Star Wars Battlefront Out This Week

Today LucasArts officially announced the release of the highly anticipated Star Wars Battlefront, an intense open-ended single-player and multiplayer action game that lets players re-live all of the epic battles from the classic and prequel Star Wars film trilogies. Shipping day and date with the classic Star Wars Trilogy DVD, Star Wars Battlefront is coming to the PlayStation2, Xbox and the PC next month.

Console and PC players will be able to participate in all of the memorable Star Wars battles any way they want to. The team-based action within Star Wars Battlefront is set in 16 unique locations across 10 diverse planets including Hoth, Geonosis and Endor. Players can select one of the 20 different soldier types from each of the four factions: Rebel Alliance, Imperial Army, Clone Army and Droid Army. Each soldier has specialized abilities and the freedom to use ground-based turrets found on the battlefront as well as over 25 diverse ground and air vehicles including the AT-ST, X-wing and speeder bike.

Single player modes include "Instant Action," "Galactic Conquest" and the story-based "Historical Campaigns" mode that lets gamers experience all of the epic Star Wars battles from Episodes I-VI, fighting from the perspective of each of the four factions within the game. Star Wars Battlefront is also optimized for multiplayer action on the PS2 online, Xbox Live and PC online. PS2 gamers can battle against up to 16 players online and Xbox Live supports up to 24 players online. PC gamers will be able to battle against 32 players over the Internet. The game will also support voice chat through compatible headsets for the PS2 and Xbox console systems.

A special playable demo of Star Wars Battlefront will be available on the bonus disc of the classic Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. The demo level is based on the forest moon of Endor and can be played on Xbox and online through Xbox Live. Star Wars Battlefront is published by LucasArts and developed by Pandemic Studios. Star Wars is due out in New Zealand on the 23rd of September pre-order your copy today from all good game stores. For more information, you can visit the official website at www.starwarsbattlefront.com NZGamer will have a full review next month.