What I Thought Of... Star Wars Battlefront Beta

Yes, I said Star Wars Battlefront, now I will pause briefly while every Star Wars fan wakes up since they all fainted from excitement...
...
...
...

We good? Ok. So the Battlefront Beta ran from October 8th to October 13th, hoping to stress test the servers before the game launches on November 17th for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. It was FREE for EVERYONE, regardless of pre-orders or system, which was a HUGE plus for this and really well done.

So, after 5 or 6 hours playing the beta across all systems, here is what I thought of the Star Wars Battlefront beta.

(For the purposes of this post, let it be known that I primarily played the beta on PC, though I did dabble briefly with the PS4 and Xbox One versions)

I won't get too in-depth since I will write a full review when the game is released, so here are just some thoughts I had:

+ The Game Looks Amazing!

Should be obvious from all the coverage going around the interwebs, but even in motion, this is a jaw-dropper, especially on my Alienware PC with my GTX 960 graphics card. The game's graphics had an "auto" feature that put me at "High" settings across the board, though even after I bumped it up to "Ultra", the game ran super smooth and is a graphical masterpiece. I will say I had zero graphics issues during my playtime.

More than just how it looks though, it's the little things that add to the overall experience. When you shoot, the sparks that come off whatever you hit looks astounding, the snow on Hoth makes me feel cold, when you shoot a jetpacking Stormtrooper out of the sky, they explode like a damn firework and I never not laugh at it, and when you spawn into a match, the transitional "Screen Wipe" just screams Star Wars and makes me nerd out for a split second. This is an absolutely incredible looking game.

+ The Game Sounds Amazing!

Say what you will about the previous Battlefield games, one thing DICE has always been stellar at is sound design, and they have stepped their game up even more with Battlefront. The sound of you firing your blaster, the muffled sounds when you're protected by your personal shield, the sound of the thermal detonator blowing up, the bass behind an AT-AT shot, the scream of a TIE Fighter overhead, the terrifying sound of Darth Vader breathing right before he slices you with a lightsaber, it's all terrific and really helps you feel like you completely in this battle. That AT-AT shot especially, I could feel that shot in my chest, and it wasn't because of the Red Bull I was drinking. This is definitely a game worth upgrading my sound system for.

+ The Menus and UI Are Very Slick!

Even outside of the blasting, the game looks nice, the menus are clean, right to the point, and easy to navigate. Inside the game, the UI elements are never in your way. I personally like how you don't see your health bar until you take damage. Since the game has regenerating health, if you don't see your health bar on screen, then you have full health. 

+ I Was Pleasantly Surprised At the Amount of Content Here!

Honestly, I figured we would just have one map, one mode, and that would be that, but we ended up seeing 3 modes, 3 maps, a ranking system, things to unlock, I mean a good chunk of game to have in a beta. 

+ Getting In a Game/Staying In a Game Was No Hassle!

Short load times, stable servers, relatively little lag for me, overall impressed with how this all went.

There's a few positives (gotta start on the right foot, right?) so here are a few negatives:


- I Really Hate That Sniper Rifle!

When you rank up, you can unlock the "Cycler Rifle" and it is what we like to call "OP" (Overpowered....AF). It's basically a one-shot kill no matter where it hits you, and the cooldown on it is pretty fast, which leads to many players camping and generally giving you a bad time. Yes, this isn't new for a first-person shooter to have a sniper camping, but a little nerf here would be nice.

- It is REALLY Hard to Win As the Rebels on Hoth!

This may sounds like I am being a crybaby, but MANY people are talking about this, so much so that changes are already reportedly happening. As the Rebels, you are faced not only with fighting Snowtroopers and Darth Vader, but having to activate uplinks while dealing with two AT-ATs coming at you. Oh, there are also AT-STs that players can commandeer. Yes, it is supposed to be hard, the Rebels lose Hoth in the movie anyway, so this is totally canonical, but that doesn't mean it's fun in a video game. All the Empire has to do to win is protect the AT-ATs.

I didn't hate it totally, but it did bug me knowing that I probably wasn't going to get a win, just because the game put me on the Rebel side. Again, changes are supposedly happening as we speak.

- I Wish the Wave-Based "Horde-Style" Mode Supported More Players!

This is more of a personal gripe, I'm sure, but I just wish that mode supported up to 4 players instead of up to 2 players.

- The Spawn Points Are Less Than Ideal!

This point really comes through in the Capture Point-style mode, since my team was trying to capture a Pod, only to get wiped by the other team, then they were able to claim and capture the Pod before anyone from my team could get close to them, since we ALL spawned on the other side of the map. Granted, yes we had a full team wipe so we sucked, but we should still be able to at least put up a fight.

  
Final Thoughts on the Beta:

Again, these are just a few thoughts I had while playing. To answer a few questions:

Was it fun to play? Absolutely! I enjoyed the hell out of this Beta.

Am I still excited for the game to come out? You bet! With all I saw, and all that's left to be seen, I can't wait to get the full game.

Will this take people away from games like Call of Duty or Counter-Strike? I think it's too soon to tell, but I also don't think this is looking to do that. Battlefront is aiming to be a reboot of a beloved game franchise and be something that Star Wars fans and shooter fans can have a great time playing, and it did that for me through this Beta.

What version will I play it on? I'm thinking PC. It ran great and mouse-and-keyboard controls are ideal for this, but I might get a console version with that sweet Han Solo mini-fridge.

Look for more on Star Wars Battlefront when the game is released on November 17th on Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC.