Star Wars Battlefront (DICE)

"Fight in epic Star Wars battles on iconic planets and rise through the ranks playing as the heroic Rebellion or the evil Galactic Empire."

- E3 2014 trailer description

Star Wars Battlefront is a first- and third-person action shooter video game published by Electronic Arts and developed by EA DICE that is set in the original trilogy era of the Star Wars universe. It was released on Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on November 17, 2015 in the U.S. and November 19 in Australia and Europe.

A sequel, titled Star Wars Battlefront II, was released two years later on November 17, 2017.

Development
After the release of Star Wars: Battlefront II, the game (as Star Wars: Battlefront III) was rumored to be released multiple times. The game was in production with Free Radical Design after learning that LucasArts made no comments or mentions of a third Battlefront installment. However, the company could not support the game due to the loss of an employee and other concurrent projects going on at the time. As a result, they dropped the game.

Rebellion Developments was thought to have created a Battlefront III in 2008, but instead they released Star Wars: Battlefront: Elite Squadron, the fourth installment in the series. However, they still had some footage of Battlefront III game-play and led many people to believe the game would be at E3 2010, but were proven wrong. Spark Unlimited was also rumored to be creating Battlefront III in 2012, but were creating Lost Planet 3.

After another year, it was revealed at E3 2013 that DICE would be developing the next major release of Battlefront under Electronic Arts. They released a short trailer alongside the game's announcement. The game took two years of development before it was officially released.

During development, DICE made it a priority to provide an immersive experience for players. Using a technique called photogrammetry, DICE was able to turn hundreds of photographs of real Star Wars props into three-dimensional digital models bringing the feel and look of the films directly into the game. DICE has also visited key Star Wars filming locations such as Finse, Norway (Hoth) to serve as the groundwork for the locations depicted in the game.

When deciding the outcome of Battlefront, DICE chose to go "back to the core" of the franchise and asked themselves "What does someone want when they play a Star Wars game?"

An expansion pack was released shortly after the game's worldwide release titled Star Wars Battlefront: The Battle of Jakku. Players who owned the game prior to December 8, 2015 received the first announced expansion pack for free. Players who pre-ordered the game prior to launch were able to play the expansion pack when it was released on December 1, 2015. The expansion pack and its game mode, Turning Point, were later integrated into the base game allowing all players to play the expansion.

On June 11, 2020, the Ultimate Edition of the game was released on the Steam platform, alongside its sequel.

Gameplay
Unlike the previous games in the series, there is no campaign, but there are single-player action modes called Missions. EA DICE has expressed their desire to keep Battlefront as mainly a multiplayer game. Various battles take place on the planets listed below; there are 27 multiplayer maps in the game (including expansion packs) as well as 8 maps that are featured in assorted Missions. There is also one map, Raider Camp, that is featured in multiplayer and Survival.

The game has first and third person perspectives, allowing the players to choose between the two. The focus of the game is online multiplayer with up to 40 player battles; however, there are also offline challenges inspired by moments in the films that can be played solo or co-op either online or with split-screen.

The offline challenges are re-playable with a range of difficulty. Players can play as the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire in addition to being able to play as key characters from the franchise. Players also gain the use of familiar vehicles such as speeders, X-wing fighters, lightsabers and AT-ATs. DICE has also added power-ups such as shields and explosives. New items never seen before in the films are also added to game-play.

There are no dedicated space battles in the base game, but in Battle Station (a new mode brought by the Death Star expansion pack) and Infiltration space battles are present. There are dogfights in the atmosphere of planets and above battlegrounds as well as a mix of ground-based and vehicle based battles.

The game itself focuses mainly on the original trilogy of Star Wars films and not the prequel or sequel trilogies. As stated before, the game ties into Star Wars: The Force Awakens with the first expansion pack, and ties into Rogue One with the last one, making them released in chronological order backwards.

Base game

 * Walker Assault
 * Fighter Squadron
 * Drop Zone
 * Supremacy
 * Cargo
 * Droid Run
 * Blast
 * Heroes vs. Villains
 * Hero Hunt

Expansion packs

 * Turning Point
 * Extraction
 * Sabotage
 * Battle Station
 * Infiltration

Missions

 * Missions
 * Battles
 * Hero Battles
 * Survival

Planets

 * Bespin
 * Death Star
 * Endor
 * Hoth
 * Jakku
 * Scarif
 * Sullust
 * Tatooine

Vehicles
Battles take place on or near the surface of the map. Space warfare is only available in the Death Star and Rogue One expansion packs. Currently all ground vehicles belong to the Empire, except for Speeder Bikes which are neutral.

Playable
Rebel Alliance

Imperials

AI controlled
Rebels Imperials
 * B-wing
 * Y-wing
 * GR-75 Medium Transport
 * TIE Defender
 * TIE Bomber
 * Lambda-class T-4a Shuttle
 * Imperial Star Destroyer
 * TIE Striker

Heroes and Villains
As of the release of the Rogue One DLC in 2016, there are 14 playable heroes (7 each side), excluding Hero vehicles.

Base Game

 * Luke Skywalker
 * Han Solo
 * Princess Leia

Expansion Packs

 * Nien Nunb
 * Lando Calrissian
 * Chewbacca
 * Jyn Erso

Base Game

 * Darth Vader
 * Boba Fett
 * Emperor Palpatine

Expansion Packs

 * Greedo
 * Dengar
 * Bossk
 * Director Krennic

Weapons

 * A280C Blaster Rifle
 * CA-87 Shock Blaster
 * DH-17 Blaster Pistol
 * DL-44 Blaster Pistol
 * DLT-19 Heavy Blaster
 * E-11 Blaster Rifle
 * EE-3 Blaster Rifle
 * RT-97C Heavy Blaster
 * SE-14C Blaster Pistol
 * T-21 Heavy Blaster
 * T-21B Targeting Rifle
 * Relby V-10 Targeting Rifle
 * DLT-19X Targeting Rifle
 * DL-18 Blaster Pistol
 * DT-12 Blaster Pistol
 * EE-4 Blaster Rifle
 * X-8 Night Sniper
 * TL-50 Heavy Blaster
 * K-16 Bryar Pistol
 * A180 Blaster Pistol
 * DT-29 Blaster Pistol
 * CJ-9 Bo-Rifle

Asset Cards

 * Thermal Detonator
 * Scout Pistol
 * Ion Torpedo
 * Ion Neutralizer
 * Pulse Cannon
 * Impact Grenade
 * Ion Grenade
 * Homing Shot
 * Jump Pack
 * Smoke Grenade
 * Flash Grenade
 * Barrage
 * Cycler Rifle
 * Bowcaster
 * Bacta Bomb
 * Scatter Gun
 * Dioxis Grenade
 * Scout Binoculars
 * Shock Grenade
 * Medical Droid
 * Laser Trip Mine
 * Sonic Imploder

Charged Star Cards

 * Cooling Cell
 * Focus Fire
 * Ion Shot
 * Scan Pulse
 * Explosive Shot
 * Personal Shield
 * Adrenaline Stim
 * Disruption
 * Stinger Pistol

Trait Cards

 * Berserker
 * Bodyguard
 * Scout
 * Survivalist
 * Bounty Hunter
 * Sharpshooter
 * Escape Artist

Rebel
(See also: Playable Species)
 * Rebel Soldier
 * Bespin Wing Guard
 * X-Wing Pilot
 * Rebel Officer

Imperial

 * Stormtrooper
 * Pauldron Stormtrooper (black, white, orange, and red)
 * Scout Trooper
 * Shadow Trooper
 * Shock Trooper
 * Death Star Trooper
 * Imperial Officer
 * Shoretrooper Captain

Game Updates
Ordered from oldest to newest.

Major Updates

 * December 01, 2015 Update
 * January 2016 Update
 * February 2016 Update
 * Outer Rim Update
 * May 2016 Update
 * Bespin Update
 * July 2016 Update
 * Death Star Update
 * Rogue One: Scarif Update
 * January 2017 Update

Minor Updates

 * December 10, 2015 Update
 * December 16, 2015 Update
 * March 24, 2016 Update
 * March 29, 2016 Update
 * May 11, 2016 Update
 * June 27, 2016 Update
 * September 28, 2016 Update
 * October 4, 2016 Update
 * January 5, 2017 Update

Unreleased content
This content was teased for the game but was ultimately never finished during the time DICE worked on the game and thus never released.

Modes
A game mode similar to Hero Assault was teased a few times by developers after the final expansion pack was released. The community named the rumored game mode "Hero Blast". However, Hero Blast was ultimately never completed, possibly due to the developers working on the sequel. Fans have modded the game to allow 6v6 hero battling in the Blast game mode, but this is only available on private servers.

Skins
Death Star themed skins for Luke, Han, and Leia were mentioned in a magazine for the Death Star expansion pack, but were never released.

Trivia

 * There are a lot of Easter eggs, most are from the original Star Wars concepts from Ralph McQuarrie, such as a small, snake-like creature on the Endor Droid Run map Swamp Crash Site, and some from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, as one achievement is "Do we take prisoners?", which is the line of a battle droid in the fifth episode "Rookies", and another achievement "This is a new day, a new beginning...", a line Ahsoka Tano said in the Season 1 finale of Rebels. There are also references to the original films like a Wampa appearing in a cave in the Twilight map, and quotes also appearing as the names of trophies and achievements.
 * This game is the first in the series to be developed and published by DICE and EA, respectively, after LucasArts was shut down, and Rebellion Development gave up development rights.
 * The game received massive criticism by fans, and Finn actor John Boyega, for its lack of content on both single player and multi player, up to the point that the game has been called a "cash grab".
 * The game came out 10 years after the original Battlefront II was released.