Port-o-remaster publishers Aspyr yesterday launched the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, bundling together the two 'What if Battlefield but Star Wars?' shooters originally released by Pandemic Studios and LucasArts in 2004 and 2005 (not to be confused with Dice and EA's uncolonic Star Wars Battlefront games from the mid-tensies). It's one of those rereleases that exists mostly for modern consoles, made a bit useless on PC by the fact that you can still buy and fully play the originals for half the price. It's made even less useful by launching in a right wonky technical state, with bad lag, crashes, and reportedly only three 64-player servers online at first.
]]>Welcome back to the second edition of The RPS Time Capsule, a monthly feature in which the RPS Treehouse gathers round a small tiny shoebox to stick their favourite, bestest best games into from a specific year to preserve until the end of time. The first time capsule we dropkicked into space was all about the best games from 2010. This time, we're excavating the best games from 2004. Which games will make the cut, and which ones will be consigned to the all-consuming digital super bin? Find out below.
]]>The Dark side is defeated. Star Wars Battlefront - the 2004 one, not the 2015 one - finally has online multiplayer again. After over a half-decade of awkward workarounds and shuttered servers, a small update to the Steam and GOG copies of Pandemic Studios' galactic toybox lets us finally return to Star Wars' low-poly 64-player battlefields, assuming there are even enough players to fill a match these days.
]]>Not everyone loves the new version of Star Wars: Battlefront. Some people (and I'm just vaguely referencing the general concept of people, not saying that this is something that I PERSONALLY FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT) some of these people, well, they like the old SWBFs. When the cancelled Free Radical shooter developed Star Wars: Battlefront 3 had footage leaked to the internet, a group of fans saw the potential of these ideas and set out to make their own finished project in the same vein. Things did not go well.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.
The new one's out right about now, but I feel little pull towards it. Two years ago, I couldn't stop staring at Battlefront screenshots, almost disbelieving about how Star Warsy it looked. What changed?
]]>One big mistake of Star Wars Battlefront [official site], splitting new maps and modes and whatnot off into paid DLC, will be corrected with Battlefront 2. But what about the first game (third? fifth? firth? the names in this flipping series...) and those still playing it? Good news, gang! EA are giving the DLC season pass away for free right now, letting all boldly-going Battlefronteers play the lot. The game is real cheap now too, down to £4. Make haste, as the offers might warp away at any time.
]]>At the Nasdaq 35th Investor Program, EA Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen stated that a new Battlefield title wouldn't be releasing for a "couple of years." Instead EA will be pushing Star Wars Battlefront's [official site] sequel (Star Wars Battlefront III 2?) as their big fall shooter.
]]>With Star Wars Rogue One now mere weeks away from cinemas, Electronic Arts are gabbing more about how new Star Wars Battlefront [official site] DLC will cross over with the movie. The DLC, Rogue One: Scarif, will debut on December 6th with levels including a recreation of that tropical beach battle seen in the film's trailer. It'll also add new playable heroes in Jyn Erso, the film's hero, and Orson Krennic, the Imperial fella in the white suit (a bold fashion statement, always) who she'll butt heads with.
Before then, hey, all players can play the other expansions' new maps and modes for free this weekend.
]]>On release, Star Wars: Battlefront was big on spectacle but short on substance. With only a handful of maps, blasters that felt identical, and a distinctly lightweight feel to the combat, there was a sense that DICE’s Star Wars shooter had jetted off to meet its destiny before its training was complete.
Since then, DICE have launched both free and paid-for DLC that takes players from the wreckage strewn surface of The Force Awakens’ Jakku, to the gunmetal corridors of the Death Star itself. But do the free updates make any fundamental improvements to Battlefront, and is it worth essentially paying for Battlefront all over again to access the Season Pass?
]]>X-Wings activate! Or whatever it is X-Wings do! It's time to blow up the Death Star... again! But this time it's in a video game—Star Wars Battlefront's [official site] Death Star add-on to be exact. If there's one thing Star Wars' bad guys love, it's creating a massive planet-sized weapon and watching it get blown up by their enemies. When will they ever learn?
The Death Star expansion is out next Tuesday to Season Pass holders, so EA has treated us to a gameplay trailer. It looks as though you'll be able to take the battle into outer space, or light up some Storm Troopers in frantic gun fights within the Death Star itself, re-enacting the classic battle.
]]>The dream is to boldly go where no one has gone before but what if you arrive in a galaxy far, far away to find Rando Calrissian, Han Rando, and co. are already there all boisterous-like? Mate, that's not on. Good news: Star Wars Battlefront [official site] has added Skirmish mode to let folks enjoy big starbattles on their lonesome in Walker Assault and Fighter Squadron levels. It brings AI bots to fill out teams so you can play by yourself offline or together with a pal in online co-op. Make it so.
]]>"May July the 16th be with you," as Star Wars fans say. This weekend saw Trekkies from across the world gather in London to celebrate the Star Wars Summer Holiday Special festival, which brought announcements aplenty. For starters, you'll be able to swing a glowtube in cyberspace with Trials On Tatooine coming free on Vive today. Then there's Star Wars Battlefront [official site] news. Electronic Arts showed off the Death Star expansion's space-battling, trench-running, and Chewbacca-hgrngnnrnging action in a wee trailer, which you can see below. They also said a tiny bit about the final add-on, which draws from the upcoming spin-off movie Star Wars: Rogue One.
]]>I adore traps in multiplayer levels. Give me an opportunity to dunk foes into lava, lure them onto landmines, squish them in machinery, or otherwise get ridiculous environmental kills and I'll be there, lurking by the button. Very few people ever fall for traps, of course, but those rare kills are always worth the wait. So if the next Star Wars Battlefront [official site] doesn't let players freeze their foes in carbonite for a tacky wall-hanging, I'll be mighty disappointed.
Battlefront is blasting off to Bespin and its fabulous Cloud City in the next DLC add-on, which EA have announced will debut later this month for Season Pass buyers.
]]>One of the enduring confusions around the new Star Wars Battlefront [official site] was the ditching of any kind of meaningful singleplayer mode. The adverts were so very geeky 30/40-something-focused, with all their misty-eyed pining for childhood X-Wing fantasies - the only logical next step for the marketing campaign would have been Kelly Kapowski wearing a Huttslayer Leia bikini. Then the reality was just getting shot in the back of the head by bug-eyed teenagers a thousand times over, and spaceships limited to sporadic icon pick-ups. Also, the original Battlefronts were known for having decent bot modes, while recent stablemates from the Battlefield series boasted campaign modes, no matter how dumb, so it was an odd break from tradition too.
Speaking about Battlefront's future and plans to improve its reception, EA claim the lack of singleplayer was a "conscious decision" made in order to ship close to the Force Awakens.
]]>Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen had several Star Wars games to discuss during an earnings call yesterday. I'm not entirely sure how an earnings call works but I imagine if you keep mentioning Star Wars games that your company is publishing at some point in the near future, everyone is happy.
"How many Star Wars will there be Mr Jorgensen, and when can we expect them?"
"Many and soon."
Wild applause breaks out in the boardroom.
]]>I only just found out May the 4th was a special day for Star Wars: the 40th anniversary of that fateful day George Lucas was struck with inspiration for a space-hairdresser made of LEGO. Sat beneath a starfruit tree, Lucas was knocked in the noggin by a falling fruit then leapt to his feet shrieking "Death to stars!" The rest is history.
That's why Titanfall devs Respawn announced they're making a Star Wars game, why Alec declared some other Star Wars game was blah, and why DICE's third-person shooter Star Wars Battlefront [official site] now has a free timed trial.
]]>I haven't been back to Star Wars Battlefront [official site] since release, which is partly because it left me a little cold after I'd grown accustomed to the lovely, dad-pleasing graphics and partly because the nostalgia bubble I'd spent a couple of months in burst after finally seeing The Force Awakens. (It was Quite Good But). If they ever introduce a playable Jawa mode, I will be back faster than Han Solo telling porkies about the Kessel Run. Utini, babies. This seems sadly unlikely; for now, EA/DICE seem focused on more maps and, though beloved, C-list characters that no-one in their right mind would call Heroes.
]]>Two months after the release of a multiplayer-focused game seems a good time to ask: how are you getting on with Star Wars Battlefront [official site] nowadays? What do you like, and what do you wish it had? And how does your wishlist stack up against DICE's planlist? The developers have shared their plans for the next few months, which include a patch adding private matches and cosy outfits ↑ today, two free new Hoth maps in February, a new Endor map in March, and, of course, plenty of paid DLC.
]]>Star Wars fans seem awfully excitable lately, and it's not just about Star Wars Battlefront [official site]. Surprisingly, for a fanbase usually so discerning and wary of merchandising, they're worked up about a new Hollywood movie adaptation of EA's video game. Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits the silver screen later this month, and fans are going wild even though the only connection is the movie's inspired by a level that wasn't even in Battlefront at launch.
That inspiring level, The Battle of Jakku, has sorta arrived, with EA unpleasantly holding it back from people who didn't pre-order Battlefront. Oh, and a new patch is here.
]]>I had twin criteria for this. The first was 'is it a decent game?' and the second 'does it meaningfully evoke the spirit, themes or characters of the movie in addition to having Quite Good Guns And Graphics?' The second saw quite a few games which would otherwise qualify ruled out. This year's Mad Max, for instance, was an agreeable murder-romp but it's much harder to argue that it nails the desperation or oddness of the films it's based on. Star Wars: Battlefront, meanwhile, is an OK online shooter with marvellous graphics, but it's too mechanical to 'feel' like Star Wars once you get beyond the spectacular presentation. Ah, 'feel'. That's the thing, isn't it? Does a movie game make you feel like you're a part of that movie's wider world, or is it just wearing its skin?
]]>My favourite Star Wars film is the one with Liam Neeson. Star Wars Battlefront [official site] is set much later, and next film The Force Awakens even later still. Battlefront's first free content update will bridge that gap a little with The Battle of Jakku - and EA say there will be more "new maps and Star Cards, for free in the coming months."
]]>16 years after cosmic expectations were brought crashing down to Earth when the Phantom Menace started droning on about the taxation of trade routes, poor old Star Wars still seems helpless to prevent the profoundly exciting from becoming slightly tedious.
I've opened cruelly, but it's not a complete summary of my feelings about Star Wars Battlefront [official site].
]]>Not really. There, saved you a click.
Aw, go on though.
]]>Star Wars Battlefront [official site] may be stomping out this week with all the AT-ATs and TIE fighters and Skywalking your young heart could dream of, but I'm sure the question your longing for an answer to is: what'll be coming as DLC after launch? I know your type. Can't get enough of that DLC, you. "Mad for it," as they say in Manchester. Hold your horses, you DLC delinquents! I'll tell you all about Battlefront's £40 DLC Season Pass. Well. Mostly what I imagine is in it.
]]>"If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine," said Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. Because he was then struck down so promptly afterwards, he never had a chance to explain the rest of the rules: "But if you don't strike me down, I'll vanish anyway and appear as a powerless ground troop in the midst of a war, and from then on only become more powerful depending on the collection of limited and randomly spawning powerups."
There's a Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] live action trailer now. Watch it below.
]]>On the one hand, Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] is absolutely plumbing our nostalgic desire for meticulously-recreated AT-AT battles and X-Wing vs TIE Fighter dogfights. On the other, it's this absurd cartoon wherein a super-powered Skywalker or Vader sprint around the battlefield getting right up in everyone's faces. And now Han Solo, Princess Leia and OH FOR GOD'S SAKES Emperor Palpatine have been added to that list.
]]>If it wasn't multiplayer focused, I'd say Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] was a game solely made for Star Wars Dads. It has a fetishistic approach to the sound and texture of the original trilogy which seems designed to massage the nostalgia glands of, well, Alec, if his impressions of the beta are anything to go by. If you too are suppurating nostalgia from places, you might be glad to know that open beta has been extended through tomorrow.
]]>I'm feeling less and less enamoured of Star Wars: Battlefront [official site]'s current beta now I'm over the initial 'OMG! AT-ATs!' excitement. It feels so very game-y, and so very dominated by people who, for one reason or another, seem able to pull off endless pixel-precise headshots. The industrial sci-fi fun is being overwhelmed by frustration and the hamster wheel of unlocks - but that may well change once I'm no longer limited to three maps and what's surely the most ardent, practiced slice of the likely playerbase. Though that is already expanding rapidly - EA have laid on more servers for this weekend's beta in order to meet the demand. That should take at least some of the infuriation out the experience.
]]>I want to learn the ways of the multiplayer first-person shooter and become a headshot Jedi like I wasn't a late-30s father. So I've been dabbling in Star Wars: Battlefront [official site]'s three-map beta, keen to see if's really as spectacular as the marketing Death Star has implied.
Yeah, OK, that's Star Wars.
]]>Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] is land speeding towards release, but the game's first beta starts today and runs over this weekend. If you're interested in trying out Dice's take on a Star Wars FPS, we've got 150 beta keys to giveaway below which will get you into the beta instantly.
]]>Sat there waiting patiently, you are. Wait no more, you shan't. It's coming it, na, sod it, I can't keep this up. Mark October 8 to October 12 in your diary as Star Wars Battlefront [official site] is heading for beta.
]]>Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] will have dedicated servers. EA DICE's Jamie Keen confirmed the feature to PlayStation LifeStyle at the Tokyo Game Show. It's good news though a slight surprise, given that it was announced earlier this month that the game wouldn't have a server browser.
]]>As if millions of 30 and 40-something voices cried out in delight, and were suddenly interested. If you're an ageing nerd who loves a bit of Long Time Ago / Far Far Away but worried that DICE's upcoming original trilogy shootybang game Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] would involve far too much fraternising with terrifyingly skilled and extremely sweary children, rest easy. The offline solo mode is so central to it that even the upcoming beta will include a taste of it. Also that beta will be freely open to everyone, so you don't need to get involved in icky pre-order schemes.
]]>Oh dear. There I was, getting all excited about AT-ATs in DICE's Star Warsy Battlefield doohickey, and missed the new disappointing news that the game will not feature server browsers. The game will instead auto-matchmake for you, then drag you off to a server of its choice - meaning you'll have no choice about ping, server capacity, and perhaps not even modes and maps.
]]>I've felt so little about Star Wars for so long now, and had so much distance from a fictional universe I threw myself into in my late teens that it no longer feels quite as over-exposed and cynical as it once did. This means I'm starting to find it vaguely appealing again. Nostalgia inexorably returns, God help me. Whether that will be aided or undermined by the looming marketingageddon of The Force Awakens I don't know, but I do look at images of DICE's Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] and think 'yes, those are science fictional battles I want to be a part of.' It's the industrial look of the ships and structures that does it, a sweet spot between functional and stylised that the prequel movies totally bungled.
I don't care about the characters, though. Mostly I just want to drive an AT-AT. Oh God now I've opened an eBay tab and typed 'AT-AT' into it. This is bad. If I can just hang on until October, when the Battlefront Beta will be released, maybe I'll be OK.
]]>It is with a mixture of hope and utter despair that I greet the news from EA that they will be aligning UK releases with the rest of Europe, and putting out new games on a Thursday in RPS's mother isle. Hope, because of what it represents in terms of a major publisher pushing back against the control of retailers. Despair because it's still two bloody days later than America.
]]>Twenty players will soar through the skies shouting "Zwap! Zwap!" and making noises like a trumpeting elephant driving a car on wet pavement (true story) in Star Wars Battlefront [official site], backed up by more AI ships, in the newly-announced Fighter Squadron mode.
EA teased the mode recently, but at Gamescom this morning gave Fighter Squadron the old reveal-o treatment with a trailer and details and all those things. Sadly, no one ran around on stage with their arms swept back like an A-Wing making zapgun noises.
]]>Star Wars Battlefront's [official site] newly announced team deathmatch Mode goes by the name of Blast and pits 10 against 10 in hot rebel v. empire close-quarter action, according to details coming down from on high by way of Lead Level Designer Dennis Brännvall. It's one of two modes EA's alluded to in the run up to Gamescom - The other is something they're keeping relatively mum about: X-Wing dogfights, or, well possibly.
EA took to Facebook to sort-of-mention-but-not-properly-announce a dogfighting mode named Fighter Squadron through a short trailer. But don't expect any more info until EA's Gamescom event which takes place on Wednesday at 9am UK time.
]]>R2-D2 smells like yoghurt. In fact, the whole second part of the Star Wars Battlefront [official site] queue at E3 smells like yoghurt. I'm in a group of 40 attendees waiting for our turn to do battle on Hoth in the final play session of E3. I think the yoghurty smell is coming from the copious dry ice, which is swirling around R2's wheels as EA try to create a Hoth-like experience in a cavernous conference hall in downtown LA.
The Hoth of the game is not yoghurty, but it is gorgeous. An expansive snowy wilderness which we spawn into as Stormtroopers. Well, 20 of us do. The other 20 are rebel scum, ripe for the shooting.
]]>Update: Now with a co-op trailer too!
I don't trust most people's opinions on Star Wars-y things. They're weakened by nostalgia, too keen to remember the time when they were young and beautiful and free. But you can trust me. I barely saw Star Wars as a kid and hold little affection for it. When I say "Gosh-o! Star Wars Battlefront [official site] looks pretty swanky all right!" it's because I want to drive a giant robocow through the snow, blowing up little spacemen.
EA showed off some multiplayer action during their E3 show, and it is quite exciting. Come see:
]]>Whether in-engine or not, cinematic game trailers offer plenty of hints as to what you'll be able to do in an approaching game. For example, we can assume that if speeders, fighter ships and Darth Vader are in the Star Wars: Battlefront trailer [official site], then the game will let us drive, fly or be those things.
And now there's a little confirmation. The first real game footage of Battlefront will appear via E3 next month, and in a post on the Battlefront site, design director Niklas Fegraeus mentions a new mode called 'Fighter Squadron'.
]]>Developer diaries from big studios rarely contain any actual insight into the development process, but they do provide a first-rate glimpse into the marketing pitch. For example, Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] first developer diary is desperate to tell you how authentic its Star Wars experience will be.
]]>I'm not one for Star Wars myself, but the trailer announcing a release date for Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] - November 17th, forcefans - still made me coo and aah at its many exciting explosions. Spacemen and their weird vehicles buzzing around exotic locales look great, yeah. It's got all your favourites: the robocow, crossjets, hoverbikes, the notorious Crumpet Eagle, Johnny Rockets, and even that mean black Cylon with his lasersword. I am far more interested in the unreal possibilities of sci-fi face-shooting than humdrum real-world jazz.
Seriously though, come see how gorgeous a virtual Endor the Battlefield folks DICE have made:
]]>Exec 1: "Gary?"
Exec 2: "Yes Mike?"
Exec 1: "You know how our Instagram campaign for Star Wars: Battlefront looks perfect and lovely on mobile and how we cleverly designed it for their 3x3 viewable grid?"
]]>Oh lordy-lord, there's going to be so much Star Wars this year, isn't there? You won't be able to move for stars here and wars there. It'll be like late 1998/1999 all over again, and we know how that turned out, don't we? Just added to what's a rapidly-bloating list of Forceful things to happen in the long run-up to the film itself is an official reveal for EA's long-in-the-works reboot of Star Wars: Battlefront. So far as we know, this is still in the hands of Battlefield-marshals DICE, which is a relatively decent pedigree for a shooty-blast multiplayer game. EA's just announced that we'll get to take a look at this new version of the beloved (by some) Rebels vs Empire shooter next month, at the official Star Wars Celebration.
]]>Like Battlefield 3 before it, Battlefield 4's launch hasn't exactly been graceful. If our baseline metric for grace is a lithe, ethereally beautiful swan, then BF4 thus far has been said swan getting squashed into a writhing mass of meaty chunks by a thousand levolutions. Bugs, glitches, crashes - you name it, BF4 has grappled with it on PC and consoles. DICE, unsurprisingly, is aware that its flagship shootyblam has issues, and has - in the wake of new issues stemming from the China Rising DLC pack - dedicated its full developmental force to making the game, you know, work.
]]>We know very little about Star Wars: Battlefront but it is in development and perhaps that in itself deserves mention? When EA took exclusive control of the well-tilled license, some observers no doubt feared/expected a procession of games in which Jar-Jar Binks must match three ewok faces in order to unlock new catchphrases. Fear not. DICE are taking a Frostbite of the Battlefront cherry, presumably bringing their distinctive brand of Things Blowing Up to Hoth and other such hotspots. As EA Games Label boss Patrick Söderlund told Eurogamer, "There are absolutely things in the previous Battlefront games that you'll recognise and remember, but DICE wants to put its own flavour on it...but again, it's going to be very Star Wars and very cool." I have placed a thirty second trailer below, but is it cool? Is it Star Wars?
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