Star Wars Battlefront game, a 'beautiful homage' to films

The new Star Wars Battlefront video game, released this week, has already been praised for its stunning imagery, but is it purely for die-hard fans?

The multiplayer sci-fi shooter game is based on the original film trilogy, but has also been created as a tie-in for the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens film. It is the third game in the Star Wars: Battlefront series, but is considered a "reboot" rather than a sequel.

Battlefront lets players choose to control either a Rebel Alliance soldier or an Imperial Stormtrooper, and other characters from the films can also be controlled, such as Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, Princess Leia and Han Solo. Players can also customise their characters, weapons and abilities, and switch between first or third person views, as they engage in battles on planets from the Star Wars universe.

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Reviewers have been largely positive about the new game, though Nathan Ditum in the Daily Telegraph notes that Battlefront has also been criticised "long and loud for its lack of single-player campaign".

Instead, says Ditum, it offers "a focused multiplayer showcase set in a meticulously constructed recreation of the onscreen world of Star Wars". A chunk of the audience will want a deeper, more emotional interaction with this world, says Ditum, but for many others "there can be no more emotional an interaction than simply stepping into this resurrected childhood fantasy".

Liam Martin at Digital Spy says: "Obi-Wan be praised, unlike most officially licenced games, it's not a Galactic-sized let-down." In fact, he says, it's the "closest you'll come to living out your Star Wars fantasies".

The new video game features huge maps, a selection of ground and air vehicles and "more lasers than an all-night rave in a dodgy warehouse", says Martin. The multiplayer battles with up to 40 players are chaotic, action-packed and intense, but the game is "accessible enough for anybody to jump in and feel like a hero".

On Gamespot, Mike Mahardy says Battlefront reminds him of why he loves Star Wars. "Its skirmishes unfold across iconic planets, with gorgeous landscapes and sweeping vistas on a massive scale."

Battlefront is "an exercise in pure spectacle", says Mahardy, with a nuanced, detailed world of images and sound enveloping you at every turn with windswept forests, rain glistening on drooping leaves and icy crystals on cavern walls. It feels more like a homage to Star Wars than a substantial Star Wars game in itself, he admits, "yet, what a beautiful homage this is".

Here's the thing, says Jason Evangelho on Forbes. Battlefront is a great Star Wars fan experience but a mediocre game. It's a beautifully realised Star Wars sandbox, full of loving nods to the original movies, he adds, but as a shooter with substance, engrossing character progression, and addictive gameplay "it misses the mark".

Battlefront is released in the UK tomorrow.