It's an understatement to say I'm a huge "Star Wars" fan.
The first thing you see when you enter my apartment is a framed screen print of the Millennium Falcon. I've watched the original trilogy so many times I have every scrap of dialogue memorized. I have a tattoo of the Imperial Insignia on my right shoulder.
That should be all the evidence you need. (On second thought, maybe just my tattoo would've convinced you.)
I also discovered a renewed interest in video games this summer after stumbling into a Best Buy after brunch one Sunday and dropping 400 bucks on a new PlayStation 4.
So everything was in perfect order for me to play one of the hottest games of the year: "Star Wars Battlefront," which launched last week.
Think of "Battlefront" as a virtual toy box full of all the best stuff from "Star Wars" lore. You can play as Darth Vader and slice down rebels with your lightsaber. You can pilot an X-Wing in wild aerial battles. And you can play online with up to 39 others in massive battlefields based on planets from the movies. That's just scratching the surface. The game is packed with references, characters, and weapons from the original trilogy.
But if you're a "Star Wars" fan like me and the pitch for the game sounds too good to be true, that's because it is.
After playing "Battlefront" for a few days, I'm incredibly disappointed. It's not a total disaster, but it definitely fell short of all the expectations set by the flood of trailers, commercials, and early gameplay footage I've seen over the last several months.
Instead of unlocking the "Star Wars" universe and unleashing players into an engaging experience, "Battlefront" just feels like a generic shooting game. It may look like "Star Wars," but playing "Battlefront" is an exercise in drudgery and monotony. It's just not fun.
"Battlefront" isn't designed to be played alone. The single-player mode dumps you in the middle of a battlefield populated with computer-controlled characters trying to hunt you down. The objective is usually to take out as many of them as you can while searching for tokens that unlock powerups like new weapons and certain special abilities. It's dull, repetitive, and not very fun at all.
The frustrating thing is, you have to do it if you want to unlock some items that'll help you dominate in the online multiplayer modes, which are the main focus of the game. I've spent way too much time running out the game clock trying to rack up some easy powerups.
You can also earn powerups by playing a lot of multiplayer matches, but it's a slow, tedious process. By now, others have had a lot more time to play the game, so matches are essentially run by players who are overpowered and able to stomp on newbies like me. It's not even close to fair.
And once I did earn enough powerups to hold my own in multiplayer, I didn't enjoy the various game modes at all. Like the single-player mode, it's just a lot of running around and shooting with very little strategy involved. The only somewhat fun mode is called "Walker Assault" where the Rebels have to stop two Imperial walkers from advancing on a base. (Without diving into too much detail, it involves coordinating bombing attacks on the walkers and holding defending checkpoints.)
"Battlefront" just feels like a big missed opportunity to tap into the engaging "Star Wars" universe and create a game everyone will love to play, not just something diehard fans like me will hopefully appreciate.
There are a few redeeming qualities: The graphics, sound design, and other details are immediately recognizable, making you feel like you're playing an interactive version of some of the most iconic battles from the movies. If only the gameplay could hold up to the aesthetics.
My advice: Only play "Battlefront" if you're willing to put in the hours it takes to hold your own in multiplayer mode. Then it can be (kind of) fun to essentially dominate a battle all on your own. But if you're looking for an engaging online multiplayer shooting experience, you're better off with a game like "Halo 5."
