Star Wars: Battlefront - Gameplay

Gameplay

Star Wars: Battlefront encompasses battles between four main factions from both the original and prequel trilogies: the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS) from the prequel era, and the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire from the original trilogy. In each faction, five different classes of character become available. Four main classes are similar for each faction, infantry, heavy weapons, pilot and sniper, while the fifth is unique. Each faction also has an non-playable hero character that participates in battle for a limited amount of time: Count Dooku (CIS), Mace Windu (Republic), Luke Skywalker (Rebels), and Darth Vader (Empire).

Gameplay in Battlefront is conquest-based. Each faction has a finite amount of reinforcements, and each is given control of a set number of command posts in a given level. The object is to either eliminate enemy forces or capture and hold all command posts simultaneously for 20 seconds. Several ground and air vehicles are available on the battlefield. These range from the hulking AT-AT to the fast speeder bike and vary based on the level. There are more than 25 vehicles in-game. Some larger vehicles also function as mobile command posts, which cannot be captured, but are lost if the vehicle is destroyed. In addition, some maps have indigenous forces. These can be neutral to both factions, such as Jawas, hostile to one faction, such as Wookies, or hostile to both factions, such as Tusken Raiders. Command posts belonging to hostile natives can also be captured to minimize their presence.

The Microsoft Windows and Macintosh versions of Star Wars: Battlefront can be played online with up to 64 players on via local area network (LAN) or over the internet via GameSpy. The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions can accommodate up to 32 players or can be played in splitscreen mode with two players. The PlayStation 2 version utilizes specialized GameSpy servers, while the Xbox utilized Microsoft's Xbox Live network. Xbox online play is no longer available as the original Xbox Live servers were shut down on April 15, 2010.