The Never Ending Disappointment of Star Wars Battlefront

Eight months ago we finally received a new Star Wars Battlefront game. The anticipation was just about as intense as I have seen when it comes to new video games.

I can remember other big video game releases in which it seemed like everyone was beyond excited for its eventual arrival.

Unfortunately, when the game dropped the enthusiasm would inevitably follow as over time more of us began to realize how disappointing the gameplay was.

As it has been mentioned a million times Battlefront is a carbon copy of Battlefield.

The lives of the characters are expendable, there’s no real strategy to playing and luck seems to be more valuable than skill.

What’s even more maddening is I believe Battlefield games are 10x better than Battlefront!

The fact that the environment is in play as in some buildings and other materials are capable of being leveled is fantastic.

In the world of Star Wars Battlefront, you shoot a powerful rocket launcher at small crates and nothing happens besides a small little black mark.

In Battlefield you get the fantastic option of customizing your weapon’s add-ons to increase its power. In Battlefront whatcha got is what ya got…

Not to mention the fact that Battlefront was released with four maps!

To be fair, the expansion packs have been very entertaining and interesting to say the least but you know what? You had to dish out some serious dough for that! Not cool!

Just look at this graphic as this version of Battlefront is compared with the old one…

How ridiculous and offensive is that? The obnoxiousness is endless!

Maybe one of my biggest gripes with Battlefront is the fact that there are so many useless game modes.

The way I see it, if it’s not supremacy, sabotage, occasional walker assault and once in a blue moon fighter squadron, it’s not worth playing.

It’s also pretty clear that the original blueprints for Battlefront as in games one and two that were released in ’05 and ’06 were consulted for about 10 minutes…

What irks me too is the changing of the way bases are captured.

In the old days of Battlefront, the game would start and you could immediately go after your opponent’s main base. Not only was it more difficult and took longer to convert to one of your own but if you did complete the task of taking the base, you would have a serious advantage.

This game gives you one option: one base at a time…

Awful. God awful.

The creativity, the strategy and the free-flowing play all went out the window.

This version of Star Wars Battlefront has about only one advantage on the old ones and that’s graphics and sounds.

There’s no denying the stunning aesthetics of this game. The colors are vibrant, the explosions are epic and the sounds throughout the game are very impressive.

But besides that, I honestly can’t think of much more they got right.

Okay maybe the additions of new hero and villain characters such as Dengar, Nien Nunb, Greedo and Lando are awesome, I won’t deny that.

But man, DICE really dropped the ball on this one.

As the DLC continues to be released, I find myself constantly thinking “will they just change the game to the old one already?”

I know I’m slightly ranting here but I also find it mind-numbing that the old school classic look of the scoring bar was taken out completely.

It was so simple yet so effective and perfect. The system now with just bases and time is played out.

I also think some of the Hutt contracts are useless and too difficult to get.

The quest you must endure to unlock some of these items are painstakingly annoying!

I just want to unlock new guns and use them in the heat of battle, not randomly throw smoke grenades or kill an enemy as I’m standing in this specific area or something.

It takes away from the overall idea of you’re playing the video game for fun and not a contest to win.

What separated the new and the old Battlefront games in my eyes however is the fact that one had a form of a story mode or a player vs computer ability as the newer one had an extremely repetitive and boring survival mode.

The recently added game mode of skirmish is severely lacking. It seems that even when DICE goes to fix its problems they still can’t get things right.

For example, I played skirmish walker assault last night and you know what happened? I got the hero icon right away and played as Nien Nunb…I ended up surviving the entire game and going 189 and 0…

You might say that sounds fun and maybe it was at first but you know what? It was pathetically boring.

I guess what I’m trying to say is Battlefront I and II were 10/10 games for me and so many others. This new Battlefront, even with the updates is so weak and seems to stay on the same level of disappointing.

It’s way too one dimensional as it’s lacking so much material that was there over 10 years ago!

They could have simply taken the old game, upgraded the graphics and added some characters and boom! All would be good.

Another crazy mishap that Battlefront boasts is the restrictions of having original trilogy-based characters only…

Now I understand that supposedly DICE was not granted permission to use Episode VII characters but what happened to the prequel heroes and villains!?

It’s well documented that many Star Wars fans took exception to Episodes I-III (which is crazy in itself) but the characters in those movies are epic and deserve to be everywhere.

From Darth Maul and General Grievous to Plo Koon and Mace Windu, it’s painful to not see them in this game.

Just spoof up the graphics and let the awesomeness commence!

As for now, I guess we’ll just have to settle for what we’ve got: a mediocre moneymaker that has the title of “Star Wars” on it.

I’ve always been an eternal optimist but in this case it’s pretty difficult.

Here’s to better games in the future! Please!

-Sith Pacify out

 

 

 

 

 

 

What To Expect In The New Rogue One Trailer

With the Star Wars Celebration taking place in London this week, we will get another look at Rogue One.

This Friday on ABC a one hour special titled  “Secrets of the Force Awakens” will air and at some point in that broadcast we will get a look at the next Rogue One trailer.

But what will we see?

Besides the storyline of Resistance efforts to steal the Empire’s plans for the Death Star, there’s very little known on what exactly we can expect.

The first trailer gave us some epic shots of awesomeness and some new characters, but besides that we’re still very much in the dark.

Before I continue I want to first say that Disney is the absolute best at keeping movie details under wraps until the films are released.

For instance, with The Force Awakens we all had no clue what was going to happen.

I would expect the same with RO.

Before you start to think of what will be seen in the next trailer, it’s important to see the parallels with TFA.

The second TFA trailer was released last in April 2015 during the Star Wars celebration in California.

As you can see, the trailer had almost nothing of substance.

Normally I would suggest the same thing will occur with RO’s next trailer but you know what? I don’t think that’s the case.

With the TFA, things were different. We all knew the six Star Wars movies like the back of our hands.

We were searching and craving for any little snippet of picture time that showcased our favorite characters and vigorously searched far and wide for any plot twists.

That’s exactly why the trailers for the movie were so vanilla. They were released knowing that the public would eat up anything Star Wars related.

But as I said earlier with RO, there’s very little known information on what is to come.

That brings me to my next point. Because there’s a real lack of knowledge, I fully expect to see something mind blowing, something that we will be talking about for months to come.

What could that exactly be?Maybe more screen time for the man in the white cape?  What about a demonstration of sheer might from the Empire? Or maybe an appearance of Darth Vader!?

All of these possibilities would be pretty epic but the last one is what I’m hoping for.

But on the realistic side of things I’m not sure exactly if that would really happen.

Would it make sense for RO to show their biggest and most popular character in only the second trailer?

Honestly I’m not sure.

With TFA, probably the biggest takeaway was the deformed helmet of Darth Vader and the hearing of Luke’s voice.

Looking back that was pretty major considering Kylo Ren is Luke’s nephew and the second trailer clearly foreshadowed that pretty big nugget with Luke’s line of “The Force is strong in my family.”

It’s almost a sure bet we will see something similar in this trailer with RO considering that Disney is very high on symmetry.

But think about it. What else do you want to see in RO that has not been mentioned before.

I know what I would want and that’s an appearance of the Emperor.

It would definitely make sense. With the amount of resources the Empire sunk into the Death Star and the amount of importance it holds for them, you would expect the top man to be around right?

I do believe Palpatine will be in RO but my one concern is I’m not sure if he will be in the second trailer or even the third.

It might be showing your cards too early and when it comes to Star Wars, rookie mistakes like that are never made.

You ever see a trailer for a movie like a Marvel Comics superhero flick where it feels like it’s 35 minutes long and by the time it’s over you’re almost under the impression that you just saw all the good parts??

Yea well Star Wars doesn’t have that ridiculousness…

Star Wars decision makers do it right and something they are absolutely famous for is not revealing anything too important.

I do believe RO is a different animal because it is so new but I wouldn’t be that surprised if we do see something pretty spectacular in the trailer since I’m sure they’re wanting to build up the buzz.

In the end, what will we see?

Main characters of other previous films? Possibly.

Parts of intense fighting scenes? Probably.

Could their be some hints leading to something major? I fully expect it.

 

All I know is I’m excited for Friday.

RO will be fantastic and I just can’t wait to learn more.

-Sith Pacify out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Significance Of The Empire’s Depiction In Rogue One

On this day of independence, we as Americans reflect on what it means to be free from oppression and injustice.

With that being said, today got me thinking about the Empire and how their portrayal in Rogue One should play out.

For starters, Rogue One is supposed to have a much darker look to it compared to the past seven Star Wars films.

Now understand this: We know of the Empire to be overbearing, controlling, cruel and manipulative.

But besides some scenes like Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru’s death and the obliteration of Alderaan, we have seen relatively few depictions of the Empire’s oppressive nature.

RO should change that. Right from the start we need to see the decimation of civilians, of the common folk.

So far in all films we’ve seen military targets and Rebel Alliance members in the cross hairs of the Empire, but where’s the foul treatment to the everyday people?

Star Wars Rebels did a fantastic job in showing what everyday life is like living under the Empire.

But to see it on the big screen? Now that would be spectacular.

You might be asking yourself, “Who cares? What does it matter how the people of the land get treated.”

Well, it’s important and I’ll tell you why.

First, horrid treatment and oppressive regimes always build up enough anger and hatred amongst the people that actions are taken.

We know what the end result is in Star Wars of course but the beginning is so vital for the story because it shows us how cruelty and blatant greed emanating from a crooked government did them in in the end.

Second, we get to see why the war between the Empire and the Rebels started.

Of course we know why, I mean it’s a state bred on fear within the Empire!

But we will get to see the incidences on a small level. The local injustices, those who lost their land just because some governing Moff wanted more property or a village shot up and burned down because they didn’t accept the totalitarian rule.

Lastly, the response of the state.

With the news of Darth Vader returning, we have our executioner.

The Grand Moff Tarkin once said  “We will crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke.”

The parallels between this line and the image of Vader’s lightsaber flashing as he cuts down Rebel after terrified Rebel are very telling.

You see, the Empire doesn’t play any games.

Sure they don’t want people to see them as they absolutely cripple their enemies with sheer brute force but you know what? This is their world, we’re just living in it.

RO must show this side of The Empire.

It is so very key that we see the crushing hatred of the Empire spewing out and being forced upon all who live under their reign.

We also must see The Empire as an unstoppable force mutilating the enemy. 

These two ingredients will make RO a special movie.

Let’s take the political correctness out of Star Wars and let’s show what happens when a band of Rebels steps up against tyranny of a fire-breathing monster in The Empire.

-Sith Pacify out