*Sigh* Of course. Right after they actually get me excited for The Force Awakens, they have to ruin my enthusiasm by confirming my fears that EA would royally screw up Battlefront. Granted, we still haven't been able to play a demo or even see gameplay footage; but with all the info given out at this point, I can safely say this is going to be a very disappointing return to Battlefront for me, for multiple reasons.
1. Lack of the "Clone Wars":
Despite the prequels' flaws, they did have some pretty epic battles. Battlefront 1 and 2 really took advantage of this and gave us some very fun maps based on those battles and other prequel locations. Not to mention the great vehicles and weapons that came with them. But even so, If this was the only major flaw of EA's Battlefront I wouldn't really mind it. While the "Clone Wars" has many incredible things to lend to a Battlefront game, I think the "Galactic Civil War" has enough material to fill a Battlefront game, Especially if it gets all the attention. Focusing solely on the GCW could have really allowed the developers to explore the vast possibilities of the Rebel and Empire's activities during the war. They could have expanded on what we saw in the movies by taking us to new planets, showing us new (Or even better, using old Expanded Universe) weapons and vehicles, and maybe even exploring the differing tactics of the Rebels and Empire in something like Galactic Conquest mode; all while including the classic battles from the movies of course. So basically, I wasn't too concerned about the exclusion of the "Clone Wars" if that allowed them to do the "Galactic Civil War" really well. Unfortunately, it's looking like they didn't, AT ALL!
2. Lack of Space Battles:
While the space battles in Battlefront 2 weren't perfect, I think they helped distance it from being just a Battlefield clone and helped make it really feel like a Star Wars game. I mean come on, the space battles are a big part of what makes Star Wars so awesome. I was really thinking that they were going to make that whole 'seamless space to ground fights' from the leaked Battlefront 3 footage happen; but even if they didn't go quite that far, I was sure that they were at least going to improve on the space combat system from Battlefront 2. I was thinking that they were going to improve the dogfighting, have multiple capital ships, and expand on the whole boarding party aspect of the Battlefront 2 gamemode. I was really looking forward to an epic Battle Over Endor and Battle of Yavin V. But alas, they shot themselves in the foot and completely got rid of them. Sure they will have ship dogfights above the ground battles, (Which was something that really needed to come back, even without the space to ground transitions) but as I said before, Space battles are a big part of Star Wars. Considering DICE's older work I was sure that they would come up with some new and interesting gamemodes to make space battles very fun. They could have had a Blockade running gamemode, or one where you have to capture an imperial cargo convoy, or board a space station, or simply an all out brawl between two armadas. Maybe i'm expecting too much, but I just can't imagine why they decided ignore space battles completely.
3. 4 Planets:
Now I know that there are going to be multiple maps for each planet, but Seriously? 4 Planets? When I first saw this I was certain that they were simply stating that these 4 were just the ones they were going to reveal for now and more would be shown later, but from those tweets it seems like they are saying that Endor, Tatooine, Sullust, Hoth, and ultimately Jakku are the only planets available. WHAT!?! You have the Star Wars galaxy, a galaxy so expansive and filled with so many interesting planets, and you use only 4!? Now, I understand that it is very likely that they were pushed for time and couldn't make tons of different and unique maps but... 4!? I don't feel like I should blame DICE for this as I'm almost certain that EA rushed them to make sure this game came out around the time of The Force Awakens, so all my rage and bewilderment about a Battlefront game only having 4 different planets will be solely directed to EA.
4. Single player 'Missions'
We haven't heard too much about these 'Missions' but from the tweets it sounds to me like they are going to be like the Battlefield 3 and 4 single player and coop modes... Which Sucked! If Battlefield 3 and 4 are anything to go by, DICE is not very good at making COD-esque linear singeplayer campaign modes. I'm not really certain why they insist on including them in the first place. The reason people buy their Battlefield games and the Battlefront games is so they can fight in this big open map with tons of cool vehicles and weapons that they can use how they see fit. Dragging them along a linear, heavily scripted path just doesn't seem to fit in with what the Battlefield and Battlefront games are about. In my opinion, if you feel like you must have a campaign mode, make it similar to Battlefront 2 or even Battlefield 1942's campaign modes. Have the player play through a series of the multiplayer maps with different objectives that progress through a story. That way it is closer to the core gameplay of the game and you can still appease the campaign gods. (I can only assume that is why you insist on cramming a campaign in to all your recent FPS titles.) Speaking of singleplayer...
5. Bots.
Let's face it, People suck. Sometimes you will be playing an online FPS game, having a good time when suddenly... That guy joins. You know who I am talking about, that guy who is practically eating his microphone and just won't shut up, or the guy who is complaining so much about how his team sucks that he isn't actually helping them out, or maybe the guy who you just killed that is convinced that the only way you could have possibly killed him is because you are hacking, or of course that guy who actually IS hacking. Simply put, sometimes you just feel like playing the game without dealing with People, or perhaps you want to play the game somewhere where you don't have WiFi, or maybe you just want to practice or learn the game before you get into an online match. And then of course there is my favorite, Feeling like your'e actually good at the game by fighting a bunch of bots set on the easiest difficulty. The point is, It's nice to be able to play singleplayer on the multiplayer maps against bots. I've spent hundreds of hours fighting bots alone or with a friend through LAN on Battlefront 1 and 2 and the older Battlefield games. Some people don't see the point or challenge in playing against brainless bots, but I find it to be a very nice touch. Especially when SOME COMPANIES decide to shut down the multiplayer servers of their older and ACTUALLY GOOD games.
6. Other Potential Gripes:
These are some things from the tweets that We don't really know anything about but sound very concerning to me. First, the "Powerups" he mentions. I literally know absolutely nothing about these except that the shield from the trailer is one of them, but just the name "Powerups" doesn't sit well with me. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about this. Next, the whole unlock, achieve and collect thing. It sounds very much like the unlocks and useless achievement stuff from battlefield 3 and 4 (Which would make sense due to the fact that Battlefront will be on Battlelog) which I for one absolutely hated. I just never really cared for the way you had to unlock everything in the newer Battlefield games and I especially didn't like the "Battlepack" things, Though having a larger variety of Star Wars guns would be rather cool. And Lastly, the AT-AT on rails that I heard about from people who played the demo. One thing I really loved about the older Battlefront games is how you were in full control of the AT-AT. That feeling of being a giant, nearly indestructible, four legged death machine was immensely satisfying. Now Iv'e heard that you can command an AT-AT, so I am hoping that means you have full control over it on the large maps, and the on rails AT-AT is just for that certain gamemode.
TLDR:
Basically, from all the info we have heard about this game, It just doesn't sound like a Battlefront game to me. When I first heard DICE was going to make the new Battlefront I was rather excited. After all, I loved Battlefield 1942-2142 and the old Battlefront games and I thought DICE should be able to make a great game using their knowledge from the Battlefield series and incorporating the elements from the original Battlefronts, But then I remembered Battlefield 3 and 4 and how much I hated them. I started fearing that they would turn Battlefront into the equivalent of a Battlefield 4 DLC and based on alot of this info, I think that's precisely what they did. In my opinion, they turned Battlefront into Battlefield 4:Star Warfare (which Ironically doesn't take place in the stars). They didn't even even make it a copy of a good Battlefield game! Heck, if I wanted to play Battlefield with a Star Wars skin, I would play the Free BF2142 mod First Strike http://fsmod.com/ (That is I would have if SOME COMPANY!!! didn't ruin it by shutting down the SERVERS!)!!!
*sigh* To be honest, This game Might not even be that bad. It could even be really good. But the thing is, it is not going to be the Battlefront game alot of us wanted. DICE said that this isn't going to be a sequel to Battlefront 2. They said that this is going to be a reboot, this is going to be their Battlefront. Unfortunately, DICE making Battlefront theirs means that we are going to loose many of the tings form the original Battlefronts. Sadly, I don't think that we will ever get the Battlefront 3 that so many of us wanted.
*Edit* WOW! That turned out to be a huge wall of text. *edit*
