Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Is Boba Fett overpowered in Star Wars Battlefront?

UPDATE: He is the most played Hero/Villain.

UPDATE 9TH DECEMBER: EA DICE has released a Star Wars Battlefront launch infographic that shows, among other things, Boba Fett as the most-played Hero or Villain. Luke is second, Han third, Leia fourth, Vader fifth and Palpy sixth.

Other statistics reveal that less than one per cent of AT-ATs taken down have been done so by the Air Speeder's tow cables. They also reveal that the AT-ST is the deadliest machine on the battlefield, which presumably means it's responsible for the most kills of any vehicle.

On other thing that stuck out to me was Ewoks throwing stones on the Endor map: I didn't realise they did, but apparently more than 2.4m Stormtroopers have been hit by them.

Poor old Palpy.

ORIGINAL STORY 26TH NOVEMBER: Of all the Heroes and Villains in the game it's Boba Fett emerging as one people are calling overpowered. "Jedi are overrated," he quips when killing Luke Skywalker in the game - apparently he's right.

Specifically, Boba Fett excels on - and is therefore overpowered on - the big maps during big modes Walker Assault and Supremacy (20-a-side battles). Videos of him scoring more than 50 kills to no deaths - and much higher - are common. I've embedded a high quality 62-kill-streak video to illustrate this - it's been shared around a fair bit.

You enable Boba Fett by finding a Hero power-up somewhere on the map, and then selecting him.Watch on YouTube

The reason Fett stands out is because his jetpack ability makes him very mobile. It's his proverbial get out of jail free card; if the situation is gets too hot and he's in danger of being overwhelmed and killed, he can take to the skies and fly away. He can also get to hard to reach vantage points for the same reason. That's how he's managing to last entire games without being killed.

Couple his manoeuvrability with a powerful basic blaster shot, which fizzes through ordinary players easily, and a rocket launcher on a short cooldown, which has seemingly endless range and can kill groups of enemies, and he becomes a regular soldier's nightmare. Fett also has a flamethrower that spews short-range death but he's rarely in such close quarters - and in danger if he is.

The other Heroes and Villains struggle to have the same effect in these big battles. Luke and Vader do the bulk of their damage up close, which means being in the thick of the action, where they're killed. The Emperor doesn't have much range on his Lightning abilities and he's fairly squishy, but like Leia he's a spawn-point for powerful personal bodyguard and can drop his own health pick-ups. Not a bad choice in those bigger battles. Han Solo has more firepower than Boba Fett for my money, but he can't jetpack around.

Will developer DICE do anything about Boba Fett? Will it bring balance to... Battlefront? It's hard to gauge how widespread the 'over-powered' complaints are beyond the videos. The Star Wars Battlefront forums are under maintenance, annoyingly, but yesterday I explored and couldn't find anything about him. Likewise with the Star Wars Battlefront Reddit, although I did find a gif and a video you should see.

Personally, I've never had a problem with Fett, and I play a lot of Heroes vs Villains so I come against him often. He isn't particularly effective against other Heroes, however strong he seems against ordinary troops - though he can be a pain to track down.

Have you been playing Star Wars Battlefront? How balanced do you think the Heroes and Villains are?