Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Review

[PikMan]

The Star Wars Battlefront series started as a console exclusive. Both of the console Battlefront games were pretty awesome. But then, for some reason, they moved to handhelds. The handheld games were, in my opinion, somewhat underrated. The first of the 2 handheld "Squadron" games, as I call them, was Renegade Squadron, which I am reviewing.

 

STORY: C

...I don't really agree with the story of this game. I mean sure, it gives us a detailed explaination of the behind-the-scenes special ops forces of the Rebellion, but it just wasn't imaginative enough. In fact, I wouldn't hesitate swapping this story for the journal approach from Battlefront 2.

 

GAMEPLAY: B

The gameplay remains the same as it was in the console versions: You control a soldier on the battlefield, and to win the battle you msut either reduce the enemy's reinforcements to 0, or capture all 5 command posts on the level. In space levels, you must destroy all critical systems on the enemy capital ship. Every so often you can play as a Jedi from the movies. There's also a few capture the flag modes. New to the series is character customization, allowing you to outfit and equip your character as you see fit. I just wish that battles would be a bit longer and more difficult...

 

DIFFICULTY: A

There are 2 distinct difficulty levels: There's normal, which has auto-pilot on space levels, infinite reinforcements on story levels, and other things aimed at new players. For veteran players, there's Elite Mode, which increases the CPU intelligence, gets rid of auto-pilot, limits reinforcements on story mode, etc. This makes the experience suitable to both ends of the spectrum.

 

PRESENTATION: B

It isn't hard to see the polygonization on this game. However, from a distance, some of the objects can be quite convincing. The environments are all correct (Except for Sullust) and so are the capital ships. Like I said, the graphics aren't great, but hey- this is a handheld game!

 

SOUND: A

What most people think stands out about the Battlefront series is the sound, and it's hard to argue with 'em. The music is taken from the epic films themselves, weapons sound like they've always sounded, and voice work... don't get me started on that. In my opinion, however, you'll be having too fun to appreciate the sound.

 

FINAL OPINION: B

It isn't spectacular, but if you're a fan of Star Wars or just a shooting game fanatic, I recommend this. After Christmas I'll go ahead and compare this to Elite Squadron in a seperate review. Now if Lucasarts would just hurry up and make Battlefront 3...