So be it... Jedi.

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Even if you can't get though there's still enjoyment to be had from the title, even if the offline game can't begin to compare to the online experience. You're free to indulge in random battles of your choosing from either era but the most rewarding mode is Galactic Conquest. There's several campaigns on offer allowing you to fight on either side from both the old and new era's with each offering a different selection of planets on which you must fight for control. If you are victorious at the end of the fight then you get to choose which planet to contest next. If you fail, however, the choice will be granted to the enemy. Winning a battle will grant you control of the planet and also give you a reward that's usable in future battles. These vary from boosting your number of troops or sabotaging the enemy's vehicles to increasing your fighter's accuracy or throwing a Jedi hero into the fray. Win enough battles and you're given the option to take one planet out of the running. If you're batting for the Rebels this initiates an uprising that eliminates the Imperial threat. The Empire however simply eliminate the planet by employing the all-powerful Death Star. It may be rather frivolous in comparison to more heavy titles but it's a welcome slant on the proceedings that adds a required level of depth to the solo player experience.

He is as clumsy as he is stupid.

Also praiseworthy is the impressive AI of the CPU bots. In one of the more memorable moments I experienced recently I was camped outside the Speeder bay on Hoth in an AT-ST, dishing out hot laser to any fool daring enough to try and board a vehicle. One canny rebel mounted a laser turret behind me, forcing me to turn to my left to dispatch him. As I was distracted, his courageous ally jumped into a Snowspeeder. Realising that he wouldn't have time to shoot me down before I'd slaughtered more of his pals, he rammed into me at full speed, downing my vehicle and allowing the Rebels to gain control of the command post. His sacrifice for his colleagues was almost touching and certainly technically very impressive.

Then, I was the pupil, now I am the master.

In fact, there are only a couple of things that let the game down and prevent it from becoming an all-time classic. First off, and more importantly, are the almost inevitable online issues. For starters, the crisp frame rate that features in the single player is locked to a maximum 20fps online. If this was steady it wouldn't be a problem but finding a room free from lag can often prove the largest challenge of all. With no regionalised lobby's you often have to scroll down the long game lists to find a room where the ping rate indicator is anything other than a foreboding red. This isn't helped either by the rather counter-intuitive lobby structure and distinctly unwelcome timer that keeps you constantly informed of how long you've been waiting to connect - a minute and a half feels long enough without having to watch a countdown, though in all fairness if you find a room with a good ping then connecting shouldn't take more than a few seconds. Other quibbles such as the lack of voice tags are also annoying and the anonymity does somewhat dampen the feeling of togetherness within your team, making strategic attacking harder than it should be. Also, limiting gameplay to capture-the-flag only does feel like a missed opportunity. Some planets do offer a secondary objective (such as destroying the shield generator on Hoth) but these are in no way connected to success or failure. It's also possible to give out basic commands to your CPU comrades though these often feel relatively pointless and add little to the game on the whole.

The Force is strong in this one.

For the second time this month I'm faced with admitting that a game has won me over thanks to the license. From a technical perspective, despite the very realistic AI there are certainly problems that can often annoy and do detract somewhat from the experience. Though the single player game is good it is rather limited and you might find that the appeal fades quite quickly. In all fairness this sort of game has been done before, and to a higher quality, but if you have even a passing interest in then the real beauty of this title stems from the brilliant way in which it has tapped into the franchise. Levels are filled with references and tiny details pillaged from Lucas's vibrant universe. Tatooine for instance features wandering Tuskans, high-pitched Jawa's, the Saarlac Pit, Jabba's Barge - even the in the Cantina is authentic to the movie. Taun Taun's can be used to race across the icy plains of Hoth and a whole race of Jar Jar's are ripe for slaughter on the fields of Naboo. Take Battlefront online though and despite the lack of gameplay modes, the way in which it offers both excitement and a genuinely enthusiastic recreation of Lucas's universe will keep any fan of the franchise coming back time and time again. have packed every inch of this game with as much Star Wars content as possible and the outcome is a wonderfully vibrant universe that offers delight for the fans at every turn. As a result, it's very rare that you'll finish a night of play without having at least one golden moment to bore your disinterested colleagues at work with the next day. If nothing else, the opportunity to grenade a posse of Ewoks is worth the RRP alone.

84%

By Ben Parfitt