Absolute chaos and confusion: that's what you'll experience while playing Battlefront's 20 vs 20 Walker Assault mode for the first time. Get plopped in a match already in progress, and witness several rebels and Stormtroopers pop out from every corner of the map, from the snowy surfaces of Hoth, the forests of Endor, to the rugged, mountainous terrain of Tatooine. Both sides even wear their appropriate outfits for each location, my personal favorite being the coated attire for the Stormtroopers on Hoth. Bullets, beam projectiles, and explosive material pierce either bodies or the general surroundings, X-wings and TIE Fighters screech through the heavens, and tearing right through the middle of the battle are the cool-looking but tactically inconvenient AT-AT Walkers.
After a match or two, though, you get the gist of Walker Assault. Basically, if you end up on the rebel side, the goal is to reach specific spots on the map and secure those areas for as long as possible, so when the AT-ATs become susceptible to attacks at three intervals, the accumulated time is allotted to said intervals. And, well, it's obvious what needs to done if you're on the Empire's side. The calamity of Walker Assault sounds justified, and it reaches hectic levels when the AT-ATs are vulnerable, as bodies drop with lightning speed.
Credit: DICE/Electronic ArtsHaving said that, you'll need all the firepower you can muster to be victorious. Thankfully, along with the various guns you're able to unlock are secondary attacks, ranging from grenades that explode on impact and homing missiles, to abilities that strengthen shots and unique sniping projectiles. There's a cool-down period after each use, so you won't be able to abuse them. Much. Also adding to your arsenal are power-ups littered throughout the map, such as thermal detonators and androids that scan nearby enemies. If you're lucky, you might even stumble into a Hero/Villain power-up, allowing control of a familiar face of your choosing: Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and so forth. However, the same can be said of the other team, and in the hands of a capable player, can absolutely wipe the floor using their special attacks.
While Battlefront has strategic elements, the hands-on, explosive, arcade-style vibe of these battles make the game a very approachable title to anyone, especially the fact that you can literally jump right back into the fight after a death. Now, I'll fully admit that I have zero experience with the prior Battlefront games, so I can't even begin to make comparisons, but I can say that this version's core mechanics make it seem like you can play for months on end without feeling weary.
Then two days go by, and you think, "This is it?"
Which is funny considering, at first glance, the game looks loaded with material. But, looks can be deceiving. For example, there's a total of 11 guns at your disposal once you reach specific ranks to unlock them. However, take a quick gander at their stats, and you'll realize that half the guns are basically alterations of others, with slight improvements in either power, rate of fire, or range; realistically, there's only five guns. I guess DICE thought the secondary weapons and scattered power-ups could fill the remaining void, but it's still disappointing how few primary weapons there are... not to mention they're all blasters.
Next are the modes, currently a total of ten for multiplayer. Sounds varied, yes? Especially with their fancy names, Supremacy, Droid Run, Hero Hunt, and the like. But, again, once you go through them, you see they're really minimally different from one another, and can easily be split into two categories, team deathmatch and control point. Presently, there's four deathmatch modes and five for the latter, offering faint differences for big and small scale battles, such as guarding locations... or guarding cargo, or, um... guarding droids. Honestly, the deathmatch modes got the better end, since you can at least play a mode purely in the skies with ships, and another where heroes and villains have an overwhelming presence. But that's kinda like saying Coke tastes better than Pepsi... it's not a huge stretch.
Now, if for some reason this still sounds fun to you, the disappointment firmly comes down to this: the game's primary focus is online multiplayer, so there should have been much more here to sustain players in the long run. This is especially evident when you notice there's a very bare bones "single-player" mode (you can play with a buddy off or online) that really just acts as the game's horde mode. You know what really sucks? As stated earlier, while nothing revolutionary, the core mechanics really are solid, still making the game entertaining on a basic level. Sad that it's wasted on such a vanilla product.
Battlefront is weird like that. It's fun to play, but is probably also one of the biggest AAA clunkers of 2015, simply due to lack of gameplay content from the get-go. If you're aching for some online multiplayer action, choosing any other big release over this is going to be a better investment, because really, the only thing this has going for it is the Star Wars license. And if for some bizarre reason you'll still want to get this, I should warn you about the most annoying ability in the game: the Scan Pulse, which temporarily allows the user to see nearby enemy locations. In large scale control point modes, it's sorta-kinda understandable, but when used in smaller deathmatch modes where kills actually matter, it's aggravating because it discourages the use of any actual skill. And if several players have the ability equipped... I...
The Scan Pulse just sucks.
