Via Wired.com:
Star Wars: Battlefront is a raucous, chaotic ordeal.
As I sift through my memories of a weekend spent playing the new multiplayer shooter (via EA Access on Xbox One), I recall sheets of crimson laser fire blending with robotic voices barking updates on the match’s progress. It’s strange to admit that those abrasive moments were the most faithful interactive reproduction of the Star Wars experience I’ve ever seen.
The lush forests of Endor’s moon, the bleak expanse of Tattooine, and blinding white snowdrifts from Hoth are all brought to life with tenacious accuracy. Each of these is a backdrop for bouts between the series’ two big factions: the evil, totalitarian Empire, and the plucky, freedom-fighting Rebellion.
As often as Star Wars has been picked apart, repackaged, and sold back to gaming and non-gaming audiences alike, it’s a wonder that so many have missed the guiding heart of the franchise. Star Wars is about the messiness of our own emotions, whether it’s the overwhelming fear and grief that comes with losing a loved one or the wanderlust that comes from a lifetime of boredom. Unfettered feeling guides everything in the series.
In an era of competitive gaming defined by precision, Battlefront, an otherwise bog-standard multiplayer shooter from Battlefield developer Dice, manages the impossible. Battlefront strives to match through play what it feels like to watch Star Wars: It is loose, unfocused and often anarchic, but in a manner that is directed towards a grander aesthetic vision. One skirmish condenses all of the highs and lows of a film into an easy-to-digest 10-minute chunk.
That frenetic energy comes, at least in part, through Battlefront‘s sheer scale. After a handful of training missions, you can join with up to 39 others to reenact key battles from the classic trilogy. Once in the fight, you’ll see swarms of players incessantly firing blaster rifles, filling the screen with their iconic red laser bolts.
These blasts visually dominate the battlefield, as they did in the films, setting a tone of constant danger from all angles. For a moment, you’re on the precipice of a war zone that’s never been. It’s a surreal feeling, but it’s also an expressive one.
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