April 18, 2005 - In a time of empires and rebellion, when mighty machines tore worlds asunder and great fleets traveled the stars, vast armies fought to restore and maintain order. From the decisive battle on Genosis, to the final battle on the Forest Moon of Endor, each victory changed the face of the galaxy. Now relive those battles, change their outcomes and change the fate of entire worlds. Will the Empire triumph? Will the Clone Wars end in a Republic victory? Choose a side and determine the fate of the galaxy.

Developed by Pandemic Studios and published by LucasArts, it’s quite obvious that Star Wars: Battlefront is a multiplayer-oriented title. Offering Xbox Live support for up to 16 players per match, and offering a variety of battlefields across various worlds, four different factions with a wide selection of weapons and vehicles for each, Star Wars Battlefront should provide players with not only an enjoyable gaming experience, but also high replay value. So does Star Wars Battlefront live up to these expectations? The title offers a third person team based shooter, unlike the first person squad based Republic Commando. Also, Battlefront wasn't designed with graphics and details in mind, so while the game's overall appearance is nice, it lacks the detail that other Star Wars titles offer. Also, Battlefront is designed primarily as a multiplayer game, while Republic Commando had a single player gaming experience in mind. All comparison’s aside, let’s move on with the review.

As mentioned previously, Star Wars Battlefront is primarily a multiplayer game. When playing the game it is hard not to notice the features which have been altered for the single player offering. For example, every character on the battlefield besides the player is a “bot”. In the option mode, under gaming difficulty, you can determine what level you want the “bots” to be. Performance wise, it is easy to see the where Pandemic altered aspects of the multiplayer game to give players a decent “offline” option. Although not the strongest of modes, it does offer a slight enhancement to the gameplay.

Visually, Battlefront won't impress the large crowd, but that doesn't mean the graphics aren't well done. Pandemic Studios has done a great job with the character and vehicle models. In combat players will actually feel like they are battling the Galactic Empire, especially when they come face to face with some of the bigger vehicles, like the AT-AT Walkers. The environments are also well done, and offer the player a unique look at the Star Wars Universe. With that said, there is a lot of room for improvement. While efforts were made for giving a sense of ambience, they seem token efforts at best. More fine detail, especially on the smaller objects and NPCs which are scattered all over the battlefields would be an asset. While the Jawas on Tatooine are fairly impressive, the trash and broken vehicles in the streets don’t measure up. Some areas could have used more detail of this nature, especially since many of the buildings (temples, huts, etc) seemed devoid of any signs of life. Overall, Pandemic has done a fairly good job on the visuals in Star Wars: Battlefront, but there is still room for improvement.

Audio is a strong part of Battlefront; Pandemic has put a lot of focus into this aspect of the title. The music is performed by orchestra as with the previous Star Wars games. It is nice to have John Williams’ music playing during the battles, offering players a more traditional Star Wars feel. It is very enjoyable to running along the battlefield with the Imperial March playing. Battlefront also offers a wide array of sound effects, one example being the sound of blaster fire as it varies from weapon to weapon. This is very helpful when trying to figure out who is firing at whom in the confusion of battle. Other sound effects such as vehicle explosions, the destruction of droids, the death of troops, and the explosion of grenades are also superb. All in all, these sound effects were well done and really help bring Star Wars: Battlefront to life.