Another XBox Winner (Star Wars: Battlefront (Xbox))

Member Name: Guile176

Product:	Star Wars: Battlefront (Xbox)
Date:	02/06/06 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great level design

Disadvantages: Dumb AI

Its been ages since I put anything up on here. I just wrote this review on 1UP for my blog last night. I didn't want to waste it for just there, so I decided to put it up here as well.

I just grabbed at Circuit City for a mere $10 a few days back. Now as some of you may be aware, I won Battlefront 2 for the XBox off 1UP last fall. Since then I have played the game to death both on and offline and have loved every minute. Its easily my favorite Live title to play, despite a few annoying flaws.

Anyway, before buying this my only experience with the original Battlefront was strictly on a demo of the game on PS2, and XBox of the Endor level. I honestly didn't play a great deal of it because I wanted to experience the full game. I had played enough of it to realize I liked it and that was good enough for me.

The first thing I wanna touch on is the unit differences. I was totally screwed up by the fact the shotguns now are used by pilots and Dark Troopers, and how the scouts don't have any auto turrets. Units seemed to run much slower then in the sequel, and don't have a sprint ability. Some of the handling also seems abit screwed up on a few of the vehicles and the Droideka units. Blaster weapons seem to be abit stronger on vehicles, but most vehicles dont seem to have a secondary fire weapon in the main view. There's hero units, but those units are not playable like in the second game.

On the subject of vehicles, this game has a great feature that the developers removed (with the exception of Hoth) from the second. That feature is the ability to use air vehicles on the ground based map. I can't stress how cool it is to fly around in an X-Wing and do battle with Ties while a ground battle rages below. Or how much fun it is to do strafing runs on helpless ground soldiers. Why they never kept this feature in is beyond me.

As for the levels, I notice many of the same levels were re-used in BF2 such as Rhen Var Harbor, Jabbas Palace and Hoth. For the most part these levels seem to be designed the same. A few minor differences here and there, but pretty much the same. The levels that werent re-used such as 1 of the 2 Bespin levels, and the Tatooine desert are just plain gaming bliss. Boy these folks at Pandemic sure know how to design some amazing levels.

Perhaps the only real major flaw in the first BF is the AI. To put it bluntly, the AI is darn stupid. They stand there when being shot, they run themselves off cliffs, and they never seem to follow your orders. I know the AI in BF 2 was nothing special, but the AI here is just plain retarded. On a strange note, they seem to have some amazing acuracy at times and the computer will not hesitate to kill you before you even know what hit you.

As far as Live support goes, im glad to say the game is still active. While its not nearly as active as BF2, you shouldnt have trouble finding a game.

Graphicly, things seem to have a slightly different look over the second. Not really much of one, but this one seems to run abit slower, and the characters have a slight more cartoonish look to them. There also seems to be abit of pop-up in some areas. Its not bad, and it doesnt take away from the game any, but it is noticable.

Soundwise, things are what you would expect from a Star Wars title. You get great music, and familiar sound effects that all sound nice and crisp. You'll also get some pretty well acted sound-a-likes or familiar characters like The Emperor during briefings. One thing I did find strange however was the lack of a voice on the female soldiers when giving orders. I don't know what the deal is there since the male units and droids all have voices, but it is a slight bit odd in my opinion.

In the end I would highly reccomend you buy this game if you havent already. Even if you only own the second game and enjoy it, then you owe it to yourself to grab this one as well. If you're anything like me, you'll love trying to pick apart the numrous changes in the game from the second. I certainly hope they have a part 3 of this series planned, because im really looking forward to one. Great job

Summary: If you're a Star Wars fan....get it.