Opinion: I’m Dreaming About The Potential Star Wars Battlefront 3

For Star Wars fans, May is the month of celebrating our beloved galaxy far, far away. May the Fourth (be with you) has been, to its fans, the ringing of the bell for sharing the love we have over George Lucas’s brainchild, and many extend the celebration beyond just one day. This year, fans rallied on the Battlefront, both literally and metaphorically over the Memorial Day weekend of May 23-26, in an effort to share their love for not just the films, lore, or shows, but games as well. 

May 24 marked the beginning of the big push; social media sites such as TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) were plastered with playful propaganda, calling all arms to revisit the long-neglected, nearly forgotten Star Wars Battlefront II, and the call was clearly heard by fans across the world. Despite initially releasing in 2017, which feels very long ago after trudging through the pandemic, this year saw records broken for one of our sacred Jedi texts, when Battlefront II’s player count peaked at a whopping 18,523 concurrent players on Steam, surpassing any previous peak by the thousands. The success of the effort had me enthralled. As such, in between blasting through waves of droids, or saber clashes with Darth Maul and Vader, I couldn’t help but dream up the perfect Battlefront III. Oh, how perfect it could be, assuming EA listened to our boots on the ground… What would it look like? What would I willingly pay $60-$80 USD for? Well, hear me out.

Out with the old

When Battlefront II originally released, I was there crying out with all the other rebels, stormtroopers, clones, and battle droids begging for the termination of microtransactions. For those unfamiliar, Battlefront II was, for a time, dangerously close to propagating a plague of “paying-to-win.” Loot crates were available for purchase in-game with currency acquired from spending real-life money that had the potential to yield players a definitive edge against anyone who was playing through and progressing naturally. Thankfully however, EA and DICE decided to eradicate the practice of using real money for in-game advantages, though not before suffering its adverse effects.

While normally I’d be inclined to suggest, for an ideal Battlefront III, that the developers stay far, far away from even risking making the same mistake twice, I recognize that money needs to be made in order to keep a company afloat and working on new projects. That being said, it seems as though the best of both worlds is to take a page from the books of games like Fortnite or League of Legends, offering the opportunity to purchase new, unique and exciting cosmetics that have no effect on gameplay. This way, the developers have the potential to make some money over time after players purchase the game, and players have full autonomy to play the game however they choose without needing to fear whether they’re automatically at a disadvantage because someone hit a lucky streak essentially gambling.

For me, the early loot crate blunder was the more significant of two mistakes that left a sour taste in my mouth for Battlefront II. The second glaring mistake was the omission of a seemingly insignificant mechanic: saber confrontations and subsequent clashes on the field of battle. Battlefront (2015), the staging ground for DICE’s dabbling into Star Wars, gave players and fans like myself the conduit for feeling like you’re really wielding a lightsaber in the form of hero-to-hero clashes in the midst of conflict. Picture this: you’re Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader creeps closer, you swing your emerald saber and watch as Vader’s crimson rises to meet it, then all of a sudden you’re spamming buttons voraciously to try to be the stronger swordsman, to land that first hit. That sounds awesome, right? The memory, for me, will forever be burned in my mind as one of the greatest immersive saber experiences I’ve had, and it’s a tragedy to me that the mechanic wasn’t enhanced and included in Battlefront II. 

Now that we’ve touched on my most significant gripes with Battlefront II, let’s return to the light side of the force by looking at what the game does well enough to earn a spot in a hypothetical Battlefront III. It’d be foolish of me not to first sing praises of the class system in Battlefront II. Battlefront (2015) took a minimalist approach to jumping into combat, allowing players to choose from a range of blasters and abilities that could all be individually swapped out freely, but it was somewhat straightforward and, for me, became tedious and repetitive after playing the same way with little variation.

Battlefront II, however, offered the same on a much grander scale. The player had the choice between four classes – Assault, Heavy, Officer, and Specialist – along with two to three unique reinforcements depending on the army and era, all of which had their own host of weapons and abilities (in the form of Star Cards). What this meant was, at any point, players could have four ready-for-action battle kits that offered a new way to play the game even in the midst of a match. For example, the start of matches were always fun and chaotic watching the first initial wave of Assault and Heavy troopers’ blaster fire raining down an early choke point, then the match became more strategic and tactical as the map opened up, players dispersed, and other classes came into play. Each class had its own progression too. Even 8 years later, I still have plenty of weapons, weapon upgrades, and abilities to work towards unlocking, though it all feels balanced enough that new players could join in with a vanilla kit and make an impact. If prayers are answered, and Battlefront III comes around, I honestly don’t think I would complain if the developers just copied or revamped the class system and progression of Battlefront II.

Battlefront II clearly puts the focus on the multiplayer experience, and I think they do it well enough that their format here could also easily be updated, enhanced, and ported right into a Battlefront III. There are, in total, 11 multiplayer game modes for players to enjoy. These include intense, long-lasting battles for Supremacy spanning across the three major eras (being the Ages of the Republic, Rebellion, and Resistance), shorter, small scale clashes in Galactic Assault, Blast, and Strike, as well as game modes that give players the opportunity to take to the stars in the iconic starships of Star Wars (in Starfighter Assault), or wield the powers of the notable heroes and villains we all hold dear in hero-specific Heroes VS. Villains. I’ve certainly played my fill of each and every mode, and still I go back to keep playing because I feel there’s enough variety from match-to-match that staves off any creeping boredom or repetition. If, however, the game does start feeling repetitive, there are plenty of other options to breathe some fresh air into your experience, whether that be against AI teams in Co-op Missions, playing through some of the fresh-to-Battlefront single player campaign, or, my personal favorite, braving the forests of Endor in the surprisingly eerie Ewok Hunt. 

More… More!

Now, yes, I still maintain that the multiplayer experience of Battlefront II was carried out well, but it could’ve been even better. How? Well, let’s circle back to those strategies for staving off boredom while deep in a game session. Ewok Hunt is awesome. It’s a completely standout experience that drastically departs from every other game mode. If you’re a Call of Duty fan, Ewok Hunt is a lot like the Infected game mode. In it, you either start as a normie stormtrooper equipped with the classic E-11 with a flashlight attachment (because the match is set entirely in the deep dark of night), or you’re lucky enough to start as one of two Ewoks, the furry little teddy bear-type creatures from Return of the Jedi. If you’re an Ewok, the objective is to make sure the Empire pays for desecrating their forest by hunting down each and every stationed Stormtrooper until none are left standing… sounds terrifying, I know. If you’re one of the unlucky souls to be wearing the white armor, your objective is simply to survive until extraction arrives. If you can’t manage to make it to extraction, and succumb to the sting of an Ewok’s spear, you join their ranks, don the fur, and join the hunt. 

I think I speak for the majority of fans when I say: thank you DICE for giving this to us, but why couldn’t we get something similar for Order 66!? The original Battlefront II, released in 2005, almost had it perfect; they gave players the opportunity to storm the Jedi temple on Coruscant as Clones of the 501st Legion. Here’s my proposal, trying to keep it simple so it’s therefore more likely to be included in a Battlefront III: follow the same Infected-inspired structure of Ewok Hunt. The 501st, and Order 66 as a whole, caught the Jedi off-guard, so the match could begin with one or two Jedi with lowered health and basic kits (like Force Push, Force Pull, and Saber Throw abilities), and the objective could be to stave off a wave of Clone troopers, preventing them from just rolling through the temple. The clones, on the other hand, are tasked with making their way through checkpoints leading toward the Jedi Library, where they then can call for reinforcements, thereby successfully besieging the temple. 

The campaign of Battlefront II was enjoyable too, however I, at least, could certainly tell it wasn’t the focus of the game. My enjoyment mostly came from the fact that the developers seized the opportunity to introduce a new story with new characters into the Star Wars canon, and did so in an immersive medium. The campaign certainly had its flaws though. For a game that focuses on the multiplayer experience, I expected to at least be able to play through the campaign with one to a handful of partners, but this isn’t the case. Battlefront II’s campaign had the recipe to be perfect, it followed an elite squad of Imperials, focusing in on one main character (Iden Versio), and followed their adventures throughout the waning of the Empire into the transition toward the New Republic, documenting Iden’s transition from Imperial operative to Rebellion ace. Iden is, however, the only playable character from Inferno Squadron, which could’ve been the easy answer to campaign cooperation. 

For an ideal Battlefront III, I propose a similar formula utilized in its entirety. Introduce the players to a unique elite squadron of troopers in the Republic, then at least we’d get to battle through Clone Wars for starters, and bond with a group of characters rather than just one. The characters don’t necessarily have to be clones, in fact I’d almost be more in favor of an experience that tells a completely unique story of conscripts who chose to involve themselves in a cause. Not only does this allow for a multiplayer campaign, but opens the doors for cosmetic and class customization as well, making each member of the squad a key but unique piece of the puzzle. We can then follow the squad into the emergence of the Empire, slowly growing more disillusioned with their message with the characters, and grow more sympathetic to the views of the Rebellion.

What would really be interesting is if, for a time, the squad leaves the Empire and serves time as mercenaries or bounty hunters before aligning with the Rebellion, kind of similar to the experiences of the Bad Batch – in a very wide galaxy, the Bad Batch can’t be the only group making those choices, right? That’s our participation in the Galactic Civil War settled, but now getting to the rise of the First Order is a little more tricky because there’s quite a bit of time to cover. We know from The Mandalorian that there were conflicts with pirates and Imperial Remnants, so if we’re avoiding a time jump, we can cover some ground by following the squad’s participation in quelling those storms, but the characters would surely be getting too old to serve. By this point, it’s likely we would’ve fallen in love with the characters as individuals and the squad as a whole, as separate entities, so perhaps the New Republic honors the service of the original squad by continuing their name and mission with new, hand-picked members trained by the originals. This could then give the players even more character customization, allowing us to design the characters physical and armor appearances, as well as perhaps their skills and traits.

Speaking of character customization, Battlefront III’s could be overhauled. There are, in Battlefront II, many options for character appearance across classes and heroes, but the only real customization the player has is the choice in skin. If, for example, I wanted to strut around as a member of the 501st for my assault class, I could choose to wear either the Phase 1 or Phase 2 armor, but whatever that looks like in the game is what I have to wear. I would’ve loved to have seen the opportunity to really create a unique character; give me a host of pauldrons to choose from, designs to decorate my helmet, whether my boots are white or blue, or at least let me choose what accessories I want to wear (like bandoliers, satchels, or backpacks). Fortnite recently scratched this itch in their Galactic Battle update, allowing for players to really be meticulous when designing their own Mandalorian armor. If we took what Fortnite allowed, implemented it into Battlefront II with all their current cosmetic options, sprinkled in some more and put it into Battlefront III, I would party like the Ewoks at the end of Return of the Jedi. 

Strong in the Force, other games are…

The galaxy is, as they say, very wide, and in the spirit of respecting its breadth, I have to shout out some external sources that could make valuable contributions toward a perfect Battlefront III, like Fortnite for starters. While I’m really looking to Fortnite for its cosmetic customization strategies, given its recent season had seemingly taken quite a bit of inspiration from Battlefront II already, the other thing I’m surprised Star Wars fans haven’t seen in a game is what Fortnite helped pioneer… a battle royale! A battle royale game mode in Battlefront III could serve the same sort of function as Ewok Hunt currently does in Battlefront II, serving as a breath of fresh air. 

With the success of battle royales in the past few years, however, it could be a focal point of the game with the potential to have a huge, devoted fanbase. The premise could be simple: some new underworld organization is hosting a competition to find the most skilled warrior in the galaxy and decided to test for who that is by dropping everyone onto a remote planet wherein their skills will be truly tested. An idea like this makes me think of “The Box” from the animated Clone Wars television show – bounty hunters were assembled and put through a series of trials to find the most skilled among them. Players could design a completely unique character, drawing from any and all cosmetic options, then drop into a map littered with blasters, blades, speeder, and more to try and come out on top. The inspiration is already in the lore in abundance, and a game that’s all about battling would be the perfect time to finally get a STAR WARS battle royale. 

If we’re taking inspiration from other games, and we’ve already loosely borrowed an infected-type game mode from Call of Duty, why don’t we go a little further and make a case for a zombie survival mode in a Star Wars game? I know it seems crazy, but if I have the liberty to dream of a perfect Battlefront III while staying grounded enough in reality to recognize that a Battlefront III likely won’t see the light of day any time soon, if ever, obviously I want it to be full and diverse enough to potentially sustain me for the rest of my gaming life. The ever-expanding Star Wars lore has already given us two opportunities to have a zombie survival game mode in a game, those being “Project Blackwing” and the Geonosian brain worms.

“Project Blackwing” was a secret Imperial bioweapon project that resulted in the research facility experiencing its own zombie apocalypse; the disease was highly contagious, deadly, and reanimated the dead. The Geonosian brain worms were native to the planet Geonosis and were parasitic worm-like creatures that infiltrated the brain of a host, completely seizing control, and had the ability to, as we’d seen in the Clone Wars show, reanimate deceased Geonosians. If implemented into a Battlefront III, we have both zombified Stormtroopers, and zombified Geonosians at least, meaning the game could be set in two separate eras, offering the opportunity to play through it with four separate armies (those being the Empire sent to rescue the facility, Rebels who sought to sabotage it, the Clones who were opposed the Separatist-aligned Geonosians, and the allied Droid armies). If we wanted to get the First Order and Resistance involved, it could be as easy as saying: the First Order was researching old Imperial files, tried to replicate and perfect the disease, failed, thus resulting in Blackwing 2.0. 

Into hyper-speed

Before I submit a proposal to Disney, laying out my plans for a perfect Battlefront III and demanding it be made, there is one last thing I have to include for both the sake of all fans, and in reverence of the canceled Battlefront III from 2006 (canceled in 2008)… land-to-space combat. We almost had it when Battlefront III was being developed in 2006, I remember watching test footage in awe, but all we’ve gotten in the rebooted franchise is space combat (where you can’t even board capital ships) and land combat with sparse aerial reinforcement (where, again, you can’t board a ship from the ground like you could in the original Battlefront II, you have to instead choose the reinforcement before spawning onto the battlefield).

I recognize that this is perhaps the most taxing ask; I’m no game developer, but I can fathom how difficult of a task it could be to implement something like this, but wouldn’t it be the coolest thing to, perhaps, participate in the battle of Coruscant from Revenge of the Sith in a Supremacy-style game mode, where massive teams are fighting relentlessly on two fronts, and players are given full authority to choose where and when they want to lend their hand? I think so and, if I’m at all in tune with my fellow troopers, I don’t think I’m alone.

Our only hope

The fans came out in full force to show their love, almost a decade after release, for Battlefront II, and judging by the buzz on social media (as well as looking at player data following Memorial Day weekend), it seems like everyone had a wonderful time coming back to the front lines. I know I’ve laid out potentially unrealistic expectations, but I’m dreaming, riding the high the community gave me returning to Battlefront II, the sentiment, however, is that I would be excited to play any form a Battlefront III would take, I just want to see some form of it break through the blockade and onto my PC. To the developers I say thank you for what you’ve given us, we, the fans, are very grateful, but it seems as though the will of the Force is calling for another installment… please answer it.

I’m interested to hear what others would like to see in their perfect Battlefront III! Let us know what you think about our perspectives, conversate in the comments below, and tell us what sits at the top of your lists for a third installment to the franchise! Please be sure to keep your eyes on GameLuster for more gaming news, analyses, and opinions like this.