This review includes information for the single player/couch co-op modes of the game alone.
For many players, the single player offerings of this title are not worth talking about, because it is clearly not the focus, nor is it a priority for the publisher. Never-the-less, there are some that will only have access to the single-player modes in this game. For this reviewer, the PS4 platform is the one that is used for reference.
As of right now, the single Player modes include 3 categories: Training, Battles and Survival
Training (Solo and Co-op option): 5 Missions that take about 5-10 minutes each, allowing you to briefly fly an X- Wing, Drive a speeder, Drive an AT-ST from A to B, Play as Darth Vader and fly a Snow-Speeder.
Battles (Solo and split screen versus): 4 Head to head battles, with a handful of AI available to be on your team or not. Points are collected from your defeated opponents as tokens. 4 Head to head HERO battles, with 6 heroes to choose from.
Each battle has 3 difficulty levels, ranging from difficult to very hard though some maps are noticeably harder than others. There are some additional challenges to accomplish as well as collectible gems.
Survival (Solo and Split screen Co-op) 5 Levels with 15 waves of enemies you attempt to survive. (a 6th is announced, though it is not clear if it will cost $ or not). These levels usually take around 30 minutes to complete. In Survival. you will secure drop pods to get battlefield pickups and defeat waves of various troopers, AT-ST's, Tie fighters and Probe Droids.
There are 3 levels of difficulty and other challenges to earn stars and credits.
Overall: The overarching experience for a single player is about 6 hours deep without ever going online; longer if you want to complete all of the challenges. Additionally, you will likely end up playing with a friend here and there, making for many more hours of play without going online.
Gunplay handles well with the PS4 controller, with logical and familiar control options. All of the weapons are unlocked from the start in the single-player modes, and most feel different, with others handling unique. All weapons are effective at long range, making use of cover is vital to survival missions.
Graphics are stunning in this game, and make for an authentic experience for the Star Wars buff. The gameplay, however, has almost no progression, with credits only being useful towards multiplayer applications - which can then be transferred over to the single player card options when you've completed some missions on hard difficulty.
Sadly, there is almost no objective play to the single player modes. Even the drop pods in Survival are optional, with no ill effects to letting them be destroyed. Dice has been consistently releasing some free DLC to enhance the game and address complaints from the community, so there is some hope that they will allow some of the multiplayer elements to become single-player as well, like the battle for Jakku map.
Conclusion: While it is very limited and lacks any sense of progression, the single-player modes do offer enough hours of gameplay on their own to entertain someone who is looking for a casual pickup and put down game. It looks great and plays well while being accessible enough for young kids. Sadly, with such lack of depth, fans of the original Battlefront games are guaranteed disappointment to see what the new one could have been if they had been true to the original game's philosophy.
UPDATE: In July 2016 EA released an update that added a new offline mode called "Skirmish". There are currently 2 modes in Skirmish allowing you to dogfight in spaceships (though not in space) and Play "Walker Assault" wherein 1 or more AT-ATs are attacking a rebel base. Players either try to destroy the walker as the rebels or protect it as the Empire. Similar to other offline modes, there is no character customization or rewards for the player to pursue at this time. Both modes have 3 difficulty levels to select from, though the differences are significant between normal and hard levels of difficulty. Bots seem to respond primarily to the player, often hunting the player and at times, spawn killing repeatedly occurs. The ill effects however are mitigated by the fact that the game does not track any statistics of the player from one game to the next.
For many players, the single player offerings of this title are not worth talking about, because it is clearly not the focus, nor is it a priority for the publisher. Never-the-less, there are some that will only have access to the single-player modes in this game. For this reviewer, the PS4 platform is the one that is used for reference.
As of right now, the single Player modes include 3 categories: Training, Battles and Survival
Training (Solo and Co-op option): 5 Missions that take about 5-10 minutes each, allowing you to briefly fly an X- Wing, Drive a speeder, Drive an AT-ST from A to B, Play as Darth Vader and fly a Snow-Speeder.
Battles (Solo and split screen versus): 4 Head to head battles, with a handful of AI available to be on your team or not. Points are collected from your defeated opponents as tokens. 4 Head to head HERO battles, with 6 heroes to choose from.
Each battle has 3 difficulty levels, ranging from difficult to very hard though some maps are noticeably harder than others. There are some additional challenges to accomplish as well as collectible gems.
Survival (Solo and Split screen Co-op) 5 Levels with 15 waves of enemies you attempt to survive. (a 6th is announced, though it is not clear if it will cost $ or not). These levels usually take around 30 minutes to complete. In Survival. you will secure drop pods to get battlefield pickups and defeat waves of various troopers, AT-ST's, Tie fighters and Probe Droids.
There are 3 levels of difficulty and other challenges to earn stars and credits.
Overall: The overarching experience for a single player is about 6 hours deep without ever going online; longer if you want to complete all of the challenges. Additionally, you will likely end up playing with a friend here and there, making for many more hours of play without going online.
Gunplay handles well with the PS4 controller, with logical and familiar control options. All of the weapons are unlocked from the start in the single-player modes, and most feel different, with others handling unique. All weapons are effective at long range, making use of cover is vital to survival missions.
Graphics are stunning in this game, and make for an authentic experience for the Star Wars buff. The gameplay, however, has almost no progression, with credits only being useful towards multiplayer applications - which can then be transferred over to the single player card options when you've completed some missions on hard difficulty.
Sadly, there is almost no objective play to the single player modes. Even the drop pods in Survival are optional, with no ill effects to letting them be destroyed. Dice has been consistently releasing some free DLC to enhance the game and address complaints from the community, so there is some hope that they will allow some of the multiplayer elements to become single-player as well, like the battle for Jakku map.
Conclusion: While it is very limited and lacks any sense of progression, the single-player modes do offer enough hours of gameplay on their own to entertain someone who is looking for a casual pickup and put down game. It looks great and plays well while being accessible enough for young kids. Sadly, with such lack of depth, fans of the original Battlefront games are guaranteed disappointment to see what the new one could have been if they had been true to the original game's philosophy.
UPDATE: In July 2016 EA released an update that added a new offline mode called "Skirmish". There are currently 2 modes in Skirmish allowing you to dogfight in spaceships (though not in space) and Play "Walker Assault" wherein 1 or more AT-ATs are attacking a rebel base. Players either try to destroy the walker as the rebels or protect it as the Empire. Similar to other offline modes, there is no character customization or rewards for the player to pursue at this time. Both modes have 3 difficulty levels to select from, though the differences are significant between normal and hard levels of difficulty. Bots seem to respond primarily to the player, often hunting the player and at times, spawn killing repeatedly occurs. The ill effects however are mitigated by the fact that the game does not track any statistics of the player from one game to the next.