EA captures sight, sound of Star Wars

It really feels like the average age of online gamers has skyrocketed (Skywalker-ed?) in recent weeks.

 

Star Wars Battlefront

For: PS4, Xbox One, PC
From: Electronic Arts 
Four stars (out of five)

 

From all corners of the globe, the freaks and geeks have dusted off their lightsabers, embraced the force, and dived into a galaxy far, far away to recapture the magic of their childhood.

Star Wars fans have been waiting for this game for a long time, and those of us above the age of 35 have salivated at the prospect of reliving the battle between the Empire and the Rebels on Tattoine, Hoth and Endor.

Well, it's here, and Star Wars: Battlefront does a fair effort of satisfying passionate fans of George Lucas' fantastic world.

I'm a stickler for judging games primarily on gameplay - that's ultimately what keeps us coming back for more - but this is definitely a game where the starting point has to be the graphics and the game environment.

To paraphrase Yoda: Done a magnificent job, EA has.

No game has ever captured the sights, sounds and sheer spectacle of the Star Wars universe quite like this.

The gritty settings blend with the picture-perfect characters, the PEW-PEW of the laser blasters and the GUUURRRN-CHIK of the AT-ST walkers assault the eardrums, and the maps, while there are not many of them, paint a remarkably immersive picture of the world.

Add in the presence of (playable) star characters Han Solo, Boba Fett and Darth Vader, and a Star Warsian is in heaven.

The game is a first or third-person action shooter with a heavy emphasis on online play.

There are offline single-player options but they are limited to basic tutorials and missions, and there is no campaign.

Online, as with EA's Battlefield series, there is a range of playable modes - up to 40 players in a match - across 12 multiplayer maps and five locations.

The most popular large mode is Walker Assault, where Imperial forces are moving up a map to destroy a Rebel base or transport, while a fun smaller mode is Drop Zone, a king-of-the-hill mode where players aim to capture pods dropped from the sky.

There were some early issues with balancing but the gameplay is generally smooth and enjoyable.

It's run-and-gun stuff that occasionally veers to the frenetic but is nicely mixed with power-ups and vehicle warfare.

The usual levelling up system allows you to unlock better blasters and side weapons, and a ‘‘card'' system gives you the opportunity to choose which accompaniments to take into battle.

But achieve perfection, the game does not.

(Sorry, Yoda again.)

It's frustrating that squads are limited to two, and the flying vehicles take some handling.

I lament the lack of a single-player campaign, and question what will be left of the game in five or six months.

But hey, it's Star Wars.

And it's supremely well done.