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Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection should have been a slam dunk. Take two of the most beloved Star Wars games ever made and their DLC, touch them up a bit, add modern multiplayer support, and release them. Easy money, right? You’d think so, but the reality is that Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection is a massive disappointment, largely thanks to a mountain of technical issues and server and connection problems when playing multiplayer.
First things first: Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection collects Pandemic Studios’ Star Wars: Battlefront (2004) and Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005), slaps them into a single package, and adds support for modern online multiplayer. It does exactly what it says on the box, but the problems with the Switch version start before you even launch it for the first time. These games, which ran on the PS2 and original Xbox and fit on DVDs that could only hold nine gigabytes of data, are now a whopping 33GB+, so you have to have a micro SD card to even download and play the game on a standard Switch or Switch Lite. From there, you’re taken to a launcher that lets you choose your Battlefront.
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Star Wars: Battlefront II is where most players will spend most of their time, but we enjoyed the original Battlefront far more than we thought we would. It’s a simple game: there are campaigns for both the Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War era that feature certain lore-important battles like Naboo or Hoth, but other than showing scenes from the films between battles, there isn’t much different than a normal battle.
The original Battlefront only has one mode, Conquest, which asks both sides to capture the other’s command posts and deplete their resources. You can choose from one of five classes - infantry, heavy weapons, pilot, sniper, and one unique to each faction, like the Droideka for the CIS or the Wookie Smuggler for the Rebels. It’s a nice touch that makes each faction feel a little different.
There are also turrets and vehicles like the AT-ST or X-wing to pilot, depending on the map and the faction you’ve playing with, and you’re free to handle the whole 'wipe out the enemy team and take their command posts' however you want. The issue is that all of it feels very one-note very quickly. There’s very little depth in Battlefront, and while the immediate moment-to-moment action feels good enough, there’s just not much to it.
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Galactic Conquest, which asks you to manage your faction’s forces over a campaign across a Galaxy Map before allowing you to play the battles, and playable heroes like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker help, but you can only do much with a core gameplay loop this simple. The original Battlefront does have better UI design, though, mirroring a more traditional shooter of the era, while its sequel just stacks bars on top of one another.
Battlefront II is essentially its older brother, just refined. The second game adds the ability to sprint, more heroes, more maps, and so on. Our favorite addition is the Space Battles, which lets you pilot fighters and bombers in space as you attempt to take out the enemy flagship. You can even board the ship and destroy the systems from the inside, or take them out from the cockpit. The flying feels a lot like early Star Fox in all-range mode, so there’s a ton of fun to be had here.
Battlefront II also adds other modes like Capture the Flag, Hunt, and perhaps most famously, Hero Assault. Normally, you have to earn the right to play Hero characters in a match, but in Hero Assault you just start with one and battle it out against the other side. Before the remaster, Hero Assault was limited to certain maps, but now you can use it on all of them. The issue is that playing Hero Assault doesn’t feel particularly satisfying, as it’s not balanced very well, and the fights themselves play more like a kid mashing his action figures together than anything beyond that.
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Battlefront II also brings in a pretty solid single-player campaign where a Clone Trooper veteran of the 501st retells you his stories. These missions have unique objectives and do a good job of capturing the look and feel of Star Wars, so it’s a nice change of pace.
And then, of course, there’s the multiplayer, which is where we imagine most people who buy this will spend most of their time. Multiplayer was a mixed bag; sometimes our matches were great. Other times they were noticeably laggy, even when playing with the same people in the exact same set-up. It was a bummer getting into a firefight with another player and losing because they started teleporting around the map. There were also periods when it just didn’t work at all.
But the real problems are the myriad of technical issues. It would take thousands of words to describe the technical issues we’ve experienced in the Battlefront: Classic Collection, but here’s a small number of them: sound not loading during cutscenes; the roll animation appearing as the jump animation; certain control options not appearing in the menus, or not working when selected; being unable to see the firing animations for certain weapons; textures not loading in properly; reinforcements not working properly on certain maps; several enemy AI bugs that included having enemies just stand there; and on and on it goes.
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Aspyr has fixed some of these issues on PC, but that was a week ago at the time of writing, and there’s no sign of a control patch. Worse, some of these bugs, like the no sound bug, only happen on Switch while the game is docked. Others only happen when you’re playing handheld. It’s crazy. Bugs aside, playing both docked and handheld looks and feels good, however.
Conclusion
The irony is that Aspyr has done a nice job with remastering the visuals in both games and we enjoyed seeing the results. But the reality is that these games often feel old, they're extremely buggy, and the online play is hit-and-miss. This should have been a slam dunk. Instead, playing Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection made us feel sad. If Aspyr can fix the slew of technical issues, this might one day be worth picking up on Switch. Until that happens, though, the Force isn’t with this one.
Comments 54
This just does not need to exist. Pure cash grab and Aspyr further tarnishes their name. You'd think after doing this enough times they would be near financial ruin, but that hasn't made the news.
Insert gif of a Mario-Calamari shouting "Itsa crap!"
That's awful to see. I'm glad I held out on getting these games, they were really just a collector's novelty for me.
@Daggot While it sucks this remaster is not the best, I don't agree that it doesn't need to exist. In better hands, a remastered version of Battlefront would be leagues more fun than EA's version.
A 3 GB game, made into 34 GB, and for what?!
I really hope Aspyr is free of Embracer Group someday soon, because they are struggling under the current ownership.
"Saddlefront..."
-_-
These puns are getting worse all the time...
Two words: Galactic Conquest.
That is all.
LIMITED POOOOWWWEEEERRRR!!!!!
@LadyCharlie It's worse on PC, which is a baffling 70GB (approximately). And the visual quality isn't any better than the old PC versions, which are still available for purchase on Steam or GOG for far cheaper, take up less space, and they still play wonderfully.
Sure, you don't have the extra maps and Hero Assault is relegated to a map or two, but that extra stuff simply didn't warrant the extra bloat. I love me some Battlefront and the more the merrier, but I'm more than content with the old PC versions.
Maybe I'll get the Switch version when it's on the cheap somewhere down the line, but right now, this deal is very bad and I'm glad to NOT be a part of it.
Never played 2 but the first game felt very limited to me even back in 2004 on PS2 and I remember getting bored quickly.
I doubt I’ll ever play them online so I think I’ll suffer less than most. It’s so unfortunate the game is a mess though. I won’t get it til it has at least a 20$ price tag.
I'll wait for several issues to be fixed also on Switch, not to mention I would've waited regardless since it's digital-only and I usually wait for discounts in that case and even more so considering this collection's size.
That said, since I'm interested mostly in the single player I'll still get it at some point.
Aspyr strikes again! God they've been sucking hard lately.
I thought they felt aged when they originally came out to be honest. When I saw this was coming, I had no desire to revisit the two games even though I owned both and spent many hours playing them.
@DoorToMundane That's not a pun; it's called "back formation", and I thought it was funny.
I loved Battlefront II on my cousin's Xbox way back when, and planned to pick this up. Too bad it's such a flop.
Guess I won't be buying this one then... Sad droid noises.
aspyr need to disappear they shown to be really bad at making games especially ports maybe next time panic button should handle it.
Been playing both games and loving it since launch day. Never played them back in the day but I'm having a blast with this. Played online a little and it was fine for me, and all the single-player stuff is fantastic. Just saying- if you play like me it's pretty much a non-issue.
I did buy it thinking the Y-axis inversion issue had been updated, but it hasn't yet... Despite all the issues I've still enjoyed the space battles in Battlefront 2. Dog fighting in a TIE interceptor is something I could play endlessly for some weird nostalgic reason. Once the Y-axis invertion option is patched for ground battles, I'm sure I'll have some fun with the game at least in single player. Endor in Battlefront 2 runs very poorly though. Might go test my original Xbox version to see how it compares at some point.
Between the debacle of Knights of the Old Republic 2's DLC and now this collection being a complete mess, I don't think I want that Rogue Squadron remaster I've been begging for anymore...
I was mildly interested in these having never played them back in the day. But the sorry state of the ports, and the huge download size kinda killed that interest completely.
Even if I disagree with “Hero Assault feels like smacking action figures together.”, this collection just seems to break the camel’s back for most Battlefront fans. I know some people do like this collection but what they need to realize is that anyone upset with it has the right to be. This franchise has been in a rough state since the cancellation of Battlefront 3 and Disney selling the Star Wars rights to EA. It definitely makes sense why people criticizing this collection are angry. Trying to silence criticism is a very dangerous thing yet it’s still unfortunately popular thanks to social media platforms like Twitter (now X).
This is the first non-first party game I preordered, to get the discount. Though I am having fun with it, the game can be unplayable at times in multiplayer. Single player seems to be pretty solid, I haven't noticed any issues. For me, the game is a bit higher of a score, but I understand that with the multiplayer being broken (and this being a multiplayer focused game) the score being low. I'm hoping for some updates, but fear the online community will be very small once an update comes through. It's unfortunate, I didn't play these games when they originally released, and I was excited to experience them...thought it would be a slam dunk
Baddlefront.
This became a never buy for me as soon as I saw it was THIRTY TWO GIGABYTES download.
I had to click on this to comment on the bad pun
@Heartless666 ok but they did pretty well on the tomb raider collection, I just think the higher ups really rushed the people remastering the games.
@Jiggies
According by the Wikipedia article on puns, a portmanteau (such as sad + battlefront) could be considered a pun in this context.
I am just a humble messenger. Please direct all wrath towards Richard J. Alexander, the source cited in the article!
@RiasGremory My guess as to their poor efforts as of late was due to the recent layoff they had. A majority of the good development team members were let go and the few that are still there are either in-experience or lazy.
I bought these games hoping Aspyr had returned to form after their Tomb Raider remasters. But found myself very disappointed - the multiplayer is borked, the default control schemes were designed by an ape, and the 32gb install is a joke for such old games. Never buying from Aspyr again. Would have refunded immediately if I could.
Hopefully they offer some free games to offset this awful remaster like they did with Kotor II, although I doubt it.
I'll wait a little while, wait on a few patches and theb get for PC.
And people on Steam defended this lazy cash grab, lol...
These were my most anticipated classic Star Wars game rereleases, so it's a damn shame they're riddled with so many issues.
Would be nice if they cared and fixed these issues. I wonder if Pandemic Studios was still around if The Pandemic Collection would have been a thing. Possibly Battlefront I and II, LOTR Conquest and The Saboteur in a collection.
If Battlefront becomes playable online then I will play it more. The buffering cutscenes in Battlefront II single player is also annoying. This is also why I didn't pick up the Star Wars collection on Switch. I don't trust Aspyr with how this collection has been handled.
@HotGoomba Best reply ever!
Ouch. And here I was considering picking it up, especially since playing the original Battlefront on my PS2 is a little difficult, due to me playing it on a modern HD TV. With my current TV settings, it's very hard to see where I'm going, such as during the Battle of Hoth. The resolution is too blurry and the contrast is not high enough, so I can't see any details in the landscape.
I was really hoping this would let me "replace" my original copy of Battlefront. Looks like that's not happening now, unless they can roll out some sort of patch or update to fix these issues. I'll just have to mess with the settings on my TV to make the resolution and contrast sharper.
A surprise to be sure, but an unwelcome one.
Aspyr is famous for shoddy work.
For anyone with a computer interested in these games, the original untarnished versions are supposedly both still available through Steam. Unfortunately the people who make “remasters” have an ugly tendency to want to remove the original game versions from storefronts. If they have the right to do so.
And while most so-called “remasters” aren’t as bad as these, it is often the case that you get budget artwork in high resolution substituted for high-quality artwork in low resolution. And a weird mix of old and new. The actual number of “remasters” and remakes I think are preferable to play over the original releases, fits into one hand.
Bon Jovi: You give love a bad name!
Aspyr: You give Star Wars a bad name!! Aspyr & Co should be ashamed. Dark Forces is off the table now!
Did anyone else pick these up on Steam years ago? Seemed to run fine there
idk, for what it's worth, I haven't run into any of these issues playing the single player campaigns or Galactic Conquest. I have not dipped my toes into the online multiplayer yet, but I've beaten the first game's campaigns and am halfway through the second game. About 10-12 hours of gametime so far with no noticeable glitches or issues, except for the option for inverting flight controls being absent. But the game is perfectly playable for me.
$35 is definitely a little high, and the 33GB size is pretty insane to me, but for me, it's still worth it in order to play the game on the bus.
@pikku yeah I kinda agree I think of what I played was fine as well, I don’t think it deserves a 4 personally I would say maybe a 6. They also could have sold this at a 40 to 60 price range but they chose 35 so not really the worst scenario, it’s only bad because compared to the older ones it halve the price. I think the amount of GB this game is overwhelming though.
Aspyr just sucks simple as that. Get them away from classic Star Wars games please
34GB?! On top of everything else?!
Even DOOM Eternal and all of its DLC doesn't take up that much space!
34GB for WHAT???
you gotta be kidding
man, i remember playing this on my cheap PC 20 years ago, the video card was a 3dfx, a pentium CPU with 4 gb of RAM
20 years later, it looks ugly on the switch and TV
Oh yeouch. They skewered it even more than I expected. I mean I already saw firsthand how badly it plays but still I expected a softer hand here for some reason. My take isn't much different than ALOT of the other comments I see here. Idk how this was botched so badly. Even the single player offline modes felt VERY off. To the degree that I had to power on my asthmatic old PS2 and pop in Battlefront 2 for a side by side comparison and yeah it's not a good comparison folks. However I still ended up having an absolute BLAST...playing the original PS2 version for the rest of the night. This remaster collection was completely unnecessary and not only doesn't improve upon the original but it doesn't even hold up as equal to it. Fire up your old consoles people and take a look at what games USED to be like. You know before the dark times...before game development became lazy and over dependent on the "we'll fix it in post with a patch" attitude completely wrecked it
Where did it all go wrong for Aspyr? They used to be pretty decent and made good ports of KOTOR for mobile devices back in the day. I can only assume that after they were removed from doing the KOTOR Remake that they’ve been desperate for cash and have been cutting corners to try and steady the ship.
Sadly after they didn’t bother with the KOTOR II DLC they’d promised I can’t buy anything from them on principal. This is yet another game from them that requires you to buy it on the faith that they’ll actually finish it, there’s no way I’d take that gamble with the reputation they have now.
I must say I don't agree with this - I'm currently having loads of fun with this game and I really appreciate an online game that actually focuses on intense short-to-medium matches that you can just jump into and enjoy. No leveling/grinding/crafting or such crap, no endless streams of ugly cosmetics and no battle royal - just pure fun!
Bugs and crashes are bad, of course, but I have yet to encounter any bigger problems. Considering pretty much every indie title releases half-broken and needs countless patches to work well I do feel this game is judged rather harsh, especially since a patch is already on the way.
I am happy Aspyr decided to release these awesome titles with upgraded visuals and all. And best of all: split screen is included!
Ahh, Lego has preserved some of the legacy and magic with some of their collectors models. Next on my list is the Death Star Trash Compactor
Speeder Chase on Endor and Yoda's Hut on Dagobah are already on the shelve
Will developers stop releasing games on any platform that riddled with bugs. I get that you will always get bugs but the amount we get now is insane.
Surely releasing a quality title is better than releasing a bug version.
I was just gifted the game for my birthday, and most of the issues addressed in that article have been fixed. the game hasn't crashed for me yet which is good. I'm really enjoying it, but I still wonder why its was 30 bucks for 2 games I could have bought for like 15 together. bf2 is 10bucks for a Xbox series x/s comparable version, same thing with the classic, which is 20 bucks total. so that portion of the price makes sense, but where does the extra 10 bucks come from? surly the bonus maps and 2 extra characters aren't worth 10 bucks.
It’s good that they fixed most of the issues but still disappointing. It’s already a dead game. Really wish we got BF3 or a console release of Elite/Renegade Squadron
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