The Star Wars: Battlefront games from Pandemic Studios, a hallmark of the 2000s era, remain cherished classics in the realm of Star Wars gaming. Many still consider them among the finest Star Wars titles ever produced.
I fondly remember playing Star Wars: Battlefront 2 LAN matches in multimedia class, instead of doing school work (I still passed, it’s fine). In my childhood mind, these games were peak Star Wars and I spent many hours losing myself to them.
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The new Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection from Aspyr ports both of these games in a complete package, on all systems, for the first time — I was never more ready to bring peace, freedom, justice and security to the front!
However, are these the Battlefront games we were looking for…?
Rule the Galaxy
If you’ve never played the classic Battlefront series, it boils down to large-scale battles between two factions across various fronts. You can play in first or third person on foot, in vehicles, or in space. Each game offers offline modes like Campaign, Galactic Conquest, and Instant Action, all of which support split-screen play.
The first game’s campaign is a series of conquest matches played between scenes from movies (apart from Revenge of the Sith as it hadn’t been released), each involving capturing points across the map to wipe out the enemy. Its campaign strings together multiple battles, drawing loose inspiration from the classic moments of the Clone Wars or the Galactic Civil War.
The second game’s campaign focuses on the 501st Legion, Anakin’s Clone Trooper Squad during the Rise of the Empire, and it stands out as superior. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 takes the cake with its varied gameplay and a more captivating story.
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The Aspyr Cut?
However, it’s disappointing to find many important cutscenes mysteriously absent. While most have opening scenes, the endings feel lackluster and missions seem unfinished — is it an oversight or a result of Disney’s influence?
Star Wars: Battlefront only offered Conquest Mode, the main game mode played… There were also no space battles! Battlefront 2, however, introduced several new game modes, including Capture the Flag, Hunt (not the Ewoks!), Deathmatch and the iconic Heroes vs Villains mode — and yes, space battles were finally included.
Heroes vs Villains was originally locked to the Mos Eisley, but now it’s been expanded to all ground maps — which is great!
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The Classic Collection also includes characters Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress, originally version exclusives along with the extra maps, such as Jabba’s palace. The XL mode, which sees 100 vs 100 battles has also been added to all versions, originally PC only. Lots of great inclusions overall.
It’s all here, but thanks to several bugs plaguing the release my enjoyment slowly diminished.
Just Like The Simulations (Sort Of)
I started with Battlefront 1, despite desperately wanting to launch directly into the second and more superior title.
Straight out of the gate, there was no sprint… You cannot run! The lack of a sprint option in the first game made me wish they added the second game’s controls in the first, but I guess they’re being faithful. We take little things like this for granted these days.
I quickly moved past this issue, rolling everywhere Dark Souls style, to speed up running from A to B. Before long, I was back in the 00’s blasting Stormtroopers, just like Chewie, from the seat of an AT-ST.
The first game hit me with a wave of nostalgia; the sound effects, animations, and graphics were exactly as I remembered them. The texture upgrade was a visual treat, making everything shine, even on a 4K TV. But alas, the draw distances remained stubbornly unchanged.
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In sprawling levels like Kashyyyk, the pop-in issue was hard to miss. It felt like chunks of the map were missing until you approached closely, disrupting the immersive experience. However, these flaws didn’t ruin my enjoyment. Not even the clunky AI, with allies glued to walls, could diminish my overall experience.
In the end, the first game was a nostalgic trip down memory lane, flaws and all.
Then, I started Battlefront 2…
Not Like The Simulations
The remaster of Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was an improvement on the first in almost every way. Better controls, better modes, better story, and the added rewards system for smart play.
I say almost, as my experience with Battlefront 2 was also marred with bugs. The first thing I noticed was the audio.
Music and sound effects would often play on the wrong speakers (in terms of left and right). Sometimes it would stop entirely, forcing me to restart the game. In one instance, the Cantina music randomly started playing as I was battling on Mustafar, creating a unique atmosphere.
Graphical issues were front and centre, with an entire level turning black, text becoming unreadable and the camera losing itself each time I died on the planet Felucia.
I lost faith in the force quickly, which sucked. When the game worked, it was amazing and everything I remembered loving about this series came rushing back… There’s not much better than cutting down rebel scum as Darth Vader.
It was just draining dealing with an excessive amount of bugs and glitches.
Help me Aspyr, you’re my only hope…
The other big draw for this collection was the addition of online multiplayer, which, during my playtime, proved to be a rather poor experience.
Battlefront 1 didn’t have enough players for any games, a situation not unexpected considering the popularity of its successor. Hoping for a better experience, I transitioned to Battlefront 2, only to find the same issues persisted.
Upon entering an online match, I encountered the familiar audio and visual glitches, alongside persistent rubber-banding. Conquest matches were finished within a couple of minutes, barely enough time to engage in any action.
Whether this was an issue with the server or the game itself was hard to tell.
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Aspyr has since taken to the internet to explain the situation, in a statement they say they “experienced critical errors with our network infrastructure”. It’s still not fixed and you can read the full statement from Aspyr here.
Return of the Battlefronts
All the issues I encountered with the second game are fixable, and I’m hopeful that Aspyr will swiftly address them — it’s truly disappointing for new players. My advice is to hold off buying this game until the game is patched and the servers are sorted.
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Re-releases of old games are becoming more common, giving fans access to their beloved games on current hardware. The recent Tomb Raider remaster had a graphical update, yet left everything else intact. This should be a minimum requirement for these sorts of releases.
Without implementing quality-of-life improvements to enhance controls, menus, and a graphical update to truly make these classics shine — Star Wars: Battlefront Collection feels like a quick port to cash in on nostalgia.
Despite all of its flaws, if Aspyr can sort these issues out, there is a great game here. Maybe I’m being too kind, but let’s hope it does happen and this collection doesn’t end up like the younglings on Coruscant.
Star Wars: Battlefront Collection is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. It retails for a steep $51.
Quest Daily Scores Star Wars: Battlefront Collection:
6/10
A copy of Star Wars: Battlefront Collection was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this review.
