it to the Star Wars universe. While I really never thought it'd be much of a great game before I played it, I've come to realize that Star Wars: Battlefront is a blast. It might be a bit of a guilty pleasure, but who cares? It's fun as hell.
Pandemic uses a proprietary engine for Battlefront, and they've put a lot of effort into it. The most noticeable effect is a subtle blur or bloom effect that softens the whole display, and while some won't be huge fans of this particular look, I really like it. Combine this with plenty of subtle pixel shader effects for peripheral vision during sniper zooms, excellent water, and beautiful surroundings, and you'll find that from a visual standpoint this game holds its own with the best online action titles out there.
Multiplayer is definitely where it's at here, and the game does a pretty good job balancing frame rates along with the huge battles that can take place. While we may not get the 150-player battles seen in Joint Operations, 32 players can jump onto an internet-based server at any time, and 50 people can join a LAN game. The best part is that for just about any computer other than those that barely meet the minimum requirements, the game's graphics can be tuned to make the frame rate fairly decent.
I found basically no bugs to complain about, although I was playing with the v1.01 patch that had already fixed a couple of server browser issues. The only real problem I have with Battlefront from a technical standpoint has to do with the game's visual effects - there are a couple that simply cannot be turned off, even though they're not really vital to the gameplay. I really wish that Pandemic and LucasArts would have added the appropriate options to turn these off on top of everything else, as I think they'd have improved frame rates considerably on lower-end computers by doing so.
Battlefront was developed simultaneously on the PC, PS2, and Xbox, and there are a few spots where I can see the cut corners for the PC version. The control configuration is a bit of a mess, and there are no default controls set up for those who want to use joysticks to control the vehicles. The server browser is only marginally useful at best, although you can always resort to GameSpy Arcade if you really don't care for it.
The in-game interface for spawning up as different classes and at various points is very well done, though, and the HUD gives you plenty of info while still looking good. LucasArts & Pandemic have also done an excellent job putting both third and first person perspectives into the game, and while the first person mode feels a bit "swimmy" when you control it with a mouse, it's perfectly useable. The third person mode is actually better in my opinion, as you get all of the functionality of the first person mode. On top of that, you can use the third person mode to see your character's various states of movement better, see when he gets knocked down from a blast, and can even peek a little bit around corners using the camera.
Battlefront pulls you in. At first, it seems like the whole Battlefield-Star Wars thing is stupid, but if you spend twenty minutes playing, you'll notice that the atmosphere actually works well and really lends something to the gameplay. The battles take place on many popular Star Wars worlds like Endor, Tattooine, Kashyyyk, Naboo, Hoth, and Cloud City on Bespin, while there are some new areas to spice things up as well.
Pandemic even set up two whole separate sub-games by allowing you to play during the period of the original movies, and also during the period of the prequels. While the maps don't change much, we get a whole new varied set of character models, weapons, and even special effects with the two different eras. There are even new sets of vehicles to accompany each era, and this means both land and air vehicles in some maps - they all look perfect and really add to the game's atmosphere.
The scenery is spectacular here, what with the generous use of pixel shaders, nicely done textures, and some excellent art that both borrows from the movies but also strikes out on its own. The PC platform is the best place to show off the quality of Pandemic's art, and if you have a good enough video card that allows you to run at higher than 1024x768 resolution, then this game is definitely worth getting on the PC.
