A long time ago, 12-years, in a galaxy that had never heard of loot crates, there were plenty of Star Wars games to go around. From strategy fleet wargames, third and first-person action titles to the world of Battlefront where you could slog it out between Rebels and the Empire, gaming was good.
Who knows what is happening now, except rampant corporate greed. But over in portable corner, you can still have a spot of MP LucasArts Star Wars fun. The PSP game, only 595MB in size, plays on the Vita and multiplayer still works using local network.
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| Camera phone shot of the PSP game |
Programmed by Pandemic with Savage Entertainment on duty for the portable version, Battlefront II offers single player challenges, Galactic Conquest mode and Instant Action, while multiplay is quick to setup and go via WLAN. Play is obviously better on the Vita with dual sticks, but manageable on the PSP.
Battles take place across a range of worlds from Dagobah to Endor, Hoth to Naboo and a handful of lesser planets with space battles set over Yavin and Coruscant to mix things up. Sides from both the original and prequel series are available to fight with on any mission.
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| Camera shot of Battlefront II running on the Vita with filtering enabled. |
In theory, the PSP exclusive features of Rebel Raider, Imperial Enforcer (mission 1: kill all the Ewoks) or Rogue Assassin tours of duty add some cachet to it, but most people will prefer the four-player online mode with familiar troops and equipment.
This 2005 game does look basic with blocky structures and blurry textures. Outdoors is presented in various shades of mud. Still, the characters are recognisable and the music is as awesome as you'd hope, to make up for the limited range of sound effects. But, when General Grievous turns up dual-wielding lightsabres, that more than makes up for any ropey visuals.
In action, the game is reasonably smooth, aiming is tight on the Vita, not so much on the PSP, and the action is fast and furious on the indoor maps, with a little more leg room outside. Swapping troops or getting to play as Yoda or another hero makes any battle unpredictable and dumb fun for all ages. And then there's the multiple weapons to try out, stomping around in an AT-ST, all in a game the size of PS4 save file!
That's the good news, the bad is looking for it on the EU Vita PSN store app shows no results. I downloaded this from my history list, so it is there, and I can see it on the PC browser store, but not sure about other regions or stores! Wonder if EA asked for its removal to avoid "confusion!"
Score: 6/10
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Price: £3.99
LucasArts
File size 600MB
Progress: Feeling the Force
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