Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As this game's lengthy title suggests, Renegade Squadron is just the latest in a long-running line of Battlefront games, which in turn owe a lot to the Battlefield WWII games. It's all about running around a virtual battlefield with different soldiers and their vehicles -- and is about as close to playing with Star Wars toys as you'll get in a video game, even more so than the Lego games. Claims that this is exclusive to the PSP are technically true, but remember that the same kind of game is available elsewhere on the PS2, XBOX, Windows, and Macintosh, in arguably better form (Star Wars Battlefront II).
The PSP already has a similar game to this, in the form of Star Wars Battlefront II (2005). That well-intentioned port pushed the PSP farther than it could go, with clunky controls, slow framerates, and local-only multiplayer, which was the kiss of death for a game primarily designed for online play. It still sold well and can be found cheaply, but Renegade renders it irrelevant. In single-player mode, Renegade Squadron is one of the first game to use the full 333 MHz of the PSP's clockspeed. In multiplayer mode, it drops to the usual 222 MHz to conserve power, but because of a few smart design choices, raw power isn't absolutely needed for a great experience.
What's new here? The biggest change is in the controls, which are greatly improved over the PSP version of Star Wars Battlefront II. When you're on the ground, you can holding down the R button to lock your sights on an enemy, letting you circle around him without losing your aim. While you're flying around in space (in X-Wing and TIE Fighters, as well as the Millenium Falcon), you can autoselect a target with one button, and pressing another will enable an autopilot to point you in the right direction. Since the autopilot follows lines of sight only, you'll still need to use your brain to maneuver the 3D objects in the space scenes. These changes are well-suited to the handheld, and while they make things easier, the tactical challenges are still present. I'd rather fight against my onscreen enemies than the controls of a game!
The other main difference between Renegade Squadron and the previous iteration on PSP is the inclusion of Infrastructure multiplayer. In other words, you can play on the internet with strangers, using a Gamespy-powered server explorer, much like the console and computer versions of the game. I didn't notice any significant lag when playing online, and there were plenty of opponents.
Other nice touches: the short (took me about 3 hours) campaign story is typical Star Wars, interwoven with events and characters from the films. You rescue Ackbar, you fake out the Emperor, and there's a lot of Han Solo fan service such as "Greedo shot first" in-jokes. Like most SW stories, it doesn't take many risks, except for the scene where you infiltrate the Emperor's home and smash up his holy relics, Taliban style. It's told with beautifully painted panels, which are partially animated (more than a pop-up book, less than a cartoon). Voiceovers and sound effects are of typically high LucasArts quality. Character customization is simple yet richly integrated into gameplay, forcing you to to choose the balance of health, firepower, speed, and other attributes based upon the needs of each mission.
If you've enjoyed other versions of Star Wars Battlefront, is this worth getting? In my opinion, the fixed controls and fully developed multiplayer makes this the best portable version of this kind of game yet. It can't compete with PC and console versions (with higher resolutions, better controls, and more robust online play with voice and keyboard support), but it's easily the best Star Wars game to come along since SWBF2. It's a great little game and if you're a Star Wars fan with a PSP, you should have it already. If you don't yet have a PSP, there's a white, slim PSP with a Darth Vader silkscreen packed in with this game, too!

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Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is the second best Battlefront out of the 4 that have been made diregarding the mobile iterations. Basically, it was the product of the cancellation of BF3 and shares many of the same elements like gameplay aspects, story, and characters. This is to date the only Battlefront game in which you can transition between space and ground, and the second battlefront in which you can use a starfighter(not a snowspeeder) to strafe and have dogfights in the air This works surprisingly well, making the game a blast to play, especially online. Every single planet that was included in other installments that features in this game has been completely redesighned for the better.
**If you are not a big time fan of Star Wars, You probably wont understand this paragraph and the next paragraph, so go ahead and skip)
Like say Coruscant: originally, the level was set in the Jedi Temple but now, its set in a plaza and street area and is based off of the ground battle(you only see the space battle in Episode 3) of Coruscant featured in the original clone wars microseries, and the book Labyrinth of Evil. Another thing featured in Labyrinth of Evil and only briefly during the Order 66 montage of Episode 3 is the Neimoidian purse world of Cato Neimoidia. Cato Neimoidia, along with Vjun(featured in comics, books, and the game Jedi academy), and Dantooine(mentioned in Ep 4, featured in comics, books, and KOTOR along with some other games). This is far less new planets than I thought there would be(Renegade Squadron had around 5 or 6 and they were not brought back as cool as they were). Dantooine is following a trend that Renegade Squadron started(Korriban with it's Sith Academy area) by including another area created in the game KOTOR on the planet Dantooine. On Dantooine, you can find the remains of the old Jedi enclave which was a cool feature, but th strange thing is is that it looks like a cave with streams and crystals(lightsaber crystals I assume) everywhere.
There are many new heroes in this game like Pantoran Jedi Master Ferroda and Rahm Kota's former apprentice Falon Grey. Also, their are three variations of two characters X1 and X2: Clone, Rebel, Jedi for X2 and Arc trooper, shadowtrooper/Emperor's Hand, Sith Lord for X1. X2 is the protaganist and X1 is an ally early on but rather predictably falls to the darkside(I'm keeping my lips sealed after that as to what happens). Rahm Kota is also featured as a cameo and playable character, but ingame, he never seems to recognize the death star on that certain mission, and he never mentions Starkiller(Galen Marek). He still is blind and has white eyes. There are special NPC's(in story) that is intriguing and should bring back memories if you ever played Dark Forces on PS1, but I wanna keep that one a surprise.
The story. It's awful. It tries to be good and has potential, but there are tons of plot holes in it. enough said
As far as vehicles, their are less in her than in Renegade Squadron. No Speeder Bikes, AT-TE's, and only two types of starfighter for each team rather than 4 or 5. It's not like they are not there, for every single type of Tie fighter in the BF(includin Tie defenders) series is featured in story mode, but not in anything else.
That promised 'deep customization' is nowhere to be found. The game features only two new weapons and the exact same character models as Renegad Squadron. So basically, LucasArts was lying the entire time. Classy.
As for graphics, it may not look it when you look at pictures, but the graphics are muc better. The movements in this game are the most fluid of the entire BF series. and the Death Star is easilly the most graphically amazing level in the game. It looks a lot like The Force Unleashed on PSP on that level.
The controls take getting used to because the Renegade Squadron-esque controls are worse in this game. This is the primary reason that Elite Squadron has bad reviews. Luckily, the alternate controls are somewhat fixed from the mess they where in Renegade Squadron. It now has a somewhat sticky reticule and it take around ten second to auto-level rather than around 4 in RS. It is the best way to play the game IMO.
And so that wraps up my lengthy review.
Features:4 out of 5
Story: 2 out of 5
Gameplay: 5
Graphics: 4
Controls: 5
Sound: 5
Lastin Appeal: 4.5(not an average though)


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Star Wars Battlefront is back and bigger than ever on the PlayStation Portable (PSP). A third-person shooter, Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is the deepest and most action-packed Star Wars Battlefront game ever. Experience battlefronts that span ground, space and capital starships, a robust original storyline and expanded gameplay features--including 16-player multiplayer support--that deliver seemingly endless replayability.

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