A 'Star Wars: Battlefront' Single Player Campaign Could Have Been Incredible
There’s a trend happening in video games, and I’m not sure if I like it. The first person shooter campaign, once arguably the most important single concept in the video game industry, is getting devalued. We’ve seen prominent games: Titanfall, Evolve, and now Star Wars: Battlefront release as multiplayer only, eschewing the entirety of the offline experience. We’ve seen Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 cut its campaign on Xbox 360 and PS3, an omission made for technical reasons but nonetheless reminding us of a shift in focus on the developer’s part, the idea that you can sell a game without a campaign and still have it be Call of Duty. And we’ve got a broad new slate of multiplayer-only games coming out over the next year, reminding us that this is something publishers and developer alike very much want to happen. for the most part, this is fine: more variety is no problem, over all, and we’ve got lots of great single-player game right now. But nowhere does this hurt more than with Star Wars: Battlefront .
Star Wars: Battlefront is not a bad game. It has a troubling paucity of content, a frustrating upgrade system and an unpleasant focus on DLC, but at it’s core is a remarkable accomplishment: it truly captures the feel of the original Star Wars trilogy in video game form, from John Williams’ score, to the way the blasters operate, to some of the best visuals I’ve seen on consoles. There is something about what DICE has created that feels ineffably Star Wars , and that’s no small feat.
That’s what’s so frustrating about the way the game is set up: that we’ve got this incredible accomplishment of a game world and nothing to do with it. Every time I look at just how lovingly rendered my Storm Trooper is, it makes me think of what an amazing single-player campaign could have been made in this engine. To actually get to stretch out, take your time and nail those epic set pieces without getting blasted by twelve year olds every ten seconds? It could have been incredible.
Single player campaigns are expensive to make, and a lot of players don’t even touch them. It makes sense that the industry is trying to get us used to the idea of living without them. But when I walk out into the forests of Endor, it just makes me think of all the amazing scenarios that could be playing it there, and in places like it, if they weren’t hampered by the constraints of competitive play. EA seems to be planning on running with this Star Wars license as far as it will go, so hopefully we’ll get to scratch that itch soon.
Okay I'll admit it. The first time I played my team mate and I spent as much or more time wondering around looking at the wrecked CR-90, GR-75 transports and watching Star Destroyers crashing. I'm sure others on our team were disappointed by our lack of assistance. But seriously this is the Star Wars universe. Why can't I look around?
P.S. I do get into the thick of it and only did that the first night I played. But I would love to have the ability to just look and/or fly around. That would be awesome!