A recent announcement from Star Wars Battlefront developer, DICE, suggests that the hotly anticipated shoot ’em up will not include any of their trademark squad or class features, which appeared in their flagship game series, Battlefield. As a result of DICE moving away from the standard Battlefield setup, players will get the opportunity to enjoy some pretty innovative new gameplay and be able to freely select their gear and weapons without the slightly constricting concept of specific classes.
The developer has also come up with a fairly innovative idea to replace their usual squad feature. This comes in the form of a partners feature, allowing players to pair up and monitor each other’s activity, along with the added bonus of being able to spawn on each other. At first glance, it seems that despite claims the game will leave behind the Battlefield squad feature, the partner system is still a stone’s throw from DICE’s original squad system. However, there is one key difference: partners will be able to access each other’s unlocked items, even if they haven’t unlocked the items themselves.
Fans of the original Star Wars Battlefront franchise should also note that DICE have decided to scrap the idea of aim-down iron-sights, a feature that has become a given for most first person shooters. Alongside the news that Battlefront will feature both first person and third person view points, it seems DICE are dedicated to the idea of maintaining some essence of the original games with their next-gen release.
Finally, we’ve learnt that the game will also swap out the usual campaign mode for a “crafted mission” setup, which can be completed in variety of ways including solo, online co-op or standard split-screen.
We’ll keep you posted with any further Star Wars Battlefront news as it arises, but for now, tell us, how do you feel about the absence of squads and classes? Is it a welcome change, or were you hoping to see them in the game?