STAR WARS: Battlefront Classic Collection Review

For the longest time, Star Wars fans have been clamouring for a new Battlefront game akin to the original duo of titles. While this isn’t a revival of the long-since cancelled Battlefront III, a collection of two of the most popular games in the franchise for modern consoles is the next best thing. Or is it? Considering how well the original versions still play, STAR WARS: Battlefront Classic Collection should be easy money for developer Aspyr, right? Well, just like the fallen Jedi Anakin Skywalker, that which was meant to bring balance to the force (or give gamers the ability to play classic games once again, in this case) can oh so easily become a disaster.

Now, this review is being written about a month after the game's release, and to say that the initial reception was negative would be a bit of an understatement. In this age of videogames — where a developer can release a title before it’s ready and just update it later on — even just a few weeks after the initial release, a game can feel vastly different from the pre-patched version. Let’s hope that’s the case here, then; those release reviews were not very promising.

It’s easy to look back at the original 2004 and 2005 releases with rose-tinted glasses, but they were far from perfect. They were a whole lot of fun, though, and playing split screen with three friends in recognisable locations from the movies was something I spent countless hours doing. Well, to start with a downer, the Classic Collection only supports two-player split screen. Not a huge deal in the age of online gaming, but that isn’t exactly stellar at the time of writing.

For starters, there’s no crossplay, a feature I expect to see in the majority of online titles in 2024. Then, there’s the connection issues. I’ve encountered serious lag, disconnects, and slowdown numerous times. These issues were more prevalent in Battlefront II than in the original, but when everything's running smoothly, it plays just like how you remember. These are certainly issues I expect to see fixed in the future, but it’s best to just avoid online play right now for fear of it turning you to the dark side. 

If you’re more interested in the single-player aspects of the Classic Collection, then you’re in for a much better time. Jumping into an Instant Action match, experiencing the stories played out through a series of missions, or just dominating the galaxy in Galactic Conquest, every mode is left intact. Actually, that’s not strictly true, as there have been some new additions that improve certain modes. Asajj Ventress and Kit Fisto (previously Xbox-exclusive DLC heroes) are playable, certain maps from the first game are now playable in the second, and Hero mode is available on all maps now. Not bad! For the price, there absolutely should have been more included, but something's better than nothing!

AI teammates are, unfortunately, still as useless as ever, and it’s disappointing to have not seen some improvements under the hood in that regard. On a surface level, playing these fast-paced, intense battles at 60 fps with a slight graphical boost feels good... just don’t expect current-gen graphics! It looks and sounds exactly how you remember playing almost 20 years ago (feel old yet?) but just that extra bit clearer for modern displays.

After the initial reveal of the collection, I was so incredibly excited to be able to play the definitive versions of two games that I lost hours to during my teenage years. But I just can’t help but feel a little let down by the whole thing. I wasn’t expecting something built from the ground up, but I did expect more than what we were given. Despite a few updates, online is still rough (thankfully, the woeful lack of servers has been addressed), and even the most die-hard Battlefront fans would find it difficult to find a reason to play this if you already have a PC or Xbox (I love you, backwards compatibility).

If you’re a PC gamer, just buy the original versions instead. They still have online functionality, look fine at max settings, and the sheer amount of content available through mods means you’ll have a galaxy’s worth of extra content. Console players, or anyone solely interested in playing solo, may be happier with their purchase — even at the relatively steep price point — but it’s still a low-effort re-release with next to no improvements.