Star Wars Battlefront Preview

By Tom Bramwell Published 13 January, 2004

EA may own the Battlefield franchise, but the Lucas empire is about to strike back...

Back in early December, word got out that LucasArts was working on a Battlefield 1942-alike multiplayer action game set in the Star Wars universe for PS2, Xbox and PC. Such a game has been long overdue. Despite the best efforts of developers like Factor 5 and Totally Games on the space combat front and Pandemic Studios on the ground, the series has only ever flirted with complete military pandemonium, and the prospect of stripping down to rags and fighting the ultimate battle for freedom, or donning one of those shiny white helmets and fighting for the glory of the Empire, is forever creeping into our thoughts.

LucasField 1942

'Star Wars Battlefront' Screenshot 1

Praise be to the Beard of Lucas then, because Star Wars: Battlefront sounds like it could be just the game. Officially unveiled today, it's a multiplayer third-person shooter - perhaps a little surprisingly - under development at Pandemic Studios for PS2, Xbox and PC, and aims to throw players into epic battles from both the classic and prequel eras of the Star Wars universe, dragging them through fifteen environments and across ten planets (including the familiar climes of ice world Hoth, primordial melting pot Geonosis, moon base Yavin, sandy Hutt home Tatooine and the shapely scenery of Naboo). It's due out in time for Christmas, too.

Players will be able to take on the role of one of 20 soldier types from four factions - from the classic era the Rebel Alliance and Imperial Army, and from the prequel setting the Clone and Droid Armies. Each faction and soldier will be equipped with character-specific abilities, and can make use of ground-based turrets and, in keeping with the homage to BF1942, fifteen vehicles on the ground and in the air, including the AT-ST walker seen in some of the early screenshots, X-Wing, snow speeders and speeder bikes.

Finally we know that apart from the basic game modes (and while we can only assume at this stage, our money is on a BF1942 capture-and-hold style set up for various reasons), players will also get to know Conquest mode, which adds a strategic element in that the victors of each battle and conquerors of each planet are rewarded with special bonus abilities that can be deployed in future encounters. There's no word on what to expect, but we'd like to see: Ion Cannons, Gungan-style shielding, and, well, Yoda. Actually there's no word on any Jedi involvement at this stage, and it may well be that Pandemic is putting together a game entirely free of our laser sworded heroes. We'll be keeping a watchful eye on www.starwarsbattlefront.com in the hope of finding out for sure one way or another. (Although until they fix the forwarding on that, you'll need to head here for the Battlefront product page.) Who needs Jedi anyway? Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

Jamming transmissions

'Star Wars Battlefront' Screenshot 2

Obviously there are some important questions left unanswered by all that - most notably technical issues. If this is a multiplayer only game (and although there's mention of a single-player mode, that details failed to make it into the product announcement is pretty telling), then support for online modes is a must. Fortunately Pandemic has some experience taking consoles online after it delivered an Xbox Live-enabled version of Star Wars: The Clone Wars early last year, and in this case it is promising 16 player support on both PS2 Online and Xbox Live (with 32 players supported by either console via LAN) and 32 players over the net for PC gamers (and 64 over a LAN). The game will also support all relevant voice communication compatible headsets for PS2, Xbox and, handily, the PC.

Another technical question mark is left next to target platform. For an ostensibly multiplayer-only game, the PS2's presence on the fact sheet raises an eyebrow or two. Pandemic's efforts last year to deliver sprawling land and space battles to rival all previous efforts in Clone Wars were thwarted when slowdown, texturing and design came under closer scrutiny in its GameCube release. In a sense, what we're dealing with here is quite the opposite, as the early screenshots look remarkably average compared to a lot of Star Wars fare. They all seem to be set on what looks like the forest moon of Endor (although we see no Ewoks - a secret faction maybe), but the foliage has been delivered with all the variety and imagination of a Cadbury's Selection under your Christmas tree.

They do at least offer some hints (the presence of what looks like a Rebel Alliance control point gives credit to the BF1942 comparisons, for example), but apart from a couple of promising shots of an AT-ST kicking up dust as a Stormtrooper scampers away between its legs, and some reflective water, it all looks extremely PS2 - identikit models dressed up in Star Wars rags, relentlessly jagged and vibrant vegetation (which suffers compared to Factor 5's Endor in its rightly-maligned Rebel Strike), cheap Paint Shop Pro gradient effect laser fire, and palm fronds that could poke an eye out. We'll have to wait to see some more environments, and for confirmation of what the Xbox and PC versions will look like, but it looks at this stage like Pandemic is developing for PS2 and porting to the other platforms. Quelle surprise.

The Clone War

Whatever the situation, Star Wars Battlefront is a game that leaps right to the top of our [Tom's -Ed] Most Wanted list for two key reasons - it's Battlefield 1942, and it's Star Wars. That's not much more than we knew this time last month, but it's enough for us. If it comes even halfway close to delivering on that particular promise, it should throw up enough adventure and excitement to send Yoda into a coma.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 8 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • sam_spade #1 8 years ago

    Third Person? Why?

  • Killerbee #2 8 years ago

    Nice idea - very nice idea, but if it's geared primarily at the online gaming crowd, surely it's going to be a cult success at best. I have to agree with Tom's scepticism about making this for the PS2 - it'd be far better as a PC game first and foremost, then doing an Xbox Live port of that game.

  • Genome #3 8 years ago

    Looks interesting, but I think they need to switch to First Person and is there really a good reason to develop primarily for PS2? I think not. Still, I'm remaining hopeful, I've been wanting to stomp around in an AT-ST online for so long...

    And, oh yeah... Misquote!

    "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

    That and nothing else.

  • mcmonkeyplc #4 8 years ago

    Star trek I want a god damn star trek game on my batty box!

    To my knowledge there is no mmo game set in the star trek universe.

    Oh and Enterprise is the worst star trek series to date ... however i have only ever watched ten episodes (maybe growing out of ST i guess)

    noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

    oh star wars yeah its aight

  • Dizzy #5 8 years ago

    The curse of PS2 strikes again.

  • pjmaybe #6 8 years ago

    If they DO bring this out for PC multiplayer online, ffs don't let the client-side stuff be so easy to hack...it's absolutely RUINING BF.

    (god I sound like a broken record)

    Peej

  • Errol #7 8 years ago

    Looks rubbish, frankly.

  • Errol #8 8 years ago

    Pj - Try the EG server again. I've been admining it quite regularly of late (after 9pm mostly). Nobody cheats, and I kick/ban persistent tkers/tards.

  • sam_spade #9 8 years ago

    Guys, what's going on with the forum? It seems very sluggish and often, doesn't even load up.

  • Blerk #10 8 years ago

    Forum's completely buggered for me as well. I'm having to work!

    Argh!

  • renzo #11 8 years ago

    Oh well... looks like I'll have to spam up the comments threads then.

    So Blerk, work you say? What's that?

  • mcmonkeyplc #12 8 years ago

    well blerk if you work you will increase the GDP of the country by errrrrm 0.000000001% giveor take 100%. So you working isnt too bad.

  • renzo #13 8 years ago

    And 2 more things. Firstly, like Sam has already asked, Third-person? Why?

    And PS2? Why?

  • Thamuhacha #14 8 years ago

    Battlefield 1942 in the Star Wars universe eh?

    I think that Call of Duty would have been a better inspiration.

  • Blerk #15 8 years ago

    And PS2? Why?

    Because they want to sell enough copies of the game to actually make some money?

  • renzo #16 8 years ago

    "Because they want to sell enough copies of the game to actually make some money?"

    Yeah, I guess I already knew the answer to my question. It was asked more in a rhetorical sense than a factual one. It makes sense that if ANY game is to go multi-platform, "PS2" is the first platform to be penned in on the list, while "GameCube" gets written down in invisible ink.

  • Khab #17 8 years ago

    Third-person because it's for the consoles primarily, I guess.

    PS2 because, well 50 million or so reasons.

  • Tiger_Walts #18 8 years ago

    George Lucas: "I'm going to ruin this game by inserting JarJars, Ewoks, N Sync all over the place."

    Don't forget about unconvincing computer graphics...

    ...oh wait, PS2 version, that kinda takes care of itself then.

  • Nemesis #19 8 years ago

    Well, it's still got some work to be done on it. Now, if Pandemic can pull out all the stops on the PC version we could get something special. Could.

  • Tyronne #20 8 years ago

    Thing is if you want to see how this can be you only need download the galactic conquest mod for Bf1942....funny that...lets make a mod where you can be either the empire or the rebellions foot shoulders.....fast forward 1 year....hey were gonna release a game where you can be either the rebellion or the empire in a game like bf 1942....mmmmm uncanny.....

  • Tiger_Walts #21 8 years ago

    I fondly remember the Scientist Hunt mod for Half Life, I dearly hope someone makes an Ewok/Jar Jar Hunt mod for this.

  • TraNsiT #22 8 years ago

    The explosions lookes relly bad.. But it could still be a good game, if you're able too play in First person mode.

  • Mean Marine #23 8 years ago

    I want this to be good, but I got a feeling it will be very bad

  • Gl@eken #24 8 years ago

    I agree this game is already available as a free BF mod Galatic conquest (though the techno music they use in that mod is a bit off putting).
    I doubt the Lucas arts version will be as good as this mod given the primary focus on PS2 development and the fact it is Lucas arts who are mainly pants these days.
    Edited by 1 at 14/01/04 @ 12:47

  • Mean Marine #25 8 years ago

    I want the LucasArts days of X-Wing, Sam & Max back :/

    Always felt special when I watched the logo when starting games.

  • Gl@eken #26 8 years ago

    Yeah I remember a time when it was widly thought that Lucas Arts had never made a bad game. How times change :D

  • bionicbeagle #27 8 years ago

    Actually, EA doesn't own the Battlefield franchise. So there!

  • Gl@eken #28 8 years ago

    Ignorant PS2 gamers.
    First person is by far the most immersive way to play a game. Third person is rubbish from an aiming point of view and gives you the ability to see around corners by rotating the external camera. Simply put for on-line multiplayer games it is hopeless.
    As for choosing the least powerful piece of common gaming hardware (PS2) available to be the primary development platform I am sure we are all very grateful about that given the low quality textures and low polygon counts that it is bound to mean for all the ports to more powerful hardware e.g. Game Cube, Xbox, Game Boy, Etcha Sketch, ZX81 etc.

  • Tiger_Walts #29 8 years ago

    Ignorant Twats
    The best games give you a choice of first or third person views without compromising your aiming ability, see Operation Flashpoint.

  • Gl@eken #30 8 years ago

    Ignorant middle grounders.
    Operation Flash Point was widely regarded as pants so I would not read much into that ;) First person wins every time.

  • FWB #31 8 years ago

    Operation Flash Point was widely regarded as pants

    By who? It sold very well in Europe and was critically acclaimed.

    OFP's thirdperson mode, while useful, is not very good for aiming.

  • Vibrating Donkey #32 8 years ago

    Oh crap, for some reason I didn't know this game was 3rdPersonView.
    Now that I do know, I don't feel any happier.

    The thing is, as mentioned, the problem with the ability to see behind corners, aka cheating in other games.
    But here that cheat is a feature of the game and allows everyone to take advantage of it.
    A new form of camping will be born, wallcamping.