14 DAY TRIAL // Star Wars Battlefront is one of the most anticipated shooters of the year, and while it's not scheduled to appear until November, a special beta has kicked off across all platforms, i.e. PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The trial phase includes a few competitive multiplayer modes and a special Survival mission that can be played alone or with a friend via online co-op.
While lots of people are excited about the new shooter, this is the first chance they've gotten to actually enjoy its gameplay.
Is the Star Wars Battlefront beta capable of whetting the appetite of fans or should the Force eliminate it? Let's have a quick look.
Battlefront feels a bit unfair in competitive multiplayer
Star Wars Battlefront has captured the media spotlight for quite some time now, ever since Electronic Arts and DICE revealed the game in April. Since then, many different screenshots, videos, and other details were shared by the two companies.
While the game is set to include quite a lot of modes, the beta only comes with three main aspects. There's the Walker Assault mode on Hoth, Drop Zone on Sollust, not to mention a Survival mission that can be completed solo or with a friend via co-op.
First up, the main bread and butter of Battlefront is the competitive multiplayer. Both Walker Assault and Drop Zone offer relatively fun experiences, but the matchmaking system has a real habit of pitting against one another experienced players, who have lots of items and weapons unlocked, and newbies who have just a single gun.
Throw in the maps that, while quite big, offer a concrete advantage to one faction or the other, and Battlefront can feel quite unfair. Once opponents learn the best camping spots, you're often forced to spawn and die in a matter of seconds. This whole experience can get tedious fast, so I hope that DICE is able to tweak these mechanics and prevent one team or the other from snowballing into an unstoppable force.
The Survival mission is pretty fun, although you can get pretty lost in the big Tatooine map. The jet pack ability is also a bit erratic, as you don't really know if you'll be able to jump to a ledge or just fall short of it. Of course, playing with a friend is a bit more fun, but seeing as how there's no matchmaking for these missions, you have to wrangle a buddy to play alongside you.
Overall, the beta for Star Wars Battlefront does little to impress and convince me that the final game will deliver a quality experience. The many modes and mechanics sound good in theory, but I want to wait and see how they're actually implemented in the final game.
What about you? Have you tried the Battlefront beta? What do you think about the multiplayer test phase?
