Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection [PC] | REVIEW

Aspyr have been prolific in their efforts to bring classic Star Wars titles to modern platforms, so it’s only fitting that the original Battlefront titles would be on the agenda too. However, whilst Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection does allow players to re-visit the original games with the addition of some modern bells and whistles, a disastrous multiplayer launch has left the experience feeling like a bit of a mess.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection gives players the opportunity to re-visit two of the best Star Wars titles from the early 2000s, with each game allowing players to partake in large-scale battles (made up of sixty-four players) set across Stars Wars Episode I through to VI. You’ll fight on both sides of the war, take on the role of various iconic heroes and villains, commandeer a host of familiar vehicles, and battle across fan favourite landscapes, with each game proving to be genuinely groundbreaking during their initial release.

And you know what? They’re still a lot of fun to play now. Whilst they’re more simplified in design when compared to their modern iterations, there’s something so rewarding about venturing into battle and dealing with the enemy threat – whether that’s by wiping out all of their reinforcements, taking over control points to dominate the battlefield, or by capturing some flags… you know… the sort of game modes that were most popular back in the day (and still remain ubiquitous today). There are multiple game modes to play through too, including the strategy-driven Galactic Conquest, Hero Assault that sees the main characters from the Star Wars universe take centre stage, and two different campaigns, so there’s plenty on offer across both games that really complement the simpler nature of their design.

There’ve been some improvements and additions made that expand on the original experience too, with the textures looking sharper than before, the improved resolution giving the game a cleaner look, and the lighting effects adding realism to each locale. Of course, there’s only so much that can be done given that the games came out in the 2000s (and this is a remaster rather than a remake), but it’s the best that they have looked across any platform. There are some improvements made to the gameplay too, with players now able to play Heroes Assault on all ground maps (this was limited to one map in the original release) and even featuring new characters to play as. This might seem like a small addition, but as someone who played a LOT of the mode on the PlayStation 2 back in the day, it’s a real treat.

“Online play has been an absolute nightmare at launch, with limited servers, technical glitches aplenty, constant crashes, and graphical or audio issues rife across the mode.”

It’s clear then that Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection has stood the test of time and is still a lot of fun to play, even IF it can be a little simple when compared to modern releases. So… where does this collection go wrong?

Online play has been an absolute nightmare at launch, with limited servers, technical glitches aplenty, constant crashes, and graphical or audio issues rife across the mode. I’ve seen absurd levels of lag in some matches, whilst there were times where I couldn’t even seem to spawn into the game. Multiplayer was meant to stand out as the highlight of the experience, but it has been hard to simply get into a match.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve managed to get into a few matches over the weekend and SOME have even managed to re-capture the magic of the games back in their heyday, but there always seems to be some problem that affects the game in some way. Whilst I have no doubt that these issues will be fixed, it has left a bit of a sour taste for a lot of players that I don’t think they’ll be able to get over.

Besides the technical issues that plague the game, there are some other oddities in place that just make the experience feel a little bit botched. Things like missing cutscenes feel weird, but having the game take up over 70gb of space on my hard drive just felt completely unnecessary. It’s unfortunate that the developers have tried to revitalise two complete releases that were beloved by fans and it has turned into a bit of a disaster.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Despite this, I still believe there is hope for Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection. I really enjoyed my time with single player and some of the graphical enhancements do improve the experience, whilst Heroes Assault really is better than ever. And hey, in those limited times where the multiplayer DID work, I had a blast. There’s just a LOT of work that needs to be done to bring the game up to the standard that players expect, especially since it’s the multiplayer functionality that most players are here for. To have it go so wrong at launch is a nightmare and left a bad taste with dedicated players who were there on day one, but with the issues having been acknowledged by the team at Aspyr, I’m hopeful that we’ll see some improvements over the coming weeks.

Developer: Aspyr
Publisher: Aspyr
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2446550/STAR_WARS_Battlefront_Classic_Collection/