Over the years, LucasArts has been letting fans realize their dreams and explore the Star Wars universe, but there hasn't been an online game that really tosses players into the most hectic battles from the films. Enter Star Wars: Battlefront, a game that lets multiple players reenact some of the most intense conflicts from the movies. However, while there's a lot of fun to be had here, Battlefront is a rather shallow game that'll only appeal to the most hardcore of Star Wars junkies.

Star Wars Battlefront is an online game. End of story. The single-player mode is basically made up of two options, Galactic Conquest and Historical Campaign, and the gameplay for both is identical, the only exception being that they're set on different worlds and follow different battles from the films. A neat feature in the game is the fact that you get to pick which faction you would like to support. For example, if you are playing Galactic Conquest you can choose from the likes of the Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire, Republic Clone Army, and the Separatist Battle Droids. Within those factions are five different character types to choose from that have unique weapons and abilities. Players can choose from characters such as heavy artillery soldiers, scouts and, pilots.

The objective of the single-player game (and multi-player game) is similar to capture the flag. There are stations positioned throughout the map called Command Posts. A map located on the bottom left of the screen indicates in green where your team's Command Posts are located and in red where the enemy's Command Posts are. There are also white Command Posts, which are neutral, meaning neither team has captured them yet. The objective is to capture all of the Command Posts on the map or kill every player on the other team. Completing either objective will result in victory. As your team captures each Command Post they turn green and you are able to re-spawn at that point after you die. Another nice feature is that when you do die you are able to change your character before stepping back onto the battlefield.

While the above sounds like it could make for an interesting game and some intense fighting, the experience comes up short. After playing about three maps the game becomes repetitive and quite boring. Battlefront has ridiculously stupid Artificial Intelligence (AI). While the AI can be turned up, the most difficult settings are still very easy and an average player can walk through levels with a relative amount of ease. Your own team's AI is equally as stupid. The single-player mode attempts to incorporate communication through the "D" pad. For example, pushing to the left may be a "Follow Me" command or pushing Down may be a "Stay Here" command. While it's nice to have some control over the troops on your team, I never felt like I had control over what they did at all. As mentioned, this game's main appeal is playing online, which I'll discuss later.

The game's graphics are fairly nice. The character models are a bit rough around the edges, but for the most part everything looks good. Fans of the movie will enjoy playing and fighting in some of their favorite movie locations, and killing Ewoks never gets old. Explosions in particular look fantastic and the water on some of the levels looks great. The game's framerate is slow and the characters seem to take forever to get from point "A" to point "B" if you aren't actually battling. This may be due to the sheer number of people that are battling at one time, which can be as high as 400 characters.

A nice feature that will make every Star Wars fan drool is the fact that all vehicles are up for grabs. You want to drive an AT-ST? If you see one you can jump in and start blasting. You want to fly an X-Wing? If you find one you can. You can even run over Ewoks on a speeder bike! It's a nice feature and probably the most fun (controlling vehicles, not killing Ewoks). It's particularly cool online because multiple people can jump into the different vehicles and become gunners or pilots and work together to kill Ewoks. Some of the most intense battles are when aircraft, walkers, and foot soldiers converge on a single spot, especially when playing online. The battling becomes intense and communication becomes a necessity. My only complaint about the use of vehicles is they lack tight controls. Difficult to maneuver, the appeal quickly wears off.

Battlefront's main draw is the on-line play. While I still don't feel that the online mode is fantastic, it's leaps and bounds better than the single-player mode and a true Star Wars fan will have a fantastic time playing with buddies from around the country. Teams can get as big as 24 vs. 24, and as many as 200 characters (some controlled by the computer) can be on each team.

Just like in the single-player mode, players can choose or be placed in a faction and then pick one of five characters with a unique set of abilities. This becomes particularly important on-line as players are constantly trying to come up with strategies for each map. For example, if the enemy is using a Walker to wipe out your team you may want to have a group of team members choose a character that can shoot heavy artillery.

While you can attempt to communicate your strategy online, the game comes up short in allowing players to really work together. A map located at the bottom left shows which way your player turns, making it difficult to bark out locations and direction as everyone's maps are at a different position. Yelling "Defend the top command post" has a different meaning to every player as everyone's maps are positioned differently based on their specific location. While users can turn a stationary map on, the majority of the online users use the rotating map or you have a team with a mix of both. The game's developer, Pandemic, should have numbered each command post, as it would have allowed players to yell out things like, "Defend Command Post # 1". Too often I felt like I was alone in a mess of people all of whom are attempting to bark out orders.

For a Star Wars fan, Battlefront is nostalgic, fantastic and fun. On that account developer and publisher Pandemic and Lucas Arts should be credited. They delivered exactly what they set out to do which was to give their fans the opportunity to take part in some of the greatest Star Wars battle scenes. However, if you strip this game of the Star Wars license, or if you just aren't a fan of the films, you're left with a less than average single-player and online game. It's collectible if you can recite all of the words to the dreaded "Yub Yub" song, but a solid rental if you hate all things Jar Jar.