Upon its initial launch in 2004, Star Wars: Battlefront gave Star Wars fans the ability to wage massive Star Wars battles with any of the major factions from the movies across many major battle locations from both the prequels and the original trilogy. Battlefront II built on that model even further, adding playable Jedi, space battles, and a variety of game types.
The improvement between games, needless to say, had fans excited for what Battlefront III would have in store, but the game was unfortunately cancelled before release. It wasn’t until after Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm and the shuttering of LucasArts that a Battlefront reboot was announced, to be developed by EA DICE.
While all the individual pieces of the resulting Star Wars Battlefront are great, many fans have complained that it feels like an incomplete game. The game had a dearth of features and content when compared to Battlefront II, and much of the new content came as highly priced DLC. The lack of a campaign/story mode even drew criticism from Finn actor John Boyega and Rogue One writer Gary Whitta:
@EAStarWars Will fans get a full on offline story mode? It's more of an enjoyable way to learn controls.— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) March 2, 2016
I’m more inclined to just wait for Battlefront 2 where there’s an actual story. https://t.co/zbR48h7w8u— Gary Whitta? (@garywhitta) January 20, 2017
Even so, the promising gameplay and excellent graphics of the new Battlefront made it one of the best selling Star Wars games ever, and many gamers are still excited for the potential of Battlefront 2, crossing their fingers that the added content promised by EA will be sufficient. It even came in at #3 in Screen Rant's 30 Most Anticipated Games of 2017.
As reported by GameSpot, recent comments by Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson should have fans even more excited. During a recent EA earnings call, Wilson said the game will be much “bigger,” confirmed the inclusion of a single-player campaign, and suggested content from “multiple Star Wars eras” would be included.
It’s true that some fans prefer the original trilogy over what the prequels have to offer, but the exclusion of any prequel era factions at all, which were all available in Battlefront II, made it feel like the game included only a piece of Star Wars. It’s not clear if Wilson’s “multiple eras” will extend back to the prequels, forward to the sequels, or both, but a complete Battlefront game would ideally have at least 6 factions: Republic, Separatists, Rebels, Empire, New Republic/Resistance, and First Order, along with maps from each era.
Obviously any talk of additional content comes with concerns over expensive DLC, something with which EA doesn’t have the best track record. Ideally, the content making Battlefront 2 “bigger” doesn’t also mean a bigger chunk out of gamer’s wallets. Regardless, fans will likely flock to the game upon launch. Hopefully it’s something more gamers are eager to sink their teeth into past the initial launch.
Next: The 30 Most Anticipated Video Games of 2017
The Battlefront sequel is in development and set for a 2017 release date, Star Wars: Battlefront is currently available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Source: GameSpot