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Star Wars Battlefront (2015) was one of the best multiplayer games of last gen

June

Member
...and it pains me that the game never got its proper dues.

The gameplay was absolutely stellar. It took a more arcade approach by forgoing ADS (aim down sights)which subsequently put more emphasis and importance on movement and made games faster paced. No longer was the emphasis on ADS campers who get the inherent advantage of posting up and waiting on enemies and relying on their massive ADS/accuracy boost, but instead the emphasis was on the people who utilised movement, strafing, and quick reaction times. You were not penalised by having to ADS (and having your movement slow down to a crawl whilst doing so), but instead incentivised to run and gun and cover distances with less worry of being at the disadvantage of campers.

I feel like people were/are so familiar with the tropes of "slower and more realistic" shooters that they never quite gelled with the arcade brilliance that Battlefront achieved.

Then there are other things it did right besides gameplay like some of the best graphics, the Star Wars setting of course, and the medium-to-large scale frenetic madness of the gameplay.

I don't think it's a coincidence that two of my favourite online shooters this past decade have been Battlefront and Overwatch. Two games that emphasis movement and abilities over posting up with ADS.

What say you GAF: underappreciated masterpiece, hobbled together trash, or something in-between?
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Jake Gyllenhaal No GIF


Was ok at best imo.

Very shallow and very limited in scope.
 

darrylgorn

Member
100% agree.

The follow up made some improvements but seemed a bit too convoluted compared to the experience of jumping in for a quick game in the first.

At least Battlefield 1 is still getting some exposure.
 
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ShirAhava

Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
BF 2015 was the Best shooter of the 2010s my fav game of that generation

Me and my friends played this game nonstop I still fire it up a few times a week

I do not understand the reception this game got it was ridiculously fun it never got old

All it needed was a few refinements and way more content

People want slow, boring shooters with generic gameplay and all play the same

BF2 2017 was so bad I sold my PS4 the core gameplay is hot garbage compared to BF 2015
 

June

Member
100% agree.

The follow up made some improvements but seemed a bit too convoluted compared to the experience of jumping in for a quick game in the first.

At least Battlefield 1 is still getting some exposure.

Yeah I never really got into the sequel. They fucked up the aiming system and penalised your accuracy when not ADSing. It never felt right for me. Fucking travesty that they caved to criticisms about the first game being too arcade

Oh yeah and they also got rid of the overheating system on the guns and replaced it with a basic-ass reload system. Fuck I forgot about that. It was Mass effect 1 > 2 all over again
 
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June

Member
BF 2015 was the Best shooter of the 2010s my fav game of that generation

Me and my friends played this game nonstop I still fire it up a few times a week

I do not understand the reception this game got it was ridiculously fun it never got old

All it needed was a few refinements and way more content

People want slow, boring shooters with generic gameplay and all play the same

BF2 2017 was so bad I sold my PS4 the core gameplay is hot garbage compared to BF 2015

Yeah I pumped so many hours into that game man. It was one only games I preordered last gen. I was completely sold by the beta alone and the full release lived upto it. Ended up platinuming it which I never go out of my way to do

I think the lack of content was one of few true criticisms the game deserved.

You play against bots when you hop on, I take it?

I've tried launching the game a handful of times over the last couple years but population seems dead in the bigger modes ( which is a shame because the 20v20 domination/3 capture points was my favourite mode. I think people gravitate towards the cargo mode these days, if anyone still plays at all that is
 

Zannegan

Member
I could hardly disagree more, TBH

That it was pretty is about the best thing I can say for it. Levels were either like Hoth--one long bottleneck--or Endor--a themed shoebox--that forced constant enemy encounters but left players without any real choice in how to approach them or what to do next. And the way vehicles were handled was depressingly constrained. Design aside, this game was supposed to capture the feeling of a Hollywood space war, but it felt more like the Disney parks stage play version of Star Wars. You would think "action-packed snoozefest" would be a contradiction in terms, but EA's first Battlefront somehow managed it.

TL;DR: Extremely limited in both scope and player agency, Battlefront felt like the online multiplayer equivalent of a hamster wheel.
 
it was the first game i bought last gen. And boy was i disappointed. Beautiful game. Immersive sounds. Shallow and dumbed down gameplay.
run around like an idiot. die immediately. rinse repeat.
 

Ozzie666

Member
A bit of a days gone situation really. The final product was far superior to the launch product. It wasn't to bad, not sure if it was the best. But it was a good experience, when all was said and done, especially for star wars fans.
 

0neAnd0nly

Gold Member
I tend to agree that it was a strong showing, however…

It fell slightly short of my expectations.

Let me explain.

I wanted another Warhawk, which was a game well ahead of its time, in the midst of the PlayStations largest struggle that never got its proper due. It was a MONSTER of a MP. Seriously, I get bothered by how many people never understood or got to enjoy how tremendous that game was. Top 3 all time game for MP for me.

BF (2015) was close to putting me there, but the dogfighting was AWFUL imo.

I’m sure there will be people who can’t stand that I said that, but coming from Warhawk in PS3 days, which flying and navigating was so breezy but also darn responsive - BF dropped the ball hard on that portion.

Outside of that, was my personal runner-up GOTY that year and though people may think that’s nuts - my criteria is simply what game made the largest mark on me that year. For 2015, BF was really close for me. It was far from perfect but it was a lot of fun. Enough that I wanted to sink hours into it, and had fun most of the time doing such.
 
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I think I have to agree to some extent!

When compared to Battlefront 2, I actually think there was a bit of decrease in visual fidelity. The environments on Battlefront 1 were just so nice, and the maps were on point. I thought the customisation was great as well.

The bits that let it down for me were the paid DLC, which, as we all know now, fractured the active community leaving you with long delays finding matches or half empty lobbies. I am so glad we have moved beyond all of that. Also, I really hated the Hero cards. I much prefer the Battlefront 2 style. Though Luke and Vader handled far better in the original Battlefront. You really didn't want to have to face off with them.

Battlefront 2 improved in some areas, but there ambition to include absolutely everything I think limited their delivery. It took them years to try and achieve their original vision after launch, and what we are left with is a half rushed out empire update.

But one thing they both have in common, game breaking hacks. My days DICE can be so incompetent. Literally handing you a platter with this game. My hope for the future is that this game gets passed to a more competent developer.
 

Y0ssarian

Banned
It was fun for like a week. After you had got bored of walker assault there wasn't much reason to continue playing. iirc there wasn't many unlocks, and the best gun, han solo pistol was dlc
 
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Kagoshima_Luke

Gold Member
Agree. It was better than the sequel. I never understood the hate it got, other than realizing that I no longer have the same gaming preferences as most of the kids playing these days.
 

June

Member
I could hardly disagree more, TBH

That it was pretty is about the best thing I can say for it. Levels were either like Hoth--one long bottleneck--or Endor--a themed shoebox--that forced constant enemy encounters but left players without any real choice in how to approach them or what to do next. And the way vehicles were handled was depressingly constrained. Design aside, this game was supposed to capture the feeling of a Hollywood space war, but it felt more like the Disney parks stage play version of Star Wars. You would think "action-packed snoozefest" would be a contradiction in terms, but EA's first Battlefront somehow managed it.

TL;DR: Extremely limited in both scope and player agency, Battlefront felt like the online multiplayer equivalent of a hamster wheel.

the "lack of player agency", as you put it ,was a plus for me in certain areas. Like I've never really been a fan of how open Battlefield is, it feels too open and random, sort of like everyone is playing 5 different game modes at once and it doesnt really gel for me. Battlefront was more focused, congested, to the point, whilst still entertaining large scale battles.
The bits that let it down for me were the paid DLC, which, as we all know now, fractured the active community leaving you with long delays finding matches or half empty lobbies. I am so glad we have moved beyond all of that. Also, I really hated the Hero cards. I much prefer the Battlefront 2 style. Though Luke and Vader handled far better in the original Battlefront. You really didn't want to have to face off with them.

Battlefront 2 improved in some areas, but there ambition to include absolutely everything I think limited their delivery. It took them years to try and achieve their original vision after launch, and what we are left with is a half rushed out empire update.

But one thing they both have in common, game breaking hacks. My days DICE can be so incompetent. Literally handing you a platter with this game. My hope for the future is that this game gets passed to a more competent developer.

The structure of the paid DLC was absolute garbage. 4 seperate packs that split the community. I hated that approach

Hero cards I liked. It fit the game way better. I could play my own game and ocassionally come across a token and become a hero. It was a light, casual system. With the new game I have to keep looking at the menu and hope someone else hasnt already paid for a hero, which inevitably someone always already has. I hate the new system .

It was fun for like a week. After you had got bored of walker assault there wasn't much reason to continue playing. iirc there wasn't many unlocks, and the best gun, han solo pistol was dlc

Domination was better than Walker Assault. It offered a more room to navigate your encounters. Walker Assault was more linear. Both fun modes but I always preferred domination

i think that gun was only OP on PC. and maybe only at launch ? On console the two best weapons were the e-11 and the A280. The 3-burst EE-3 was also very good
 

Unk Adams

Banned
I have to disagree, OP. The amount of content was limited and the gameplay itself just felt generic and boring. I would have preferred an actual Battlefront game (like the Lucasarts series) instead of this Battlefield clone.
 

Larxia

Member
I guess I can imagine enjoying the game for itself if you didn't know better (or didn't expect something else), but man it was such a disappointment after the original games...
Battlefront 2 (2005) was so good, I really wanted this but better, and instead, we got something that was indeed really pretty, but so limited in features and scale compared to what we could have gotten / had before.

In Battlefront 2 (2005), you could be fighting on foot inside a huge ship cruiser, go to the launch bay, take a fighter, leave the cruiser and fight in space against other ships while other people were still gun fighting inside, and even fly to and board the ennemy's team cruiser, invade and gun fight inside it.
This was amazing, there was a lot of stuff happening everywhere on different levels, it was such a huge scale and it was so immersive.

In comparison, in the reboot battlefront games, you select a ship at spawn and are stuck to either on foot or fly gameplay, without transition between both, it really doesn't feel the same.

The few leaks we saw from the cancelled battlefront 3 (original, not reboot) were pushing that even more, with a real time transition between on planet gameplay and space gameplay, during the same match / map. This would have been really great to see.

I was also really sad that while the reboots do look amazing and have large maps, the scale always feel quite small because you are never free to fight on the whole map, the objective constantly move and you don't have this feeling of being part of a huge large scale war, instead it feels more like a regular small scale shooter where the map progressively change during the match.

When you think of all this, the reboots could have been pushed things further, they really felt too limited, even if yes, if you don't think about the old ones and what could have been, it's definitely possible to have fun on the new games, it's just not what I was hoping for. I think it's not normal that something on ps2 felt more epic than something on ps4.
 
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June

Member
I guess I can imagine enjoying the game for itself if you didn't know better (or didn't expect something else), but man it was such a disappointment after the original games...
Battlefront 2 (2005) was so good, I really wanted this but better, and instead, we got something that was indeed really pretty, but so limited in features and scale compared to what we could have gotten / had before.

In Battlefront 2 (2005), you could be fighting on foot inside a huge ship cruiser, go to the launch bay, take a fighter, leave the cruiser and fight in space against other ships while other people were still gun fighting inside, and even fly to and board the ennemy's team cruiser, invade and gun fight inside it.
This was amazing, there was a lot of stuff happening everywhere on different levels, it was such a huge scale and it was so immersive.

In comparison, in the reboot battlefront games, you select a ship at spawn and are stuck to either on foot or fly gameplay, without transition between both, it really doesn't feel the same.

The few leaks we saw from the cancelled battlefront 3 (original, not reboot) were pushing that even more, with a real time transition between on planet gameplay and space gameplay, during the same match / map. This would have been really great to see.

I was also really sad that while the reboots do look amazing and have large maps, the scale always feel quite small because you are never free to fight on the whole map, the objective constantly move and you don't have this feeling of being part of a huge large scale war, instead it feels more like a regular small scale shooter where the map progressively change during the match.

When you think of all this, the reboots could have been pushed things further, they really felt too limited, even if yes, if you don't think about the old ones and what could have been, it's definitely possible to have fun on the new games, it's just not what I was hoping for. I think it's not normal that something on ps2 felt more epic than something on ps4.

youre inevitably going to be dissapointed if you expect a clone of the original game and its features. thats always going to happen. its not necessarily fair on the new game though.

what i mean is, criticise the game for what it is, not for what you expected it to be or how you compare it to another separate game

I never played the originals but what youre describing sounds more like more like Battlefield and I never really got into those games. as i said in an above post, battlefield feels too disparate and open for me.

The restrictions in battlefront kept the gameplay focused and tigther. the game had a 20v20 max player count yet due to how it was designed it really often felt like 30v30 or above. and things like progression within maps and restrictions on air vehicle usage all played a part in shaping that gamefeel.

Battlefront recieved a lot of criticism at release for essentially not being a Battlefield game with a Star Wars skin. I can understand that, what with the DICE connection and all. But I'm personally glad thats not the game we got because i didnt want a battlefield clone
 
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Kovet

Member
i had over 1000 hours in this game i believe. got me back into gaming after a lull between the generational switch.

Heres a montage i made in it. Absolutely adored the gunplay and star card system.



the way they changed the gunplay in 2 and had a heavier focus on hero killstreak call ins completely turned me off the game.
 

Kerotan

Member
Graphically it was mind blowing at the time. Gameplay wise it was pretty good. It only lacked maps and a single player campaign would have been nice.
 

Vick

Gold Member
Loved the game, since the first Beta. Put hundreds of hours into, and other hundreds into split screen co-op with friends. Absolute stunning graphics as well.

But here's the thing with Multiplayer games.. they have expiration date.
 

Amiga

Member
Was better for it to be a mainly narrative Co-Op game with original stories. Not everything has to be PvP.
 

June

Member
Loved the game, since the first Beta. Put hundreds of hours into, and other hundreds into split screen co-op with friends. Absolute stunning graphics as well.

But here's the thing with Multiplayer games.. they have expiration date.

Sad The Office GIF


wish i could go back to the beta time when the game was fresh and population was loaded

they did add the offline vs bots mode but playing against AI is just not the same as wrecking the horde of noobs

or better yet, i wish they didnt fuck up the sequel.
 
I have to agree with you, it was casual but it was very fun and very well-made. The maps were amazing, the atmosphere was fantastic, the gunplay was varied and really good, I love the star cards, adore the jet pack, it did have issues like pick ups for heroes, but being arcady made it more fun for me. I still have the game installed and play it from time to time. I just wish the DLC was free so people still played it. The second game is such a letdown by comparison, still fun though.
 
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June

Member
I have to agree with you, it was casual but it was very fun and very well-made. The maps were amazing, the atmosphere was fantastic, the gunplay was varied and really good, I love the star cards, adore the jet pack, it did have issues like pick ups for heroes, but being arcady made it more fun for me. I still have the game installed and play it from time to time. I just wish the DLC was free so people still played it. The second game is such a letdown by comparison, still fun though.

they made the dlc free a couple years ago for a like a month. they should really just make that permanent, it would only entice people to play a dead game at this point

or maybe they dont want people coming back to it due to server costs or something idk
 
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