'Star Wars Battlefront' Beta First Impressions

Well, it's finally here. Earlier today, EA's Star Wars Battlefront Beta went live, giving Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC gamers an early glimpse at three game modes and locales from the anticipated title weeks before its Nov. 17 release date.

I downloaded the Beta immediately after work today, first jumping into a solo session of the Survival mode. In this instance, you're a Rebel soldier who's crashed on Tatooine, and you must survive six waves of enemies (including various types of Imperial Stormtrooper and AT-ST Walkers) before you're rescued. The full game will feature 15 waves of baddies. This mode didn't really give me much trouble in the Beta, and allowed me to get a feel of the game controls at a relatively leisurely pace. I learned how secondary weapons function, how to gain Obi-Wan Kenobi-favorable higher ground with the jetpack and that any mission seems more satisfying when a holographic Admiral Ackbar is cheering you on. No one can resist encouragement of that magnitude.

Next up was Drop Zone, a mode that charges a team of players with taking control of a series of escape pods before the other team can do the same. Whereas the Survival mode made me feel strong enough to pull ears off a gundark, Drop Zone made me feel like a jawa in a pick-up game of hoops against Chewbacca and his cousins. I'm apparently terrible at this mode, and not only did my team of sorta-stalwart Rebels lose, I left the game with a measly two kills to my credit. That being said, this game mode led me to fully appreciate Battlefront's all-out assault on the senses, making Star Wars fans and gamers alike feel like they're immersed in an important, large-scale conflict in that galaxy far, far away. This game is beautiful, and the volcanic surface of Sullust featured in this mode for the beta truly showcases what this title is capable of visually. Perhaps I played so terribly because I was in awe of my surroundings. Yeah, that's it.

Finally, I sampled Walker Assault, which took me to the icy planet of Hoth, replicating my favorite action sequence in any Star Wars film. In this mode, I slipped into the hood and armor of an Imperial Stormtrooper as I protected AT-AT Walkers from the retreating Rebels, who used relay stations to call in Y-wing air strikes to destroy the Empire's metallic monsters. In this mode, if the Empire keeps the Rebels from activating these relays long enough for one of your AT-ATs to reach the power generators, it's lights out for Luke and his pals. If the AT-ATs are destroyed then, well, the Empire strikes out. I really liked this mode (my Empire Strikes Back bias notwithstanding) because of the sheer number of players (this mode allows for 40 participants) and the variety of vehicles involved. I haven't even tried any of them yet, but the idea of stomping through the snow in an AT-AT and blasting Snowspeeders out of the sky is an exciting one. What does that say about me?

Walker Assault also features Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader as special characters, but whenever I encountered Luke, I ran in the opposite direction. I don't think I'm ready to tangle with a Jedi in this game quite yet.

Overall, the only disappointing thing about the Star Wars Battlefront Beta (available now through Oct. 12) is that it left me wanting more of everything, but I guess that's the point. It looks great, it controls smoothly, and it has a sweeping, cinematic presentation befitting the Star Wars universe. This is already shaping up to be among the best games of the current console generation.

Microsoft: Our Bad!

Microsoft hasn’t been making many friends over the past few weeks. With the unveiling of the Xbox One, the company boldly admitted that the new system will not only place restrictions on the trading and buying of used games, but will require users to sign in to Xbox Live at least once a day to play their titles. These prohibitive features of the new console spurred many longtime Xbox loyalists to pronounce their early allegiance to the PlayStation 4, which debuted last week at E3. Meanwhile, Sony’s next-gen console promises to place no such restrictions on gamers, and was announced at a $399 price point — $100 less than Microsoft’s forthcoming system.

Given the uproariously negative response to the Xbox One, the folks in The House That Bill Gates Built have now reversed their prior decisions regarding digital rights management (DRM), and have done away with the previously announced online requirements.

“We appreciate your passion, support and willingness to challenge the assumptions of digital licensing and connectivity,” said Dan Mattrick, Microsoft’s President of Interactive Entertainment Business. “While we believe that the majority of people will play games online and access the cloud for both games and entertainment, we will give consumers the choice of both physical and digital content. We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds.”

But is this knee-jerk reaction to the harsh criticism of Microsoft’s policies truly enough to sway gamers who have already decided to join the Sony camp this fall? Regardless, Microsoft’s backtracking at least evens the odds enough to let us focus on what really matters when the warring systems hit shelves this coming holiday season: the games themselves.

Oh, Xbox One ...

One of the biggest conversations among gamers during E3 this week is the battle between Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4. More accurately, those  discussions have centered on the fact that Sony scored the easiest victory in the latest console war on Monday. Its winning strategy? Not screwing up its PS4 reveal. I hope Microsoft was taking notes.

By offering users the opportunity to swap games freely and purchase used titles without restrictions—revealed to be impossibilities for owners of Microsoft’s new device—Sony won over no small amount of Xbox loyalists. The fact that Sony’s new system will cost $100 less than Microsoft’s certainly helped matters.

I’ve been a proud Microsoft gamer since the summer of 2003, when the release of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic inspired me to purchase the original Xbox. Over the years, and with the release of the exceptional Xbox 360, I’ve grown to love many of Microsoft’s exclusive franchises like Halo and Gears of War, never once feeling the urge to hop the fence and see what the PS3 had to offer.

Consider that fence hopped. With the PS4, I’m a PlayStation guy.

Between the aforementioned restrictions to the inherent creepiness of having the Kinect camera on at all times to the system’s reported need to connect to the Internet every 24 hours, I just don’t see the value in supporting the Xbox One at this time. Hopefully, Microsoft resolves the glaring issues with its new console, if only to level the playing field before both systems hit retail this fall. Right now, it’s looking like a landslide.