Star
Wars Battlefront is an action shooter video game developed by EA DICE, with additional work from Criterion Games, and
published by Electronic Arts. The game, based on the Star Wars franchise,
is the third major release in the Star Wars:
Battlefront sub-series,
and is considered a reboot to the
previous games, instead of a sequel. The game was released worldwide in November
2015, and received mixed reviews from critics. Critics praised the game for its
gameplay, visuals and high production values but was criticized for its lack of
content on both single player and multiplayer modes. Despite this, it was a
commercial success, selling over 13 million copies.
Gameplay
Players
have the ability to control characters from the films, such as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
Star Wars Battlefront is an action game
played from either a first-person or third-person view;
players can switch views whenever desired, similar to previous games, except
when controlling "hero" characters or their personal guards. Players
traverse planets from the original Star Wars trilogy, such as Endor, Hoth,
Tatooine, Bespin, and Sullust, as well as environments from the sequel trilogy,
and additionally Jakku. To navigate the world, players use a variety of
vehicles, including both air and land-based vehicles, such as speederbikes and AT-STs. Battles
are planet-based, restricting players from exploring space. The only map that is space-based is
included in the expansion pack titled "Death Star", set to be released in early
fall 2016. The game's weapons, characters, gear, and abilities are
customizable. As new
weapons are unlocked, players have the ability to share them with their
teammates. Battlefront does not feature iron sights, but allows players to zoom in for
better accuracy.
The game lets players
choose to control either a Rebel Alliance soldier
or an Imperial Stormtrooper.
Other playable characters from the films can also be controlled, such as Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Nien Nunb, Greedo, Emperor Palpatine, Lando Calrissian, andDengar. Non-playable characters such as R2-D2, C-3PO, Admiral Ackbar, and Jabba the Hutt make
appearances. The game
includes cooperative missions, which can be played offline, but
excludes a campaign mode. Players can complete the missions both independently
and with bots or
another player; the game supports split screen on consoles. The
game's online multiplayer mode supports up to 40 players in one match and
consists of 16 multiplayer maps. These maps feature five locations from the Star Wars universe: Hoth, Tatooine, Endor, Sullust, Jakku and Bespin's Cloud City .
Development and release
In May 2013, publisher Electronic Arts obtained
exclusive rights to develop Star Wars games for gaming consoles, and its subsidiaries DICE,Visceral Games, and BioWare started work on Star Wars games. DICE
first acknowledged the game at Electronic Arts' E3 2013 press
conference, along with a teaser trailer. The game
is built with the Frostbite 3 engine; studio head Patrick Söderlund stated
that the game would be "DICE's interpretation of what Battlefront should
be", while still incorporating elements from the previous two games. As
such, DICE did not brand the new game as a sequel to Battlefront II, but a reboot of the
franchise. Söderlund
said that the game almost wasn't developed, but that staffers at DICE lobbied
to be given the project; he called DICE's development of Battlefront "a match made in heaven".
In June 2014, it was
revealed at EA's E3 2014 press
conference that the ice planet Hoth and the forest moon of Endor would be
playable maps for the game. In late
October of that year, it was revealed that the game would be released Christmas
2015, tying in with the release of Star Wars: The Force
Awakens. To meet
the deadline, the team had to remove the game's single-player campaign mode. In early
March 2015, the first gameplay footage of the game was shown at a private
retail event and received a standing ovation from the audience. In April
2015, at Star Wars Celebration 2015 in Anaheim, California, the first gameplay
details and the second trailer was released.The first
downloadable content of the game, entitled Battle of
Jakku, was also announced during the event.
In April 2015, EA announced
that Battlefront would release in North America on November 17
and in Europe on November 20 of that year.It has been stated that the
release date for Europe will now fall on November 19. It was
confirmed that the game would not feature the Battlelog system, but to use a
new system developed by Uprise, an Electronic Arts subsidiary based in Sweden,
which has previously worked on the Battlelog system of Battlefield 4. On June
15, further gameplay was shown at E3 2015 depicting
the Walker Assault mode on Hoth from perspectives of both the Rebel Alliance
and the Galactic Empire using various weapons, items and vehicles such as the
AT-AT walker, Snowspeeders and TIE Fighters ending
with playable characters Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader engaging in battle. Another
gameplay trailer featuring cooperative missions was also shown at the event. An open
beta of the game was released for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 8. The beta includes the Walker
Assault, Drop Zone, and Survival mission modes. The beta
was originally set to close on October 12 but was extended to October 13 for
testing of "extreme scenarios". The beta
was played by more than nine and a half million players.According
to Electronic Arts, it was their largest beta.
Fellow EA developer,
Criterion Games helped DICE develop the speeder bikes for the game. Visceral Games also
assisted in an undisclosed capacity.
Downloadable
content
Star Wars Battlefront features downloadable content (DLC). The first downloadable content, titled Battle of Jakku, was
revealed during Star Wars Celebration 2015 and was made publicly available
for download for free on December 8, 2015. A season
pass was announced on October 12, 2015 and includes four DLC packs. An
"Ultimate Edition" was announced which includes the deluxe edition
version of the game and the season pass.[42] Aside
from the contents of the season pass, additional content will be released for
free, which includes new maps and star cards.
Battle of Jakku is the first DLC for Star Wars Battlefront, which
launched publicly on December 8, 2015. Players who pre-ordered the game
received the Battle of
Jakku DLC a
week earlier, on December 1, 2015. It became free for all players on December
8, 2015, and features two maps set on planet Jakku. Outer Rim is the second downloadable content for the game,
which was released on March 22, 2016. It adds maps set in Jabba the Hutt's palace in Tatooine and a
factory area in Sullust. It also includes iconic characters Nien Nunb and Greedo. The DLC will be available to players
who have purchased the game's Season Pass. Outer Rim is the first of the four DLC packs planned for
Season Pass owners.The
second expansion pack is titled Bespin. It
introduces the Cloud City, Bespin, and allows players to play as the
iconic hero Lando Calrissian and the
infamous bounty hunter Dengar. It is set
to be released on June 21, 2016. The third
expansion pack, titled Death
Star, will be released September 2016 and will mark the
debut of the Death Star in the
game, as well as the iconic Chewbacca, and bounty hunter Bossk, as
playable characters.The final
expansion pack, Rogue One: Scarif, will be
released Holiday 2016, based on the 2016 film, allowing players control of
characters Orson Krennic and Jyn Erso.
Criterion Games is also
developing an exclusive mission titled Star Wars
Battlefront Rogue One: X-wing VR Mission. It will
be released free for the PlayStation 4 version of the game in October 2016 and
utilizes the PlayStation VR headset.
Tie-in
game
Base Command is a companion app available on Google Play and the Mac App Store. Base
Command can be
played with or without owning Star Wars
Battlefront. Players defend the Rebel base from
the Galactic Empire using Star Cards featuring vehicles, weapons,
and power-ups. In the companion app, players can earn virtual credits, which
can be used to unlock star cards, weapons, and character customization in the
main game.
Reception
Pre-release
Leon Hurley of GamesRadar had a
positive impression of Star Wars
Battlefront beta. He
praised the game's gunplay for its being "strong" and seeming
"great" but heavily criticized Walker Assault, one of the game's
modes, for its difficulty of winning it as a Rebel. He compared the game's
visuals to the Star Wars films' realistic clashes. Moreover, he praised
the accuracy of Stormtroopers for its being "at least 100% true to the
movie" and called wave-one soldiers "exceptionally special"
while pointing out the flaw that the game had an unusual balance of Star Wars heroes and villains. For example, Darth Vader
would be splatted by any passing ship while Luke Skywalker would have "far
more luck on the 'looking epic' side of things" such as successfully
destroying an AT-ST solo. Another flaw which he had pointed out is
the "weird" and "infuriating" timing of ending scenes in
which screens overlap the ends of matches.
The game's lack of a
campaign for the single-player mode was criticized. Steven
Storm of Ars Technica praised
the visuals, stating: "DICE has at least captured the look and feel of Star Wars, perhaps
better than any other game with the license before it."He
likened gameplay to the "standard Battlefield formula of walk, get shot, respawn, and
repeat...".
Post-release
Star Wars Battlefront received mixed reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Mizuho Securitiesanalyst Neil Doshi noted
the negative reviews, but predicted that the game would prevail as a financial
hit. Game Informermagazine criticised the
game's perceived repetitiveness. Dan
Ryckert of Giant Bomb gave
Battlefront 3/5 stars, praising the game for capturing the Star Wars feel but complained of the game's lack of
content on release. While
both the PS4 and Xbox One maintains a healthy amount of active players online,
the PC userbase has seen diminishing numbers. Due to
heavy criticism about the gameplay's lack of depth and closeness to casual gamers, Blake Jorgensen, Electronic Arts' chief financial officer admitted that the game was intentionally
designed to be accessible for those new to first-person shooter games, or children wanting to play with their
parents, going against the hardcore fanbase of Star Wars:
Battlefront (2004).
Sales
Electronic Arts expected
the game to sell nine to ten million units before the end of the company's 2016
financial year on March 31, 2016. After the
release of the game's beta, the company now hopes the game to sell at least 13
million copies by the end of March 2016.
Star Wars Battlefront debuted at number one in the UK for retail
non-digital sales according to Chart-Track in its first week of release, and
became the fourth fastest-selling title released in 2015. It marked the biggest
launch of a video game in the Star Wars franchise, and exceeded the sales of Star Wars: The Force
Unleashed, the previous record holder, by 117%. It was also the
fastest-selling online PlayStation 4 video
game, breaking the record previously held by Destiny.
In early December 2015, GameStop president Tony Bartel told retail investors that
a number of key November games had sold less than the chain had expected. Star Wars Battlefront was one of three titles listed, along with Halo 5 and Assassin's Creed
Syndicate. Peter Moore,
however, has defendedStar Wars Battlefront's launch
sales and has spoken out to investors to say that Electronic Arts was still
standing by its target of selling 13 million copies by the end of March 2016.
According to analyst Michael Pachter, the game had sold 12 million
units, as of December 31, 2015. Star Wars Battlefront made its sales goal of selling 13 million copies
by the start of 2016.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org
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