Star Wars games trailed off in quality during the 32-bit era, with the likes of Jedi Power Battles, Demolition, Masters of Teräs Käsi, and the Phantom Menace tie-in failing to offer more than a couple hours of entertainment for even the biggest of Star Wars fans. A couple of these duds even spilt over to the Dreamcast. By the time the next console generation arrived, it was clear the bar had to be raised. Budgets were skyrocketing and standards were higher. Pandemic’s Battlefront games were arguably the pinnacle of this new era, bringing large-scale battles to the PC, PS2, and Xbox.
Battlefront Classic Collection brings together the 2004 original and its 2005 sequel, both of which tie heavily into the prequel trilogy, pitting Battle Droids against Clone Troopers and even featuring FMV clips from The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. It’s the latest in a long line of re-releases from Aspyr, and one that has been requested for ages. PS2 and Xbox owners poured hours into these games, relishing their open maps and non-linear nature. These two offered vastly different experiences to the single player Star Wars tie-ins we were used to, with even EA’s modern Battlefronts re-using the blueprint – and as recently as 2017.
Unlike the recent Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster from Nightdive, which saw a significant overhaul, this is more of a straightforward re-release. The textures are (mostly) sharper, the Hero Assault mode has been bolstered with new planets, and bonus content such as Jabba’s Palace has been re-added. Online play supports 64 players, and it’s possible to create private matches. Underneath the freshly buffed visuals, it’s still the same twenty-odd year old game, down to the outdated control scheme and occasionally problematic AI. If you’re playing on Xbox and own the originals, this may be a hard sell considering both are backwards compatible.
None of the basics have been brought up to modern standards, such as introducing aiming down sights and inverted controls. I was surprised to find that it’s impossible to crouch or go-prone. Instead of a radial wheel, the RB/LB buttons are used to cycle through weapons and items, which takes time to (re)acquaint with – and only BFII allows for custom control schemes. It’s possible to switch between first and third person though, which is something absent in many of today’s shooters, and in the original BF commands can be issued to the squad, which they’re quick to obey. “Roger!”
Indeed, the AI of your teammates and the opposing force is fascinating, although for reasons good and bad. Witnessing dozens of droids and troopers battling for a capture point remains a spectacle – one all the more amazing considering the game’s age. They go in all guns ablaze, throwing grenades, dropping ammo packs, and clambering into vehicles. However, it isn’t long until something shatters the illusion of a turbulent full-scale assault, with characters sometimes found glued to the spot while juddering, and vehicles spawning out of thin air. As a battle draws to a close, usually when there are just stragglers to mop up, things become eerily quiet too. Seeing enemies magically appear in front of you as you try to take the final capture point is a common occurrence, and at one point I kept being spawned in a small room where Mace Windu was hacking up rebels the moment they spawned.
It’s easy to tell that the two games were only a year apart, as there aren’t many differences in AI or mechanics between them. The presentation and UI and BFII are slicker, weaving FMV into the menus, and the main campaign has unique objectives instead of playing like a long succession of solo battles. There’s enjoyment to be had here, with a beach landing scene still feeling dramatic, and tense battles where victory isn’t always a given. This campaign – viewed from the Dark Side perspective – does have some difficulty spikes though, including an infuriating mission to protect a library from rampaging Jedi.
They’re oddly nostalgic experiences too, focusing heavily on the Clone Wars and with such characters as Mace Windu, General Grievous, and wispy-haired CGI Yoda prominent. The original Battlefront begins with a mission to wipe out a Gungan army, seemingly a cheeky nod to how disliked Jar Jar Binks was at the time. Unlike today’s live service landscape, these are fully fledged, complete, games as well – Battlefront has two campaigns, the strategic planet hopping Galactic Conquest mode, two player-split screen, and the Instant Action mode with a long list of maps. BFII has split-screen and Instant Action too, the deeper Rise of the Empire campaign, and the expanded Galactic Conquest mode. Hero Assault allows for some unlikely battles, with Darth Vader, Anakin, and Daul Maul duking it out. I also found it neat that dogfighting sections can be skipped in BFII, should you prefer your boots to remain on the ground.
This leaves us with the online multiplayer modes. On launch day things were close to unplayable, constantly exiting to the dash. A few days later, the servers were far more stable – I could search for games, host, spectate, and join in mid-battle. A few irregularities still crept in, such as vehicles juddering, but I was able to play through a string of matches – usually occupied by half human, half AI players. But it’s also here the game’s age shows the worst, with painfully slow weapon reloading, grenades that feel ineffective, vehicles that take dozens of missile launcher shots to destroy, and enemies that blur into muddy backgrounds. At the same time, battles showcase just the right level of chaos – Pandemic knew their stuff when it came to large battlegrounds, later responsible for Mercenaries and Destroy All Humans. In an ideal world, they’d still be around, making these kind of games.
As I explored each mode, seeing what Pandemic was able to create on the humble PS2 and Xbox in what was likely a short timeframe, I felt as if Aspyr should have gone all-in with this re-release and made it a ‘big one’ – the one they’ve been building up to, ever since their reissues began. In the end, it doesn’t feel like it has had any more effort or thought put into it than the likes of their Episode I – Racer and Republic Commando re-releases, being just another product to tick off a list. I can’t see long time fans investing as many hours into this as they did on PS2 and Xbox back in their heyday. Perhaps things have moved too far along. Perhaps the bar for remasters has reached a new high, partly thanks to Nightdive. Perhaps it’s a bit of both.
Aspyr’s Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection is available now on consoles and PC.