New details are beginning to emerge about DICE’s Star Wars: Battlefront ahead of the official gameplay trailer reveal. DICE general manager Patrick Bach spoke to IGN about some of the battles we’ll see and unfortunately confirmed that there would be no space battles in Battlefront.
“It’s not much about space. Most battles are planetary battles, so our focus right now is to make sure we only get that right. The core of Star Wars battles — the Endors, the Hoths, — you want to take that to perfection. You want to do it right.”
It is a shame when you consider that some of the most memorable battles in the original trilogy took place in space, including the attacks on the Death Stars. Bach stated that, “Space is hard, right? Not from a [development] perspective, but from a logistical perspective. Is that fun? For us it doesn’t make sense to create a battle above you if you’re fighting other players who are not there to fight. Our focus is to do planetary battles.”
Producer Craig Mcleod further said, “No space battles. It’s all about the epic planetary battles and getting that right. Fighting with X-Wings and TIE Fighters, we have that. It’s taken in the atmosphere. This is something we discussed with Lucasfilm and they were happy to be on board with that.” It was also confirmed that there would be no prequel trilogy content in the game, be it characters or ships.
Interestingly, there will be DLC that bridges the gap between Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and the upcoming Episode VII: The Force Awakens. The Battle of Jakku DLC will be out on December 8th and will take place one year after the battle of Endor in the same desert seen in Episode 7’s teaser.
Mcleod told IGN that, “This really ties in what we’re doing with the Original Trilogy era with The Force Awakens. The Battle of Jakku takes place a year after the Battle of Endor, and the only way you can experience or see it is in our game. That battle essentially leads to that battle-scarred landscape you see in the trailers. What’s even better is we’re delivering it for free to every player who owns the game. I think Kathleen Kennedy summed it up best: Star Wars is all about the fans.”
If you pre-order Star Wars: Battlefront, you’ll receive early access to the DLC on December 1st. DICE General Manager Patrick Bach further said that, “The only post-launch we’re talking about now is Battle of Jakku, the free-for-all expansion. It takes you beyond the Original Trilogy, but not far enough that you go into the Original Trilogy era.”
Finally, though it seems that Star Wars: Battlefront will be multiplayer-only – with no real campaign – there will be a single player mode, as revealed by Game Informer. These are called Battlefront Missions and they essentially feature the same battles from multiplayer but “with different missions layered in”. They can be played offline and cooperatively but don’t count on them acting as an in-depth story mode.
Star Wars: Battlefront is out in November for PS4, Xbox One and PC. Check out the latest screenshots from the game below (courtesy of NeoGAF) and stay tuned for more information on the upcoming gameplay trailer.