Category: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly)


EGM Review: Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition

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May 31, 2015

Let sleeping dragons lie

Puzzle & Dragons is nothing short of a phenomenon in Japan. Even legendary Nintendo creative mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto admitted he was playing it when I spoke with him back at E3 2013. And if I were a smarter man, I might’ve been able to predict that Nintendo would ultimately bring Puzzle & Dragons to the 3DS.

My poor cognitive function aside, when Nintendo finally did make the announcement, I think most were still surprised that not only would Puzzle & Dragons Z be coming to the 3DS, but it’d be bundled with a Super Mario Bros.–inspired version to boot. I admit I was particularly intrigued—especially because I’m a sucker for anything that features Mario (I even own Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix for the GameCube). I absolutely had to see what’s captivated so much of Japan—and also whether Mario could transition into the world of match-three games.

Puzzle & Dragons Z plays out just like its mobile counterpart. You take on the role of a coming-of-age teen (and have the choice to be male or female) who’s decided to join a national peacekeeping force. When a terrorist organization called Paradox upsets the delicate balance of the world’s key elements (fire, water, wood, dark, and light), you’re tasked with piecing back together your crumbling world by traveling to temples dedicated to each respective element and restoring order. Along the way, you receive eggs that can instantly hatch back at the home base; you then train these beasts to become part of a six-monster party that fights on your behalf. Members of the party then attack when you match special orbs of power into rows of three or more that correspond to the creature’s color-oriented type.

The Super Mario Bros. Edition of Puzzle & Dragons utilizes similar gameplay but stays true to the Super Mario Bros. formula: Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach, and Mario must traverse eight worlds in order to get her back—with the first seven guarded by Bowser’s trusted Koopalings. The difference here is that Mario and the gang can add members of the Koopa Troop (including Goombas, Bloopers, and Giant Hammer Bros., among others) much in the same way you acquire eggs in Puzzle & Dragons Z. Both games also have a basic RPG-inspired leveling system where the creatures in your party grow stronger the more they fight.

Unfortunately, while this 2-in-1 bundle removes the original’s free-to-play microtransactions, it doesn’t really add anything to the experience, either—and Super Mario Bros. Edition feels like a cheap reskin. After only a few worlds of each game, I found myself utterly bored by the entire thing.

Sure, gathering monsters and leveling them up is an addictive proposition that’s been a cornerstone of collect-em-all RPGs like Pokémon, and there’s a hint of that in both of these titles. Puzzle & Dragons Z even adds a town where players can speak with NPCs and receive items and side challenges—but these folks are about as interesting as the Toads who populate the Mario Bros. games.

After playing a match-three game for any substantial amount of time, you start to realize that, far too often, the game revolves around luck. The best entries in the genre, however, find ways to hide this with an interesting story, stronger RPG elements, or even the aforementioned microtransactions, which surprisingly enough can act as a boon in this case since they either force you to walk away after a short period of time or inspire a gambling-style rush if you put extra money on the line, helping keeping boredom at bay (even if in the worst way possible). Neither of the games in this bundle have any of those properties, though, and so monotony quickly sets in.

Worst of all? The tedium comes before you even get fully invested in either adventure. The difficulty between a board with four different-colored orbs and one with six is monumental, since there are ever only 30 orbs on the screen at once, which is far less than most other match-three games. After only a few tutorial battles, you’re thrown right into the six-color-orb conflicts, rarely to ever return to four or five. Since harder monsters have more HP, you’ll find yourself praying each time you clear a row that the right orbs will fall into place, like a gambler futilely hoping for 7s to lock in on his slot machine.

As much as I love puzzle games and Mario crossovers, Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition is a disappointment on every front. It’s not inherently broken in any way; it’s just painstakingly dull. Puzzle & Dragons borrows so liberally from so many other franchises that when you peel back the layers, it leaves nothing but a half-baked match-three game at its core—and Super Mario Bros. Edition is simply one more layer trying to bolster the illusion that this is an interesting game. It’s not.

Developer: GungHo • Publisher: Nintendo • ESRB: E – Everyone • Release Date: 05.22.15
4.5
A bundle that embodies the worst grinding elements of popular RPGs with a lackluster match-three gameplay mechanic. This version of Puzzle & Dragons tries to use the gold standard that Super Mario Bros. represents in order to bolster the façade that this is an interesting, worthwhile gaming experience. It’s not.
The Good The addictive Pokémon-like nature of collecting and leveling up creatures to fight for you.
The Bad Progress is slow and grinding and nothing about the gameplay hides this fact.
The Ugly I think the reason why Japan loves this franchise so much is they have a gambling problem. It’s time for an intervention.
Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition  is a 3DS exclusive. Review code was provided by Nintendo for the benefit of this review.
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NBA 2K16 gets a release date, pre-orders get the game four days early

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2K announced this morning that NBA 2K16 would release on September 29 this year to the masses, but fans who pre-order the game can get it four days early.

Dubbed the “Early Tip-Off Weekend” by 2K, fans that pre-order the game from participating retailers will receive the game on September 25 instead of on the street date.

Along with the game, folks who pre-order NBA 2K16 will receive 10,000 virtual currency and a MyTEAM VIP package. This includes a Gold Booster Pack for last-gen players, and three Emerald Packs for new-gen and PC players.

It was recently announced that NBA 2K16 would boast three different covers, each with a different athlete this year. The cover athletes chosen were reigning MVP Stephen Curry, MVP runner-up James Harden, and last year’s cover athlete Kevin Durant. Whether or not players will get a particular athlete on the cover should they pre-order is unknown at this time.

NBA 2K16 will be available on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

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EGM Review: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

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In with the Old

I’m a pretty big Wolfenstein fan, so when MachineGames took a shot at rebooting the series last year with The New Order, I admit I was wary. But they genuinely shocked me with how they kept the game intense and action-packed but also infused it with the grit and emotion you normally don’t find in first-person shooters. So, even though I’m often wary of anything labeled as a “prequel,” I was more than ready to jump into Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, hoping to be surprised once again.

The Old Blood takes place shortly before the start of its predecessor in the traditional 1940s World War II setting more commonly associated with Wolfenstein, and the game sees series protagonist B.J. Blazkowicz deep behind enemy lines on a covert mission to find the coordinates to General Deathshead’s lair. When the mission quickly turns sideways, B.J. has to escape from Castle Wolfenstein and put an end to the occult experiments being conducted in the fictional city of Wolfburg if he hopes to get his hands on the ever-moving intel.

If the story sounds somewhat familiar to longtime Wolfenstein fans, that’s because it should. In fact, The Old Blood expansion could easily be thought of as a tribute to 2001’s Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Whereas The New Order was able to smartly borrow elements from previous games, The Old Blood feels more akin to a 1-to-1 re-creation in terms of its settings and major plot points. Yes, there’s even the return of Nazi zombies, who are prevalent throughout the last quarter of this expansion.

That’s not to say The Old Blood doesn’t carve its own path during particular moments, however. New characters, expanded sequences, and two gorgeous settings give The Old Blood a bit of an original flair—though not nearly as much as The New Order brought with its own excursion into the Wolfenstein lore. The most obvious sacrifice comes in character development; many of the new actors on the Wolfenstein stage serve as little more than cheap devices to push the plot forward. Even opportunities to expand on B.J.’s psyche are left untapped, relegated only to the beginning and end cutscenes.

I’m not saying the game needed the slowness of New Order’s resistance-base levels, but The Old Blood feels like it’s in a rush to get to the end. Maybe the quickened pace partly comes because it’s easy to write a path to a conclusion when you already know what it has to be—a sometimes-unavoidable downfall of prequel content.

At least The Old Blood smartly incorporates a lot of my favorite parts of New Order’s gameplay, which helped me forget the plot’s shortcomings for a brief time. Once again, players are given the choice on how to tackle each in-game obstacle, either moving through every level stealthily or like a dual-assault-rifle-wielding madman, mowing down Nazis left and right. This aspect was a defining characteristic in The New Order, and it feels great to have an excuse to go back to it after a year.

The perk system also returns with new upgrades—getting 200 kills with the mounted machine gun allows you to add it to your weapon wheel, for example. While some aren’t nearly as inventive as those seen in New Order (clip expansion seems to be a favorite here), the system still encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone.

The Old Blood even finds a way to avoid the classic prequel trap of creating too many new weapons that wouldn’t make sense in the time period or in the game’s continuity. While there are some new weapons available, such as the Schockhammer shotgun, they’re clearly predecessors to the weapons we saw in The New Order and are appropriately de-powered to fit the 1946 setting (with the same going for enemy types).

Much like The New Order, there’s also a surprising amount of replayability to The Old Blood, considering the game doesn’t offer a multiplayer mode. Challenge maps unlock as you progress through the campaign, and you can replay them in an attempt to get higher scores on the global leaderboard.

There’s also a dozen collectibles in each chapter and bonus content in the form of special “Nightmare” scenarios. In these moments, B.J. lies down for a quick nap—amazing that he can do so with a war going on around him—and gets whisked away to a dream world where he must fight through a number of Wolfenstein 3D–inspired areas. Completing these extra levels won’t help you progress toward the end of the game in any way, but they’re nice nods to Wolfenstein’s long history and provide an enjoyable respite from all the grit of the main experience.

While I appreciate a tribute to games of the past as much as the next guy, leaning on that idea so heavily makes it difficult for The Old Blood to stand out as much as The New Order. Still, the thrill-a-minute gameplay from the previous Wolfenstein outing carries the day here—and when you mix that with some surprising replayability, The Old Blood emerges as a solid expansion to one of last year’s better games.

Developer: MachineGames • Publisher: Bethesda • ESRB: M – Mature • Release Date: 05.05.15
7.5
The New Order’s returning gameplay carries the day here. The Old Blood’s story spends too much time trying to be a tribute to an old game instead of its own adventure—and prevents this standalone expansion from being as deep or enjoyable as the main game.
The Good A solid tribute to Return to Castle Wolfenstein that still finds a way to fit into MachineGames’ new Wolfenstein universe.
The Bad Lacks the depth of The New Order; follows Return to Castle Wolfenstein a little too step by step.
The Ugly The missed opportunity that was bad guy Rudi Jager never calling in an airstrike and yelling “Jagerbombs!”
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox One. Review code was provided by Bethesda for the benefit of this review.
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New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. wins Madden NFL 16 cover vote

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It was announced just moments ago on SportsCenter that Odell Beckham Jr. will grace this year’s cover of Madden.

Beckham received 52.5% of the vote over New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.

Beckham won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award last year after putting together a season that saw him lead the league in receiving yards per game. He also set numerous rookie records, even though he missed the Giants’ first four games with an injured hamstring. He is the first New York Giant to ever grace the cover.

“Odell Beckham Jr. is a true playmaker and a perfect fit for this year’s game,” said Randy Chase, Senior Director of Marketing for EA SPORTS. “He’s an unstoppable force out on the field, and the Madden NFL 16 cover is further vindication that the fans believe he’s a player to watch in the coming years.”

EA Sports also released a teaser video for Madden NFL 16 today featuring the finalists for the cover vote. The video touts the new “Be the Playmaker” system, which institutes a new risk/reward system for playing and defending passes (explaining why corners and receivers were the only men selected to be finalists for the cover).

Madden NFL 16 will be available on August 25 for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, and PS3.

Get more info and pre-order your copy of Madden NFL 16 now: http://bit.ly/1G7DY4D

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Five landmarks we want to explore in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

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One of the most thrilling things about an Assassin’s Creed release is seeing how the world builders behind the game not only re-create iconic landmarks from the cities and regions they choose, but do so in a way that feels accurate for the time frame. With London’s tremendous history and potential, I give you the top five places I want to see and explore in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate’s Victorian England.

Get more info on how to get your own copy of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate here: http://bit.ly/1AUbKEl

Tower of London

Easily one of the oldest structures in London, this near millennium-old castle sits on the northern bank of the River Thames, and has had numerous uses over the centuries. Originally used as a key fortification on one of the main bridges into the city, the Tower of London has also served as a residence for the royal family, a menagerie, and continues to this day to house the Crown Jewels. With all the stories of ghosts roaming the Tower’s halls, and with its diverse history, one can only imagine that Syndicate would take advantage of this landmark—using its interior as the setting for at least some side missions, with the outside providing some perfect synchronization points.

Buckingham Palace

A perfect tie-in to Syndicate, Buckingham Palace did not become the official home of Britain’s royal family until Queen Victoria in 1837—who was of course in her ruling prime around the events of the game. Originally just a townhouse for the Duke of Buckingham, the Palace was built in 1703, and has had numerous additions made over the following three centuries. Besides being the current residence of the royal family, Buckingham Palace is world renowned for its gardens, the largest private ones in all of London. I’m sure they’d make a wonderful approach to sneak through if need be.

Palace of Westminster

Located on the Middlesex bank of the River Thames, the Palace of Westminster—where the Houses of Parliament meet, and whose clock tower houses good old Big Ben—may be the most recognizable of London’s landmarks. While it also once served as a royal residence, it is best known now for where all of England’s most important government decisions are made. What’s most fascinating is that the time period Syndicate takes place in coincides with the Palace still in the process of being rebuilt after an 1834 fire. While close to completion at that point (repairs were officially deemed done in 1870), there is still the potential for Jacob and Evie to work their way through half-completed corridors and hidden rooms, all while Parliament is in session. Not to mention that clock tower would make one heck of a climb.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

We couldn’t be talking Assassin’s Creed landmarks if we didn’t list at least one church, and few are as special as St. Paul’s. Sitting atop Ludgate Hill, the cathedral is at the highest point of all of London, looking down from above on all the people. At 365 feet tall, it was the tallest building in all of London until 1962—meaning it should be your most challenging climb in Syndicate. It’s dome remains one of London’s most recognizable sights, due to its domination of the skyline for over three centuries now. Often the site of many special and celebratory occasions in English history, it’d be surprising if Jacob and Evie didn’t have to infiltrate this structure at least once.

Piccadilly Circus

No, it’s not a circus in the traditional sense. In the case of Piccadilly, circus means “circle”, as in a round open space at a street junction, like a town square. Its location in London has made it a tourist attraction in and of itself due to its proximity to the shopping and entertainment centers in London’s West End. It’s this ideal location that means Jacob and Evie will likely be running through Piccadilly more often than not, in order to get to key areas in the game. And, although London’s Underground was open by the time Syndicate starts, I’m going to have to disappoint people by mentioning that Piccadilly’s own Underground station wasn’t constructed until the turn of the 20th century—meaning there shouldn’t be official tube station entrances near here in the game.

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Mighty No. 9 gets a release date, retail editions and DLC announced

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Mighty No. 9 will launch September 15, and will receive a retail release on PS4, Xbox One, and Wii U, developer Comcept and publisher Deep Silver announced today.

The physical retail editions, which will cost $29.99, will include the Ray “Abandoned Lab Stage” DLC, which allows players to control Beck’s Rival, Ray, in a full new stage complete with boss battle. The DLC will be available for free to all Kickstarter backers. Mighty No. 9‘s digital, DLC-less release, meanwhile, will cost $19.99.

As for the slight delay past Mighty No. 9‘s original spring release window, part of the reason is the inclusion of newly added French and Japanese voiceover options, and subtitles for nine languages now.

Mighty No. 9 is a spiritual successor to Mega Man that was successfully crowdfunded through Kickstarter back in August of 2013, earning more than quadruple the amount of money it had originally asked.

Mighty No. 9 launches both physically and digitally across PS4, Xbox One, and Wii U, and digital-only for Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Mac, and Linux September 15. Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita versions are planned, but will come at a later date.

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EGM Review: Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China

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A story better left untold

Once a series reaches a certain point, it becomes more and more difficult to keep things fresh. This problem only becomes compounded the more frequently new chapters are released, so a yearly franchise like Assassin’s Creed is definitely a prime example of something that’s begun to fatigue the gaming community.

I had hopes, though, that the latest entry in the franchise, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, might jump-start my excitement again for the never-ending Templar-versus-Brotherhood conflict—even if it only comes six months after the one-two punch of Unity and Rogue last fall. A new developer, a new protagonist, and a new take on the series’ definitive gameplay were all things that even a tired fan could look forward to.

ACC: China follows a female Assassin named Shao Jun in the early 16th century during the Ming Dynasty. She’s the last of the Chinese Brotherhood, who were all but wiped out by a powerful group of eunuchs called the Tigers. In reality, the Tigers are Templars, and with the rest of the Brotherhood eliminated, they now control the Ming emperor like a puppet.

Driven by vengeance, Shao Jun returns home against almost insurmountable odds—but armed with special training from Assassin’s Creed II protagonist Ezio Auditore. She knows that her mission may be nearly impossible to accomplish, but the only way to free China and start her branch of the Brotherhood anew will be to eliminate the Tigers one by one.

The most striking thing that ACC: China has going for it—and immediately helps differentiate it from other games in the series—is the fact that Ubisoft and developer Climax Studios have shifted from the 3D open world we’re used to with the Assassin’s Creed franchise and instead made a more arcade-like 2.5D side-scrolling platformer. Besides the shift in viewpoint, ACC: China also touts a novel art style where every brandish of Shao Jun’s sword or stealthy elimination from the shadows is punctuated by a flourish of red-and-black watercolors, giving the game a sense of a painting come to life. It’s definitely a far throw from the more realistic-looking adventures in the main series, and I found it served as a much-needed twist on what we normally get in an Assassin’s Creed game.

The level layout is also meticulously crafted to take advantage of the protagonist’s nimble nature. Even considering the fact that this is a 2.5D game, Shao Jun still has a stunning amount of freedom to parkour, with multiple paths often available to reach each level’s end point. Finding different routes through the foreground and background—and switching perspectives as Shao Jun shimmies around the edges to another side of a building—gives the level design depth that you wouldn’t necessarily expect.

Most surprisingly, though, the stealth gameplay for which Assassin’s Creed is known lends itself well to the shift in perspective. Shao Jun still hides in haystacks, crowds of people, and shadowy alcoves to strike at her unsuspecting foes as they pass by. The 2.5D viewpoint, combined with each guard’s “cone of awareness” that allow you to see where their focus is at a given time, makes it easier to plan a path and memorize patrols. Of course, the guards aren’t the smartest ever programmed in an Assassin’s Creed game, either, so luring them to their doom is relatively easy with the assistance of firecrackers, whistles, and special noise-emitting darts.

Playing stealthily is heavily encouraged here for two different reasons. The first is the game’s arcade-based scoring system that rewards clean play, with the highest possible score only achievable by working through checkpoints unseen and without eliminating a single opponent. The second reason? The combat sucks.

For as many cool weapons as Shao Jun has—her hidden toe blade, rope dart, and Jian sword—any direct confrontation against more than one foe almost guarantees certain doom. The 2.5D aspect proves to be flawed here, since it makes it incredibly easy for enemies to surround and overwhelm Shao Jin. This gives her a frail quality unbefitting an Assassin, and it’s easily my least favorite part of the gameplay. Even her counter, the only way to defend herself against an attack in combat, is unintuitive—it requires pushing the analog stick toward the attack instead of away, as one’s instincts would dictate. But why bother with any directional input at all here?

Since combat isn’t really a viable option, ACC: China has a very one-dimensional feel. A first playthrough shouldn’t take more than six hours, but you can’t help but start to become bored by it all around the halfway point. No matter how pretty the game may look, enemy variety is minimal, and the stealth patterns quickly become evident.

I might’ve been able to forgive monotonous gameplay if there were at least an interesting story to tell. Unfortunately, ACC: China falls completely flat here, too. Ever since Shao Jun debuted in the animated short Assassin’s Creed: Embers, fans have clamored for more of her. With nothing more than a thin revenge plotline to push her forward, however, Shao Jun’s time to shine feels wasted, and it does very little to expand the Assassin’s Creed universe in China. Her backstory is told through a few meager paragraphs that you find in collectible form, and the game’s cutscenes do her no favors either, only giving a brief explanation for why she’s assassinating her next target.

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China has a beautiful art style and distinct viewpoint compared to the other titles that share the Assassin’s Creed brand. The stealth works, but it also serves as too much of the gameplay’s focus. The combat and the story—or lack thereof—are both gaping holes that can’t be ignored, keeping the game from reaching its full potential. The one hope is that perhaps India and Russia, the next two games in this spin-off series, can remedy some of the mistakes seen here while building on what China does well.

Developer: Climax Studios • Publisher: Ubisoft • ESRB: T – Teen • Release Date: 04.21.15
6.0
Assassins Creed Chronicles: China offers some solid building blocks for this spin-off series, including beautiful art and decent stealth gameplay. The poor combat and sad attempt at storytelling, however, both leave far too much to be desired.
The Good A colorful art style that really helps the world come alive.
The Bad The gameplay gets very repetitive very quickly.
The Ugly Shao Jun seems like such an intriguing Assassin, but it feels like her story is wasted here.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox One. Review code was provided by Ubisoft for the benefit of this review.
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What you missed about Star Wars: Battlefront if you weren’t at Star Wars Celebration

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The new Star Wars: Battlefront trailer unveiled at Star Wars Celebration touched on plenty of the cool new and returning features in the upcoming reboot of this iconic Star Wars game franchise. Still, it didn’t exactly give the full experience of what EA and DICE let people see at the convention. If you weren’t lucky enough to find yourself in the center of the Star Wars universe this past weekend in Anaheim, here’s a rundown of EA’s Battlefront setup on the show floor—which gave a longer, more in-depth look at what will make the game special.

The hands-off demo was about 15 minutes of pre-recorded footage from a pre-alpha PS4 build. It took place in a mode called Walker Assault, which seemed to be defined by an ever-increasing presence of AT-STs and AT-ATs. The demo, given inside a small domed theater within the booth, started off much the same way as the trailer, with speeder bikes whizzing past as a player trudged through the thick foliage of Endor. Once the first-person camera crested a ridge and saw a platoon of stormtroopers, however, the seamless switch between first- and third-person cameras made its presence known.

Transitioning to a third-person perspective allowed for the generic rebel soldier we were following to more accurately fire from the hip with his blaster as he carved a path through the oncoming Imperial forces. After clearing some space for himself, he instantly switched back to first-person view, took cover behind a fallen tree, and then attempted to snipe more far-off soldiers—which demonstrated that both perspectives could have their uses in battle beyond player preference and showed off the previously announced ability to switch viewpoints on the fly.

An AT-ST soon flanked our hero, and he seamlessly switched back to third-person mode, no doubt to get a better view of the surrounding area to escape his now-compromised position. The soldier attempted to take down the walker with blaster fire, scarring its silver body with black marks, but when that proved futile, he quickly ran over to an equipment locker, where he picked up a rocket launcher. This filled a special-weapon slot on an item wheel in the lower right corner of the screen that also included a standard blaster and grenades. Then, much like in the trailer, he proceeded to use the rocket launcher to blast apart the AT-ST’s head.

As stormies and AT-STs continued to fall one by one, I also saw the points/perk system in play. Much like in DICE’s other multiplayer games, earning kills nets as much as 100 points, with 25 doled out for assists. Killing enemies with particular weapons, like grenades or rocket launchers—whether soldier or vehicle—also netted points. Even those small blaster shots against the AT-ST earned vehicle damage points, insinuating that players will be able to take out something small like a chicken walker with enough concentrated fire if an appropriate special weapon isn’t handy.

Soon, the menacing AT-AT from the trailer showed up, slowly stomping its way across the battlefield. The player then took an interesting tactic and ran underneath the AT-AT, using its durasteel legs as additional cover—as stormtrooper fire continued to blister the area—before rushing over to a terminal to call in a Y-wing bombing run.

The battle still raged on even after the AT-ATs destruction, and the player then switched back to first-person view again and joined a second, human-controlled player running into a bunker similar to the one Han Solo and his team destroyed on Endor in Return of the Jedi. Here, however, was a special surprise. The second player turned a blind corner and immediately found himself lifted several feet off the ground. As I watched through the eyes of the first player, the second player desperately kicked to escape the invisible grasp around his throat—but soon succumbed to strangulation.

His lifeless body was then angrily thrown against a wall, and Darth Vader emerged—a little unsurprisingly, after the obvious display of Force powers—from the corner, flicking on the crimson blade of his lightsaber. The player fired his blaster at Vader, but the Dark Lord easily deflected the shots away with his saber. The rebel fighter then ran back out the way he came and into the forest, only to see a small army of AT-ATs and AT-STs approaching his position. Surrounded, the player turned to look back, but Vader was already upon him, striking him down with all of his hatred, and ending the demo.

This demo definitely imparted the feeling that players will able to create their own adventures and stories in Battlefront—as alluded to during the Star Wars Celebration panel that unveiled the trailer. Even watching someone else play, I got the sense that a dozen different options were available at any given moment, and you never knew what could come around the next corner. The Battlefront demo made me even more excited than the trailer, because it showed off a scenario that could actually occur in gameplay—and one that likely wouldn’t play out exactly like that ever again.

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Star Wars: Battlefront first trailer fan reaction

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April 19, 2015

We ask fans about their impressions of the new Star Wars: Battlefront trailer from Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim.

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The History of Star Wars: Battlefront

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It’s crazy to think that’s it already been 10 years since the last Star Wars: Battlefront game came to home consoles. But when EA DICE’s relaunch of the series drops this holiday season, that’s exactly how long it will have been since Battlefront II released on the PS2, Xbox, PC, and PSP. In honor of the new Battlefront’s reveal at this year’s Star Wars Celebration convention, we decided to take a look back at the history of this beloved gaming brand.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Back in 2004, Star Wars’ popularity was still riding high. We were mere months away from the release of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in theaters, and although Star Wars games had long been loved on PC (X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Jedi Knight), they were going through something of an upswing on consoles courtesy of three successful Rogue Squadron games on Nintendo systems and the Xbox/PC RPG Knights of the Old Republic.

LucasArts looked to continue its success on consoles, and they tapped a then-little-known developer named Pandemic to play around with the brand. The studio blended first- and third-person shooting with some standard conquest gameplay, which brought a whole new dimension to a Star Wars video game. Players were allowed to jump into different conflicts from the movie universe, while choosing from one of five classes within four factions. And thus, Star Wars: Battlefront was born for PS2, Xbox, and PC. Although the single-player component was a rather bare-bones experience—and poor AI held the title back at times—Pandemic was on to the start of something special when it came to Star Wars and multiplayer gaming.

Return of the Jedi

Only a year after the massive success of Star Wars: Battlefront, Pandemic took the criticism it had received to heart and not only fixed many of the issues that plagued the first game, but also built new modes on top of them that would come to define the series in 2005’s Battlefront II. The first of these was the addition of a revamped single-player campaign. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith had released earlier that year, and Pandemic crafted a narrative around a single, anonymous stormtrooper who served in the legendary 501st division, Vader’s Fist, and followed his exploits from the Clone Wars up to the infamous assault on Hoth that opened up The Empire Strikes Back.

While vehicles had been a part of the first game, Battlefront II added space battles to the mix, allowing for many of the iconic firefights that played out across the movies to be re-created on TV screens. It also featured seamless transitions where players could fly a ship into the hangar bay of an enemy vessel, deboard, and wreak havoc from the inside out. Playable characters received a big boost in the game as well—not only was a sixth class added to each faction, but iconic heroes, such as Luke Skywalker, could be utilized in battle if certain criteria were achieved. These “Hero” characters were featured as NPCs in the first entry, but here, they had specific game modes built around them, and they could often change the tide of any battle if implemented properly by a smart player.

In only a year’s time, Pandemic had crafted what many still point to as the premier Star Wars experience in video games, thanks to the freedom it offered players during conflicts and its wide range of scenarios taken from the films.

Size matters not

With Battlefront II dominating on the home-console front, LucasArts decided to focus more on making the franchise portable, so they tapped PSP development experts Rebellion to make Renegade Squadron, which released in late 2007 as a PSP exclusive. Similar in many regards to its console brethren, Renegade Squadron limited itself to the original trilogy of Star Wars movies, following a group of ex-criminals turned Rebel operatives through some of the most harrowing black-ops missions during the battles of Yavin, Hoth, and Endor. While the single-player component lacked the depth of Battlefront II, it did introduce customizable characters to the series for the first time.

The mixed fan reaction to Renegade Squadron wouldn’t deter the mobile movement for the franchise. Star Wars Battlefront: Mobile Squadrons was developed by THQ Wireless and released in the beginning of 2009, but it met with minimal success—most likely due to the fact that it was an on-rails shooter that featured none of the gameplay Battlefront had come to represent.

Battlefront again returned to the PSP in 2009 with Elite Squadron—but this time it also hit the Nintendo DS, making it the first (and so far only) time a Battlefront game was released on a Nintendo system. N-Space, the folks behind the DS ports of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and World at War, handled the DS version, and Rebellion was again tasked with making the PSP iteration (which had a longer single-player campaign and more customization features). Elite Squadron saw a movement away from some of the multiplayer aspects that defined the series, but it also provided perhaps the deepest story mode to date, as players took control of a clone trooper who attempted to atone for the infamous Order 66.

A great disturbance in the Force

While LucasArts had seemingly shifted its focus with the franchise toward the mobile arena, this wasn’t actually the case. Free Radical Design, known for the TimeSplitters games, was actually hard at work on Star Wars: Battlefront III. Sometime in 2008, however, the plug was pulled. Several years later, Free Radical co-founder Steve Ellis put the blame on LucasArts for the project’s demise, while anonymous sources from LucasArts pointed the finger right back at Free Radical, claiming they’d regularly missed deadlines. During those squabbles, leaked videos and screens showcased what the project could’ve been, including footage of a ship taking off from a planet and joining a battle in space. At this point, LucasArts supposedly had begun working internally on Battlefront III themselves, but the studio went defunct before it could finish what it started.

While Battlefront III remained in limbo for years, former secondary SOCOM developer Slant Six Games was also reportedly working on another chapter in the series, Battlefront Online, with a scheduled 2011 release. The game was intended to feature only the online multiplayer components that made Battlefront so popular in the first place, but this project, too, was nixed once Slant Six missed its target release date. Many speculated that some of the purported Battlefront III leaks could actually have come from this game instead.

A new hope

It’s now been six years since we’ve seen a new Battlefront, and it’s fast approaching 10 since we’ve had one on a home console. After Disney purchased Star Wars and its related properties for $4 billion more than two years ago, however, new hope was instilled in this beloved series—and, more importantly, its fanbase. EA DICE, the multiplayer masterminds behind the Battlefield series, have been hard at work on the next Star Wars: Battlefront, and we know for sure that it’s a full-fledged reboot of the franchise.

Few solid details are currently available, but we do know the game will tie into Episode VII, and Hoth and Endor are playable maps. Rumors, however, have swirled for months. Some say the Hero system from Battlefront II will return; others claim the planetside-to-space battles we saw in leaked footage from Battlefront III will be incorporated. There’s speculation that we’ll see 64 people in multiplayer (32-on-32) and that the single-player campaign will span the entire Star Wars saga. Whatever the case, we know for sure that EA will separate fact from conjecture over the weekend at Star Wars Celebration, and we’ll have more reason than ever to believe that a new Battlefront is finally ready to redefine what had become a rather bleak timeline in the Star Wars universe.

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