Stay on target

We catch up with DICE to talk Battlefront, the Death Star, sequels and how you convert the world’s biggest movies into games.

Since Disney killed off LucasArts, EA have had the run of Star Wars games – and they seem determined to do a good job. We used our best bounty hunter skills to track them down at London’s Star Wars Celebration event, where we discussed DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront and heard all about their other, unannounced titles.

Battlefront first. EA showed us the new DLC based around the Death Star, with fan-favorite Chewbacca and Trandoshan bounty hunter Bossk as new playable heroes. It’ll be available in the fall. Though firm details are sparse, it’s certainly going to feature the key elements from the movies, and will include player combat both inside the station and out in space. Taking either side in the mission to rescue Leia will be an iconic moment.

About time, right? As DICE’s design director, Niklas Fegraeus, tells us, “I don’t think it’s a complete Star Wars game until you have space battles.” Lead designer Dennis Brännvall adds, “We’re definitely going to do a trench run. And our fans have been asking for a lot of capital ships in the play area, so that’s something I guess we do want to add.” Sadly, it doesn’t look like you’ll be able to fly a Star Destroyer or a Mon Calamari cruiser, and when we ask about playing as the Death Star or Starkiller Base, we’re met with outright incredulity.

The Rogue One spin-off movie was also revealed at the convention to be a prelude story about the construction of the Death Star. There will be another expansion DLC to coincide with the theater release in December. Set on the new planet of Scarif, it will feature hitherto unseen types of Stormtrooper.