Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection (Nintendo Switch) Review

Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection is a compilation of the original two Star Wars: Battlefront games from the mid-2000s. These were beloved for recreating the scale and bombastic battles from the Star Wars movies while incorporating some strategic elements and boasting online multiplayer and even some vehicle combat.

Star Wars: Battlefront is very basic and is a straightforward adaptation of the events of Episodes I and II of the Star Wars prequel films. The cutscenes repurpose scenes shot for the movies to convey the impression of a narrative about a civil war between robots and aliens. There is something about a trade blockade and a clone army, but to be honest, the story was surprisingly hard to follow. This is likely due to the game expecting players to be familiar with the films. There are a lot of terms and concepts that aren't explained and without prior knowledge of Star Wars lore or having seen the movies, chances are the experience may be confusing. It also doesn't help that the first Battlefront doesn't have a protagonist or main character to latch onto.

Battlefront II is an easier story to follow and doesn't lean on existing footage to tell a story. The narrative is still a series of disconnected battles, but they are framed from the perspective of a war veteran who is recounting the battles he fought in. No matter which entry is played, neither of them prioritises any kind of emotional core to get attached to, unless if the player is already a fan of Star Wars. Going into these and not being a fan is like crashing a party or wedding and trying to make friends with everyone, only to be ignored.

Without being a Star Wars fan, is there fun to be had with Battlefront Classic Collection? Yes, actually. The core mechanics and action hold up very well for a couple of shooters from about two decades ago. The maps are large and wide open environments, crawling with allies and foes killing each other. Each unit is assigned a class, and death can come in seconds. Players can choose different classes to match the situation, to overtake the field or better suit the winning conditions.

Different classes come with unique loadouts and there are also vehicles to drive on the field. There are mechs, hover tanks, and some missions have fighter ships. One would think that these would be completely unbalanced, but they go down as fast as any other unit on the field. Where the lack of balance can be found is in Battlefront II, where there are heroes from the movies to play as. These characters are one-man armies and can utterly annihilate the opposing forces. Once one is available to use during battle, it is basically game over for the other side.

The visuals hold up well. These games are from a generation when graphics were not capable of realism and would rely on artistry. Character models are stylised and animations are bold. The environments are simplistic but very readable - there is never any confusion about what can or can't be done, and the weapons look faithful to their film counterparts. These titles look timeless and still have appeal to their visual design.

Where Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection falters is its utter lack of polish. While researching details for this review, it became apparent that the original iterations were not buggy and that these remasters are very flawed. There are some issues that persist between the originals and the remasters, like the absurd spawning of foes right outside of holding areas, but new issues like AI not doing anything are new. There are some horrible graphical issues like textures loading completely broken as a distorted chromatic mess, menus not loading, missing sound, and the list just goes on. The probability of losing a battle because the game gives up on life is very real. It's hilarious when it happens, but also frustrating.

If Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection was not an unbearable buggy mess, then it would just be an amusing mindless distraction. The core gameplay between these titles gets old very fast and the constant sound of battle becomes white noise after a while. The space battles are a highlight in the second game, but they are also far and few between. One of the main selling points of Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection was supposed to be the online multiplayer, but during the course of this review, not a single match was made possible from the matchmaking. The technical problems run so far deep that nobody is willing to play it online.