Star Wars: Battlefront (series)

The Star Wars: Battlefront series is a series of first-person/third-person shooter video games based on the Star Wars films by George Lucas. The gameplay is very similar to Digital Illusion's/EA's Battlefield series. The series has installments available on the PC, Macintosh, Xbox, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and mobile phones. Pandemic Studios developed the first two installments, while Renegade Squadron and the PSP version of Elite Squadron were developed by Rebellion Developments. LucasArts was behind the entire series’ publishing.

Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to that found in the Battlefield series and related series. Games normally revolve around two teams (Republic vs CIS or Galactic Empire vs Rebel Alliance) fighting each other on a battlefield. Maps take place in the Star Wars universe, with arenas varying in theme and size. Across the battlefield are multiple "command posts" that act as spawn points for units and vehicles. A command post can be captured by having a unit stand next to it with no hostile units in the immediate vicinity for a short duration. Some vehicles act as mobile command posts, and must be destroyed as they can not be captured. On some maps (such as Hoth or Endor), certain structures also act as command posts that can not be captured. Command post capturing works differently on certain campaign missions as well.

The objective of most matches is either to eliminate all of the opponents' reinforcement tickets or to capture all of the command points. Reinforcement tickets are used whenever a unit is killed, or when one faction controls a majority of the command posts on the map (usually when the losing faction only has 2-3). Only one objective needs to be completed. When all command posts are captured, the team with no command posts has twenty seconds to recapture or neutralize an enemy command post. If the team cannot take over a post in this time, the match is over. Certain campaign levels and multi-player have requirements that differ from the general game play, however the general structure remains the same.

Star Wars: Battlefront
Star Wars: Battlefront is the first installment in the Battlefront series. It was released on September 21, 2004, with a Mac port by Aspyr released in July 2005. The game is available on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Macintosh, and mobile phones.

Jedi are not playable in this game without the help of modified files unsupported by LucasArts. Other NPCs made playable by similar files include, but are not limited to, Tusken Raiders in the Dune Sea of Tatooine, Ewoks of Endor and Gungans on the Naboo plains.

Star Wars: Battlefront II
Star Wars: Battlefront II is the second installment in the Battlefront series, released in Europe on October 31, 2005 – for the PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, and Windows – and in North America one day later. Significant differences between Battlefront and Battlefront II include playable Jedi characters, space battles, and story campaigns, as well as Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith-related content. The release date of Battlefront II coincided with the release of Revenge of the Sith on DVD. The game is now an Xbox Platinum Hits game, a Sony Greatest Hits game in North America, and an Xbox Classics and PlayStation Platinum game in Europe.

Battlefront II expands upon the original game's single-player experience with mission-based objectives drawn from all six Star Wars films. It is a story-based campaign which revolves around the 501st Legion (AKA "Vader's Fist") as the unit evolves from the Republic clone troopers to Imperial stormtroopers. Many maps from Star Wars Battlefront make a second appearance, and the game adds new locales such as Coruscant and Utapau. Also there are more game styles in this game like Conquest, Capture the flag (both 1 and 2 flag), and space battles.

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron is the third installment of Star Wars Battlefront, released in North America on October 9, 2007 and in Europe three days later. The game was released only for the PlayStation Portable. Renegade Squadron is also available in a bundle pack with the new white PSP redesign featuring Darth Vader on the back.

Aside from new heroes and vehicles, such as the Millennium Falcon, a notable new feature is the ability to create a character, allowing the player to adjust the character’s weapon, appearance, and speed, amongst other things, to their liking. However, the character will be vulnerable due to the lacking of certain aspects that will be replaced by others. For example, your character may be fast but weak or have good weapons but no stamina and speed. The discarded idea to allow players to increase the points to make their characters better caused frustration on many players. Before the game’s release, LucasArts had stated that over one million different customizable options would be present. Another new feature allows players to enter asteroid bases on some space maps.

Commander Col Serra describes the forming of Renegade Squadron in the beginning cutscene of campaign. Then the player starts a series of missions ranging in objectives while including cut scenes between each mission. The final mission includes the Battle of Endor, in which the objectives are similar to the footage of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars Battlefront: Mobile Squadrons
Star Wars Battlefront: Mobile Squadrons was announced on January 8, 2009 by THQ Wireless exclusively for the mobile phones. It was released on April 2, 2009. The game features a persistent online community, and has three classes which the player starts as. The gameplay is a first person perspective shooter that can use the touch features of a phone, although the player has no control over movement.

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron
Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is the newest entry in the Battlefront Series, it was released on November 3, 2009 for the PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo DS. This marks the third Battlefront game on the PlayStation Portable and the first on a Nintendo console. The game was originally discovered through its ESRB rating on the official ESRB website which has since been taken down. It follows in the veins of its predecessors with space, land and new air battles. Players usually play in a third person perspective, but in the PSP version, they can also switch to a strategy based mode where they may build troops and upgrade armies.

Star Wars: Battlefront III
Star Wars: Battlefront III is the sixth installment in the Star Wars: Battlefront series (third excluding handheld-exclusive editions listed above). It was originally speculated that Free Radical Design would be developing the game, after announcing that they were working on a "Secret LucasArts Project" on August 23, 2006.; however, on December 18, 2008, Free Radical Design announced that their company had gone into administration, and that the project had been handed down to Rebellion Developments, the developers behind Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron. On June 7, 2008, an alleged ex-LucasArts employee came forward to Kotaku and unofficially announced several games in development, including Star Wars: Battlefront III. On October 2, 2008, the OFLC listed Star Wars: Battlefront 3 for the Nintendo DS with a T rating, filed by Activision Blizzard. On December 28, 2008, renditions of Star Wars characters surfaced from a laid-off employee of Free Radical, bearing the Star Wars Battlefront III watermark. On January 15, 2009, footage of Star Wars: Battlefront III was leaked. In addition to updated graphics, changes from the first two installments of the series appear to include the ability to fly from ground to space and board orbiting space craft with no loading screens. The following day, more information was leaked regarding the title's departure from Free Radical—and, with it, the loss of the "complete freedom" that the video showed (October 2008). Information came to light regarding a possible story line which involved a "Dark Obi-Wan Kenobi". It is unknown if this storyline or the "complete freedom" style of play will continue with the title to its new developer (said to be Rebellion Studios), or even if the title is still in production. An employee of the intended new developer, Rebellion Studios, said that the game was passed to them, but then got passed to Pandemic Studios. However, a post made by an administrator on the official Pandemic forums denied that the company was making the game. The administrator, who was also a company spokesperson, said: "As of right now, I can say Battlefront III is not currently at Pandemic. While I know the title seems to be up in the air from all the buzz around the web... LucasArts will be the only one knowing where the title is at right now." LucasArts has made no official announcement regarding the current status of Star Wars: Battlefront III.

Star Wars: Battlefront Online
Star Wars: Battlefront Online was rumored to be the next installment in the series. On January 28, 2010, Kotaku reported that SOCOM developer Slant Six Games was working with Lucasarts to develop an online-only Battlefront title due in 2011. The game was said to be released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It was also stated that this game may have been the source of the Star Wars: Battlefront IV concept art renders. However, it has been revealed that the game has been cancelled after the studio was unable to meet its 2010 release deadline.