Saturday, October 24, 2009

Star Wars Battlefront

This game has to be one of my favourite games that I have ever played on the PS2. Next to SW Battlefront , I will also review SW Battlefront II. It has been released for PC, Xbox and PS2.

This game was released by Lucasarts in 2004. This publisher and developer of video games, was founded by the father of Star Wars, George Lucas in 1982. This studio plays a vital role for the Star Wars brand as well for the Indiana Jones adventures. The second developer is Pandemic, which was founded in 1998 with an investement from Activision.

Now, I won’t be discussing the story of Star Wars, it'll be just too much.
And so my review about a game, where you fight in a galaxy far far away, begins.

In SW Battlefront you will be fighting on the sides of the four factions, the Republic, the CIS, the Empire and the Rebels. Each faction has it’s own units consisting of five classes, the normal soldier ( because each class has other names for its soldiers I’ll be using standard names), snipers, anti-tank soldiers, pilots (the game’s engineers), and special units. For The Republic and The Empire you've got jet troopers (The Empire’s jet troopers are called Dark Troopers).
The Rebels have the extremely though Wookiee and the CIS has the all famous Droideka.

The game also features some vehicles. Next to land vehicles, you can also pilot planes. The Rebels have the Gian Speeder as tank, the popular X-Wing fighter, the Y-Wing and on the planet Hoth the Airspeeder.
The Empire has the huge four-legged AT-AT, and the two-legged AT-ST, the Tie Fighter and the Tie Bomber. For the CIS you have the AAT, the Spiderwalker, the Hailfire tank and the droid starfighter.
And last but not least the vehicles of the Republic. The Republic has got the six-legged AT-TE, the TX-130S Fighter Tank, the Republic Gunship and the Jedi Starfighter.

The maps in SW Battlefront differ from the forests of Endor to the desert of Tatooine.
Almost every planet where you fight on has two levels, a sort of open map and an urban map. The four other maps that don’t have a second map are the home planets for each of the four factions. These are Endor, Kamino, Hoth and Geonosis. Each planet looks different in SW Battlefront with its own unique look. For instance, the planet of Naboo has a colourful urban map where Mos Eisley on the planet of Tatooine has a brownish look. The levels are looking good for that time with smooth lines and good animated units. Also the maps are not rushed into production but are carefully developed.

The game allows you to follow the story of Star Wars. You can battle in the Clone Wars and then fight in the Galactic Civil War. At the middle of both wars you change sides. In the Clone Wars you start on the side of the CIS and in the Galactic Civil War you begin on the side of the Empire.
Next to the ‘campaign’ of the game, you also have a mode called galactic conquest. Here you have to conquer all planets before invading your enemy’s home planet. Each time you win a map you'll get a special point. When you've earned four points you can activate your faction's special power. The CIS has the blockade power, which allows you to eliminate a planet from the scene. The Republic has the invade power that allows you to instantaneously conquer an entire planet. The Empire has the power to destroy a planet. The Rebels have the ability to start a rebellion on the targeted planet what gives them control over a planet without fighting.

Now there are some hilarious moments in SW Battlefront. When a grenade lands beside you and explodes, you will be blown to the other side of the map. And for those who want to move fast over the battlefield, just roll your way sideways over the map, because walking is painfully slow.

I really enjoyed this game and I still am. So I would recommend this game if you ever see it in a store. Tune in later for my review of SW Battlefront II.


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