Battlefront Beta...HNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

[mad825]

From a "DICE shooter" noob (I've play a few hours of battlefield 1942 nothing more) I kind of dislike it. I first played the solo section to familiarise myself and didn't die once on normal however when I go onto the multiplayer on Hoth as rebels I kept on dying and getting sniped then passively raged quit after 15 minutes.

I have better things to waste my time on. IMO the maps are way smaller than the previous battlefronts, call me uninspired.

 

[Rabish Bini]

That's all well and good, but how does it feel as a Battlefront game? Is it still Battlefront, or is it something more perverse.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

That's all well and good, but how does it feel as a Battlefront game? Is it still Battlefront, or is it something more perverse.

It is not all that similar to the old Battlefront games. It feels like a modern take on Battlefront however. Whatever that is a good thing depends on if you like modern shooter mechanics (unlocks, regenerating health etc.) or if you prefer old school mechanics.

I can say that I think it felt like Star Wars.

 

[Strelok]

Long time Battlefield (except 4 and Hard Line), and Battlefront fan, and I love it so far, going to purchase at release which is rare for me now, but it's Star Wars.

Here's a video of some footage I captured for any interested.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I have better things to waste my time on. IMO the maps are way smaller than the previous battlefronts, call me uninspired.

Hoth is absolutely larger than any Battlefront map so... I'd say you didn't experience much. TIE Fighters/X-Wings/A-Wings give you a better sense of size/scope.

Also jumping right into Hoth was probably a bad idea, they direct you to the smaller Sullust map, which I thought was done quite well for cover, scope and size for a 16 player map. Hoth is a 40 player map and has about 3 stages of advancement as the AT-AT's get closer to the shield generator. I've had at least a 40 minute match on Hoth so far, and racked up a lot of kills, not having played many DICE games.

OT: 3rd person view is much easier to run around with than 1st, and is a settings toggle. The unlocks aren't too difficult and one can basically get all the beta "gear" in a couple hours or so depending on performance.

The major issue I've run into on PC is servers were having trouble connecting at the outset but seem to have cleared up. And a few hard locks which I attribute to using Catalyst Beta drivers. I may reinstall and downgrade to the current release to see if there's a difference. 60FPS constant, with a few stutters here and there but it could be that my PC is in need of a wipe/reinstall soon. Star cards allow for decent customizing options, would like to know what the full range of unlockables are. Also really want to play the Fighter Squadron mode, but its not part of the beta so I have to settle for dogfighting TIEs and X/A-Wings. AT-ST and AT-AT controls, as well as flight controls are not overly complicated and make for fun battles.

Biggest detractor? No Snowspeeders but I'd wager thats due to the AT-AT's being an integral part of the success or failure of the Walker Assault on Hoth.

Overall its fun, its not Battelfront 2 but it plays smooth and still feels like Star Wars. 7.5/10 for a beta, will hold off on a full score. I'd buy it.

 

[Mutant1988]

Biggest detractor? No Snowspeeders but I'd wager thats due to the AT-AT's being an integral part of the success or failure of the Walker Assault on Hoth.

Wait, wait... No snowspeeders on Hoth?

What the hell...

 

[Kae]

Downloading, right now, to be honest I just want to confirm that it's shit because I want to legitimize my bitching by having played it, to be honest though it's probably a decent Battlefield game, it's still not Battlefront though.

If I'm really honest I'm just going to be salty about the cancellation of Free Radical's Battlefront 3 which looked way more promising and exiting than this so there's no way I can be happy about this product knowing that I could have had planet to space battles and fleet combat which this version doesn't have and it was Free Radical when they were at their best, I mean fuck it... Why did that get cancelled but we get this bare-bones version with way less features than Battlefront 2?

 

[Strelok]

Biggest detractor? No Snowspeeders but I'd wager thats due to the AT-AT's being an integral part of the success or failure of the Walker Assault on Hoth.

No snowspeeders? I fly a snowspeeder at the start of the posted video. Only issue is you can't use the harpoon until the Y-wings knock out the shields on the walker. Pretty sure the in Empire Strikes Back the rebels used the harpoon cause the shield stopped guns from damaging the AT-ATs.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Biggest detractor? No Snowspeeders but I'd wager thats due to the AT-AT's being an integral part of the success or failure of the Walker Assault on Hoth.

No snowspeeders? I fly a snowspeeder at the start of the posted video. Only issue is you can't use the harpoon until the Y-wings knock out the shields on the walker. Pretty sure the in Empire Strikes Back the rebels used the harpoon cause the shield stopped guns from damaging the AT-ATs.

Ah right then, goes to show that not all Battlefront experiences are the same as I never encountered one nor found the powerup. Only A/X-Wings and TIEs, ATST and ATATs.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Biggest detractor? No Snowspeeders but I'd wager thats due to the AT-AT's being an integral part of the success or failure of the Walker Assault on Hoth.

Wait, wait... No snowspeeders on Hoth?

What the hell...

Apparently I was wrong and just missed out on flying one or seeing one flown. Happens I guess, shows how things can be somewhat different for everyone.

 

[Rabish Bini]

That's all well and good, but how does it feel as a Battlefront game? Is it still Battlefront, or is it something more perverse.

It is not all that similar to the old Battlefront games. It feels like a modern take on Battlefront however. Whatever that is a good thing depends on if you like modern shooter mechanics (unlocks, regenerating health etc.) or if you prefer old school mechanics.

I can say that I think it felt like Star Wars.

Cheers for the answer! I'll have to give it my own look, but I am still very wary of it.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Ah right then, goes to show that not all Battlefront experiences are the same as I never encountered one nor found the powerup. Only A/X-Wings and TIEs, ATST and ATATs.

Nine times out of ten the Snowspeeder will have little air time, due to its' slow speed and poor maneuverability compared to the TIEs. If another X/A-Wing pilot has already established air control the Speeder might see some use, but most of the time it goes up and comes down just a few seconds after you are handed control.

 

[Zhukov]

It's mediocre as fuck.

Have you played any multiplayer shooter with an objective based mode? Ever? Then you've already played this.

The air vehicles control like arse.

The Hoth map in the beta is hilariously unbalanced. For the Rebels (defenders) to win, they have to hold onto the control points for an absurd amount of time, considering that the Imperials get all the land vehicles. I am yet to see Rebels win. Closest I saw was taking out one walker and getting the second to about half health.


Oh, and they start you out with no abilities or equipment. Not even a default loadout. So you're going to spend your first couple of levels getting shredded by objectively more powerful players. Terrible way to start off new players. Because apparently they thought that one gun and three abilities might blow our tiny minds if they dumped all that complexity on us right away.

Single player skirmish mode... thing is bland as fuck. Could be fun playing co-op I guess, but I'm not feeling it.

The 16 player mode is okay. But gets repetitive real quick. Like I said above, you could get the same experience from any halfway competent shooter, including several free ones.

If you want to play a shooter that is average in every regard while listening to Star Wars music and sound effects then this is for you. Otherwise it's just... nothing.

I'm glad I got to play it though. Ensured that I don't go making some kind of stupid impulse buy and waste $90.

PS. Oh, and I'm not bashing it because it isn't a remake of the old games. I barely remember those. This is poor entirely on its own merits.

 

[SecondPrize]

That's all well and good, but how does it feel as a Battlefront game? Is it still Battlefront, or is it something more perverse.

Battlefront were third-person class-based shooters with excellent integration of vehicles with the infantry combat. This thing is a first person classless shooter where vehicles are power ups and AT-ATs are simply turrets on rails. DICE and EA weren't trying to make it like the first two at all, and it really isn't. The problem is that if you like this sort of thing, you're better off going with the CoD series, because they do it better.

 

[tysonn101]

I played it for about an hour this morning and thought it was actually really good! Visually it is pretty stunning and the surrounding explosions and blasters really do capture the essence of being in a battle, which surprised me for a star wars game. Which to me are traditionally less "gritty" and don't really capture warfare all that well.

Obviously there are going to be negative sides to the game-play but overall i think it's a pretty solid job. balancing is a bit (or a lot) of a mess on walker assault but it's still an enjoyable mode! I do hope they add greater variation in to the weapons and different troopers, i think that's where the previous games really shone. Distinct classes made for different play-styles and this one seems like the play-style is pretty similar each time. However as a standalone game it is definitely worth a go, even if it is just the beta.

And to all those people who say it's modernized i would say its more arcade like than modern shooters, what with the pick ups and power ups. But that's just my take on it!

 

[Skin]

What? People actually like it? I played it for a few hours before I was bored out of my skull and just went back to playing Counterstrike.

The only appeal the first game had for me was the massive (at least it seemed massive to me at the time) armies duking it out and you could go anywhere on the map and something different was happening. This game feels like Battlefield: Star Wars and it is just a slog.

 

[Rabish Bini]

That's all well and good, but how does it feel as a Battlefront game? Is it still Battlefront, or is it something more perverse.

Battlefront were third-person class-based shooters with excellent integration of vehicles with the infantry combat. This thing is a first person classless shooter where vehicles are power ups and AT-ATs are simply turrets on rails. DICE and EA weren't trying to make it like the first two at all, and it really isn't. The problem is that if you like this sort of thing, you're better off going with the CoD series, because they do it better.

That's exactly what I was worried about. I would've been ecstatic with an updated re-release of the original 2 games. Oh well.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

I've thought it was okay, trouble is they haven't given us much to play with, some unique modes would have been better to showcase what the game may deliver. Also, that Hoth battle needs balancing, rebels seem to never be able to win, reduce the time you have to hold out to get the y-wings or something.

Over all, I think it's okay so far, I think the flying combat is okay, no worse then the older games, going back, they don't handle any better really, I was playing it the other day before the beta came out.

Letting us see the customization and things that make the game unique is what they should have done, and I feel they stumbled here. I'm hoping it has substantially more to offer, otherwise I may wait a while before getting it. Will see what reviews and others think about it.

I'm not commenting on the supposedly great visuals, because I'm running it on my 4 gigs Ram, GTX 460 core 2 quad computer. Got it running around 60 fps on medium/low settings, still looks okay.

 

[Loonyyy]

I'm enjoying it a lot. The thing is pretty, which I didn't expect I'd say about a Frostbite game after the recent Battlefields, it plays ok, and the map design is a lot better than you'd expect from say, Battlefield. Battlefield is definitely the main point of comparison, it's a simplified version of the same, but I find the maps more detailed and interesting, rather than hiking through filler terrain.

It's frustrating at the start when you have no abilities, that's a serious problem, grenades, sniping gear, jetpacks, make the game way way better, and you'll get frustrated by the players who have them when you don't. Playing as the heroes is neat, although the pickups are quite random. The vehicle pickups are a nightmare. If the sky is full, you've ran out into the open for nothing, and you'll probably get cut to pieces. I don't mind flying the vehicles, it takes a lot of working out of the sensitivity, and there's a sort of jinking and juking thing along a curve, rather than sim flight. There's less you can do, but it's fairly simple, and that's nice when you're trying to carry the team with the damage on the AT ATs.

There is no ping, which is frustrating with the matchmaking, and the menus are an abomination unto god. But at least it's not Battlelog.

I like it, more than anything else new I've played recently.

Won't pick it up at launch, but maybe down the line.

The Hoth map in the beta is hilariously unbalanced. For the Rebels (defenders) to win, they have to hold onto the control points for an absurd amount of time, considering that the Imperials get all the land vehicles. I am yet to see Rebels win. Closest I saw was taking out one walker and getting the second to about half health.

Part of that is two things: Rebel air vehicles can damage the AT ATs when they've been hit by the Y-wings, but not everyone is aware of this, and the snowspeeders can hit the AT ATs with their tow cables at the last stage. It's not very well explained. Unfortunately, what it seems people are learning is how to hide on the hill with a cycle rifle.

 

[RedRockRun]

After it finishes downloading, I'll get to see for myself, I guess.