From PS2 to PlayStation Portable to PS4, Star Wars Battlefront has been my go to shooter series for 20 years. And I thought it would be fun to take a look back at my history with the series. From Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2 on the PS2, to Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron and Elite on the PSP, to the disappointments that was EA's attempt at a reboot, and the less disappointing re-release on Switch.
00:00 Intro
00:21 Looking Back at the Series
01:01 Star Wars Battlefront 1
03:07 Star Wars Battlefront 2
04:45 Why there was no Battlefront 3
05:13 Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron
06:46 Star Wars Battlefront 2 (PSP)
07:06 Star Wars Battlefront Elite Squadron
08:04 Selling out of Star Wars to Disney and EA
09:11 EA's Star Wars Battlefront 1
10:35 EA's Star Wars Battlefront 2
13:58 Looking forward with the series
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#starwarsbattlefront2 #starwars #starwarsbattlefront #starwarsbattlefrontclassiccollection #playstation #xbox #nintendo
00:00 Intro
00:21 Looking Back at the Series
01:01 Star Wars Battlefront 1
03:07 Star Wars Battlefront 2
04:45 Why there was no Battlefront 3
05:13 Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron
06:46 Star Wars Battlefront 2 (PSP)
07:06 Star Wars Battlefront Elite Squadron
08:04 Selling out of Star Wars to Disney and EA
09:11 EA's Star Wars Battlefront 1
10:35 EA's Star Wars Battlefront 2
13:58 Looking forward with the series
~~~External Links~~~
Web Site - http://16bitvirtualstudios.com/
16 Bit Store - http://www.16bitstore.com
16 Bit Games - http://16bitvirtualstudios.com/Games
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/16bitvirtual/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/16bitvirtual
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/16bitvirtual/
#starwarsbattlefront2 #starwars #starwarsbattlefront #starwarsbattlefrontclassiccollection #playstation #xbox #nintendo
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GamingTranscript
00:23What I can remember the most about the rise and fall of Star Wars Battlefront was just
00:29how impactful and influential it was for me.
00:32From the joys of flying in X-Wing for the first time over the sands of Tatooine, to the annoyance
00:38and frustration of dealing with loot boxes and the insistent calls for microtransactions.
00:44From Playstation to Portable to PC and back, I don't think I've ever been on a more turbulent
00:50ride, nor one as nostalgic.
01:04I was new to Star Wars by the time I first laid eyes on Battlefront.
01:08I had just started seeing the original trilogy on DVD and the LEGO games on my DS.
01:14Things were a lot different back then.
01:16One could simply borrow a game from a local store for a pittance if they didn't have much
01:20money instead of insistently refreshing Steam for a sale.
01:25I got into a lot of games I loved this way, from Madagascar to Star Wars Episode 3.
01:31And it was at my local town and country video where my sister found a Star Wars game I had
01:37yet to play.
01:38It adorned a Stormtrooper with the tagline, Live the Battles, on the back.
01:43I remember not being entirely thrilled at the game's suggestion.
01:47But as I had nothing else to choose, I picked it up anyways.
01:52I was more used to the narrative-driven platformers popular at the time, so I couldn't imagine
01:58what kind of game that this might have been.
02:01But when I popped it into my Playstation 2's disc drive and started up a campaign, well,
02:06it was like a whole new world was opened up for me.
02:09This wasn't a linear platformer where you had to go down a set path.
02:14Nah.
02:15Battlefront was completely open-ended.
02:17The map was your domain.
02:19You got to go anywhere, do anything, blast everything along the way.
02:24Battlefront was so much more than what I could have ever imagined it being, and I loved it.
02:29Sure, it had flaws.
02:31Galactic Conquest was boring and the campaign was a slog, instead of a few select mission-blasting
02:37gungans, but instant action and split-screen multiplayer are all but made up for it.
02:43The only issue I couldn't forgive from the original Battlefront was the fact that it made
02:48me want more of it, which I got not too long after, when we visited a nearby city that had
02:55an EB Games.
02:56My brother, who also enjoyed Battlefront at the time, found Battlefront 2 amongst its used
03:01titles.
03:02From what I can recall, got it for a good price.
03:08Now, if you were ever looking for a textbook definition of a good sequel, this is your game.
03:15The core of the gameplay was barely touched, and in return, a slew of new gameplay modes
03:20and features were added to make the overall experience feel complete.
03:24Galactic Conquest was the major update, now a long drawn out board game where you faced
03:31off your opponent in the ground or in space.
03:35Space battles were also new to the series, a nuisance for some, but for me was the cherry
03:40on top of this delicious cake.
03:43Taking down capital ships and exploring them felt like a dream come true.
03:47Then, there was the slew of new balance, tweaks and shiny new toys added everywhere, which
03:54made the game feel as tight as a drum.
03:57As I grew more and more accustomed to this third person shooter, I didn't realize how much
04:02was changed until I went back to the first Battlefront, and desperately wished that there
04:07was a sprint button, or the dodgeball wasn't mapped to the jump button.
04:11But I always loved both games, they each had their strengths, like how in Battlefront 1 you
04:16can fly a starfighter on the ground maps, while in Battlefront 2 they were locked up in space.
04:22So I always jumped between the two depending on which maps I wanted to play, or which type
04:28of clone trooper I wanted to play as.
04:31I was content with the content on offer, but there were a few improvements I wanted, a bit
04:37more customization here, and more maps there, but I could always wait for Battlefront 3.
04:48While the Star Wars Battlefront 3 was in the work, sadly the jump from the sixth generation
04:54of console to the seventh laid waste to a lot of good game studios, pandemic being one
05:00of them, being acquired by EA and eventually shutting down in 2009.
05:06But I always still held hope that one day the game would eventually come out.
05:12But to me, the next game in the Battlefront series came to my attention when I was browsing
05:18the local Toys R Us when I saw a new portable game console with a familiar logo on the box.
05:26Up to that point, I had never heard of this portable PlayStation before, and yet, here I
05:32was with the next Star Wars Battlefront game as a pack-in bonus.
05:37You can bet my preteen ass that I begged and pleaded to get this thing, and with the promise
05:42of waiting to Christmas, I eventually did.
05:44My excitement was unquenchable, so much so that I was even getting practice for it in
05:49Battlefront 2 the night before.
05:51But it was on Christmas Day that I finally can play my shiny new PlayStation with my shiny
05:58new Battlefront.
05:59I personally would not call Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron the next title in the mainline
06:04games, but would definitely call it a damn good side game.
06:09Sure, we lost our Battlefield-esque classes, but in this place were customizations I could
06:14only dream of, where I could be a clone Ark Trooper with a shotgun and a jetpack.
06:19The new maps were fun too, though returning maps were severely limited by the PSP's hardware
06:25in the game engine.
06:27Even space battles were a lot of fun.
06:30Sure, it was a bit more hand-holdy, but on such a tiny screen, I'll happily take the assist.
06:36Even the game's story was pretty good.
06:39Sure, it didn't touch the Clone Wars, but it went beyond the 6th movie, which was a luxury
06:44for me at the time.
06:46Over time, I would eventually add the PSP port of Star Wars Battlefront 2 to my game library,
06:53and got the first-hand taste on just how far behind a PSP was in terms of a PS2, especially
07:01with the removal of the main campaign and the loss of a lot of my favorite maps.
07:07But as Battlefront 3 entered development hell and Pandemic Studios inched closer to closure,
07:13the complementary games which were designed for it soon made their way into the wild.
07:19While the PSP port was clearly heavily based off the Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron,
07:24it offered a more complete story mode and some unique maps that really made the game hold
07:29its own.
07:30But I lost too much in terms of feature to get the gimmick of ground the space to work
07:35on a PSP that I find it difficult to return to, at least in comparison to the more complete
07:43package that was Renegade Squadron.
07:45All in all, I liked the Battlefront PSP games, but they only could just keep up with the juggernauts
07:51that was Battlefront 2, which I did return to regularly.
07:54And with no Battlefront 3 in sight, I just waited and hoped that someone else would eventually
08:01pick up the Battlefront mantle.
08:06I didn't know how good I had it back then, with something, anything new, for not just
08:12the Star Wars Battlefront series, but for Star Wars as a whole.
08:15While I did enjoy the various side games the Star Wars license attached to it, LucasArts
08:20wasn't doing so hot.
08:21But with many promised titles and sequels falling below expectations for consumers and sales,
08:29LucasArts soon eventually stopped making games altogether.
08:34So when Disney offered to buy out LucasFilm, I was cautious, and should have been too.
08:40Especially when the now Disney-owned LucasFilm and EA signed a 10-year exclusivity deal, which
08:48should have ushered a new renaissance of Star Wars video games, but instead only extended
08:55the drought.
08:55For years I waited for something to play, but when the only thing that came to offer was
09:01more incomplete Star Wars Lego games, I took a pass and waited until the movies were done,
09:07and TT could finally make the collection game that they wanted to.
09:11So I waited, and in 2015 when EA finally revealed what they were making after all these years,
09:18it turned out to be a brand new Battlefront for the latest systems.
09:23My hopes rose amongst everyone else, as EA's Battlefront didn't just look amazing, it looked
09:30polished too.
09:31And if the game was like any of EA's past Battlefield games, it was going to be a good time.
09:38And the beta made it seem like it was going to be too.
09:42But when the game came out, it wasn't.
09:47What we eventually got was an online-only mess.
09:51No story mode, no offline galactic campaign, and a bare-bones basic training mode.
09:57Flying a spaceship was more trouble than it was worth to even find the random icons on the map,
10:01and with a focus on exclusively the Galactic Civil War, it was a Clone Wars-shaped hole in my heart.
10:08I was just glad I waited to get the game on sale, especially since EA's Battlefront was
10:13slowly patched over its life to improve it.
10:17Basic features we used to get on launch were added to hack in, like the game's main mode,
10:22Walker Assault, was eventually playable offline.
10:25But if I'm honest at this time, I was having more fun playing the PC version of the first
10:30Battlefront than I was trying to fight against the over-leveled guys online.
10:36Looking back, EA's Battlefront should have been a warning for what was to come.
10:40I silently wish I paid more attention to weapon unlock and skin grinds, and the constant push
10:46to spend money on the in-game shop.
10:49But when the next Battlefront game was announced, and I saw both Clone Troopers and First Order
10:54Troopers, I let my excitement get the better of me.
10:57I really did hope that this time it would be better.
11:01That this time it was going to have a story mode, and this time we were going to get a
11:07proper
11:08online and improved online mode, that this time it was going to be good.
11:15But the sense of pride and accomplishment that I felt when I decided to wait a week before
11:21buying the game was just spectacular, and the proverbial beating that EA got when it was
11:29the first time.
11:29It's worked out that a player would take 40 real-world hours to unlock Darth Vader, or
11:35spend an ungodly amount of money for loot crates, was well justified.
11:40But unlike EA's Battlefront, I did get EA's Battlefront 2 when it first went on discount.
11:47And I will say that it was an improvement over the first game, not that it meant much.
11:55Starfighters, when available, were actually fun thanks in small part to Criterion working
12:01on it, and eventually making an entire game based on the mechanics.
12:05The game was much more balanced, and the game modes were more enjoyable with some narrative
12:10elements sprinkled into the Galactic and Starfighter assault maps.
12:15Sure, Blasters felt weaker and less fun, but I never felt this was as one-sided as the last
12:22game.
12:23For all intent and purpose, it felt like EA tried their damnedest to turn Star Wars Battlefront
12:292 into their next money printer.
12:32But when their beatings made its way into the news cycle, they gave up.
12:37And when they did, it felt like the devs were left all alone to fulfill its contractual obligations
12:43with Disney, and the real game finally emerged.
12:48And what resulted was a 4 year long apology letter from the devs and EA's marketing team.
12:56With new game modes, an absolute removal of loot boxes, and the inclusion of more offline
13:02modes.
13:03Plus, all the Clone Wars content a Star Wars nerd could ever dream of.
13:08Supremacy was something I had only expected to see out of a Star Wars Battlefront 3, while
13:14Ewok Hunt was absolutely terrified to play on your first night.
13:18But even then, while EA's Battlefront 2 was the best game which they could have possibly
13:25come out with, with corporate breathing down the developers back, the game was sadly still
13:31flawed.
13:32Sure, the campaign wasn't too bad, but offline game modes are still limited, and most of
13:38the game's narrative is still locked to the online.
13:42And with a very limited amount of replayability, I find when I do wish to return and play the
13:49game again, I quickly put it down when the random map selection isn't the one I wanted
13:56to try.
14:00The saddest thing about EA's exclusivity to the Star Wars license was that it wasn't
14:05just the Battlefront series which suffered.
14:09Single player Star Wars was also dead until EA gave up on Battlefront, which then we finally
14:15got to see something good drip fed to us.
14:19Even then, it's only now that the exclusivity deal is over that we're finally seeing new games
14:25getting released.
14:26Even classic games from the PS2 and 360 era are being re-released and ported over.
14:32And I was hopeful that it was only a matter of time when we would eventually see the first
14:38two Battlefront games remade or re-released on consoles.
14:43After all, when the best selling console of this generation can't even play EA's game,
14:49so why not?
14:52So here we are again, twenty years after it first came out, and from the series' tallest
14:59peaks to its lowest valleys, we're right back where we started.
15:03Blasting clankers on a PS2 game, which is now on a portable handheld hybrid that can actually
15:11go online.
15:13Now, if only someone can go out and make a Battlefront 3.
15:18This is the first Battlefront 2.
15:36Transcription by CastingWords
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