'Battlefront' Is for Star Wars Fans, Not 'Battlefield' Players

Today, publisher Electronic Arts and developer DICE will open the floodgates on the Star Wars Battlefront beta, letting anyone who wants to download and play a limited version of the first-person multiplayer shooter.

It's a game with a lot of masters to serve: Star Wars fans, Battlefield players, and those who are nostalgic for the original Star Wars: Battlefront games from the PlayStation 2/Xbox era. It's quite simply the best looking Star Wars game I've ever seen, so that made me happy, but as a Battlefield player it drove me a little crazy.

It has an almost pavlovian effect. I hear that distinctive laser blaster sound and I'm immediately in a child-like state of wonder and adventure, especially since it sounds better than ever. The team at DICE, which is known for creating huge, booming war zone soundscapes, got full access to the original recordings library at Lucasfilm, and they made them even better. They used photogrammetry, scanning the original movie props into the game, which is built with the Frostbite engine, one of best in the games industry.

There have been so many video game levels based on the snowy battle of Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back, but you've never seen it like this before. When an AT-AT fires at you from the distance, kicking up clouds of snow and maybe a few of your comrades, it feels like you're in the movie, and as a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy, that's what I want.

The problem is that it also plays like the worst Battlefield game. It's something you have to be pretty deep into Battlefield to understand. You can crouch, but not lie prone. There are no player classes like the medic, who can revive other players. There aren't a lot of weapons and weapon modifications to unlock. It's a lot of little things players who are coming into the game as fans of the movies aren't going to notice, but as a multiplayer first-person shooter that's built with the Frostbite engine, and one the follows a lot of the same rules, it feels like a Battlefield game, only a little off.

Some of these changes are interesting. Sniper rifles, for example, which in Battlefield games can bring a match to a boring stalemate, are now an ability with a cooldown timer. All players have more access to them, but can't abuse them at a distance. There's also a two-person buddy system for player communication, instead of Battlefield's bigger, more hectic squad system.

However, overall, it feels like Star Wars Battlefront mostly changes things about the Battlefield formula by simplifying them or taking them away in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience with less experience in Battlefield games and first-person shooters in general.

If you don't care about Star Wars, there are plenty of other, better sci-fi shooters out there. If you're a Battlefield fan, Star Wars Battlefront might actively annoy in all the ways it is not Battlefield. If you're ready to be swept up in new Star Wars movie hype, you should be downloading the beta already.