Last night I took a few hours off re-reading and tweaking my Reconfigure Book reminding myself that there is still world out here. I downloaded the public beta of Star Wars battlefront.
It is very impressive! All the Battlefront games have been good, the mix of mass open warfare, vehicles and a sense of scale all work really well with the iconic Star Wars settings. There is a lot of dying and a lot of respawning, but that is how it works. It is an infantry battle and you can treat yourself as expendable.
The beta has two planet surfaces, the second bing the ice planet Hoth. Imperial AT-AT stomp towards the base. Sentry guns and tunnels, trenches and rock faces make up the scene. Tie fighters and A-wings battle overhead. I didn’t get to fly anything, which is my preference, but that will come in time.
As a rebel fighter in the first game, seeing the imposing AT-AT slowly stomping forwards and blasters just bouncing off, backed up by stormtroopers was impressive, but suddenly Darth Vader turned up, light sabre deflecting shots as he carved through us. It was incredibly exciting. This is not my video but it does show the scene very well and an amusing moment with another hero.
The single player survival game has waves of Stormtroopers coming at you in close and personal on a very rocky and brilliantly lit Tattoine. I seemed to see the troopers up a lot closer and saw the impressive animation system at work on the NPC characters in this mode.
The game will of course be huge, but it is good to see it is as good as this already. I don’t think any of us who grew up with Star Wars in the late 70’s will ever get tired of the buzz of being in these environments. With this and Elite Dangerous on the Xbox One we have some tween memories to relive and now colour in.
It is really, really good. The beta also has a single / local coop mission on Tatooine, which isn’t bad (and lets you blow up AT-STs). Top tip, keep trying the Hoth mission – I’ve not yet been on the winning team, but run around enough and you’ll find power-ups allowing you to fly a fighter or pilot a walker – not that I lasted long… I also got cut down by Luke Skywalker one time. Awkward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_nxKSXkBxc
Yes, I switched form the rocky planet one to Hoth and I think i was on the winning side by accident a few times. Levelling up to get to get to the other weapons is a must I guess. I saw the icons for the various other vehicles, but you have to quick off the mark or camp there to get one. I can wait though 🙂 Plus I think there are just dogfight sections in the full game. A bit like battlefield 1943