Writer: Norbert
Editor: Lupin Schofield

A few hours ago… from the time of 9:08pm on May 1 st .

A team of bright eyed Elite Warriors fight their way through a vast battlefield of Supanova to reach their objective, to play Star Wars: Battlefront . A 50% completed version for the Playstation 2. Norbert embarked on a mission to save Kamino from the Separatist. Mission….failed…well ok, I stopped playing it before the end of the match…leave me alone.

Anyway, let's get on with it. As I said before, this was a 50% completed version of Star Wars: Battlefront for the PS2. The game is pretty similar to Battlefield 1942 but just set in the Star Wars universe. The graphics are well done, but it was somewhat hard to see because of the location I was playing it at, too much glare.

Moving right along. Levels playable in this version were:

• 1 Geonosis map
• 1 Kamino map
• 2 Bespin maps
• 2 Endor maps
• 2 Tatootine maps
• 1 or 2 Naboo maps
• 2 Rhen Var maps (A planet seen in Star Wars: Clone Wars Game [GCN, PS2, Xbox] and in a few novels set between Episode 2 and 3)
• A ‘Test Planet'
• And yes, everyone's favourite, Hoth

Played by this gamer were Kamino and Hoth.

Kamino

A world beyond the Outer Rim and just south of the Rishi Maze.
Suffering from constant storms.
Terrain: Ocean World.

Playing on this map, the teams are the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS). I played as the Galactic Republic . I saw before me a lovely assortment of Clones. The Republic Troops consist of; Clone Commander, Standard Clonetrooper, Clone Marksman, Clone Pilot, ARC Trooper and the Stylish Jet trooper.

Troops

• Clone Commander - Comes equipped with the standard blaster pistol and rifle but also with a lovely little Spy Drone thingy. The spy drone is equipped with a weapon so it's not defenceless, allowing the clone commander to fly the drone around and dispatch any foes it comes across, leaving the commander safe… unless some one sneaks up and actually kills your character… which I found out the hard way.
• Clonetrooper - The standard cannon fodder that runs around the battlefield with the standard blaster pistols and rifles.
• Clone Marksman - A nice fellow with a lovely sniper rifle along with his standard pistol. I actually never got a chance to use it. I was taken down quickly by some form of battle droid.
• Clone Pilot - This fellow is similar to the Engineer troop from Battlefield 1942 , this troop runs around with a pistol and a fixing tool to fix damaged vehicles.
• ARC Trooper - The Elite Clonetrooper from the Clone Wars mini series. He runs around with a nice big Proton Torpedo launcher. Fun weapon. I ran up to a battle droid and took it out and me along with it.
• Jet Trooper – Stylish. Glamorous. Flying. A nice little trooper who can fly around the terrain by pressing R2 twice. Fun time was had by all… till I flew off the edge and into the water.
• Droids - In my battles on Kamino I did witness a Standard Battle Droid, A Super Battle Droid and a Destroyer Droid.

The vehicles on Kamino were the Republic Gunship and the Jedi Starfighter. I never got a chance to fly the starfighter because all the troopers kept stealing it. But fun was had in the Gunship, flying around, changing the view and crashing into the sides of buildings. The actual level of Kamino was very pretty and had the rain effect and a lightning strike from time to time.

Hoth

Moving onto Hoth, the vacation stop of the Star Wars universe. Opting to play as the Empire I had fun running around as a Snowtrooper and running under the Imperial Walker's foot trying to enter it. Nice death scene. Next I moved onto a Dark Trooper. Yes, a Dark Trooper with a Jet Pack. I actually started winning with the Dark Trooper till I a sniper got me. Then I began running around as a Pilot…running under the Walkers' feet again.

The Controls

First of all I want to say I would love to of used a keyboard. Second, it would of also been great if I knew the controls instead of being the only clonetrooper jumping around like an idiot. The controls of the PS2 controller were done well, but being the First Person junkie I am, it would have been easier with a keyboard mouse combo.

Ok….well overall the game was great for the half complete game it was. I look forward to the full version and a chance to play it on PC. Star Wars: Battlefront is set to come out in November of this year in Australia according to EA Australia and is set to come out on PC, Playstation 2 and Xbox.

Norbert, over and out.

- Norbert