I’m a Star Wars: Battlefront apologist. At launch, it was a light on levels, meaningful customization options, and the gameplay was basically Vanilla Shooter-lite. It was true, all of it — but, that doesn’t mean Battlefront wasn’t fun. Through two expansions, it continues to be fun, and the latest Death Star DLC, which is available now for season pass holders and will be available for $15 in two weeks on your respective marketplace, is the best Star Wars: Battlefront experience yet.
But…
If you bought the game at launch at full price, you spent $110 ($60 for the game and $50 for the season pass) for an experience that is only now getting interesting. Death Star introduces the new game mode, Battle Station, which is a three-phase battle to either blow up or defend the Death Star. It’s thrilling and is by far the most innovating and immersive game mode Battlefront has given us thus far. Players start phase one in a fusion of the Fighter Squadron and Walker Assault modes, with the Rebels attacking a star destroyer while the Empire defends it. In phase two, if the star destroyer is destroyed, the Rebels land on the Death Star, where they need to capture R2-D2 and naturally the Empire needs to stop them from doing just that. Phase three is where the money is. You’ll finally be able to put those skills you developed in Beggar’s Canyon to use as you get behind the controls of Red Three, to make a one in a million shot to blow up the Death Star. All while Darth Vader is blasting your friends in his customized Tie Fighter. He came from behind.
This final phase of Battle Station is arguably the greatest Star Wars moment in video game history. Going into first person mode and speeding through the trenches is the realization of a dream every kid has had over the last 40 years. Too bad it takes you at least 20 minutes to possibly maybe get to this phase, and for $15, the other maps (of which there are technically only two) are accurate and well-crafted, but right back to that vanilla experience we’ve been somewhat enjoying for the last nine months.
Additionally, this latest DLC finally brings us Chewbacca, who probably should’ve been in the game before Nien Nunb, but I digress. Well, any reason to link this:
No one is going to say Death Star isn’t fun, but it’s too little, too late now. With each expansion, the Battlefront community is shrinking, and it’s difficult to get matches in the previous expansions. A quick glance at the global trophies show a low percentage of people unlocking trophies, so it’s only a matter of time until this DLC is obsolete. For as fun, beautiful and visceral as the Death Star expansion is, I worry I won’t be able to enjoy it a few months from now when the latest and greatest shooters, and its own Rogue One DLC drops.
But for now, I’ll stay on target, and enjoy every second I can get.