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- Reviewed on: 11/04/2005
- Updated on: 11/08/2005
- Released on: 10/31/2005
- Originally published on GameSpot: Star Wars: Battlefront II (PSP) Review
Along with the home console and PC versions of Star Wars: Battlefront II released this week, LucasArts also released the game on the PSP, marking the series' first appearance on a portable platform. While the game certainly looks and sounds a lot like its bigger brothers on other platforms, the PSP version of Battlefront II has one notable omission: online play. The lack of online play, combined with a compromised interface, takes a good deal of luster off the PSP version of Battlefront II.
The first question that may come to mind is how the game controls as a shooter, given the PSP's lack of a second analog stick. None of the answers, unfortunately, come across as very ideal. The default control scheme maps movement to the analog stick, while free-look controls are mapped to the four face buttons. This makes aiming very awkward and precludes you from throwing grenades easily, as you have to tap on the D pad to select them. Other control schemes map both movement and aiming to the analog stick, requiring you to toggle a shoulder button to switch between the two. Of course, this prevents you from moving and changing aim at the same time, so forget about circle strafing. Then again, the ability to lock on to targets keeps that limitation from being a deal breaker for those control setups. Another control scheme, called "retro," switches things around entirely, letting you aim with the analog stick while moving and strafing with the face buttons. This scheme actually seems to be the best compromise of all, as it lets you move and aim simultaneously (as well as lets you throw grenades) without having to switch weapons. The problem, of course, is that this reversed interface will feel rather dyslexic to those of us who have grown used to standard dual analog setups. If you can train yourself to get used to doing things backward, retro probably ends up being the most flexible scheme.
Once you have finally worked out which control scheme works best for you, you can finally jump into a game. The basic battles in Battlefront II for the PSP play out very much as they do on consoles and on the PC. You spawn on one of about a dozen different maps as an infantryman, and then you attempt to overrun capture points scattered throughout the map. Each capture point serves as a spawn node for you and your computer-controlled teammates to jump back into the battle after each death. The eventual goal is to reduce the number of your opponent's tickets to zero by killing off enemy soldiers, or by overrunning all the capture points across the entire map. Scattered across the map are various vehicles to jump into to use, such as hovertanks, AT-STs, or speederbikes. A variety of infantry classes to choose from is also available, including heavy troopers with rocket launchers, snipers, engineers, and special classes--like clone commanders and Imperial officers, each of which has special abilities that help differentiate the game's four different factions. So that's the conquest game mode, in a nutshell. Battlefront II does include other modes for instant action, like capture the flag, hunt, and assault.
Battlefront II for the PSP does include the two major new features from its console cousins: playable hero characters and space battles. When you earn a certain number of points in a match, the hero character is unlocked. You're then given the option to respawn as the hero. Only one hero character per side, per match, can exist at any given time, so don't expect to see 12 Yodas running around against 12 Darth Vaders. While this feature sounds fantastic on paper, in practice, the hero characters actually aren't all that interesting to use. Most of them are lightsaber-armed Jedi, so combat involves running up to people and mashing on the attack button quickly to swing your saber. Most Jedi can throw their sabers, and some have Force powers. Certain maps will also let you play special characters, like Boba Fett or Han Solo, who have high-powered guns and other weapons. In general, though, playing a hero doesn't feel quite as epic as you might expect it to.
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Where to buy
Star Wars: Battlefront II (PSP):
$11.25 - $19.99
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$14.24 | No |
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$19.99 | Yes |
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$11.25 | No |
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