Lastly, I turned my attention to the Survival Mission.
This can either be played solo, with a friend split-screen, or with someone online. The only mission available was on Tatooine, and during the beta, only 6 out of the 15 waves were available. Still, it gave me a pretty good idea of how these missions will work. They all have three difficulty settings (though only one was available during beta), which will certainly add some replay value.
The Tatooine stage was medium-sized, which was great for the later waves which spawned 10+ soldiers, but the first two waves were extremely slow, as I always have a problem finding the few soldiers that spawn.
The beta allowed me to pick between two separate loadouts, one giving me a grenade barrage while the other giving me an ion cannon. Both come with a jump pack. Each loadout also has a special skill, either an impenetrable shield that can't be shot through both ways, or ion-charged shots.
I tried playing a solo match as well as split-screen, and I can certainly see the appeal of playing this mode with a buddy, rather than by yourself.
So far I can say that Battlefront has at least met my expectations in terms of gameplay, but far surpassed them in terms of atmosphere, at least in the Walker Assault mode. It truly feels like you're part of a massive battle with chaos ensuing everywhere. The chaos might have contributed to my extremely short lives, which certainly brought upon some frustration more than elation, but perhaps with time, I'll get better.
Players can start preloading Star Wars Battlefront today, and play the beta starting tomorrow, October 8th through October 12th.
Once you played a few matches of Drop Zone, it's time for Walker Assault.
This mode is extremely overwhelming. Hell, in the first match, I had no idea what was even going on. All I knew was that I had to stop the rebels from activating uplinks, and make sure my AT-ATs reach their base. We somehow won, but I honestly wasn't sure how that happened.
The reason it's so hectic is because vehicles come into play here. Scattered across the terrain are pick-ups which you can use to either get various powerful one-time weapons, access to vehicles like Tie Fighters and X-Wings, or even pick up hero emblems and become Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker, the latter which is actually found. Being either Luke or Darth certainly makes you feel powerful, but at the same time, you know you're an absolute target. Both characters wear black which makes them stand out on the icy terrain, making them prime targets for everyone on the opposing team.
I can say that my lack of skill was probably one of the major reasons why I died so much, but it almost felt like I was only alive for a few seconds before dying immediately to a myriad of things. Whether it was Luke Skywalker charging at me with his lightsaber drawn, or a Y-Wing dropping bombs, or an X-Wing blasting me from the skies, or just another skilled player sniping me from far away, I was dying quicker than I'd like to admit. Because of this, I had a hard time enjoying Walker Assault. As much as I loved everything that was going on, seeing ships whoosh past me, firing lasers, AT-ATs marching on, AT-STs taking down soldiers, Rebels mounting turrets, it was also extremely hard to stay long enough to take it all in. But I guess such is the nature of war. At least without the respawns.
Regarding the environment and atmosphere, let me put it this way. When a Tie Fighter and an X-Wing following it zoomed by me through the skies in top speed, and lasers bombarded the Tie Fighter, fellow writer Lance asked me if that was a scripted event in the skies. It wasn't. That's how awesome the atmosphere is during Walker Assault. You constantly feel like you're a part of something huge and scripted, even though that's not really the case, besides perhaps the on-rails AT-ATs.
I was a bit conflicted about Walker Assault. Atmosphere-wise, it's the best thing about the beta. It feels like you're in the middle of a large-scale war. However, constantly dying brought the fun factor down for me a bit. The thing is, I'm not even sure if the mentality of "Git gud" applies to a huge mode like Walker Assault.
DICE's Star Wars Battlefront has a lot to live up to. Not necessarily to its two predecessors, who actually haven't aged as well as I had hoped, but because of the massive amount of hype surrounding its release. I mean hell, one of the pre-order incentives is the Battle of Jakku, that directly ties to the events in the upcoming movie. Needless to say, DICE certainly had their work cut out for them.
Fans get to experience just a taste of what's to come in November with the upcoming public beta, which officially starts October 8 and runs through October 12. We were fortunate enough to get a two day head start, and check out the three modes available in the beta; Walker Assault, Drop Zone, and the Survival Mission. I'll talk about all three, how they work, and how much enjoyment I got from each one.
Let's start with Drop Zone.
Drop Zone is the easier mode to grasp from the two multiplayer modes. Here, two teams made up of Rebels and Imperials fight over dropped pods. You and your team must run up to a pod, claim it and then defend it for a certain amount of time. If you do, you score a point for your team, then repeat until the battle's over.
This is definitely the mode I suggest checking out first, at least out of the two competitive multiplayer modes, as it's much less hectic than Walker Assault, and lets you get used to how the guns work. I have to admit I was caught off guard when I found out just how easy it is to die from laser blasts, though likewise, it's super quick to put down an opponent as well. In this regard, death comes swiftly like in Call of Duty and Battlefield. As someone who is used to playing more Destiny than the other two mentioned titles, it takes time getting used to just how quickly you die. The Sollust level for Drop Zone also isn't that huge, which makes it easier to stay in the action pretty much at all times.
