Battlefront: Death Star’s new mode revealed, R2-D2 playable (Updated)
EA/DICE announced during gamescom today that the new mode for the Death Star DLC in Battlefront will be called Battle Station.
Taking place over three phases, this new mode will feature the “multi-stage gameplay” that was promised back in July. R2-D2 will also be a playable character.
In the first phase, the Rebels need to advance towards the Death Star by attacking Star Destroyers. Per a post on the official site:
The main objective in this phase is for Rebels to destroy enough TIE fighters until their Y-wing support can come in to weaken the Star Destroyer’s defenses. Once vulnerable, Rebel starfighters can attack the weak spots in an effort to bring the Star Destroyer down. In an effort to help defend this key asset for the Empire, players along with AI ships will be set up to help defend the Star Destroyer.
In phase two, the battle will move inside the Death Star. Here, the Rebels will need to extract a droid, which was confirmed to be R2-D2 by the game’s lead designer, Dennis Brannvall, in a Twitch stream today. The post reads:
Phase 2 will have players fighting inside this iconic space station among areas inspired by the classic trilogy. Rebel infantry will be tasked with extracting a priority droid from within the Death Star. Amidst the chaos of battle, you’ll be able to gain an advantage by taking up arms as our new heroes Bossk and Chewbacca!
Then in phase three, the Rebels will be required to blow up the Death Star. Luke and Darth Vader will be playable, as will Luke’s wingmen, Biggs and Wedge:
Players can become the hero of the Rebellion, Luke Skywalker, in his Red-5 X-wing as they attempt to destroy the Empire’s ultimate weapon. But beware as Darth Vader has been dispatched to protect the Empire’s asset in his TIE Advanced.
No other news was really available, but the first phase is (or was) playable at gamescom:
#StarWarsBattlefront #DeathStar is fantastic. Space battles done right this time! #gamescom #EAgamescom pic.twitter.com/PI9b6lQHvS
— Amedeo Davit (@DaemoeWolf) August 17, 2016
Elliot from BattlefrontUpdates also said that he played it and, that while he wasn’t allowed to record footage, will have a impressions video up soon. I recommend you head over to his YouTube channel once it’s up.
Playing as R2-D2 definitely sounds cool! It will be very interesting to see what his abilities are—perhaps we’ll get to use his shock prod?
The space-to-ground-to-space bit is also intriguing. Hopefully DICE manages to balance the mode properly so that each phase has weight to it; the opening phase of Sabotage sometimes lacks the urgency other modes have.
It will also be interesting to find out the length of the mode, as most modes in Battlefront take 10-15 minutes. Five minutes per phase feels a bit short, so I’m guessing that this mode will be a tad longer than others currently in-game. If true, this wouldn’t really be an issue because each phase should play out quite differently.
I’ll probably do a write up in the next week or so on everything we know about the Death Star expansion, so be on the lookout for that!
Update: If you haven’t seen it yet, BattlefrontUpdates’ video is now up. I think the main takeaways from Elliot’s video are that Battle Station appears to be 12v12 and the A-Wing will be getting its shield replaced by the speed boost. Ships are also getting a cooldown for their lock-on abilities. He further describes the first phase in more detail.
Watch the video embedded below:
