My review went up the other day. It's mostly incoherent rambling as I was having a hard time getting across how I feel, but my TLDR thoughts on Battlefront thus far is that it's a really fun, solid multiplayer shooter that benefits from more arcadey gunplay and presentation over DICE's Battlefield. But it also feels like a game that rests too heavily on the laurels of the source material for identity and individuality over being a distinct, well rounded game design by its own merits. Where you could take Battlefield's iconic Conquest 64 (and class system) and transplant it to any setting and time period (real or fictional) and still go "Oh hey, this is definitely Battlefield", Battlefront has nothing like that. The closest it has is Walker Assault, which could have been its Conquest 64, but DICE have stretched themselves so thinly (likely due to time) over catering to numerous other game modes that it never feels proper deep in design. Part of this can be attributed to the skewered balance of vehicles, equipment, and power-ups, which are devoid of the tighter know-your-role play in Battlefield are more like Super Smash Bros. random item and power collection. The straddled on unlock system for cards also feels out of place in a game that is most fun in quick bursts across a bundle of modes, where card abilities like the jetpack that enhance the moment-to-moment probably should have been part of the starter gear. Same goes for the more interesting aesthetic unlocks, like aliens, being locked behind a level 40 number wall.
So yeah. Great fun game and I hope people keep playing so I can keep playing. But it's lacking a coherent vision and depth, and unique identity beyond "It's Star Wars and that's cool". It just so happens to be really fucking impressively Star Wars, and that's a good thing.
