If Star Wars Battlefront strikes you as not exactly the deepest and most complex FPS experience you've ever had, especially in comparison to previous Battlefield releases, well, you're not wrong. In fact, as reported by Gamespot, Electronic Arts Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said at the Nasdaq Investor Conference in Europe last week that the game is actually meant to be that way.
"We had designed it to be a much more accessible product to a wide age group," Jorgensen said, noting that it's one of just a few teen-rated shooters on the market. "So, an eight-year-old could play with his father on the couch, as well as a teenager or 20-year-old could play the game and enjoy it. It is more accessible. And for the hardcore, it may not have the depth that they wanted in the game."
I like his frankness, but it's a bit of a risky design choice, isn't it? I enjoyed my time with the beta, but I also came away from it feeling like I'd experienced more or less everything that the game had to offer. The full release—which is reviewed here—has more levels, more weapons, and more vehicles, but nothing in the beta made me think that "more" would improve, or even change, the core experience in any significant way. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe it doesn't matter, but I'm inclined to think (or at least hope) that, in a genre dominated by free-to-play games, gamers are going to expect more from a premium-priced release.
