Star Wars: Battlefront [Classic] Summary

Star Wars: Battlefront's unbalanced Hoth battle will be fixed, says DICE

Personally I think it's quite fitting that the Hoth Walker Assault battle that was playable in the recent Star Wars: Battlefront Beta was fairly unbalanced in favour of the Imperials, considering what happened in the movie, but I do understand how getting blaster-cannoned to death every five seconds might get frustrating.

It's not hugely surprising to hear that EA DICE is rebalancing the map, then. Lead multiplayer designer Dennis Brännvall admitted the current state of the level was "too tough", and revealed that the team was working on balance changes for the final release.

Star Wars: Battlefront won't have in-game voice chat

As we all know, one of the greatest things about first-person online shooters is the way you can connect with other players, and listen to a shrieking twelve year old say unpleasant things about your mother.

Not so with the upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront, which won't feature an in-game voice chat system, according to the official Twitter account. To chat with friends, you'll need to grab some third-party software like Mumble or Ventrilo.

Nine million players took part in the Battlefront Beta

According to EA, more than nine million players took part in the recent Star Wars: Battlefront open Beta. Turns out (shockingly) that there's a lot of Star Wars fans out there.

"Yesterday, the Star Wars™ Battlefront™ beta surpassed a major milestone: more than nine million players logged in and played," writes the game's senior producer Sigurlina Ingvarsdottir. "That makes this the single largest beta in the history of EA. We could not be happier that so many of you wanted to come in to get a small taste of what our passionate team has been working on."

Star Wars: Battlefront's Hero Hunt, Cargo and Droid Run modes detailed

While it doesn't have a singleplayer story mode (boo, hiss), there's no shortage of multiplayer modes to be found in EA DICE's upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront. Only two were shown off in the recent open Beta, but now the developers have lifted the lid on three other ways to play.

Hero Hunt has one player spawn as a Hero character, and seven others as normal foot-soldiers. The troopers have to hunt Darth Vader, Boba Fett or whoever down, and the player that nets the killing blow respawns as a Hero themselves. It's an extended boss fight, basically.

Cargo mode, meanwhile, is Battlefront's take on Capture the Flag. The only real difference from the traditional setup here is that you don't have to have your cargo present at your base in order to score a point. "This creates a tug of war experience where you simply need to collect as much cargo as possible," says DICE. Cargo is a 6v6 mode, more tactical and small-scale than the showpiece cinema of Walker Assault.

Star Wars: Battlefront Beta extended for one day

Here's some good news if you've enjoyed running around blasting stormtroopers in the Star Wars: Battlefront Beta these last few days – EA Dice has extended it until Tuesday, giving you one whole extra day to play.

As well as letting players spend a bit more time getting a feel for the game, the additional time will help the developers carry out "further technical tests on our infrastructure". Hopefully avoiding any nasty launch issues.