Gaming
Games
Fixed that for You: Star Wars Battlefront 2
We now know Star Wars Battlefront 2 is coming, so here's our suggestions on making it better!
The Force could use some fixing in this one
© [unknown]
For all of its faults, last year’s Star Wars Battlefront did one thing better than any Star Wars game we’ve ever played. It captured the look and feel of the Original Trilogy. Right down to the way the ice looked almost blue against the white backdrop of the Rebel Base on Hoth. This attention to even the smallest visual detail, alongside impeccable sound design and iconic John Williams music, put Star Wars Battlefront to the tippy top of people’s Dear Santa lists. Which his elves then went on to produce at a staggering rate, with 14 million copies shipped to retailers to date.
But outside of a few training missions and a lacklustre co-operative mode, the Star Wars Battlefront experience was limited to competitive multiplayer shooting. Now this is not to say that the end result was a bad or generic game, it’s just that it really only did one thing. Albeit, it did that one thing really well. Star War Battlefront is a multiplayer game first and foremost. One that blends the scope and bombast of developer DICE’s Battlefield series, with the ease and accessibility of jumping in for bit of fun and getting to fly an X-Wing or take control of Darth Vader. And all whilst looking amazing.
And now with a sequel coming sometime next year, many people are expecting it to be more than just, well, more of the same. EA has already stated that it will be bigger and better, but then again, of course they would. With the first game’s multiplayer-only focus the easy thing to say would be to simply state, ‘Yo EA! Have more in the way of story and narrative this time around.’ Boom. Problem solved. But, even if you love the current game and are content with playing modes like Walker Assault and Supremacy until the next game rolls-up, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. In fact, with a few additions, tweaks, and balances, Star Wars Battlefront 2 could be the quintessential Star Wars game.
Needs more co-op, please
© [unknown]
Yep, Add Some Story. But Not a Standard Campaign-Mode
One of the great things about the current game is that with its hero versus villain approach, a lot of the multiplayer battles feel like Star Wars fan fiction. In the best possible way. Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and Emperor Palpatine all duking it out against a back-drop of giant walkers and Tie Fighters zipping overhead? Awesome. Without a traditional single-player or story though, simply adding a string of connected missions in a new Star Wars Battlefront campaign would probably be the wrong way to do it. And rehash stuff we’ve seen and done before. Instead, DICE should draw on what’s already been established. And go wild with it.
Imagine being able to play a mission where Boba Fett, Darth Vader, and Imperial Stormtroopers all infiltrate and destroy a key rebel base, ending with a dogfight above the wreckage. Or teaming up Luke and Leia as the siblings go on a rescue mission to save Admiral Ackbar who’s being held captive aboard a Super Star Destroyer. These missions could be something you could tackle solo, or co-operatively with friends, adding to the replay value. And also, by using the heroes and characters already in the game, DICE could remix iconic scenes and action set pieces from the films. Take the recent Outer Rim expansion for the game, which introduces Greedo as a new villain. Imagine if that came with story-based content set on Tatooine, where Greedo and a rag tag team of Bounty Hunters get to hunt-down and capture Han Solo.
And just let us board and take off, physically
© [unknown]
Eight Modes! Bust Out the Sticky Tape, Scissors, and Glue Sticks. This Might Take a While
Okay, so there’s no nice way to put this. Star Wars Battlefront has too many modes. Right off the bat the standard Team Deathmatch mode, called Blast, should be removed. It feels extraneous, and seemingly only there because there’s an unwritten rule that all first-person shooters need to have deathmatch. A rule that sits right alongside the one that states that in-game player models should go for the ‘bland featureless white dude’ look. Which are also in the game. Now, if we’re busting out the hypothetical scissors you could probably offer up either Droid Run or Cargo to be cut as they seemingly serve the same purpose as small-scale capture modes.
But the problem doesn’t simply lie with the fact that there’s too many modes, it’s that players are given the option to play each mode separately. How this ended up being the way you play Star Wars Battlefront is anyone’s guess, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that certain modes are devoid of players. But even popular large-scale modes like Walker Assault and Supremacy should be grouped together, with the servers alternating between maps. Even the more throwaway arcade-style modes like Fighter Squadron, Heroes versus Villains, and Hero Hunt should be grouped together into a single ‘Play Now’ button. Leave the customisation, fine tuning, and tick boxing to a separate custom game screen.
More planets with things to do within would be ace
© [unknown]
Lose the Icons. Getting to Climb Aboard a Spaceship is Half the Fun
You know the amazing attention to detail in the little things like the sound that a Tie Fighters makes as it crashes into the ground in a smoky, spiral display of blacks, greys, and deep oranges? Well, that doesn’t extend to the way in which you board a Tie Fighter or X-Wing in Star Wars Battlefront. In the sense that you don’t. Instead you pick up an icon, that after kneeling for a second or two to activate, magically transports you into the sky aboard whatever spaceship was depicted in the icon you just picked up. If that description sounds laboriously boring, it’s because it is. One of the first things that you instinctively try to do in Star Wars Battlefront is walk-up to a vehicle and try to climb aboard.
Anything else breaks the immersion. Whilst also being a disservice to amount of time and effort that went into recreating the string of iconic Star Wars locations featured in the game. They all looks so good that you can’t help but want to jump into an X-Wing. Here’s hoping this gets rectified in the sequel, because running into a hangar on Hoth and seeing a Snowspeeder just sitting there whilst a small blue icon gets all the action, is tantamount (which reminds me, ridable Tauntauns!) to a force slap in the face.
Revamp Survival Mode
One of the biggest criticisms laid at the hypothetical feet of Star Wars Battlefront is the lack of a viable offline or co-operative mode. Something that has the legs to give players a number of hours of entertainment. That’s not to say that one wasn’t included, but bringing any sort of attention to the game’s Survival Mode simply highlights how lacking it is in any sort of personality. Which, for a Star Wars game as good looking as this one, is simply baffling. For those that may not remember, because let’s face it it’s almost completely forgettable, Survival Mode let’s up to two players team up to fight off waves of Stormtroopers. And that’s it.
More Rebel ships and more Empire big bads!
© [unknown]
Usually a mode this boring should be the topic of removal from any sequel discussion, but the basic premise is a sound one. A horde-style mode set in the Star Wars universe. DICE should simply take this one back to the drawing board and look to games like Gears of War 3, Team Fortress 2's Mann vs Machine, Mass Effect 3, and others, for inspiration. Up the player count to four, include more than one or two enemy types, add bosses, a progression system, integrate the heroes. In other words, spend a bit of time and make it a worthwhile addition to the game. As if we’re being honest, if the current Survival Mode was anything other than bland and featureless mode, then there’d be a lot less chatter about including a campaign mode.
Take to the Skies, Star Wars Style
Perhaps one of the least talked about modes from Star Wars Battlefront is Fighter Squadron, which pits Rebels against Imperials as they take to skies and fight it out from the cockpit of a Tie Fighter or X-Wing. Which is a shame because this mode is a lot of fun. Unlike Battlefield, the flight controls here are easy to get the hang of and in terms of feel are just about as tight and arcade-perfect as those from Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader on Nintendo GameCube. Which is to say that Star Wars Battlefront II should take Fighter Squadron to its natural place, outside the stratosphere and into space.
Multiplayer Star Wars dogfights that don’t include an epic space battle in orbit around the Death Star or in front of a fleet of Star Destroyers feels incomplete. And while we’re reminiscing about the classic Rogue Leader, the flight controls in Battlefront would be a perfect fit for similarly styled solo or co-operative missions. Sure a Rogue Squadron style set of missions might be a longshot for the sequel, but hey, we’re in fix it mode. And adding this on top of everything else would mean that Star Wars Battlefront 2 would become the quintessential Star Wars game.
