Product Description

Star Wars Battlefront is back and bigger than ever on the PSP (PlayStation Portable) system and Nintendo DS! Releasing this Fall, Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is the deepest and most action-packed Star Wars Battlefront game ever. Experience battlefronts that span ground, space and capital starships, a robust original storyline and expanded gameplay features that deliver endless replayability. Fight on an expanded battlefront that spans multiple layers of action. Start the fight on foot, commandeer a vehicle and dogfight in space, and land your craft on and fight in capital starships. Your actions in each area directly affect the outcome on others. Take the lead role in an engrossing, never-before-told storyline that puts you in the middle of the action of the most memorable battles spanning the entire Star Wars saga and beyond. Massive amounts of replay value and customization ensure that every battle you take part in is unique and different!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #287 in Video Games
• Brand: Lucas Arts
• Model: 33539
• Published on: 2009-11
• Released on: 2009-11-03
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: Sony PSP
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .60" h x 4.10" w x 7.00" l, .20 pounds

Features

• Commandeer trademark Star Wars vehicles and spacecraft from the Empire's TIE Fighters to the Rebel Alliance's X-wings, as well as AT-RTs, LAATs, Imperial Transports and Droid Fighters.
• Outfit your character like never before. Dictate their battle weapons, armor, species, gender, appearance and physical strengths including hundreds of unlockable items and bonuses.
• Feel the rush of combat on the PSP system with 16-player multiplayer matches complete with enhanced stat tracking.
• Play classic characters like Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kit Fisto, Darth Maul, Count Dooku and Boba Fett, plus new characters from the Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video games.
• Battle on some of the most iconic Star Wars planets and locations from the feature films, all with multi-layered battlefronts, such as Tatooine, Endor, Yavin 4 and Hoth through 12 campaign levels.

Amazon.com Product Description

Star Wars Battlefront is back and bigger than ever on the PlayStation Portable (PSP). A third-person shooter, Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is the deepest and most action-packed Star Wars Battlefront game ever. Experience battlefronts that span ground, space and capital starships, a robust original storyline and expanded gameplay features--including 16-player multiplayer support--that deliver seemingly endless replayability. Story and Gameplay The storyline of Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron concerns the two clone trooper brothers X2 and X1. Clones created using Jedi DNA, they were originally designed to aid in Order 66, the great Jedi purge set in motion by Chancellor Palpatine as a pretext to establishing the Empire. However, X2 chooses to foresake this path and instead joins the rebel alliance, standing opposed to his brother, X1, who remains aligned with the dark side and the plans of the revealed Darth Sidious. Gameplay Levels and Features Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron allows players to engage in combat on multiple levels where every action matters. On the ground players fight both on foot and utilizing a variety of vehicles, units and weapons, while an assortment of Rebel and Imperial craft takes the fight into space, with brief cutscenes between levels creating a seamless experience. Whether on the ground or in the air, the players combat stats have direct consequences on the overall outcome of battles, making the outcome of each exchange crucial. The game also features multiple game modes and features, including the Heroes and Villains Mode, where you play as favorite characters from the Star Wars universe, and 16-player multiplayer support. Customization Players will have at their disposal massive amounts of pick-up and play action for seemingly endless replay value. The PSP provides the deepest customization options ever seen in a Star Wars Battlefront title, allowing players to personalize and build their character with more weapons and items than ever before, including the weapons characters carry into battle, the armor they wear on their backs, their species, gender, appearance and physical strengths. Players can also unlock hundreds of other items and bonuses to help even the odds. An evolution of the Battlefront experience. View larger. Key Game Features Fight on an expanded battlefront that spans multiple layers of action – start the fight on foot, commandeer a vehicle and dogfight in space, and land your craft on and fight in capital starships – your actions in each area directly affect the outcome on others. Take the lead role in an engrossing, never-before-told storyline that puts you in the middle of the action of the most memorable battles spanning the entire Star Wars saga and beyond. Deep customization options on the PSP system let you build and outfit your character like never before – dictate the weapons they carry into battle, the armor they wear on their backs, their species, gender, appearance and physical strengths including hundreds of unlockable items and bonuses. Feel the rush of combat on the PSP system with 16-player multiplayer matches complete with enhanced stat tracking. Let loose your inner Jedi or Sith in the special "Heroes and Villains" mode where you can play classic characters like Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kit Fisto, Darth Maul, Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress, Boba Fett, plus new characters from the Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video games. Battle on some of the most iconic Star Wars planets and locations from the feature films, all with multi-layered battlefronts, such as Tatooine, Endor, Yavin 4 and Hoth through 12 campaign levels on the PSP. Commandeer trademark Star Wars vehicles and spacecraft from the Empire’s TIE Fighters to the Rebel Alliance’s X-wings, as well as AT-RTs, LAATs, Imperial Transports and Droid Fighters. Screenshots: Fight on foot and in the air. View larger. Heroes & Villains mode. View larger. 16-person multiplayer. View larger. Take the front to space. View larger.

Customer Reviews

Okay, but Lucasarts really lied about this one.
This is the second best Battlefront out of the 4 that have been made diregarding the mobile iterations. Basically, it was the product of the cancellation of BF3 and shares many of the same elements like gameplay aspects, story, and characters. This is to date the only Battlefront game in which you can transition between space and ground, and the second battlefront in which you can use a starfighter(not a snowspeeder) to strafe and have dogfights in the air This works surprisingly well, making the game a blast to play, especially online. Every single planet that was included in other installments that features in this game has been completely redesighned for the better.

**If you are not a big time fan of Star Wars, You probably wont understand this paragraph and the next paragraph, so go ahead and skip)
Like say Coruscant: originally, the level was set in the Jedi Temple but now, its set in a plaza and street area and is based off of the ground battle(you only see the space battle in Episode 3) of Coruscant featured in the original clone wars microseries, and the book Labyrinth of Evil. Another thing featured in Labyrinth of Evil and only briefly during the Order 66 montage of Episode 3 is the Neimoidian purse world of Cato Neimoidia. Cato Neimoidia, along with Vjun(featured in comics, books, and the game Jedi academy), and Dantooine(mentioned in Ep 4, featured in comics, books, and KOTOR along with some other games). This is far less new planets than I thought there would be(Renegade Squadron had around 5 or 6 and they were not brought back as cool as they were). Dantooine is following a trend that Renegade Squadron started(Korriban with it's Sith Academy area) by including another area created in the game KOTOR on the planet Dantooine. On Dantooine, you can find the remains of the old Jedi enclave which was a cool feature, but th strange thing is is that it looks like a cave with streams and crystals(lightsaber crystals I assume) everywhere.

There are many new heroes in this game like Pantoran Jedi Master Ferroda and Rahm Kota's former apprentice Falon Grey. Also, their are three variations of two characters X1 and X2: Clone, Rebel, Jedi for X2 and Arc trooper, shadowtrooper/Emperor's Hand, Sith Lord for X1. X2 is the protaganist and X1 is an ally early on but rather predictably falls to the darkside(I'm keeping my lips sealed after that as to what happens). Rahm Kota is also featured as a cameo and playable character, but ingame, he never seems to recognize the death star on that certain mission, and he never mentions Starkiller(Galen Marek). He still is blind and has white eyes. There are special NPC's(in story) that is intriguing and should bring back memories if you ever played Dark Forces on PS1, but I wanna keep that one a surprise.

The story. It's awful. It tries to be good and has potential, but there are tons of plot holes in it. enough said

As far as vehicles, their are less in her than in Renegade Squadron. No Speeder Bikes, AT-TE's, and only two types of starfighter for each team rather than 4 or 5. It's not like they are not there, for every single type of Tie fighter in the BF(includin Tie defenders) series is featured in story mode, but not in anything else.

That promised 'deep customization' is nowhere to be found. The game features only two new weapons and the exact same character models as Renegad Squadron. So basically, LucasArts was lying the entire time. Classy.

As for graphics, it may not look it when you look at pictures, but the graphics are muc better. The movements in this game are the most fluid of the entire BF series. and the Death Star is easilly the most graphically amazing level in the game. It looks a lot like The Force Unleashed on PSP on that level.

The controls take getting used to because the Renegade Squadron-esque controls are worse in this game. This is the primary reason that Elite Squadron has bad reviews. Luckily, the alternate controls are somewhat fixed from the mess they where in Renegade Squadron. It now has a somewhat sticky reticule and it take around ten second to auto-level rather than around 4 in RS. It is the best way to play the game IMO.

And so that wraps up my lengthy review.
Features:4 out of 5
Story: 2 out of 5
Gameplay: 5
Graphics: 4
Controls: 5
Sound: 5
Lastin Appeal: 4.5(not an average though)

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron Best Installment Ever
I have been a long fan of the Battlefront series and have bought every version on the PSP and also on the PS2. I am more comfortable with the versions on the PSP version. Many people complain that the controls are horrible, but I say they are comfortable.

Same from past Battlefronts for PSP-
The controls are the same of Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron and the controls are not able to be changed to classic Star Wars Battlefront II controls, though LucasArts said that they could. The Heroes vs. Villains returns to 4 different planets and includes 2 clone wars and 2 galactic civil war

New/Different from past Battlefronts for PSP-
New planets have been added including updates also. New planets include: Dantooine, Vjun, Cato Nemoida, Bespin, and the Death Star (this has not been on other PSP Battlefronts). Planets have also been updated. For example ships have larger interiors with command posts able to be captured by boarding parties, and a reactor core to destroy the ship. Mustafar has also been updated. On Battlefront II Mustafar was only the mining complex. On Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron it added an extra room. On Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron it has the lava river and the landing platform and the rock shore where Obi-Wan and Anakin fight. The huge addition that LucasArts has been mentioning is, Planet-to-Surface fights. On Battlefronts II and Renegade Squadron, you could use a starfighter to fight ground forces, but only in the sky. Now you can fight on the ground, jump in a starfighter, fight in the sky, transition into space, fight in space, and fly into the interior of a flagship and destroy the reactor core. Whether you fight in land, space, or flagship, each area is affected.

Campaign-
The story features the clone brothers, X1 and X2. It follows the paths they take and the mark the make upon the galaxy. The story is very short and I beat it in 2 hours. The story had weak points and the story made no you not kill people sometimes. For example, I was fighting against a boss and three times it would not let you kill him and he would not take damage and disappear all of a sudden. The story helps you to unlock some weapons and equipment, and others are to be unlocked through medals.

Overall Review-
This Battlefront is my favorite for the PSP and certainly is better than Renegade Squadron. Though there is not full customization like LucasArts promised, the game is still very customizable. Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron fully captures the Battlefront series. I would recommend this to people who have enjoyed past Battlefronts and newcomers to the series.

Ratings (Out of 5)
Characters: 2
Features: 3
Story: 3
Gameplay: 5
Graphics: 4
Controls: 4
Overall: 4.5 (This is not an average)

Elite Squadron makes me miss Battlefront 2!
The Battlefront series of games is one of my favorites. I've purchased every iteration and I eagerly anticipate the eventual release of BF3 for the 360. Unfortunately that love doesn't allow me to overlook the terrible flaws in this version of Battlefront.

While the graphics are serviceable for a handheld, the control changes have rendered this version all but unplayable. To add insult to injury there is no customization available except for a single alternate control scheme for lefties. While I wasn't crazy for the control scheme for Renegade Squadron (why have a targeting button that makes sure you always hit your target? Isn't this a SHOOTER???) this version makes Renegade look like a work of art! There are actually moments within the game when you have to be able to press two of the right hand buttons at the same time to be effective. How am I supposed to do that?!

On top of the control problems there are the usual batch of camera problems. Trouble is these are made worse by the inclusion of tight corridors within some of the levels, especially the levels on ships.

Oh, and don't believe the hype that says you can go from a planet to space and back again. It doesn't quite work like that. You press a button to "transition" to space or back and there's a cut scene with some loading going on in the background. Not exactly elegant or seamless.

I also disliked the fact that in the singleplayer campaign the voiceover character of your clone brother tries to ramp up the intensity by screaming at you over and over to hurry up! Wow, that gets old VERY quickly.

On the positive side...Hmmm...well, it has some new environments that look pretty cool and the planets when viewed from space have more detail. The music, as in most SW games, is exceptional.

All in all, I hope LucasArts will put this franchise back in the hands of Pandemic. This game just makes me miss BF2.