3.5/5 ★ – WrathofBen's review of Star Wars: Battlefront.

Now we’re REALLY digging deep into childhood nostalgia. I mean, come on. It’s BATTLEFRONT! How could I not give this a glowing review? Well, it’s a little lower than my heart wants to give it, but that’s only because I know the formula improves drastically in the next game. Full disclosure, I am playing the Classic Collection version for this particular review, but I’m using my experience from the MANY years of me playing this on PS2 and PC. I’ll review the new Classic Collection separately when I finish Battlefront II Story is very loose here. It just follows the basic plots of the two trilogies, both campaigns starting you as the bad guy. The game takes you through all playable maps throughout the plots of each movie. However, we skip Episode III, because the movie wasn’t out yet when this game released. The Clone campaign just ends after a random battle at Kashyyyk. It’s a great way to get to know the game before embarking on Galactic Conquest and multiplayer, as well as trying out all the fun classes of soldiers you can play as. Each faction has an assault, engineer, heavy and sniper character, as well as a specialty class. These range from Jet Troopers, Droidekas, Dark Troopers and Wookiees. These all feel really balanced EXCEPT for the Super Battle Droid assault class for the CIS faction. Their sidearm is a shotgun, and ordinance is a wrist rocket. I kid you not, I never died when playing as a Super Battle Droid. No wonder it gets nerfed in the next game. Gameplay feels great, albeit slow. This is before sprint was introduced into the series, so good luck getting anywhere quick. However, it’s the only Battlefront game that lets you go prone, so take that for what you will! You can tactical roll, but only left and right. My brain told me you could go forward, but I couldn’t figure it out, so I’m sure it’s a Battlefront II thing. On the version I played, you can switch from 3rd person to 1st person with the click of a stick, which I LOVED! This control scheme has aged extremely well over the years, and will only get better by the time we get to Battlefront II. You can’t play as heroes in this game, but they are an almost nonkillable ally on your team at times, which is nice. But good luck killing the other team’s hero. It’s possible, but takes a VERY long time. This game also features a wild variety of vehicles, again based on which faction or era (or even current map) you’re playing. I can’t believe I never knew there was a droid gunship in the game, and that it was INSANELY overpowered, especially on Kashyyyk. Galactic Conquest makes its famous debut here, and is enjoyable, although brief and a bit too simple. Each planet has a planetary bonus, like Bacta Healing, Elite Training, Hero Bonus, or Extra Reinforcements. I found that extra reinforcements almost never did anything in this game, and felt broken. But, you pick a bonus from a planet you own, and take it into battle, while the enemy team does the same. You chose an enemy or contested planet to battle on until you lose, and then the other team may select to fight on one of your planets. A planet becomes contested after one victory. It becomes yours when you win on the other map on the planet, meaning that most planets have two maps. Once you take over every world, the enemy team’s home planet (depending on faction) opens up. If you win that, you win the game. Also, four wins earns you a total annihilation weapon where you just wipe out a whole enemy planet off the board. I don’t love this, because it makes things a bit TOO easy. That being said, it’s more of a game when you’re playing split screen against someone else that’s as good as you. Playing solo tends to be a bit of a steamroll. Still, it’s a great first iteration of one of my favorite game types in all of video gaming. Instant Action allows you to select whichever maps you want in whichever era you want and whichever order you want. It’s total customization of your experience, and it’s amazing! Some versions even included an exclusive Jabba’s Palace map (included in the newest release in the Classic Collection as well). I spent hours on Instant Action as a kid, imagining my own Star Wars battles and experiences. It was such a thrill to experience. Since I won’t speak on Battlefront’s multiplayer (due to me not having access to it until today, and that’s a story for the Classic Collection review…) I’ll wrap things up here! This game was the perfect blueprint for Star Wars games to come. The conquest-style gameplay feels amazing, and the use of vehicles in combination with special classes leads to some truly incredible moments, especially with Starfighter being on land maps (something not even Battlefront II would do). While sometimes it feels like you are slowly walking to a battle, only to get killed immediately, most of the time you really feel like you’re making an impact on the war effort. While the story is barely existent, it’s still a fun stroll through Star Wars history (from 2004, haha). 7/10. Extremely solid experience that offers so much, including things that its sequel wouldn’t have. Definitely still worth playing in 2024. Wow, this game is 20 years old now… brb, I’m going to go home and rethink my life.