Although tantalising tit-bits and teasing half-facts surrounding Battlefront have been circulating for quite sometime, the game and its specifics were previously unconfirmed. Until today, that is: as Lucasarts' official press release confirms this potentially massive title.

Battlefront appears to owe quite some homage to 1942, and is currently being developed for the PC, and by Pandemic. Apparently, the game's appropriately epic scope will cover all Star Wars eras touched upon in the movies, and will enable players to recreate many of the famous battles waged in the Star Wars universe.

Planets forming a back-drop to the open-ended include Hoth, Geonosis, Yavin, Tatooine and Naboo, with fifteen environs across ten planets in total. Combat will be divided between four conflicting factions: Rebel Alliance, Imperial Army, Clone Army and Droid Army, with players having the option of selecting from twenty classes of soldier.

Of course, it wouldn't be Star Wars without an array of outlandish craft to pilot and fight, and as such, AT-STs, X-wings and speeder bikes will all feature from a total of fifteen vehicles available. Naturally, different soldiers will also have unique skills and abilities, whilst battlefield gun turrets and the like can also be manned.

Battlefront will be playable via and PS2 Online (up to sixteen players), and on a over the internet (for up to thirty-two players). Console LAN games will also support thirty-two combatants, whilst PC LAN games will allow a whopping sixty-four. Voice communications will also be encouraged on all formats.

Although the focus will clearly be firmly upon multiplay and a multiplayer 'style' of play, a singleplayer campaign will also be available, and also a new 'Conquest' mode will be featured - which will give successful players combat-bonuses for planets captured, powering them towards total Galactic control. Lucasarts apparently plan to publish the game in the autumn on the formats mentioned.

By Luke Guttridge