YMMV / Star Wars Battlefront (2015)

• Awesome Music: See here.
• Breather Level: In Survival mode, the Ice Caves can easily be this. There are no AT-STs, and the eponymous caves have several easy to defend areas. TIE Fighters won't be able to attack you while inside the caves, which make up most of the map, making it easy to leave them alone until you've taken out all the infantry. Lastly, unlike the Rebel Depot, the other map without AT-STs, shadow troopers start appearing late game rather than early on.
• Broken Base:
  • A lot of people were concerned that DICE would make the reboot exclusively first-person, effectively making the game Battlefield IN SPACE. However, the gameplay footage revealed at E3 2014 confirmed that third-person gameplay is the default, easing these concerns. However, post-launch, quite a few players conceded that Battlefield In Space would have been the preferable option due to the lack of depth and content within the game compared to the Battlefield games.
  • Following Battlefield 4's controversial launch where the multiplayer barely worked, some fans were hesitant to trust DICE with this game. Others note that DICE was quick to fix the problems, and nowadays 4 is seen as a highlight of the franchise.
  • The new Missions modes for offline and co-op, which follow a small shooting gallery format, lead to debates on whether it's worth removing a solo experience for.
  • A fairly minor issue regarding Luke Skywalker. His presence in the game is good news, but people are divided on the game using his black outfit and green lightsaber from Return of the Jedi design for all the maps, including Hoth, where he's supposed to be in his Rebel pilot suit and wield his blue lightsaber. Some are okay with it for consistency's sake, others say it's a violation to canon because previous Battlefront games used both suits.
    • A bit similar and just as confusing is the inclusion of Han Solo and Princess Leia... in their Hoth Attire, especially when gameplay of the latter took place in Tatooine.
    • The recent patch in January 2016 included DLC that gave Luke and Han the same attire they wore on Hoth, and even gave Luke his original blue lightsaber.
  • Likewise, the Emperor fighting exclusively with Force abilities instead of also using lightsabers like he did in The Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith. This largely comes down to whether one thinks the Emperor comes across as more powerful with or without lightsabers.
  • A major point of contention was the $50 DLC season pass. It's either a positive sign of strong post launch commitment or a naked money grab for withholding substantial content that could've been added to the base game. The relative shallowness of the initial game launch and EA's hit-or-miss track record with DLC has only further flamed the arguments.
  • Backlash against EA's involvement just got stronger when fans saw IGN's official review upon release. While IGN wasn't shy about criticizing the game, they gave it 8 out of 10 and somehow avoided mentioning any of the removed content that upset so many fans, essentially judging the game on its own without comparing it to previous Battlefront entries. Some say that EA earned their 8 stars with masterful graphics and fun gameplay, and that the game should be judged on its own merits. Others suspect that EA pressured IGN for a good review, and argue that the company had no excuse for cutting so much well-received content from previous games when they had such a high budget and charged players $60 per copy.
  • Depending on who you ask, the loss of space battles is either an acceptable trade-off for regaining air-to-ground combat (which was in the original Star Wars: Battlefront, but nixed in the sequel), or an unforgivable travesty that never should have been permitted.
  • The decision to stop updating Skirmish mode (The ability to play Walker Assault and Fighter Squadron with bots offline) to focus on other games has angered some of the fanbase that like playing against bots as only the vanilla maps are compatible.
• Cheese Strategy:
  • The easiest way to complete the single player Survival mission in Hoth requires you to get a Blaster Cannon and mount it inside a specific room at the back of the map that is only accessible through a single corridor. All enemy infantry will arrive through the corridor and get quickly taken out by the cannon's explosive, high damage shots, leaving the player to only leave the room at the end of a wave if there's an AT-ST.
  • Securing drop pods in Survival: because only infantry can claim a drop pod, which they won't even try to do if you haven't already claimed it first, you can simply take out all the infantry and claim the pod while all that remains are droids and/or vehicles, waiting out the pod's timer before completing the wave.
  • In the Hoth team deathmatch mission there’s a cave containing numerous powerups and a gatling laser. While the laser can’t turn enough to avoid being flanked by enemies entering the cave via the side, it faces directly at the entrance most AI’s use and AI’s almost never come from the right, letting you use the powerups to put down infantry turrets on the left and largely forget about it. While you will have to leave it to grab your point or if your turrets fail to protect your flank, the Gatling has its own health and takes damage for you, letting you rapidly regenerate to full while you mow down enemies.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome:
  • Playing online? Expect to see Jump Packs and Bacta Bombs galore. Jump Packs provide mobility unlike anything else in the game, allow for players to reach objectives incredibly quickly and makes retreat as easy as a button press. Meanwhile, the Bacta Bombs healing powers make it great for a last minute recovery after getting shot at, and can even be used with the Jump Pack to fly into a sitcky situation with some extra durability. Meanwhile, the Personal Shield is the most common pick for the charge-based subweapon, as it protects players running away from an unfavorable situation or securing an objective, provided the enemy isn't close enough to just melee them and isn't armed with the Cycler Rifle or the Scatter Gun.
  • In Walker Assault, players on the Rebel side will generally bring one loadout optimized for direct combat, which most likely contains the subweapons mentioned in the above point. Then, when the AT-AT becomes vulnerable, they'll get themselves killed to respawn with a second loadout that uses the Ion Shot and Ion Torpedo to do as much damage as possible to the AT-AT.
  • Most small game modes, especially Cargo, are dominated by blaster pistols due to most of the combat on those tinier maps full of rooms and corridors taking place in close quarters. The most common picks are the DH-17 and the SE-14C due to their high DPS and the former's ease of use. The Scatter Gun is a common subweapon for similar reasons, especially with the omnipresence of Personal Shields.
• Contested Sequel: Most agree this game isn't as good as the original Battlefront games. Whether or not it's still good in its own right, however, is a source of debate.
• Demonic Spiders: The shadow troopers in Survival mode. They have a fair amount of health, their shots deal a whopping 75 damage and their cloaking devices make them difficult to keep track of. Occasionally, they may also throw a flash grenade, leaving you vulnerable to other attacks for a few seconds. Worse yet, while normally they're late game enemies, in the Rebel Depot they appear as early as the second wave (presumably to compensate for the lack of AT-STs and TIE Fighters).
• Fan Nickname:
  • The game is usually just referred to as "EA Battlefront" or "EAfront" to avoid confusion with the previous two games and the canceled Battlefront III. It has also been referred to as "Battlefront 2015" to distinguish it from EA's Battlefront II.
  • Emperor Palpatine's spinning Force Dash attack is sometimes referred to as the Psycho Crusher.
• Game-Breaker:
  • Boba Fett was widely agreed to be the best Hero in the game's early months, due to his powerful blaster, extremely accurate wrist rockets, and his jetpack that gave him exceptional mobility. A competent player could easily rack up dozens of kills with him, and killstreaks approaching 100 were rather common. However, Boba Fett has received several nerfs that took away the homing capability of his missile and reduced his ranged potency, turning him into one of the less notable Heroes.
  • The Emperor is this for some, due to being a literal Lightning Bruiser with a rechargeable ability to give buffs (including health-recovery).
  • The jetpack, which is practically a required item and gives players a massive mobility advantage over players that don't have them. Players are also fond of pairing the jetpack and Wookie bowcaster star cards; if you are being shot at, just launch yourself in the air and fire an explosive bowcaster shot at the feet of your opponent to take them out. Although, after a nerf, the Bowcaster has seen far less use.
  • The DL-44, which is considered the most powerful weapon in the game due to both its extremely high damage and fast fire rate. Nerfed in the January Update, however.
  • It's generally agreed that the A-Wing is the most overpowered starfighter in the game. It's fast and it has a small hitbox, making it very difficult for enemies to target it.
  • The Se14-C paired with the explosive shot, and skillful use, is capable of giving the DL-44 a run for its money.
  • Greedo, good God, Greedo. He's capable of one-shotting infantry and take out the likes of Luke Skywalker in mere seconds. Later updates reduced his durability, turning him into a Glass Cannon.
  • Darth Vader's very short cool down attacks, long block time and ridiculous amount of health make him unstoppable when put in the right hands.
  • And then there's Dengar. His rapid fire ability eats through heroes' health and his Hurricane Strike can devastate other heroes.
  • Han Solo is also a devastating Hero with his Rapid Fire that insta kills infantry and his lock-on Lucky Shot that can destroy starships as well.
  • In late 2016, Lando had access to a glitch that allows him to easily kill an enemy, infantry or hero alike, in one or two Power Blast shots, which was thankfully fixed in January 2017.
  • Director Krennic's armor boost, Dioxis droids, Death Troopers, and Armor Breaker can make his defenses damn near impregnable, especially if an Imperial player chooses him as a Hero during the second stage of Battle Station. Armor Breaker is also akin to a permanent version of Han's Lucky Shot.
• Good Bad Bugs: In private matches, it's possible to spawn in as a Hero with the normal character skin, so you can jump around as a Stormtrooper with a lightsaber or shoot lightning as a Rebel soldier.
• Goddamned Bats: The TIE Fighters in the Sullust and Ice Caves survival maps. They're unlikely to actually kill you, but they take a while to bring down because they're virtually impossible to hit when not diving in for a strafing run.
• Goddamned Boss: AT-STs will be the bane of your existence in this game. Unless you get access to heavy firepower, any fight you have with them turns into a tense game of cat and mouse—they are extremely resilient, and they can mop the floor with you in seconds if you let your guard down.
• Growing the Beard: The January 2016 patch fixed numerous issues with the game (such as the Cycler Rifle's bullet drop and the DL-44's firing rate), which helped improved the game's image for some people. The subsequent patches and DLC that arrived in following months included things like a Bespin map, two new maps for Endor and Tattooine, a Death Star pack, and a Rogue One pack.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Chewie was not included in the original game and was saved for the Death Star DLC, which didn't release until about a year after the game's release, leaving many sad that Han was without his best friend. Then comes The Force Awakens, released the same month, where the inseparable duo has been shattered after Han's death, and now poor Chewie is without his best friend.
• High-Tier Scrappy: Lando Calrissian has evolved from being derided for having a completely underpowered, inaccurate gun to being absolutely hated for having access to a glitch that allows him to kill any enemy in one or two shots from across the map, making him basically unbeatable in the hands of a competent player. Lando players who used this glitch were often met with conspiratorial teammates who would jump in front of them to block Lando's shots. The hate for Lando died down once the glitch was fixed in the January 2017 patch, but the memory of the glitch still lingers.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Tarkin's absence from the Death Star DLC was seen as odd given how essential the character is to the Death Star. When Rogue One was released, the filmmakers clearly agreed with the fans, seeing as they brought a dead actor back from the grave through CGI to include the character.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Nien Nunb and Greedo have been announced as the first DLC Hero and Villain, which doesn't sit well with fans when they're just light Palette Swaps of the Sullustan and Rodian models you already get to choose in Multiplayer. Fans were not pleased by how cheap EA appeared for reusing old models for their first expansion pack as opposed to new character models.
• Low-Tier Letdown: Lando used to be this due to his blaster being inaccurate and not very strong... at least until his Power Shot damage glitch instantly turned him all the way around to a High-Tier Scrappy.
• Memetic Badass: While Lando's (now patched) damage glitch made him hated in terms of gameplay, it also earned him this status among the player base, resulting in memes where he uses his Power Shot to instantly take out a ludicrous target such as the Death Star.
• Narm:
  • Getting eaten by the Sarlaac would be terrifying.. If not for the burping noise heard once it's done eating you.
  • The Emperor's defeat pose. There's just something funny about it. He looks more like The Wicked Witch melting than he does defeated.
  • Ben Mendelsohn was not brought in to reprise his role as Krennic, and thus the character sounds little like his film counterpart.
• Never Live It Down: Even after having been patched in 2017, Lando's Game-Breaker glitch affecting the damage of his Power Shot left a permanent mark on the player base's memory, and continues to shape his reputation as a character in the game.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Palpatine/Sidious's scream during his Force Dash. Sounds a helluva lot like the one that he made when charging at Windu and the other masters in Revenge of the Sith.
    • Worse, actually; for good reason, that particular scream is listed on the Star Wars Narm page as sounding "like the actor is gargling whilst having heartburn". In game? It sounds like this.
  • Facing Darth Vader, as he is essentially the Implacable Man while mowing down soldiers in droves.
  • Vader's Force choke looks just as scary as you think it is. If you're the one getting choked you can actually hear your neck snapping.
  • Sometimes on Hoth you can hear distant calls from the wampa. It's spooky especially on the "Twilight on Hoth" maps.
  • While playing Fighter Squadron you will occasionally hear your fellow copilots call in on a radio, screaming and calling for help before hearing static.
  • Bossk's creepy voice courtesy of Dee Bradley Baker and taunts about hunting and eating his victims can cause real alarm if you ever encounter him on the battlefield.
• Older Than They Think: This game is known as the one that dropped the class system in favor of entirely custom loadouts. This isn't unique to this entry, as Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron did the same thing 8 years prior.
• Questionable Casting :
  • Anthony Hansen's Luke Skywalker performance is a constant source of mockery. Fans and gamers share the opinion that DICE should have brought Mark Hamill or Bob Bergen back.
  • Matt Sloan's delivery as Darth Vader has been criticized for sounding more like Dark Helmet than his previous more accurate-sounding depictions of Vader in other games. Though, as others have pointed out, they could have simply lowered the pitch of the voice.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • The randomly firing blasters are not well received to say the least. This is not helped by the game sharing a title with two of the most beloved Star Wars games ever made.
  • The Rebel Alliance's Speeder Bikes are their only vehicle. Said bikes are exclusive to a stage that was not built with them in mind.
  • Pretty much any game mode outside of Supremacy and Walker Assault are practically ignored for a variety of reasons:
    • Blast, Drop Zone, Droid Run, and Cargo are basically the standard team deathmatch, king of the hill, and capture the flag modes found in any other shooter with teams capped to 8-10 players each.
    • Hero Hunt involves a number of players having to hunt down one player who takes the role of a hero, with the winner being whoever can score the most kills as the hero. Except when the hero dies, the next hero is chosen based solely on who landed the killing blow, turning the whole mode in a Luck-Based Mission. This was later changed to where the next hero is the player who deals the most damage to the incumbent hero.
    • Heroes vs. Villains pits two teams of six (or eight on the Outer Rim maps) against each other, except with only three to four heroes on each side, that leaves six-eight players stuck playing mooks whose only job is to die repeatedly while chipping away at the heroes' considerable health.
    • Fighter Squadron suffers from a very small selection of fighters, being only limited to X-Wings and A-Wings for the Rebels and TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors for the Imperials. The controls are almost universally considered to be terrible, and there is a literal autoaim button that basically does all of the shooting for you, reducing skill level to the point where all you need to do is to get behind an enemy to reliably kill them. Also, hero ships such as the Millennium Falcon and Slave I deal massive damage and have a massive amount of hit points, so if you find yourself flying against one of these ships, expect to die. A lot.
  • The powerup system in general, especially since pretty much all of the game's anti-vehicle weapons are locked behind it. This is especially irritating for the Rebels, since their only method of reliably dealing with Imperial walkers is to comb the map hoping one of the random powerups they pick up happens to give them a much needed rocket launcher or disruptor rifle.
• Scrappy Weapon:
  • The CA-87 shock blaster suffers immensely from being a Short-Range Shotgun. Even in the smallest maps, you'll often run into situations where your enemy is out of range. While Focus Fire can be used to change its pellet spread into a single, powerful blaster bolt, it's still too inaccurate to use reliably. Worse yet, it has the lowest rate of fire in the game and overheats after a mere three shots. The only reason anyone bothers with it is because it's required to unlock the Scatter Gun.
  • The CJ-9 Bo-Rifle is incredibly situational at best. While having One-Hit Kill melee is handy, especially on smaller maps, there will be many situations where you can't get close enough to use it, while the blaster itself is slow, rather inaccurate and not particularly strong. Even the melee has a major drawback in that you can't use it (not even a regular melee) while your Personal Shield is active. Some people use this weapon for the sheer novelty of it, but anyone playing seriously won't even look at it.
• So Okay, It's Average: While the visuals and general feel of the gameplay has been widely praised, the actual game has been criticized for not having much to keep one invested.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • Several of the details revealed about DICE's game, particularly the omission of Galactic Conquest and space combat, did not go well with some long-time fans.
  • If you considered the beta a preview, most reviews agreed the Empire was extremely overpowered in Walker Assault, the game modes were too repetitive, and the overall combat was generic and dull.
  Angry Joe: Walker Assault was just about the WORST fuckin' mode to demo Battlefront.
  • The $50 DLC season pass hasn't been well-received by fans, giving the impression that content is being held back that should've been included in an already anemic base game.
• That One Level:
  • For the Imperials, Endor is one of the least favored maps due to the Rebels being able to camouflage themselves pretty much anywhere while the Imperials stand out like sore thumbs thanks to their bright white armor.
  • For the Rebels, Hoth is one of the least favored maps due to the bad spawn placement and open nature of the map which makes it very easy for Imperial players to spawncamp the Rebel side.
  • "Rescue", the second phase of "Battle Station" becomes pretty one-sided once one side gains the advantage. For example, if the Imperials are able to get to R2 in the Detention Center, the Rebels are almost certainly doomed as they can now only run into the Imperials just to get killed. On the flip side, if the Rebels are able to get R2 to a certain point, the Imperials will begin spawning at the final destination the Rebels need to get to, forming a nearly impenetrable blockade.
  • Once the "Infiltration" mode begins it's third phase, it becomes nearly impossible for the Imperials to win. All rebels have to do is get one datapack back to their spawn point within ten minutes, which wouldn't be a problem except there are three datapacks the Imperials need to keep an eye on and most Rebels will equip Jump Packs and Personal Shields so they can cross ground fast while ignoring ranged fire.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • The loss of a single player campaign (the 501st Campaign from Battlefront II) and various modes like Galactic Conquest or Quick Action in favour of an increased focus on the multiplayer didn't go down well with some fans.
  • Being a game developed by DICE, Battlefront blatantly lacks features that were staples of the previous Battlefield games DICE is famous for, such as a diverse vehicle selection, spawn in vehicles that don't require random powerups to access, soldier classes, a squad system, large and varied maps, dedicated servers, and a 64+ player limit.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Fans are still puzzled that Chewie was not the first DLC hero for the game, and was passed over in favor of the obscure Nien Nunb.
  • Some fans feel that the game could've gotten mileage over making the announcers for both sides be canon characters. Two announcers' voices sound similar to Agent Kallus and Admiral Konstantine among others, making some fans wish the characters had been brought in.
  • On the same beat, Tarkin's absence from the Death Star DLC was seen as odd, when he would've been a perfect choice as the Imperial announcer.
  • Some fans lament the absence of several characters as potential playable Heroes and Villains, including IG-88, Tarkin, Ben, Yoda, Admiral Ackbar, and Doctor Aphra.
• Unexpected Character:
  • The Outer Rim expansion brings in Nien Nunb as the new hero and Greedo as the new villain, who are comparatively obscure to the other characters in the Original Trilogy (though Greedo is infamous for the whole "Han Shot First" deal).
  • "Bespin" and "Death Star" give us Dengar and Bossk, respectively. No one expected characters who only briefly appeared in The Empire Strikes Back to appear in the DLC, though the two bounty hunters had supporting roles during certain arcs of The Clone Wars.
  • Not many people were expecting to be able to play as R2-D2 in the Death Star DLC.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The only thing people can agree on about the game is that the graphics are gorgeous.
• Win Back the Crowd:
  • After the game was Tainted by the Preview at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, a lot of people were won back over with the footage revealed at E3 2015.
  • After the polarized reception of the initial launch version, the January update and the release of free content have won over people initially burned by the game's shallowness and balance issues.