The game was provided by Aspyr for review. Thank you!
When I was a kid, I would go over to my friend's house and play games with him quite often. I have fond memories of playing games with him on the PS2, but there are two that always stand out to me. The Sims 2, where we would trap our sims in corners and accidentally cook our kids, and Star Wars Battlefront 2. We would run around Tattooine, Coruscant, and Kamino, working together to eliminate the enemy team, and I couldn't get enough of it. So, as soon as the Battlefront Classic Collection was announced, I knew I was in for a good time, and I definitely was!
The Battlefront Classic Collection contains both the first and second games that were originally released in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Both of the original releases are also on Steam, but they haven't been updated and lack many features that would be necessary for enjoyable play today, like proper controller support and some nice features to have, like cloud saves and proper multiplayer servers. That's what this new collection aims to give, along with a resolution bump to make everything look a bit sharper and some brand-new content like new maps and heroes!
Both of the games have some similarities, but they are both extremely fun in their own right. You will take control of a unit on a large map and fight against the enemy with your army. You will choose a class and spawn into the world, where you can run around or take control of vehicles to destroy the enemy's numbers or take over all of the points on the map. There are a multitude of maps that take place across iconic locations, like Hoth and Geonosis, and even some space battle maps, where you will have to fight other ships or try to invade the enemy base and sabotage from within. And sometimes, within some of these maps, you will have the chance to become a Jedi or overpowered hero, which can turn the tide of battle.
Each map has different game modes and eras that you can use. There's Conquest, where you will eliminate and capture points, Capture the Flag, Hunt, Hero Assault, and an XL mode. Hunt has you trying to exterminate a species, while Hero Assault has everyone becoming a hero or Jedi and fighting each other. XL mode is just Conquest but with a lot more people on the ground! Either way, the modes are extremely fun. It isn't as in-depth as other shooters where you will customize classes and weapons, but that's part of the charm. You just choose a class with the weapons you want, each with a special unit design, and work with your team in semi-quick battles.
In Battlefront: Classic Collection, There are some other awesome modes, like Galactic Conquest, where you will choose a campaign and fight for control of a map and purchase new units and bonuses, and campaign modes, where you will experience iconic battles from the original and prequel trilogies or join Darth Vader's 501st legion of Stormtroopers in an original story. There's also Instant Action, where you can just choose maps and modes to play the maps you want to. And there is online multiplayer support with official servers where you can fight on maps in massive 64-player battles, which is going to be a riot. And yes, we still have split-screen support for local play!
The biggest issue I see is actually having both games available. After going from Battlefront to Battlefront 2 and back, I can't see myself heading back to the first game. Yeah, it's nice to be able to play the campaigns, but overall, it isn't as enjoyable as its successor. This also means the online player base may be split amongst the two games, so you may see fewer people in one versus the other instead of everyone in a single game. It's cool to have both, and I like being able to play the campaigns, but after feeling the improvements the sequel made in its gameplay mechanics, like the addition of sprinting and a better UI, I can't see myself going back to the original.
Multiplayer lobbies were up during my review but were not populated due to the game not being released yet, so I didn't test online multiplayer.
While I do wish there were more upgrades in the collection, like the textures and assets, the resolution bump makes everything look sharp, which is great. The soundtrack is just as good as I remember, too, with iconic tracks that will get you in the zone. There are some weird quirks in each game, like how in the first game, you can't sprint, or how in the second game, there's no button assigned to changing from first-person to third-person view on gamepads, but overall, these are the best ways to experience my favorite entries in this series.
If you were worried about being able to play this on the go, I can assure you there will be nothing to worry about. The game runs perfectly on the Steam Deck at 60 and 90 FPS, both without needing to change a thing. Even on the bigger XL modes, the Battlefront Classic Collection holds up like a champ with a battery drain of around 8W - 10W.
The only thing I would change is assigning a back button to the "T" key. In Battlefront 2, there are no bindings on a gamepad to change your viewpoint from first to third person or back, which is something I like to swap between from time to time. This is completely optional, and if you prefer one over the other, you can change the viewpoint in the settings, but this makes it easier to swap without needing to go to settings.
I am also happy to confirm that the entire game can be played both online or offline!
In some rare cases, the battery drain can go up to 13W on Felucia, but I only saw this once when I was Boba Fett and traveling across a specific map very fast. It doesn't happen often, but still worth mentioning. There was also some framerate drop when using the flamethrower from Jango in first-person, but I only noticed it because of a screenshot. Otherwise, it felt completely fine.
I did notice some minor UI clipping on the color blind options for Battlefront 2, but that was about it for any UI issues.
Both of the games have an assortment of settings that can be changed. This includes changing from first to a third person, vibration, color-blind settings, friendly fire, auto-target, streamer mode (to make it music friendly for streaming or recording), AI difficulty, and subtitles. We can also change audio sliders and controls.
There is 16:10 resolution support, so there are no black bars, and it has both cloud saves and controller support. There are no HDR options.
Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection brings in two of the best Star Wars games I have ever played and finally gives them the treatment that makes them playable in the modern age. With controller support, new content, and a resolution bump, this helps it be the definitive version of these games, and I would consider them the best in the series. There isn't really much more done to enhance the game further, primarily just repackaging the classic series with some new features, but that doesn't change how awesome the games are in general. And if you want to play on the Steam Deck, you will have no trouble whatsoever. Just boot the game, and you will be good to go!
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Star Wars Battlefront: Classic Collection is the definitive way to play the best games in the Battlefront series, and they are great on the Steam Deck!
