Star Wars: Battlefront features three ways to play: a historical campaign that covers the Clone Wars or the Galactic Civil War, Galactic Conquest, or Instant Action. The historical campaigns follow the basic plots of the prequel and original trilogies, moving from planet to planet in chronological order. For example, the Galactic Civil War opens on Tatooine, since that’s the planet where Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope begins.

As you complete a mission in one of the historical campaigns, you open it up for use in Instant Action, which allows you to simply choose a map, select a faction and start the battle. Some of the historical missions also unlock concept art, stills, storyboards, and other behind-the-scenes goodies from the making of the game.

Galactic Conquest presents you with eight galactic maps to choose from, four from the original trilogy and four from the prequels. Each map displays a series of planets. When you select a world, you go to war against the other side to gain control of it. Battlefront only allows the Rebels to fight against the Empire and the Clone Army to battle the Separatists; you can’t mix and match.

Each planet in this mode offers a bonus that can be used by the side controlling it. However, to take over an enemy planet, first you have to win a battle there to turn its status to “Contested” and prevent either side from using its bonus, then win another one to assume control. Four worlds offer ultra-powerful bonuses that you can implement once you’ve won four battles (not necessarily in a row). Three of them overthrow an enemy-controlled planet while the fourth brings the dreaded Death Star into action and demolishes a world.

Other Bonuses

• Bespin: Sabotage — All opposing vehicles start the battle with damage, but pilots and R5 droids can repair them.
• Naboo: Bacta Tanks — All troops receive bacta tanks that constantly regenerate their health. If they stand next to a command post’s health droid, they can increase the rate of healing.
• Kashyyyk: Reinforcements — You start the battle with extra reinforcement points.
• Rhen Var: Orbital Sensors — Your soldiers are invisible to the enemy on the map.
• Tatooine: Jedi Hero — Your faction’s Jedi hero joins the battle.
• Yavin: Elite Training — Your soldiers’ accuracy improves.

Awards

After every battle, the game gives out awards to the players who meet certain criteria. Some of them are dubious distinctions, however.

• Tank Buster: The player who destroys the most vehicles.
• Dead Eye: The player who’s the most accurate with their weapon receives this one.
• Camper: The player who stayed in one spot the longest. You don’t want to win this one after playing against human opponents online because campers are universally disliked. They’re the ones who stake out a position with a sniper rifle — or hang around command posts and wait for other players to respawn — and just keep shooting at people.
• Bantha Fodder: The player who died the most.
• Public Enemy: The player who whacked the most opponents before getting killed.
• Killing Spree: The player who racked up the highest number of kills in one five-minute span.
• Survivalist: The player who was down to less than 10% health but managed to regenerate all of it.
• Traitor: The player who fragged the most teammates; this one won’t win you many friends either. However, you can turn off friendly fire.
• Bait: The opposing player you personally killed the most.
• Nemesis: The opposing player who killed you the most.

I Have You Now. The view from a TIE Fighter cockpit.

Imperial Troops Have Entered the Base. The Empire’s deadly stormtroopers charge through an ice cavern on Rhen Var.

Permanent Fixture. Little details from the movies abound in every map.

Stay Away From This Guy. Jabba the Hutt’s Rancor likes to snack on combatants from either side.

• “Combined arms — a mixture of classes and vehicles — is always a good tactic,” says Pettit. “It enables the team to handle any situation. As the flow of battle changes, it makes more sense to focus on certain classes at certain points in the battle.” In other words, don’t be afraid to switch to a different class at any time in the contest, if it’s one that can help your cause.
• Create a new profile named “Jub Jub” (without the quotes; note that names can have upper- and lowercase letters). When you enter the game, all players — including NPCs — are now the size of Ewoks. Ewoks are still Ewok-sized.
• The Rebels’ specialty class, the Wookiee Smuggler, can take more damage than any other class in the game. Note that there are also NPC Wookiees on the Kashyyyk maps; they are different than the Wookiee Smugglers.
• In addition to the standard Wookiees and the four Jedi heroes, there are other NPCs that show up on some maps: Gungans (Naboo), Royal Palace Guards (Naboo), Geonosians (Geonosis), Tusken Raiders and Jawas (Tatooine), and Ewoks (Endor). The Gungans and Royal Palace Guards support the Clone Army while the Geonosians help the Separatists and the Ewoks and Wookiees come to the aid of the Rebels. The Wookiees also support the Clone Army.
• Tusken Raiders and Jawas have no allegiance to either side, although the former will actively attack everyone while the latter run around constructing turrets and repairing vehicles. Feel free to waste the Jawas that are helping the enemy, though.
• The Tatooine Dune Sea and Jabba’s Palace maps also feature the Sarlaac Pit and the Rancor, respectively. While neither moves around, both are indestructible and will kill any combatant who strays too close. The Sarlaac Pit features tentacles that whip out and snare troops. If you want to see the Rancor, stand in front of Jabba and he’ll open the trap door that leads to its lair. Gamorrean Guards also wander Jabba’s palace and attack both sides, but you can kill them if they get in the way.
• You can use the other side’s vehicles, but they’ll still attack you.

• All dead soldiers drop health and ammo. Grab it whenever you can
• Jedi heroes should be avoided since they can cut you down with one swipe of their lightsabers, but you can kill them a few ways. Try attacking them with a vehicle, tossing grenades at their feet or luring him to the edge of a drop-off and firing a missile that will cause him to jump to his death. They will respawn, however.
• If there are any command posts up for grabs when the battle starts, head for the nearest one and claim it for your side. On some maps, this is a necessity because you need a respawn point that’s closer to the heat of the battle.
• While trying to take an enemy’s command post away, watch out for opposing soldiers, who can respawn there until it becomes a neutral point. If you’re unable to claim a command post, look around for troops hiding somewhere nearby. You can’t take a point unless all the opposing troops are outside its control radius.
• It’s always smart to stand next to a medical droid and heal up, or next to a utility droid and replenish ammo, while waiting for a command post to switch to your side, unless it’s outside the control radius, in which case you should at least wait for it to become neutral before doing so. Stand with your back to the droid and continuously scan the area for approaching enemies.
• You can issue orders to other soldiers near you, which is helpful when you want a few troops to hang around a command post to defend it, or when you need support while attacking the enemy.
• Watch the health of the vehicle you’re in and get ready to jump out when it’s about to be destroyed or you will die with it. Remember, you can’t claim a command post while sitting in a vehicle.
• Strafe and jump simultaneously to dive to one side or the other. It’s a good way to quickly evade a volley of laser fire or get away from a grenade.
• When you see enemy troops bunched together, toss a grenade among them to pick up some simultaneous kills. If you see them while in a vehicle, land on them or drive through them.
• Each faction’s sniper class has a recon droid that you can use to scout an enemy area. You can also use it to call in artillery strikes. Just be careful with it, because one shot will take it out.