A Long Time Ago …

By Danny Chihdo

What's every hardcore Star Wars fan's fantasy? If you said "Watching Jar Jar Binks get torn to pieces by Ewoks before they're all stepped on by an Imperial Walker as you share a bubble bath with Natalie Portman," you'd only be half right: That's actually every Star Wars fan's hardcore fantasy, which isn't exactly the same thing. No, I'm talking about taking the battlefield, waging actual "star wars" against the forces of the Empire, the Rebellion, the Republic, and the Confederacy, joining dozens of other Star Wars fanatics on Xbox Live™, fighting the greatest battles of the movies and beyond. You can keep your lightsabers and your mind tricks—me, I always wanted to be quick with a blaster, clumsy or not.

Ahh, the familiar fire and ice.

Lucasarts has heard your pleas! On the very same day that the more-or-less original trilogy debuts on DVD (Han shot first, darn it, and no amount of CGI will ever make me think otherwise) the house that Wookiees built unleashes Star Wars® Battlefront™, the game that will do for Star Wars and Xbox Live what Battlefield 1942 did for World War II and the PC. Get ready for total combat, complete with the most popular armies in the Lucas-verse tearing into the enemy with all your favorite vehicles.

And yes, you get to shoot Ewoks. Weirdo.

Scout walkers battle Endor's native fauna.

A Dark Time for the (Insert Favorite Faction Here)
Battlefront wears its influences like a squadron insignia, but that's not a bad thing. Ace developer Pandemic Studios has included ten unique Star Wars worlds and four different factions that get to duke it out over the entire cinematic course of Star Wars history (that means no KotOR-era combat, but battles from Episodes 4-6 and 1-3. Yes, that's 3). Most gamers are probably going to be getting their kicks blasting each other over Xbox Live, where up to 16 people can take sides and step into unique, popular Star Wars vehicles like Walkers, speeders, and even X-Wings. You can also stay on foot, waging a more tactical war from a third person perspective. Within each faction soldiers are further broken down by type and class, which each have their own unique abilities. You might scoff at the clone troopers, for example, until you see one take to the air in a rocket-pack or plant a mine that takes out a Seperatist droid tank.

Soggy Kamino with battle droids and clone troopers.

Where in the Worlds
Pandemic offers three different overall game modes in Battlefront. Quick Match is just like it sounds—the quickest way to choose a side, choose a world, and start fighting. The other two are a little deeper. Galactic Conquest is more of a "what if" scenario for the Star Wars eras, where each side must conquer the other side's planets (casting each faction alternately in the role of defender or attacker), taking over entire planets on the way to the enemy base and total victory. Historical Campaign mode, on the other hand, is all about recreating the most famous battles of the films, such as the era-ending Battle of Endor or famous conflicts from the Clone Wars on the waterlogged world of Kamino.

Jetpacking clones to the rescue!

Return of the Return of the Jedi
Controlling planets will also give your faction other cool bonuses—the Rebels might get a certain saber-swinging farmboy to lend a hand, for example, while the Imperials will almost certainly get a mechanical hand from his pop. This adds layer upon layer of meta-strategic planning with every campaign and planetary conflict. Most planets also include natives, who have their own agendas (the Tusken Raiders of Tatooine will go after anyone who gets too close, while the Ewoks of Endor will toss rocks at the Imperials only, just to name a couple examples). Throw in speeder bikes, AT-ATs, and an endless variety of tactics against real human players (remember, even the venerable Mechassault® only lets you fight with 8 players max) and this is one game that even Jar Jar haters can get behind. Especially if they play on the side of the battle droids. That's all I'm sayin'.