The Star Wars: Battlefront beta is awesome. Both competitive multiplayer modes---Drop Zone and Walker Assault---are tons of fun. It's been a long time since I felt so thoroughly immersed in a Star Wars experience. Everything from the visuals to the sound effects and music to the maps themselves feel like they've been plucked right out of the movies.
But playing Survival mode---a solo or co-op "horde" mode---exposes the biggest flaw with Star Wars: Battlefront, and it's a shortcoming in the game that stands out even more now that I've had some time to play the PvP. The lack of a campaign is more glaring and depressing than ever.
The beta is great. Sure, there's some balancing issues. There's work to be done on the game between now and release next month. But that's what a beta is for, to unearth these issues and fix them. But what can be done about a missing campaign? Because let's face it, Survival just doesn't cut it.
As immersive as Battlefront is, a story campaign would draw us in even more completely. A single-player mode would be the most visually amazing, immersive Star Wars experience to-date. Playing through both an Imperial and Rebel story would be a real treat given how top-notch the multiplayer is so far.
So my request/solution/idea is simple: Build a solo campaign and release it after the fact as a free expansion. This is a $60 game. It ought to have a campaign attached to it. PvP only games are often free these days, and no matter how fun Star Wars: Battlefront is, I'm having trouble justifying the sticker price. But toss in a single-player campaign a few months down the road and I could be convinced.
Don't have it focus on the main Star Wars characters either. Give us something new and exciting with some mystery and conflict. Toss in a couple characters from the films as cameos. It would be awesome.
I'll have further thoughts on the beta soon. What do you think so far?
Star Wars: Battlefront launches November 15th on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. The beta runs through the 12th.
