The comments we’ve seen on TSA over the last few days have made one thing abundantly clear: you’ve all been playing the Star Wars Battlefront beta and you want to talk about it. So we’ve revived WeView for one week only in order to let you do just that.
Running since Thursday and now set to end today after a slight extension, it opened the floodgates to all and sundry with a PlayStation 4, Xbox One or PC, with a trio of game modes to sample. There was the solo and co-op play Survival mode set on Tatooine, the small team control point mode of Drop Zone on Sullust and, of course, the showcase Walker Assault on the Rebel base on Hoth.
But we’ve all been playing as well, and while I shared some early impressions on Thursday, others on the team shared their thoughts as well.
Miguel, for example, “was cautiously optimistic about the new Battlefront, but the beta thankfully blew my expectations and concerns away.” Though a huge fan of the original games, he struggles to get to grips with Battlefield. Thankfully, Battlefront “creates a gameplay experience that’s much more approachable to the casual FPS player.”
Jim also said that “Much to my surprise I actually ended up enjoying my brief time with the Star Wars Battlefront beta. Given the ridiculous number of games I’m juggling at any one time, the last thing I need is an overly complex online shooter. That’s why, after much deliberation, I’m finally turning my back on the ridiculously convoluted Destiny.
“Star Wars Battlefront seems to be the perfect remedy. There’s something so endearingly basic to its style of gameplay and map design. Unlike many of its contemporaries, the game actively encourages players to sprint across huge areas as they look to seize tactical positions instead of huddling together, crawling down narrow alleyways with your head constantly pivoting.”
The centrepiece Walker Assault mode was at the heart of Aran’s play time, and he said, “I know there is a bit of an imbalance between Imperial and Rebel due to the amount of power the Imperials are packing, but when you’re part of a good team the Rebels are good. However I did find most of my success came from the Empire, especially using the AT-ST and the turrets to push back Rebels. However the air vehicles need some tightening up control wise as they feel very cumbersome to fly.”
He also highlighted the game’s audio, saying, “It all looks so good and the sound work is fantastic, really driving the fact home that yes this is Star Wars.” Miguel agreed with this, also saying that, “The visuals and sound design are just mind blowing, and I hope that quality of production keeps up in the full game.”
However, while there were three positive voices, there was also one of dissent. Tuffcub initially struggled to even connect, as he “kept on getting a message saying ‘You are not allowed to do this’, which was incredibly confusing until I worked out what it actually meant was ‘We cannot connect to the servers.’
“When I did get in the amount of action going on was impressive but felt like a big free for all rather than a co-ordinated attack. Locking all the fun stuff away behind XP grinding was also a bit annoying. Overall it was pretty much what I was expecting, which was Battlefield 4 with some Star Wars skins. File under: Meh.”
And now it’s time for you to share your thoughts with us. Have you been enjoying the beta, marvelling at the sound design, the easy to pick up gunplay and revelling in all things Star Wars? Or have disappointing air combat, the somewhat unbalanced and unclear Walker Assault mode and other points hampered your fun?
Since this is a WeView, make sure to give us you overall verdict alongside your thoughts, with the two to choose from this time around being that “The Force is strong with this one.” or that it was “Like watching Anikin slaughter younglings.“
Moonpie
Sorry that I’m posting days late, however I absolutely loved the Beta and especially Walker Assault however I would like to see tweeks made.
Spawning needs to be changed, there were several times when playing as the Rebels that it spawned me in front of the AT-AT, I died about 8 times in a row when we were fighting for the last uplink points
Snow speeders need to unlock a lot earlier, they seem to appear only after the third uplink point is reached by the empire
The lobbys are terrible, but Battlefield is the same
aircraft need to spawn randomly, couple of times I was blown away whilst entering the battle
Apart from that I found the gameplay fun, there were a lot of OMG moments with friends (I took down an AT-AT in an A-Wing) The various power ups, ships, heroes being random is so much better, being a mediocre player I rarely get to use (especially on COD) multi-kill rewards.
Can’t wait to see what the other modes are like.