Star Wars Battlefront (2015 video game)

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"Star Wars: Battlefront III" redirects here. For the cancelled project, see Star Wars: Battlefront § Star Wars: Battlefront III.
Star Wars Battlefront
File:Star Wars Battlefront 2015 box.jpg
Developer(s) EA DICE
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Distributor(s) Lucasfilm
Producer(s) Sigurlina Ingvarsdottir
Designer(s) Niklas Fegraeus
Artist(s) Ken Brown
Composer(s) Gordy Haab
John Williams (themes)
Series Star Wars: Battlefront
Engine Frostbite 3
Platforms Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 4[1]
Xbox One[1][2]
Release date(s) NA November 17, 2015[3]
AUS November 18, 2015[4]
EU November 19, 2015[5]
Genre(s) Action, shooter
Mode(s) Single-player,[6] multiplayer[7]

Star Wars Battlefront is an action shooter video game developed by EA DICE, with additional work from Criterion Games,[8] 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.[9] The game was released worldwide in November 2015, and received mixed reviews from critics. It was a commercial success, selling 12 million copies in its first 2 months of its release.

Gameplay

File:Star Wars Battlefront 2015 gameplay screenshot.jpg
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.[10] Players traverse planets from the Star Wars universe, such as Endor, Hoth, Tatooine, and Sullust. To navigate the world, players use a variety of vehicles, including both air and land-based vehicles, such as speederbikes and AT-ATs.[11] Battles are planet-based, restricting players from exploring space. The game's weapons, characters, gear, and abilities are customizable.[12] As new weapons are unlocked, players have the ability to share them with their teammates.[11] Battlefront does not feature iron sights, but allows players to zoom in for better accuracy.[13]

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, and Emperor Palpatine.[14][15] Non-playable characters such as R2-D2 and C-3PO make appearances.[16] 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.[17] The game's online multiplayer mode supports up to 40 players in one match and consists of 15 multiplayer maps. These maps feature five locations from the Star Wars universe: Hoth, Tatooine, Endor, Sullust, and Jakku.[18][19]

Development

A group of 30 attendees at the EB Games Expo 2015 play a match on a single server in Star Wars Battlefront.
A player of Battlefront during Madrid Games Week, 2015

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.[20][21] DICE first acknowledged the game at Electronic Arts' E3 2013 press conference, along with a teaser trailer.[22] 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.[2][23] 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".[24]

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.[25] 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.[26] 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.[27] In April 2015, at Star Wars Celebration 2015 in Anaheim, California, the first gameplay details and the second trailer was released.[28] The first downloadable content of the game, entitled Battle of Jakku, was also announced during the event.[29]

In April 2015, EA announced that Battlefront would release in North America on November 17 and in Europe on November 20 of that year.[3] It has been stated that the release date for Europe will now fall on November 19.[30] 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.[31] 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.[32] Another gameplay trailer featuring cooperative missions was also shown at the event.[33] 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.[34] The beta was originally set to close on October 12 but was extended to October 13 for testing of "extreme scenarios".[35] The beta was played by more than nine and a half million players.[36] According to Electronic Arts, it was their largest beta.[37]

Fellow EA developer, Criterion Games helped DICE develop the speeder bikes for the game.[38] Visceral Games also assisted in an undisclosed capacity.[39]

Downloadable content

Star Wars Battlefront will feature downloadable content (DLC). The first downloadable content, titled Battle of Jakku, was revealed during Star Wars Celebration 2015 and will be publicly available for download for free on December 8, 2015.[40] A Season Pass was announced on October 12, 2015 and will include 4 currently unannounced DLC packs. An "Ultimate Edition" was also announced which includes the Deluxe Edition version of the game and the Season Pass.[41] Aside from the contents of the Season Pass, additional content will also be released for free, which includes new maps and star cards.[42]

Battle of Jakku

Battle of Jakku is the first DLC for Star Wars Battlefront, which launched publicly on December 8, 2015. Players who pre-order the game received the Battle of Jakku DLC a week earlier, on December 1, 2015. It became free to all players on December 8, 2015, and features two maps set on planet Jakku, set 29 years before the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[43]

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.[44]

The game's lack of a campaign for the single-player mode was criticized.[45] 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."[46] He likened gameplay to the "standard Battlefield formula of walk, get shot, respawn, and repeat...".[46]

Post-release

Reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
Metacritic (XONE) 75/100[47]
(PS4) 72/100[48]
(PC) 72/100[49]
Review scores
Publication Score
Destructoid 6/10[50]
EGM 7/10[51]
Game Informer 7.5/10[52]
Game Revolution 3.5/5 stars[53]
GameSpot 7/10[54]
GamesRadar 4/5 stars[56]
GameTrailers 8.1/10[55]
Giant Bomb 3/5 stars[57]
IGN 8/10[58]
PC Gamer (US) 72/100[59]
VideoGamer.com 7/10[60]

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Star Wars Battlefront received "mixed" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[47][48][49] Mizuho Securities analyst Neil Doshi described some low-scoring, early reviews as "disappointing".[61][clarification needed] Game Informer magazine noted the game's repetitiveness.[52]

Sales

On May 5, 2015, Electronic Arts announced that the company was expecting the game to sell nine to ten million units before the end of the company's 2016 financial year on March 31, 2016.[62] 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.[63]

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.[64]

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 defended Star 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.[65]

According to analyst Michael Pachter, the game has sold 12 million units, as of December 31, 2015.[66]

Awards

List of awards and nominations
Award Category Result Ref.
The Game Awards 2015 Best Shooter Nominated [67]

References

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  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  63. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  64. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  65. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  66. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  67. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons

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