Contact CU Independent News Staff Writer Nick Sanchez at nicholas.sanchez@colorado.edu.
Over the weekend many lucky console and PC players got a chance to play Electronic Arts’ next big title, Star Wars Battlefront. A select few got early access to the game’s beta from Oct. 8-13 before it was released, and turned out to be EA’s biggest beta yet, with a reported 9 million people playing worldwide.
With numbers like that, Battlefront is looking to be one of the biggest games of 2015. But will it live up to the hype? Well, that’s highly debatable.
The beta generally received positive feedback from fans, with some of the biggest praises coming from its stunning visuals and incredible sounds and music. It felt, looked, and sounded like a Star Wars game. But, there were still some bugs and drawbacks that held the game from being as good as it could be.
One of these critiques is its spawning system. Most of the time, the spawns were random and just plain stupid; a player had the ability to spawn camp the enemy team for extended periods of time and dominate the game. There was also the fact that a player could get kills in rapid succession by having two to five people randomly spawn in front of them.
A second complaint: unbalancing issues in the Walker Assault mode. The empire absolutely curb-stomped the rebels just by having vehicle control, which is a big issue for foreseeable fun and replay value. Because this was a beta and merely a test for the game, DICE is working on the issue, according to lead multiplayer designer Dennis Brannvall’s twitter account.
There are also some who feel the game is too simplistic with its non-traditional style of weapon loadouts and lack of customization. DICE will combat this by introducing Star Cards for special weapons, power-ups, and the Hero access that made the original Battlefronts so iconic and fun.
But the most foreseeable problem with Battlefront isn’t from a gameplay perspective, but rather its huge amounts of competition. Battlefront releases rather late this season compared to other big games such as Halo 5, coming out Oct. 27, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, releasing Nov. 6, and Fallout 4 coming Nov. 10. With the four biggest and most hyped games of the Fall/Winter 2015 season releasing back-to-back will gamers have the time or money to spend on Battlefront?
Even with its Star Wars branding, which is a surefire way to sell almost anything, and a long 10-year wait since Battlefront 2, can Battlefront live up to its hype? Or will it be force-choked into oblivion? Only time will tell.
Star Wars Battlefront releases for Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC Nov. 17.
