Star Wars Battlefront: play it for free right now!
This week kicks of what is likely to be a whole season of Star Wars. With the new film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens in cinemas next month, the release of EA's Star Wars Battlefront on 19 November is perfect timing.
The new-gen reboot of Star Wars Battlefront features photo-real environments from the movies, allowing players to visit the ice planet Hoth, Tatooine, the forest moon of Endor, as well as new locations such as Sullust and even a first look at Jakku from The Force Awakens.
After the hugely successful Star Wars Battlefront beta, EA is currently getting ready to launch, quite possibly, the biggest game that they have ever published.
Late last month, during PAX Australia in Melbourne, I took a ride on EA's Battlefront bus to a special downtown location to try out Battlefront's Fighter Squadron mode.
Whilst the beta gave players a small taste of aerial combat in the Hoth-based Walker Assault map, the full-on large-scale aerial battles of Fighter Squadron are something else altogether.
Joined by select media and members of the local chapter of the 501st Stormtrooper Legion dozens of PlayStations were ready for an epic space battle a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
The map was above the charred planet of Sullust, a planet referenced, but never seen in the Star Wars movies. It was the location of the Drop Zone map in beta. The smouldering planet didn't look as damaged from the air.
As you'd expect, the matches featured two teams Rebels versus Imperials, basically X-Wings versus Tie-fighters (where have I heard that before…?), with hero ships like The Millennium Falcon and Boba Fett's Slave One occasionally making an appearance.
As a Tie-fighter pilot, there was something special about having Han Solo's smuggling ship in my sights as well swooped low over the blackened landscape. Switching from third-person to the first-person cockpit view, you could be mistaken for thinking that you are watching one of the movies.
Fighter Squadron is pure, unfiltered Star Wars.
But Fighter Squadron is only one mode in a game packed with enough features to satisfy even the most lapsed fan. Choosing, quite wisely to avoid the prequel trilogy, there's not a Gungan in sight.
Xbox One owners can enjoy the ten-hour Star Wars Battlefront trial right now via EA Access. I recommend that you check in out. It's Certainly worth a month's subscription to EA Access.
Look out for the full Star Wars Battlefront NetGuide.co.nz review soon.
