Star Wars Battlefront 1 (Original from back in the day) versus new Battlefronts

I am amazed by how playable the original Battlefront (from 2004 I think) is. It's such a great game and still plays well over and over. Instant Action, story mode etc. And you can be any soldier at ANY time. And you feel like one of them. Crush the enemy yourself, or with an army behind you.

The new games graphically are outstanding. But given it's 2017, that is to be expected. I kinda feel they should have just called them Star Wars Battlefield and avoided any "Imperial entanglements". Because they don't really continue the Battlefront legacy?

I mean if they remade the originals and upped the graphics, that would be one epic game.

For starters:
1. In the old game (I'm talking about Battlefront 1 which with sprint mode and space would be superior to Battlefront 2 I reckon as the AI in the second was more against the player versus making you feel immersed), you had more troopers active at one time.
2. Maps were large and you had genuinely large battles
3. Battles felt like real war, chaotic and choke points
4. Freedom to do whatever you want - Jump into any vehicle that is unoccupied (friendly or foe) at ANY time and jump out again.
5. Interact with map much better
6. No rails, do what you like whenever you like.
7. Genuinely varied battles - to this day, you can play the same battle 10 times, and have played a different battle.
8. Genuine dread hearing the droideka unfurl, or the Jedi hero running at you.
9. You can order troops to follow etc.
10. So immersive and larger battlefront.

The new game feels too restrictive. Graphics are beyond amazing (I guess someone looking at it in 2027 will not think so, but today it looks good). But:
1. Too many rails
2. No freedom to do what you like
3. NO OFFLINE play?? In the old Battlefront you can do all your coop, multiplayer, and instant acton offline. Not everyone or every country has easy internet for gaming, not to mention you have to pay
4. Unit classes etc make it too complicated and uneven. In the old game, you don't have to earn the right to be a droideka or be a Heavy Duty Trooper.
5. The story mode, was made out to be amazing in the trailer, and kinda disappoints. Where was the peacekeeping Empire resisting an extreme wing emergent First Order?
6. I'm not keen on the voice overs. In the original Battlefront, you pretty much had movie accurate immersion by way of either the actors' or similar sounding voices for the characters. (This is where Battlefront 2 - the old one - messed up by not using the Clone Voice from Episodes 2 and 3). So in the game you had authentic Stormtrooper, Clone Trooper, Droid, Rebel voices. I want to hear someone say "Rebel scum" one day though. But in the new Battlefront, I feel like the OT era is covered, but the Clone Wars era, why did they not use the MOVIE clones? It doesn't feel right. See when you play Star Wars Republic Heroes, and play as the cartoon clones, it fits. But in this game, supposedly to immerse you in the movies, then it is so out of place?

Disappointed in that it feels like you get an incomplete game with less features despite being made almost 15 years later?

The good though is awesome graphics and it's great to have a Star Wars game. But I don't think it should be called Star Wars Battlefront. Call it something else. And please please give us the game that you showed us in the trailer with Iden being a good guy (i.e. taking out Rebel scum). My suggestion would be her fighting an Imperial Civil War against a faction that wants to become the First Order. And the old Empire resisting such uncivilised people.

Anyhow, Battlefront the original rocked! The glory days and what a game, thoughts people?

 

Woahhh anyone?

 

Definitely the originals.

 

Just installed the original Battlefront 1 and 2 on my PC and it's just the best

 

I know right? If they just restored Battlefront I (2004) with 2018 graphics, ULTIMATE GAME!!

They are so re-playable and you get a different battle every time.

Battlefront I was and remains epic. It's honestly incredibly immersive right?

 

I played the original game once, years after it was released when I was in a Star Wars mood and looking to catch up on a game I had missed. Which is to say that I hold no nostalgia for this game at all. I didn't think much of it. The graphics looked bad obviously, but I found the gameplay to be shallow and unremarkable. What I do remember of it was that there was very little weight to the animations or movement. Lots of this bizarre and unrealistic left and right strafing. Everything's done at this sort of hyperspeed, seemingly to make it feel more fast paced and exciting.

 

The originals, while not perfect, have one major factor that neither BF 2015, or BF 2017 managed to include.

FUN!

The new games lack fun. Never once was I frustrated or angry playing either original BF game. I can not say the same for the "sequels."

 

Gungan Hunt in Theed.

Jar-Jars Vs. Battle Droids

Jar-Jars have 20 grenades each.

Chaos.

 

I loved having your own solo battles in instant action on full maps. The ones in Battlefront II are on small maps and just not very fun.

 

The original Battlefront 2 is my all time favourite game and I still plug the PS2 back in and play it sometimes, though my copy has gotten a bit scratched over the years so the music goes a bit weird on it. I still like the new games but they just can't compare to the Pandemic ones. Then again though it's also worth pointing out that the originals also have the nostalgia factor and memories for me and most people that played them, so no matter how good the EA ones are they'll never be able to compete in that regard.

 

This is what I miss most from the original BF2 game.



Gee, what an innovative concept; LANDING A SPACECRAFT!

 

Agreed. SO MUCH FUN!

I think they are still playable. Somehow the AI let you have a different battle every time on the same map, and you really felt immersed in the action. The large scale battle, the large map, the large number of troops on the map together. I think the AI in BF1 original was better than the second.

Either way, BF 2004 with 2018 graphics would be like the perfect game.

Haha indeed. I think there was a mission in the first game where you played as the droid army against the Gungans on the plains of Naboo. I remember rescuing those poor creatures carrying the shield generators from that Gungan scum.

I agree. It just felt so much larger right?

If only they hired DICE to do the graphics, and the old studio who made BF1 to just redo the 2004 game maps, and gameplay.

I know right, the Pandemic 2004 Battlefront is still a great game. So playable. Honestly, they have the nostalgia factor and also better gameplay. If only they would make that 2004 game with better graphics and add space battles!

I think the new EA games are okay games, but NOT Battlefront games. Trying to just put on the franchise title on it, doesn't make it Battlefront. They must feel the Force around them, to quote Yoda.

I think the AI in BF1 2004, was better than the second personally. If you could add space battles to that one, add a story component too, I mean with Instant Action and Conquest it was perfect.

You had so many people on a large map. No vehicle rails. I literally loved taking the AT-AT walkers onto the mountains so that the Rebel speeders would just crash in their vain attempt to use their tow cables. So much fun!

Honestly if only they just put effort into graphically enhancing that game. I don't know whether they new PS4 Pro or Xbox One will play the old disc? I know that they still work on the previous iteration of those consoles. Still fun games to be honest.

Another point on 2017's BF2. One thing that seemed awesome was the story. But they wrecked it by completely misleading people with the trailers. Where was the peacekeeping Empire fighting off both the Rebel scum and also a rising extreme faction (that would become the First Order)? Where was the concern for what happened to the Emperor and heir apparent, Lord Vader? Iden Versio had a lot of potential. I don't know, the whole new Star Wars sequels and the games seem to be based on making you feel like "This is gonna be the one! They got it right!" in the trailers and marketing, and then totally being a let down. Just write it like George Lucas and make the games like Pandemics!

Haha, I mean think about it, with 2017 technology, they could have updated BF2's capital ships so you could fire weapons (akin to the ROTS opening battle scene between the Invisible Hand and Republic Star Destroyer). They could have had a much large interior to fight (imagine claiming an enemy ship and turning it on their fleet).

I also don't get why unlike in BF1 (2004), we can't control the vehicles. Why do they have to be on rails? In 2004, I could hop into ANY ship (friendly or enemy) and commandeer it to my strategy on the battlefield. I love the new graphics in the new game. But then that's expected. In the same way a movie or game made in 2080 will probably look better than a 2018 game.

If only they just redid BF 2004 with better graphics. These new games don't feel like "Battlefront"

And the story in BF 2 (2017) let me down. The trailers honestly looked good. But I had foreseen (or been misled by the trailers) that Iden Versio was loyal to the Empire. Where was the concern for what happened to the Emperor and heir apparent Lord Vader?

I had thought that Iden would be loyal to a peacekeeping Empire and against both the Rebellion, and also an extreme wing of Imperial dissidents that would become the First Order. Maybe a little love story (that trailer scene showing Iden Versio cornering Luke Skywalker was epic). This new marketing strategy with the sequels movies and games seems to be about Hype as much as you can, and misdirect given the let down/no pay off when you see the final product (which is completely different to what you were told you would get). It's a shame too, as it looked like the actress who played Versio, seems well into Star Wars (and the Empire). And even Mark Hamil seemed excited for the new films, but seems visibly disappointed too.

 

Well on Xbox One you can now play a few original Xbox games on back compat with KOTOR 1 being one of them. Perhaps the original Battlefront games might get on there at some point but probably not for a few months at least to avoid confusion with the new games.

 

You can play vehicles in the new BF, you just need enough points. It's arguably a better system in some ways. Instead of who can run to the vehicle fastest, better scoring players get first dibs on the cool vehicles, and there are enough ships and tanks to fit many players.

After playing BFII 2017, I'm honestly not seeing a great difference to the old one. Sure, you can no longer land your ship in space battles, that was always cool. But everything else about them remains, shooting objectives, intercepting, now with hero ships too, to match the ground. There's ships in the land battles too now, a feature I often longed for in the original. And there's locations, ships, and heroes from all the eras of SW, much like how it was in BFII 2005.

As for the story, is it groundbreaking? No, but I enjoyed it for what it was. Shriv and Lando's mission was hilarious for one thing. It's not like the old one had a deep, rich story. You were just a clone doing missions most of the time. Here at least there's some more personality, actual characters interacting, cutscenes.

Now that's not to say it's perfect. The lack of full offline galactic assault style modes is still frustrating, there could be more planets and maps, and maybe the space battles could be made a bit more varied for the defending side, who often just have to intercept fighters (though a few maps add support cruisers to bomb).

Edit: Also the splitscreen could easily be expanded to cover the multiplayer and the campaign, especially considering you're almost always accompanied by an ally in all of the campaign missions.

Edit 2: And customisation. It was clearly planned, and implemented before being cut at a late stage. There's already skin variation on different maps, so it would be easy enough to implement individualised skins.

 

^this. Among my favorite past times was flying onto an enemy ship and taking out players manning the ships' turrets. I also liked manning the turrets on my own ship; just because I wasn't the best pilot.

 

The original BF2 was undoubtedly a classic, but I’m surprised so many people think the original BF1 was something great. Looking at it without nostalgia goggles, it was a pretty mediocre game.

It’s a bit unfair to compare, since he games were made 13 years apart, but the mechanics that are comparable are done much better by BFII (2017).

 

Thanks. Wondering whether I'd be able to play all my old Star Wars games (including both Battlefronts) on the new console. They do look good on new upscaling TV's. Tbh I'm not sure there would be confusion with any new games. I mean BF (2004) was actually an Xbox game and I think BF2 was Xbox 360 right? But BF 1 was still playable on the 360 console.

They seem to have added a lot of backward compatibility to the Xbox One (not sure about the PS4 Pro?). But seems such a shame that it's taken so long to add Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2. I liked KOTOR (though had issues trying to play that on the 360 sometimes). BF though surely has to be one of the most popular Star Wars console games of all time, so what are they doing?

I think that a couple of us will have to be given Microsoft emergency powers to deal with the situation...

I guess, it's just whilst the new games are graphically incredible (honestly especially the 2nd game made in 2017 looks phenomenal that I almost forgot to play, I just was admiring the scenery for a while), it feels a bit less immersive in the context of being in a battle. In the old games (especially BF 1 made in 2004), you could literally walk up to any empty vehicle (whether that be your faction or the enemy's) and you were good to go. Or else you could commander a vehicle being driven/controlled by your AI teammates. You had an order system also (both for infantry and vehicle commands).

I'm not really a fan of a points based system. See they introduced that in BF 2 (the original Pandemic) and I didn't personally like it as much as BF1. E.g. if I want to be a droideka, I want to spawn as one now. I don't want to have to get a certain number of kills. The notion in the original was that you could be anyone. Anyone could be anyone. It didn't depend on ability and saving the best perks for the highest kills etc.

The entire concept was that the player was ONE OF MANY. I.e. a regular soldier. It was a unique concept. The vehicles also spawned pretty regularly so I think it wasn't really a problem. Anyone would be able to get in a vehicle. And get out. Leave the vehicle there and get back in later (provided a stupid AI teammate didn't get in and take off and crash it into the wall immediately lol). I don't think you should reserve ships/vehicles based on battle points. It should be available to everyone. Otherwise, you'd simply have a case of those who kill first, get the perks. The whole point is you work as a team, and you can change at any time.

There were actually ships in BF 1. That's why BF 2 original wasn't as good as number one in my opinion. I'm glad BF 2 2017 brought back land vehicles (flying) just like the original had in 2004.

The story they sold in the trailers sounded perfect to be honest! I don't know why they didn't just make that. I'm slightly concerned that whoever the writers of the game and the sequels seem to not know what they are doing or want to naturally continue the story from Episode VI. I liked Shriv and Lando sure. But I had hoped to see Iden corner Luke (as in the trailer). A mention of Lord Vader too (e.g. "The Emperor is dead." Shocked face. "And Lord Vader?" "The Emperor's heir's whereabouts are unknown."). Also the story started so good and seemed a little crazy a few missions in. Again graphics superior no question. But Operation Cinder seemed manical and not in line with the OT or PT.

Would have been cooler to have a situation where the peacekeeping Empire remains and seeks the heir to the Empire (a Skywalker) to lead them. On top of this it faces growing unrest spurred on by the Alliance, in the Outer Rim. And then one or two warlords causing chaos in the Core. An attempted political grab for power by Mas Amedda (have a mission where Versio is sent on a counter coup, or to reactivate/secure cloning facilities). Maybe the Empire has to deal with not only the Rebellion, but also an extremist faction who are carrying out Operation Cinder (the faction that would later become the First Order). Iden choosing to serve the true Empire, and neither the First Order or the Rebellion. Her character as Luke's wife would have been interesting.

Just a shame. If I'm honest the trailer looked epic for the story and if anything, it was THAT, which made me keen to play the game.

I think a problem with the games in general is that they aren't really "Battlefront". Call them Star Wars Battlefield and you have a great Star Wars game still. It's a bit like making a James Bond movie which doesn't have the traditional elements of a Bond movie. But you still call title it a Bond movie. Just call it something else and you can enjoy it separately.

Yes I too would like to see more maps. One thing that bugs me is the lack of OFFLINE gameplay. The old Battlefronts, you didn't need to go online to access maps and gameplay modes. Here, it seems there isn't much to do offline. The game makers have to realise that not everyone can access high speed internet, and that some prefer coop or split screen play in their living room.

You mean you shot those poor defenceless players in the turrets who couldn't even see you coming (since their screen is focussed on the turret visual display). Hahaha, the dark side flows strongly through you. A powerful Sith you will become.

What mechanics do you mean? And not sure how you say that BF2 original was a classic, and BF 1 wasn't?

You do realise that other than adding space battles, arcade style heroes, and sprinting, BF 2 removed a lot of iconic maps and features that were in BF1?

No one would argue that the flow of the action is smoother in BF 2017, but then that's kinda expected, in the same way that you'd hope Battlefront 2080 would be like super awesome (hopefully in a holodeck by that point).

BF1 had superior gameplay in my opinion to BF 2. And BF1 is more re playable OFFLINE than BF 2017.

 

Lol guilty as charged! After you wiped out the enemy troops scrambling around on their own ship vying for the next available fighter, what else is there to do but to go after the turret gunners?

 

True, true. You can also jump into enemy starfighters, take off, and quickly jump out to destroy them haha.

I would have liked if you could actually control the capital ships movement. That would have been epic. On top of that, have the weapons/turrets be those massive canons we see in the opening of ROTS.

And something I had hoped for in the new games given better technology to make games now, would have been to have the space battles (possibly combined with land battle), and the capital ships have a much much larger exterior to fight in. And maybe you can actually "CAPTURE" a capital ship by taking its command posts. That way the enemy ship becomes your faction's ship and you can utilise its resources/weapons on the remaining enemy fleet.

Basically have the battle change from 1 capital ship with those surrounding frigates, to something like 10 capital ships and a few frigates. That would be epic.

 

I don't even remember being able to jump into the enemy fighters; like a Rebel could jump into a Tie and deliberately crash it?

I know there was some footage that was released; prior to BF 2015, of a SW game that did involve ground-to-space combat. You board the fighter on the ground, breach the planet's atmosphere, and then fly into the hull of a large cruiser in space.

 

Yes because unlike in the new games, vehicles spawned and anyone, I repeat, ANYONE could jump into any empty vehicle. Personally I wouldn't crash the TIE as I found it more manoeuvrable than an X wing, but yes what you said, you could do if you so chose.

Also there were no rails for ground vehicles. I literally used to take the AT-AT onto the mountainside and sit back and watch the Rebel scum crash their speeders into the slopes of Hoth trying to use their cables to take me down. Then I would pulverise emerging Rebels from Echo base haha.

 

Well I definitely remember that. It was kind of frustrating, though, when you were on the Empire side and some of the players who were controlling the AT-ATs took then well off the beaten path and we'd never win. That may be among the reasons that they decided to put it on rails in the first place.

 

To be honest, I think in BF (2004), it was better to go off the rails, because that's what made it so unique. ANYTHING could happen. Normally off the beaten path was better as you were less likely to be taken down.

I feel like one walker had to be used to focus on the shield generator and backup command post. The other was to press forward and reinforce the noble troopers engaging Rebel scum on the ground. You have to adapt to fight the Rebels. I feel like being on rails in the new games takes the fun out of it. As it is all predetermined and you can't create your own battle or adopt your own tactics.

Honestly you feel like a hero taking out a Rebel speeder by timing your blaster fire. You had a genuine sense of panic. Or else as the Rebel scum, you had that same thrill of Wedge flying around and saying "One more pass", since you didn't know which way the driver of the walker would turn and had to fly accordingly.

I mean obviously if you were playing online and had some nutcase players who forgot that they aim is to beat the enemy, not focus on single objectives, then yeah you could lose. But that could happen in the new game too.

Admittedly even in the past, I was so annoyed with some pilot who somehow killed my squad, that I purely focused on getting him. Only realised I was down to 5 reinforcements after we took him out. It was an epic last stand in the Kashykk village against endless Rebels and Wookies. 3 Stormtroopers and myself took out 72 Rebels and almost had it as their count went down to 26, until Luke Skywalker, invincible Jedi came in and yeah , we got slaughtered.

 

Perhaps one of my favourite modes in all the games is BF2 2005's Hunt mode. Specifically on Hoth for Wampas vs Rebels. I picked the Wampas every time.

 

That's a good point. I'm just talking about those players who go off the rails for their own amusement.

Sounds like a mismatch to me.