A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was once a Star Wars sub-franchise beloved by fans. In a landscape filled with games that made you feel like a Jedi, Commando or Bounty Hunter, onlyStar Wars: Battlefrontput players in the shoes of an ordinary soldier. Developed by Pandemic Studios,Star Wars: Battlefrontand its sequel,Star Wars: Battlefront II, wereBattlefield-likegames that tasked players with playing as generic soldiers and conquering/saving the galaxy. Fun and beloved, especially the second, the classic games have received the port treatment to modern hardware courtesy of Aspyr. Does theStar Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectiondeliver an unparalleled Star Wars multiplayer experience or is this collection just a nostalgia trap?
Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectionpackages together the entirety ofStar Wars: Battlefront (2004)andStar Wars: Battlefront II (2005). Players can expect both games' campaigns, all base content and game modes, and some previously Xbox-exclusive DLC. Overall, the collection does its main job of providing enough content on paper for players to recreate battles from the first six Star Wars films.
What’s in it for Solo Players?
Star Wars: Battlefrontfeatures campaigns from both the Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War eras, but don’t go in expecting much storytelling. You’ll play through crucial moments like the Trade Federation’s battle with the Gungans, the Battle of Geonosis, the assault on Hoth and the climactic Battle of Endor. With no cohesive plot thread,Star Wars: Battlefrontis more of a collection of famous battles.
Star Wars: Battlefront II, however, is more ambitious with its campaign. Telling the story of the 501st Legion, the campaign focuses on the final days of the Republic and up to the Empire’s assault on Hoth. It’s a more personal tale that better explores unseen parts of the now Legends Star Wars mythos. You’ll participate in iconic battles like the sacking of the Jedi Temple, taking down General Grievous on Utapau, and attempting to take back the Death Star plans on Tantive IV, but also battle Acklay on Felucia, put down a clone rebellion on Kamino and get revenge for the destruction of the Death Star.
Review: Star Wars Battlefront II
Star Wars Battlefront II is the epitome of taking a step forward, shooting yourself in the foot and then falling backwards in pain.
Neither campaign is overly long nor tells much of a story, yet the gameplay is enjoyable enough, and the missions are short enough to speed through both quickly. There is one major problem withStar Wars: Battlefront II’scampaign, though: half the cutscenes are missing. Every outro cutscene is missing from the collection and has not been addressed by Aspyr as of publication (Reviewer’s Note: As of 3/19, Aspyr has patched the missing cutscenes back into the PC version).
From a content perspective, the rest of the single-player package is meaty. Instant Action allows you to play any map against AI, pick and choose from a handful of game modes, apply various modifiers and just have fun taking down bots. Then there’s the beloved Galactic Conquest mode, where players go on a strategic conquest to control the galaxy. All modes can be played cooperatively with a friend, which is excellent, but the game only allows for two-player split-screen, a downgrade from the original Xbox’s four-player split-screen offering. Considering the original Xbox version is playable via backwards compatibility, this is a significant downgrade for Xbox players.
Ports, not remasters
Make no mistake, theStar Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectionis not a remaster of the original two Star Wars: Battlefrontgames. Instead, these are ports of the original games with all post-release content included alongside quality-of-life changes, including Trophies and Achievements. There are nice changes available in this collection. The ability to fully remap the controls, including additional units on the larger maps, the expansion of Heros vs. Villains to all maps and the bump to 64 players in multiplayer on consoles are all appreciated additions. BothBattlefronttitles provide fun experiences, and it’s enjoyable to hop into a game that doesn’t feel hampered by overly complicated progression, battle passes or engagement-focused systems.
BothBattlefrontgames remain products of their era in many ways, though. Characters maneuver like a bull in a China shop, the oversensitive lock-on and aim assist feel unnecessary on today’s gamepads and the horrendous AI fluctuates inconsistently between brain dead and ruthless, a problem that manifests heavily in multiplayer. Considering how much love and attention went into building modern controls, creating new features like a lock-on system and more forTomb Raider I-III Remastered, which Aspyr also handled, the quality-of-life improvements inStar Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectionare disappointing.
Multiplayer has been a mixed bag. All the same maps, game modes and heroes present in Instant Action are here, making for a healthy and diverse experience. The real issue lies with the server issues plaguing the game. While the PS5 version is nowhere near as bad as the PC version reportedly is, the collection still has its fair share of issues. Aside from general bugs, server stability and unbalanced lobbies are the top issues, a problem made more abundant due to the awful AI bots that fill the missing players' roles. When everything works,Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectionis a blast from the past; it just rarely works as advertised.
Minimal upgrades, especially for Xbox and PC players
As direct ports,Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectionfeatures minimal upgrades to both presentations. While all assets have been upscaled to 4K, no new or upgraded models or textures are present in the collection. The games look better than their original console counterparts on PS2 and the original Xbox, but the results are still disappointing compared to what modders have been able to do over the years. Clocking in at almost 60GB on PS5, the presentation does little to justify the massive file size.
Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectioncosts $34.99, which is a pretty good price for two classic games, but as simple ports, the price is hard to justify on specific platforms. The collection makes the most sense for PlayStation and Switch players since there’s no playable version of these games on PS5, PS4 or Switch. It’s much more challenging on Xbox, however, given that the backwards compatible Xbox OG version is available at discounted pricing with fewer issues and all content included. On PC, it’s impossible to recommend this version as bothBattlefrontgames are available at lower prices and come with a healthy modding community that’s released mods featuring remastered visuals, new hero units, new playable units, new maps and more. This all makesStar Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectiona tough sell outside of PlayStation and Switch.
Closing Comments:
The Star Wars: Battlefront franchise has been through the wringer for almost two decades. Not only have we been denied a Star Wars Battlefront III twice, but fans have also had to live through genuinely rough launches. Unfortunately,Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectionis yet another rough launch. What should have been an easy win on paper is regrettably hampered by technical issues, of-the-era design decisions that impact the experience today and a lack of significant updates.Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectionis a straight-up port whose simplicity would be charming if not for the technical issues or the wide availability of the original games without these issues on Xbox and PC, with the latter getting the remaster treatment via mods. At their core, bothStar Wars: BattlefrontandStar Wars: Battlefront IIremain fun to play even with the remaining jank from the era; it’s just unfortunate that the collection they’re in lacks polish.Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectionscratches that nostalgia itch but doesn’t elevate itself beyond that.
