For me, online shooters haven’t been much fun. Whether dealing with the constant swings of lag comp in Call of Duty or struggling with Battlefield and Halo: The Master Chief Collection with all of the game breaking bugs, online shooters just haven’t been much fun the past few years. Well, Star Wars: Battlefront looks like it will be changing that.
I downloaded the Star Wars: Battlefront beta yesterday and played about four hours. There’s only two modes, and two levels, but I still kept playing. It was a blast, pun totally intended. I died, often, but it was still fun. Of course, I was more concerned with capturing and defending the pods that I would leave myself vulnerable to being taken out, but, that was OK. It was fun.
No weapons felt overpowered. Nothing felt out of balance. Everyone was playing on a relatively even playing field. The weapons are seemingly balanced perfectly. Want more power, lose some aim and recharge. Want more aim and a faster recharge, here’s less power. A very nicely distributed balance of weapon characteristics. Granted, this is only a beta, but, nothing leads me to believe the rest of the weapons will be any different.
Star Wars: Battlefront is hectic, bordering on chaotic. Having said that, it’s not the chaotic mess that Battlefield is where every turn you make you’re taken out because there’s so many players and there’s too much open terrain and hiding spots. The Hoth level is open but it’s WIDE open. There’s no place for jackass camping snipers to set up a tent for the round. You also have turrets you can man to cover the vast distance between enemies. I never felt like I had to be Gordo, in Stand By Me, standing guard which is how I am when playing Battlefield.
The servers for the most part were rock solid. Outside of some touch and go moments finding a game, they were steady as can be. There was no sense of lag comp going on anywhere which has been plaguing the Call of Duty series for years. At no point was there frustration of ‘Why the hell did that guy kill me when I was clearly behind cover?’ or ‘I saw him first, unloaded on him first, but, I died first. WTF?’ There was none of that nonsense going on.
If there is one grip I can find with the beta it’s some of the spawns. I understand that if you’re trying to takeover a pod, you’re not going to respawn right next the pod, but, I don’t want to run across the entire map. When that happens, you basically only have one shot to take it over. The spawns need to be a little close to the pods, not completely on the other side of the map. You end up spending more time running then actually engaged in battle.
I was on the fence about Star Wars: Battlefront. Actually, I probably wasn’t going to buy it. EA must have had a lot of faith in the title because this beta is basically a demo. Reading gamer’s reaction shows that they indeed look to have a winner on their hands. After only four hours of play, if EA can make sure none of the Battlefield horrors rear their ugly head again, with the server issues and game breaking bugs, Star Wars: Battlefront will be up there as one of the games of the year. I, for one, can’t wait to play it!
I downloaded the Star Wars: Battlefront beta yesterday and played about four hours. There’s only two modes, and two levels, but I still kept playing. It was a blast, pun totally intended. I died, often, but it was still fun. Of course, I was more concerned with capturing and defending the pods that I would leave myself vulnerable to being taken out, but, that was OK. It was fun.
No weapons felt overpowered. Nothing felt out of balance. Everyone was playing on a relatively even playing field. The weapons are seemingly balanced perfectly. Want more power, lose some aim and recharge. Want more aim and a faster recharge, here’s less power. A very nicely distributed balance of weapon characteristics. Granted, this is only a beta, but, nothing leads me to believe the rest of the weapons will be any different.
Star Wars: Battlefront is hectic, bordering on chaotic. Having said that, it’s not the chaotic mess that Battlefield is where every turn you make you’re taken out because there’s so many players and there’s too much open terrain and hiding spots. The Hoth level is open but it’s WIDE open. There’s no place for jackass camping snipers to set up a tent for the round. You also have turrets you can man to cover the vast distance between enemies. I never felt like I had to be Gordo, in Stand By Me, standing guard which is how I am when playing Battlefield.
The servers for the most part were rock solid. Outside of some touch and go moments finding a game, they were steady as can be. There was no sense of lag comp going on anywhere which has been plaguing the Call of Duty series for years. At no point was there frustration of ‘Why the hell did that guy kill me when I was clearly behind cover?’ or ‘I saw him first, unloaded on him first, but, I died first. WTF?’ There was none of that nonsense going on.
If there is one grip I can find with the beta it’s some of the spawns. I understand that if you’re trying to takeover a pod, you’re not going to respawn right next the pod, but, I don’t want to run across the entire map. When that happens, you basically only have one shot to take it over. The spawns need to be a little close to the pods, not completely on the other side of the map. You end up spending more time running then actually engaged in battle.
I was on the fence about Star Wars: Battlefront. Actually, I probably wasn’t going to buy it. EA must have had a lot of faith in the title because this beta is basically a demo. Reading gamer’s reaction shows that they indeed look to have a winner on their hands. After only four hours of play, if EA can make sure none of the Battlefield horrors rear their ugly head again, with the server issues and game breaking bugs, Star Wars: Battlefront will be up there as one of the games of the year. I, for one, can’t wait to play it!
