STAR WARS™ Battlefront (Classic, 2004)

At first, you may tempted to dismiss this title as essentially Battlefield 1942 with a Star Wars skin painted over it. In many ways, you would be right, as most of the elements that give the Battlefront series its unqiue identity (space battles, playable Jedi, etc.) did not arrive until the sequel released a year later. That said, to write this game off as inferior would be a serious mistake. On the positive side of things, gameplay is tight, with a good variety of both open and closed maps, beefy vehicles that are fun to cruise around in, and interesting special abiltiies like personal shields and jetpacks. All of the classic Star Wars locations are here, from the Dune Sea to Theed, as well as music, sound effects, and clips from the films to create immersion and really make you feel like you're in the epic battles from the movies. You have the option to fight a one-off battle against either AI bots or online against other players, play through two campaigns based on the films, or play through a self-directed campaign in Galactic Conquest mode. On the negative side of things, some maps and weapons and unbalanced, and the AI fairly blatantly cheats at higher difficulty levels, both of which can become especially infuriating in campaign mode. As I alluded to earlier, this game is missing many of the features from the sequel, such as space battles, playable Jedi, and a standalone story-based campaign, that made the series fell unique, so be prepared for a bit of a letdown. Overall this is a great game despite being somewhat overshadowed by its sequel. Highly recommended for both Star Wars and FPS fans.

Love this game, definitely a classic. I was very happy to see it come up on PC again, but at the moment it's feeling really unstable. Weird bugs like input not really registering for a bit or being sluggish, frame rate drops, and characters constantly going through reloading animations are things I noticed in just the first map I played. Hopefully they can be fixed, but I'm not sure if the game will have support. When it works though, game is pretty great. Definitely the inferior game next to its sequel, but a good time all the same.

Most people interested in this game will only be so because they played it long ago and are looking for some nostalgia. If that's you, go for it, you'll have a great time. If you played the sequel exstensively and are curious about its predecessor, this game will feel a bit lacking but still has interesting content to deliver. If you have never played any game in this series, both this game and its sequel are good places to start. This one is a bit simpler than its sequel but it's very easy to get into and I still reccommend it. My only advice is to not play the game on the hardest difficulty, it's incredibly unfair and downright awful to play.

I've only played this game in single player, but it is one of my favorite "old-school Battlefield" kind of games. Everything has a sort of weight to it. As infantry, you do need to rely on the AI teammates and follow the back and forth movement of the battle, and the weapons you have are all satisfying. One of the best maps to feel this is Bespin, where the pitched battles for every bridge are just awesome. Another good (albeit sometimes frustrating) example is Kashyyk, with the beach assault. Vehicles are all also meaty and don't feel like they're made of paper, but you need to be aware of what can bring you down. Flying is fun, but ground vehicles have a good feel to them, apart from the very smallest ones which do feel a bit paper-y. The best thing about this game is that you really feel like only one part of a force, and a victory feels like a group effort.

This is where it all began, the first Star Wars shooter. Unique gameplay in every way. I have nothing more to add, it's the first and the best Battlefront.